Table of Contents About the Author Preface 1. The Spirit and the Blood 2. The Blood of the Cross 3. The Altar Sanctified by the Blood 4. Faith in the Blood 5. The Blood of the Lamb 6. The Blood-bought Multitude 7. "When I See the Blood" 8. Purchased by the Blood 9. The Blood and the Trinity 10. Washed in His Blood
Excerpt:	CHAPTER 1 The Spirit and the Blood "There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these agree in one"-I John 5:8. Before considering the blood of Jesus Christ and the glorious results which it accomplishes in us, there is a difficulty which must be overcome. We do not always enjoy the blessings and power of Christ's blood because we do not clearly understand what those benefits are or how the blood accomplishes them. Or, even if we do understand in some measure, it is not possible for us to always experience the blood's power because we do not always actively cooperate with it. Such difficulties arise because we do not remember that God has provided that the blood, as a vital power, automatically and ceaselessly carries on its work within us. He has so inseparably bound together the Holy Spirit and the blood that we may rely on Him to make the power of the blood ceaselessly effective in us by the power of the Spirit. This is the thought expressed in the above Scripture verse used for the text of this chapter. The Apostle had in the previous verses (I John 4-5) spoken about faith in Jesus, and then he directs attention to the testimony on which that faith rests (verses 8-11). He mentions three witnesses: The Water. This refers to an outward and human act commanded by God to be observed by those who, turning from their sins, presented themselves to Him in baptism. The Blood In this we see what God has done to bring about a real and living cleansing. The Spirit: It is by the Spirit that the witness of both the others is confirmed. In this chapter we shall confine our attention to the truth that the united witness of the Spirit and the blood is the foundation of our faith. Let us notice the unbroken union of these Witnesses: I. In the Work of Redemption II. In our Personal Experience III. The Union of the Spirit and the Blood in the Work of Redemption What first demands our attention here is that it is through the Spirit alone that the blood has its power. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews (9:14): ¿How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.¿ The blood possesses its power to cleanse and to make us fit to serve the living God by the Eternal Spirit who was in our Lord when He shed His blood. This does not mean merely that the Holy Spirit was in the Lord Jesus and bestowed on His person and His blood a divine worth. It is much more than that; it indicates that the shedding of His blood was brought about by the Eternal Spirit, and that the Spirit lived and worked in that blood. As a result, when the blood was shed it could not decay as a dead thing, but as a living reality it could be taken up to heaven, to exercise its divine power from thence. It is expressly for this reason that the Spirit is here called ¿the Eternal Spirit.¿ ¿Eternal¿ is one of the words of Scripture which everyone thinks he understands, but there are few who realize what a deep and glorious meaning it has. It is supposed that ¿eternal¿ is something that always continues, something that has no end. This explanation is a merely negative one and tells us only what ¿eternal¿ is not, but it teaches us nothing about its nature and being. Everything that exists in time has a beginning and is subject to the law of increase and decrease, of becoming and decaying. What is eternal has no beginning and knows no change or weakening because it has in itself a life that is independent of time. In what is eternal there is no past which has already disappeared and is lost, and there is no future not yet possessed. It is always a glorious and endless present. Now, when Scripture speaks of ¿eternal¿ life, ¿eternal¿ redemption, ¿eternal¿ joy, it means much more than to say merely they will have no end. By that word we are taught that he who has a share in eternal blessedness possesses something in which the power of an endless life is at work. It is something in which there can be no change, nor can it suffer any diminution. And, therefore we may always enjoy it in the fullness of its life-bestowing blessings. The object of Scripture in using that word is to teach us that if our faith lays hold of what is eternal, it will manifest itself in us as a power superior to all the fluctuations of our mind or feelings, with a youth which never grows old, and with a freshness which does not for a moment wither. From this Scripture we are taught something also about the blood of Jesus, ¿Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.¿ Not only had the act of shedding His blood an eternally availing worth, the blood itself has Spirit and life in it. The blood is made effective by the power of an eternal life. This is why the Epistle to the Hebrews lays much emphasis on the work of Christ as being once for all and eternal. Notice the expression in Hebrews 7:17-- is ¿a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.¿ ¿After the power of an eternal life¿ (verse 16). He has an ¿unchanging priesthood.¿ ¿Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (verses 24, 25). He is ¿the Son who is consecrated for evermore (verse 28). Further on we read (chapter 9:12): By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us; and in 10:14: "By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." It speaks also of "the blood of the everlasting covenant." By the Eternal Spirit the blood has obtained an eternal, ever-availing, ever-fresh, independent, imperishable power of life. But the correlative is also true. As the blood possesses its power through the Spirit, so the Spirit manifests His full power and works effectively among men only through the blood. We know that the outpouring of the blood was followed by the outpouring of the Spirit. And we know the reason for this. By sin, a middle wall of partition separated God and man. The flesh was the veil that made true union impossible. As long as sin was not atoned for, God, by His Spirit, could not take up a settled abode in the heart of man. Until the power of the flesh was broken and subdued, the Spirit could not manifest His authority. For this reason, there is no mention in the days of the Old Testament of an outpouring of the Spirit of God except as a prediction of what should be in the last days. Also our Lord Jesus was not in a position to bestow upon His disciples the Spirit with whom He had been baptized, even though He took them into the closest fellowship with Himself, though He greatly loved them and longed to bless them. Our Lord had to die before He could baptize with the Holy Spirit. The blood is the life of man; the Spirit is the life of God. Man must sacrifice his sinful life, bear the penalty of his sin, and surrender himself entirely to God before God could dwell in him with His life. What man himself could not do, that the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, did for him. He shed His blood, He gave His life in entire surrender to the will of God as a satisfaction of the penalty of sin. When that was accomplished, it was possible for Him to receive the Spirit from the Father that He might pour Him out. The outpouring of the blood rendered possible the outpouring of the Spirit. This is declared in the Scriptures in such words as these: "The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). And again: "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelation 22: 1). It was when the Lamb took possession of the throne with the Father that the Spirit could flow out as a river. In the preaching of John the Baptist these were, also, the two statements he made about Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," and "This is He who baptizeth with the Holy Spirit." It was necessary for our High Priest to enter into "the Holiest" with His blood And, having come out again, to appear before the throne with that blood. Only then could He bestow the Spirit from the throne as the seal that His work in the Holiest had wrought out a perfect reconciliation. The blood and the Spirit are inseparable, for only through the blood can the Spirit dwell in man. In the execution of the work of Redemption, also, the activities of the blood and the Spirit are inseparably connected. This is why we find in Scripture that what in one place is ascribed to the Spirit is in another place ascribed to the blood, and the work of sanctification is ascribed to both the blood and the Spirit. Life also is ascribed to both. Our Lord said: Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, adding afterwards, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:54, 63). We find similar expressions in the Epistle to the Ephesians. After having said, "Ye ... are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13), a little later Paul declares (verse 18) that "We ... have access by one Spirit unto the Father." So also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the scorning of the blood and of the Spirit is treated as one act. We read of those who counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and have done despite unto the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). We have noticed that the "blood" is a word chosen by God as a short way of expressing certain thoughts, powers, and characteristics which are, as it were, included in it. It is not always easy, either in preaching or in personal exercise of faith, to find a perfect expression of these thoughts, powers, and characteristics. But this is what the Holy Spirit undertakes as His work, especially where faith is exercised about the blood. He will explain, and make living, the full and glorious meaning of the word. By enlightening our understanding, He will make clear to us the great thoughts of God which are contained in the words the blood. Even before the understanding can lay hold of them, He will make their power active in the soul. And where a heart desiring salvation is humbly and reverently seeking for the blessings they bring, He will bestow them. And He will not only send the power of the blood to the heart, but will so reveal it in the heart that the same inner nature which inspired Jesus in the shedding of His blood will be awakened in us, as it is written: They overcome by the blood of the Lamb. . . , and they loved not their lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11). It is the great work of the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus, to make Him glorious in human hearts, by bestowing the blessed experience of His redemption. And because the blood is the central point of redemption, the Holy Spirit will make the blood appear especially glorious to us and will glorify it i n us. We can form some idea of the blood that was shed on earth in connection with the sin offering, but we have little conception of the blood that in the Holiest on high speaks and works in the power of eternal life. The Holy Spirit, however, comes with His heavenly, life-giving power to enable us to appropriate that which is eternal and to make it a real, living, inward experience in us. Faith in the atoning power of the blood and in the personality of the Holy Spirit are two truths which are both denied when the church turns aside to error, while both of them are held fast by the true Church of God. Where the blood is honored, preached, and believed in as the power of full redemption, there the way is opened for the fullness of the Spirit's blessing. And, in proportion, as the Holy Spirit truly works in the hearts of man, He always leads them to glory in the blood of the Lamb. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne ... stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having. . . seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 5:6). The blood and the Spirit proceed together from the Lamb, and together they bear witness to Him alone. The Union of the Spirit and the Blood in our Personal Experience We lay emphasis on this to show what rich comfort and blessing this truth contains for us. We must once again notice the two sides of this truth: the blood exercises its full power through the Spirit, and the Spirit manifests His full power through the blood. The blood exercises its full power through the Spirit. We have here a glorious answer to the questions that at once arise in the minds of seekers after salvation. I have no doubt that by what has been written on the power of the blood of Jesus, about the rich, full blessing which is found in that blood, that questions have arisen such as: How is it that the blood does not produce more results in my life? How can I experience its full power? Is there any hope for a person so weak as I am, and one who understands so little, to expect that fullness of blessing? Listen to the answer, all you who heartily and sincerely long for it. The Holy Spirit dwells within you, and it is His office to glorify the Lamb and the blood of the Lamb. The Spirit and the blood bear witness together. The mistake we make is in thinking of the blood as if it alone bare witness. We think of the shedding of the blood as an event that occurred nineteen hundred years ago on which we are to look back and, by the exercise of faith, to represent it as present and real. But, as our faith is always weak, we feel that we cannot do this as it ought to be done. As a result of this mistaken idea, we have no powerful experience of what the blood can do. This weakness of faith arises, in the case of honest hearts, from imperfect conceptions concerning the power of the blood. If I regard the blood, not as something which lies inactive and must be aroused to activity by my faith, but as an almighty, eternal power which is always active, then my faith becomes, for the first time, a true faith. Then I shall understand that my weakness cannot interfere with the power of the blood. I have simply to honor the blood by exalted ideas of its power to overcome every hindrance. The blood will manifest its power in me, because the Eternal Spirit of God always works with it and in it. Was it not through the Eternal Spirit that, when Jesus died, His blood had power to conquer sin and death, so that Jesus was brought again from the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20)? Was it not through the Eternal Spirit that the blood penetrated the regions of holy light and life to heaven itself and bears there its peculiar relationship to God the Father and to Jesus the Mediator? Is it not through the Eternal Spirit that the blood ever continues to manifest its power on the innumerable multitude which is being gathered together? Is it not the Eternal Spirit who dwells in me as a child of God, on whom I may rely to make the blood of Jesus glorious in me also? Thank God, it is so. I have no need to fear. In the childlike heart, conscious of its weakness and wholly surrendered to the Lamb of God in order to experience the power of His blood, the Holy Spirit will do His work. We may confidently rely upon the Spirit to reveal in us the omnipotent effects of the blood. But there is another difficulty. Even once we recognize that the blood is omnipotent in its effects, we often limit the continuance of its activities to the period of our own active cooperation with it. You imagine that, so long as you can think about it, and your faith is actively engaged with it, the blood will manifest its power in you. But there is a very large part of your life during which you must be engaged with earthly business, and you do not believe that, during these hours, the blood can continue its active work quite undisturbed. And yet it is so. If you have the necessary faith, if you definitely commit yourself to the sanctifying power of the blood for those hours during which you cannot be thinking about it, then you can be sure that your soul may continue, undisturbed, under the blessed activities of the blood. That is the meaning, the comfort, of what we said about the word eternal and the eternal redemption which the blood has purchased. Eternal is that in which the power of an imperishable life works ceaselessly every moment. Through the Eternal Spirit, the precious blood possesses this ceaselessly effective power of eternal life. The soul may, with even greater confidence, entrust itself to Him for every hour of business engagements, or of special rush and bustle, for the activity of the blood will continue without hindrance. just as a fountain which is supplied by or from an abundant store of water streams out day and night with a cleansing and refreshing flow, so the blessed streams of this fountain of life will flow over and through the soul that dares to expect it from his Lord. And just as the Holy Spirit is the life-power of these omnipotent and ever-flowing streams of the blessed power of the blood, so it is He also who prepares us and makes it possible for us to recognize and receive these streams by faith. Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. Our human thought cannot apprehend the mysteries of the Holiest in heaven. This is especially true concerning the unspeakable glory of the holy blood in heaven. Let us with deep reverence entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Spirit, waiting on Him in holy stillness and awe that He may witness with, and of, the blood. As often as we longingly pray for the holy power of the blood, let us with great tenderness open our hearts to the influences of the Spirit; the Spirit and the blood always bear witness together. Through the Eternal Spirit, the full power of the blood will be exercised in us. There is another glorious side to this truth: The Spirit attains His full power in us through the blood. just as the outpouring of the Spirit followed the outpouring of the blood and its translation into heaven, so it is also in the heart. In proportion as the blood obtains a place in the heart and is honored there, so the Spirit is free to carry on His work. At Easter time we remember the Passion and resurrection of our Lord and look forward to Pentecost- and the days of prayer during which we wait on the Lord that we may be filled by His Spirit. Each year we are thus reminded that it is the will of Him ¿Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit that His disciples should be filled with the Spirit. Full of the Holy Spirit is not set forth in Scripture as the privilege of a particular time, or of a certain people, but is plainly represented as the privilege of every believer who surrenders himself to live wholly for, and in fellowship with, Jesus. Pentecost is not just a remembrance of something that once happened and then passed away, but it is the celebration of the opening of a fountain which ever flows. It is the promise of that which is always the right, and the characteristic of those who belong to the Lord. We ought to be, and we must be, filled with the Holy Spirit. * Note by the Translator. -The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa for many years observed the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost as days of continuous and united prayer. It is impossible to tell how great and abiding has been the blessing of God on these gatherings. The lesson which the Word of God has taught us shows the preparation necessary for the baptism of the Spirit. For the first disciples, as well as for the Lord Jesus, the path to Pentecost ran by Golgotha. The outpouring of the Spirit is inseparably bound up with the previous outpouring of the blood. With us also it is a new and deeper experience of what the blood can accomplish that will lead us to the full blessing of Pentecost. If you long for this blessing, consider, I beseech you, the immovable foundation on which it rests. Take such a word as that from John: The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin (I John 1:7). The cleansed vessel can be filled. Come with all the sins of which you are conscious and ask the Lamb to cleanse you in His blood. Receive that word with a perfect faith, with a faith that rejoices over all feeling and experience-It has taken place for me. Faith acts as possessing what it does not feel; it knows how, in the Spirit, to take possession of that which only later on will be realized in the soul and in the body. Walking in the light, you have a right to say with perfect liberty, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth me from all sin. Rely on your great High Priest to manifest in your heart also, by His Spirit, the heavenly wonder-working power which His blood has exercised for cleansing in the Holiest. Rely on the blood of the Lamb which destroyed the authority and effect of sin before God, in heaven, to destroy it also in your heart. And let your song of joy, by faith, be Unto Him who cleansed me in His own blood be the glory and the power, and reckon on receiving the fullness of the Spirit. It is by the Spirit that the blood was offered up. It is by the Spirit that the blood has had its power and is still producing results in your heart, It is by the Spirit that your heart, through the blood, has been made a temple of God. Reckon, with full assurance of faith, that a heart which is through Him by blood made clean is prepared, as a temple, to be filled with the glory of God. Reckon on the fullness of the Spirit as your portion. Oh, the blessedness of a heart by blood made clean and filled with the Spirit. Full of joy and full of love, full of faith and full of praise, full of zeal and full of power-for the work of the Lord. By the blood and the Spirit of the Lamb, that heart is a temple where God dwells on His throne of grace, where God Himself is the light, where God's will is the only law, where the glory of God is all in all. Oh, ye children of God, come and let the precious blood prepare you for being filled with His Spirit, so that the Lamb that was slain for you may have the reward of His labor-labor marked by blood. And He and you together may be satisfied in His love.
Blurb:	We can never know too much about the truths that the blood of Christ proclaims. Andrew Murray, through his truly inspirational walk with God, has lifted the veil on much of the mystery of Christ's blood and its precious source of life. He shares the tremendous power that Christ's blood has for each of us if we accept it as our rightful inheritance and rely upon it to protect and enable us to accomplish our purposes in God.

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