Plead the Blood of Jesus

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death (Revelation 12:10-11).” I remember a pastor telling the congregation I was in to, “Plead the blood of Jesus.” It was meant to act as some sort of defense against bad stuff happening to you or to ensure that something good would happen. For example, if you didn’t like your job you were to, “Plead the Blood” when you walked into work. If people around you were getting sick with colds and the flu you were to, again, “Plead the Blood.” To be honest it was one of the main reasons I left that church. They made being a Christian out be some kind of circus at best and a form of witchcraft at the worst. I guess that is why some even view saying this phrase as a way to “release” someone from demon control. One of the key passages used to support the idea of Pleading the Blood of Jesus is Revelation 12:10-11. There is the belief that because the devil referred to as the “accuser of our brothers,” has been “hurled down” it is because of the “blood of the Lamb.” Therefore, all Christians are said to have “authority” over our circumstances because of the “power of Christ’s blood.” But, does the scripture really say that? This passage is more of a salvation passage then it is some verification that we can manipulate God into doing our will by saying some “magical” phrase. My attention is drawn to the last part of the passage where it says, “they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” This is telling me that through the death of Jesus Christ taking away our sins and the testimony of believers, we have overcome the devil to the point where we don’t love our lives here anymore and would rather die than go on being tormented. 

This lines up nicely with the words of Jesus Christ who said, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:25).” Yet, those who, “Plead the Blood,” are actually guilty of loving this life. The reason why I can say this is because they are using the “blood” of Jesus to get what they want out of life. They want to use the Lord for things like making their jobs easier or overcoming health challenges. That is a form of loving this life. The passage from Revelation 12 talks about not shrinking from death. This means the believers hated life in this world and chose to die and enter into eternity with the Lord instead of remaining here in this life. Furthermore, like with most of what is taught in Christianity, this is just one more way to keep the focus on ourselves and off of Jesus. Instead of taking His life, His forgiveness, His acceptance, His unconditional love and living life with the attitude of participating in what He is trying to accomplish, we are trying to use His “power” to accomplish what we want out of life. Jesus Christ “came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10).” He did not come to give those who are saved the authority to manipulate their life circumstances to their benefit. To “Plead the blood of Jesus” is not in the Bible. Rather, the shed blood of Jesus Christ is what made it possible for God to restore His life to us; a life that carries through death and on into eternity.