Andrew Murray - The Blood of Christ

The Blood of Christ
Copyright 2001
Bethany House Publishers

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Originally published by Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd., London, England, 1935, under the titles The Power of the Blood of Jesus and The Blood of the Cross.

This edition revised and updated.

Ebook edition created 2012

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3182-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.

Cover design by Jenny Parker

Contents

Preface to Part One

This book is a translation of a portion of a series of addresses by my late father, the Reverend Andrew Murray, M.A., D.D., on The Power of the Blood of Jesus, which before this appeared only in Dutch.

The translator is the Reverend William M. Douglas, B.A., who for many years was my fathers close friend, having been associated with him in connection with the South African Keswick Convention Movement. During my fathers lifetime he permitted Mr. Douglas to translate his book on The Prayer Life, and he became my fathers biographer after his death.

I have read the manuscript and think the translation is excellent. He has reproduced the thoughts of my father exactly.

I am sure that much blessing will result from the prayerful and thoughtful reading of these chapters.

Trusting you may learn to value and to live in the experience of the power of the precious blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I remain,

Yours in the Blessed Masters service,
M. E. Murray
Clairvaux,
Wellington, C.P., South Africa

Translators note : It is necessary to remember that all through these chapters Dr. Murray refers only to sacrificial blood. The blood of the Bible is always that.

It should be noted when reading chapter 3 that in the Dutch Bible Dr. Murray used, the word verzoening is used for propitiation. Verzoening means reconciliation, and that is the word used in this translation.

CHAPTER 1

What the Scriptures Teach About the Blood

But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

Hebrews 9:7, 18

God has spoken to us in the Scriptures in various portions and in various manners, but the voice is always the same; it is always the word of the same God.

Hence the importance of treating the Bible as a whole and receiving the witness it gives in its various portions concerning certain truths. It is thus we learn to recognize the place these truths actually occupy in revelation, or rather in the heart of God. Thus, too, we begin to discover what the foundation truths of the Bible are that demand attention over others. Standing as they do so prominently in each new departure of Gods revelation, remaining unchanged when the dispensation changes, they carry a divine intimation of their importance.

It is my object in the chapters that follow this introductory one to show what the Scriptures teach us concerning the glorious power of the blood of Jesus and the wonderful blessings procured for us by it. I do not think I can lay a better foundation for my exposition, nor give a better proof of the superlative glory of that blood as the power of redemption, than by asking my readers to follow me through the Bible, and thus see the unique place that is given to the blood from the beginning to the end of Gods revelation of himself to man as recorded in the Bible.

It will become clear that there is no single scriptural idea, from Genesis to Revelation, more constantly and more prominently kept in view than that expressed by the words the blood.

Our inquiry, then, is into what the Scriptures teach us about the bloodfirst, in the Old Testament; second, in the teaching of our Lord Jesus himself; third, in what the apostles teach; and finally, what John tells us of it in the book of Revelation.

What the Old Testament Teaches About the Blood

The Old Testaments record about the blood begins at the gates of the Garden of Eden. Into the unrevealed mysteries of Eden I do not enter. But in connection with the sacrifice of Abel all is plain. He brought of the firstborn of his flock to the Lord as a sacrifice, and there, in connection with the first act of worship recorded in the Bible, blood was shed. We learn from Hebrews 11 that it was by faith that Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, and his name stands first in the record of those whom the Bible calls believers. He had the witness credited to him that he pleased God. His faith and Gods good pleasure in him are closely connected with the sacrificial blood.

In the light of later revelation, this testimony, given at the very beginning of human history, is of deep significance. It shows that there can be no approach to God, no fellowship with Him by faith, and no enjoyment of His favor apart from the blood.

Scripture gives only a short account of the following sixteen centuries. Then came the floodGods judgment on sinand the destruction of the world of humankind as it was then known.

God brought forth a new earth from that awful baptism of water. Notice, however, that the new earth must be baptized also with blood, and the first recorded act of Noah after he had left the ark was the offering of burnt sacrifice to God. As with Abel, so with Noah at a new beginning: it was never without blood.

Sin once again prevailed, and God laid an entirely new foundation for the establishment of His kingdom on earth.

By the divine call of Abram, and the miraculous birth of Isaac, God undertook the formation of a people to serve Him. But this purpose was not accomplished apart from the shedding of blood. This is apparent in the most solemn hour of Abrahams life.

God had already entered into covenant relationship with Abraham, and his faith had already been severely tried and stood the test. It was counted to him for righteousness. Yet he had to learn that Isaac, the son of promise who belonged wholly to God, could be truly surrendered to God only by death.

Isaac must die?! For Abraham, as well as for Isaac, only through death could freedom from the self-life be obtained.

Abraham must offer Isaac on the altar.

This was not an arbitrary command of God. It was the revelation of a divine truth that it is only through death that a life fully consecrated to God is possible. It was impossible for Isaac to die and rise again from the dead; because of sin, death would hold him fast. But we know that his life was spared and that a ram was offered in his place. Through the blood that flowed on Mount Moriah from that sacrifice, his life was saved. By that blood he was figuratively raised again from the dead. The great lesson of substitution is clearly taught here. He and the people who have come after him live before Godbut not without the blood.