Divine Attention Network

The Blood of Jesus

Power, Authority and What It Means for You

No subject in Christian theology is more central, more powerful, or more practically significant than the blood of Jesus Christ. Everything the believer has – forgiveness, access to God, authority over the enemy, healing, redemption, and eternal life – flows from one source: the blood shed at Calvary. This sermon will show you exactly what that blood has done and how to apply its power to your life today.

Revelation 12:11 · Hebrews 9:22 · 1 John 1:7 · Ephesians 1:7 · Exodus 12:13

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11 (NKJV)

Leviticus 17:11 contains one of the most foundational statements in all of Scripture: the life of a creature is in the blood. This was not merely a biological observation. It was a theological statement about the relationship between blood and life. Blood carries life. And therefore blood, shed on behalf of another, is the transfer of life on behalf of that other. This is the theological foundation on which the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament rests – and it is the foundation on which the cross of Jesus Christ stands.

When Jesus shed His blood at Calvary, He was not simply dying. He was transferring the infinite, sinless, divine life of the Son of God in exchange for the guilty, fallen, death-condemned life of every human being who would ever trust in Him. Hebrews 9:22 establishes the irreplaceable necessity of this transaction: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Not without sincere effort. Not without religious performance. Without the shedding of blood. The blood of Jesus is not one component of salvation. It is the foundation of everything.

And Revelation 12:11 reveals something that should permanently change how every believer engages with spiritual warfare: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” The primary weapon of the believer against the accuser of the brethren is the blood of the Lamb applied in faith and declared with the voice of testimony. The blood of Jesus is not only a historical event. It is a present-tense weapon.

WHAT THIS SERMON COVERS 1.  Key Bible Verses on the Blood of Jesus 2.  Part 1 – What the Blood of Jesus Accomplished at the Cross 3.  Part 2 – The Blood in the Old and New Testaments 4.  Part 3 – Seven Things the Blood of Jesus Does for the Believer 5.  Part 4 – Pleading the Blood – What It Means and How to Do It 6.  Part 5 – The Blood Speaks Better Things 7.  Declaration of the Blood 8.  Closing Prayer 9.  FAQ – Questions About the Blood of Jesus

How to use this sermon: Teach this as a foundational message on redemption and spiritual authority, or as part of a series on the cross. Especially powerful before a season of intensified spiritual warfare, before a corporate fasting period, or as a teaching that equips believers to pray the blood of Jesus effectively. Close with the declaration spoken corporately, loudly, and with faith.

What Does the Bible Say About the Blood of Jesus?

✔  Revelation 12:11 – They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

✔  Hebrews 9:22 – Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

✔  1 John 1:7 – The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

✔  Ephesians 1:7 – In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

✔  Colossians 1:20 – Making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.

✔  Hebrews 13:12 – Jesus suffered outside the gate to make the people holy through His own blood.

✔  Romans 5:9 – Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath.

✔  1 Peter 1:18–19 – Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

✔  Revelation 1:5 – To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.

✔  Exodus 12:13 – When I see the blood I will pass over you.

What the Blood of Jesus Accomplished at the Cross

The cross of Jesus Christ was not a tragedy that God turned into a triumph. It was a triumph that God designed before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 describes Jesus as the Lamb slain from the creation of the world. The shedding of His blood was the most precisely orchestrated, most thoroughly prepared, and most comprehensively effective event in all of human history. And its effects are permanent, complete, and available to every person who applies them by faith.

Colossians 2:13–15 describes what happened at the cross in terms of a legal courtroom: God cancelled the written record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He set it aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them in Him. Three things happened simultaneously: the legal debt was cancelled, the legal record was destroyed, and the spiritual authority of every power that had been holding the debt was stripped away. This is the comprehensive work of the blood.

THE FINISHED WORK: John 19:30 records the final words of Jesus from the cross: “It is finished.” The Greek word is tetelestai – a commercial term that meant a debt has been paid in full. A receipt stamped with tetelestai meant the debt no longer existed and could never be raised again. When Jesus said it is finished, He was declaring that the full price of sin, death, and separation from God had been paid, stamped in the currency of His own blood, and cancelled permanently. That receipt belongs to every believer.

The Blood in the Old and New Testaments

The Passover – The Blood as a Sign of Protection

Exodus 12 is the Old Testament’s most powerful prophetic picture of the blood of Christ. The children of Israel were instructed to slaughter a lamb without blemish, apply its blood to the doorposts and lintel of their homes, and remain inside under the blood’s covering. God’s promise was absolute: “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” (Exodus 12:13). The destroyer had no authority over the blood-covered home. Not because of the worthiness of the inhabitants. Because of the blood on the door.

This is the precise template for the believer’s spiritual covering under the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus applied by faith creates a covering over the life of the believer that the destroyer cannot penetrate. Not because of the worthiness of the believer. Because of the blood.

The Day of Atonement – The Blood Opens Access to God

Leviticus 16 describes the annual Day of Atonement in which the high priest entered the Most Holy Place with the blood of a bull and a goat to make atonement for the sins of Israel. This was the only day of the year anyone could enter the presence of God behind the veil – and only with blood. Hebrews 9:11–12 reveals that Jesus fulfilled this entire system permanently: He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, obtaining eternal redemption. Once for all. The access is permanent. The atonement is complete.

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:7 (NIV)

Seven Things the Blood of Jesus Does for the Believer

1. The Blood REDEEMS – It Buys You Back

Ephesians 1:7: in Him we have redemption through His blood. The word redemption means to buy back a slave from the market. Every human being is born as a slave to sin and death (Romans 6:17, 5:12). The blood of Jesus is the purchase price that bought every believer out of that slavery permanently. You have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). You are no longer owned by sin, by the devil, or by death.

2. The Blood FORGIVES – It Cancels the Debt of Sin

1 John 1:7: the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. All sin. Not the minor ones. All sin. Colossians 2:14 describes God as cancelling the written record of debt that stood against us, nailing it to the cross. Your sin record has been destroyed by the blood.

3. The Blood JUSTIFIES – It Declares You Righteous

Romans 5:9: since we have now been justified by His blood. Justification means to be declared righteous in God’s court – not just pardoned but declared as though you had never sinned. 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. You stand before God in the righteousness of His Son.

4. The Blood OPENS ACCESS – It Tears the Veil

Hebrews 10:19–20: since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is His body. The veil that separated humanity from God was torn at the moment of Jesus’ death (Matthew 27:51). The blood opened direct, bold, permanent access to the throne of God for every believer.

5. The Blood SANCTIFIES – It Sets You Apart for God

Hebrews 13:12: Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood. The blood does not only deal with what you were – it establishes what you are. You are sanctified. Set apart. Consecrated to God. Belonging to Him in a specific, designated way that nothing the enemy does can revoke.

6. The Blood MAKES PEACE – It Reconciles You to God

Colossians 1:20: making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. The fundamental rupture in the human story is the rupture between humanity and God produced by sin. The blood of Jesus is the only substance in the universe capable of repairing that rupture. It makes peace – not a truce but a genuine, permanent reconciliation.

7. The Blood OVERCOMES – It Is Your Primary Weapon of War

Revelation 12:11: they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. The blood of Jesus is not only the basis of salvation. It is the primary weapon of spiritual warfare. Every accusation the enemy brings, every claim of legal right he asserts, every assignment he attempts to execute – all of it is answered and nullified by the blood.

Pleading the Blood – What It Means and How to Do It

The phrase pleading the blood of Jesus is widely used in Pentecostal and charismatic prayer but not always well understood. To plead the blood is to apply the legal merits of Christ’s sacrifice to a specific situation by faith and declaration. It is the spiritual equivalent of presenting a legal document in court – the document of the completed work of Christ, applied to the specific case before you.

Exodus 12:13 establishes the pattern: when God sees the blood, He acts on the blood’s behalf. Pleading the blood is the act of directing God’s attention to the blood’s covering over your specific situation. You plead the blood over your home, your family, your health, your finances, your mind, and every area under spiritual attack.

How to Plead the Blood Practically

Declare specifically: I plead the blood of Jesus over [specific person, place, situation]. This is not a formula or an incantation. It is a faith declaration that activates the legal provision of Christ’s sacrifice over a specific target. Combined with the word of your testimony – Revelation 12:11 – it constitutes the complete weapon: the blood applied, the testimony declared.

MORNING BLOOD COVERING: Begin every day by pleading the blood of Jesus over yourself: your mind, your body, your spirit, your home, your family, your finances, your assignments, and your day. Just as the Israelite applied the blood to the doorposts every Passover, the believer applies the blood of Jesus in prayer as a daily covering. When God sees the blood, the destroyer cannot touch what the blood covers.

The Blood Speaks Better Things

Hebrews 12:24 contains one of the most extraordinary statements in the New Testament: the blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood, shed unjustly, cried out from the ground for vengeance (Genesis 4:10). The blood of Jesus cries out something fundamentally different: not vengeance but mercy. Not judgment but forgiveness. Not condemnation but justification.

This means that in the spiritual realm, the blood of Jesus is constantly speaking on your behalf. Speaking to the Father: this person is covered, forgiven, justified, redeemed. Speaking to the accuser: this person’s debt is paid, your accusation has no standing. Speaking to death: this person has been purchased out of your domain. The blood of Jesus is not silent. It speaks. And what it says is better than anything else that has ever been spoken over a human life.

When you plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, you are not trying to make the blood speak. It is already speaking. You are aligning your declaration with what the blood is already saying. You are adding the word of your testimony to the blood of the Lamb. And the combination – the blood and the testimony – is what Revelation 12:11 describes as the weapon by which they overcame him.

“Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body – let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.” Hebrews 10:19–22 (NIV)

🔥 DECLARATION OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS PLEAD THE BLOOD OVER YOUR LIFE EVERY MORNING I plead the blood of Jesus over my life right now! Over my mind, my body, and my spirit. Over my home and every person in it. Over my finances, my business, and every assignment on my life. Over my health and the health of everyone I love. The blood of Jesus redeems me. It forgives me. It justifies me. It gives me access to God. It sanctifies me. It makes peace between me and God. And it overcomes the enemy on my behalf. I am under the blood and the destroyer cannot touch what the blood covers. I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

CLOSING PRAYER Father, thank You for the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank You that it redeems me, forgives me, justifies me, provides access for me, sanctifies me, makes peace between us, and overcomes the enemy on my behalf. I apply the blood of Jesus to every area of my life right now by faith. Let the blood speak on my behalf. Let its provision be fully activated. Let every accusation the enemy brings against me be silenced by the blood that has already answered every charge. In the name of Jesus. Amen!

– FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS –

What does it mean to be washed in the blood of Jesus? The imagery is drawn from Revelation 7:14, which describes the redeemed as those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The paradox of washing something white in blood is intentional and theologically precise: the blood of Jesus does not stain but cleanses. It removes the moral defilement of sin from the believer’s spiritual record and replaces it with the pure righteousness of Christ. 1 John 1:7 states this directly: the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Is there a difference between pleading the blood and praying in Jesus’ name? They are closely related but emphasise different aspects of the same reality. Praying in Jesus’ name is praying with the authority and on the basis of the relationship you have with God through Christ. Pleading the blood is more specifically applying the legal merits of the atonement – invoking the specific covenantal provision that the blood represents. In spiritual warfare, the blood is particularly significant because Revelation 12:11 identifies it as the specific weapon by which the enemy is overcome. Why did God require blood for forgiveness? Hebrews 9:22 states the principle without negotiation: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. The reason is rooted in the biblical equation between blood and life (Leviticus 17:11). Sin produces death (Romans 6:23). For death to be averted and life restored, a life must be given in exchange. Under the old covenant, the blood of animals provided a temporary annual covering. Under the new covenant, the blood of the sinless Son of God provides a permanent, complete, once-for-all atonement. Can the blood of Jesus cover any sin, no matter how serious? 1 John 1:7 says the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. The word all is total and without exception. Romans 5:20 says where sin increased, grace increased all the more. The blood of Jesus is not calibrated to the size of the sin it covers. It is infinite – the infinite life of the infinite Son of God shed for the finite sins of finite human beings. The only sin it cannot cover is the one that is never brought to it: the persistent, final rejection of Christ Himself. How do I teach my children about the blood of Jesus? Begin with the Passover story in Exodus 12 – a narrative children engage with readily and that provides a concrete, memorable picture of how the blood protects. Then connect it to the cross: Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Teach them to pray the blood of Jesus over their own lives as part of their morning prayer. The spiritual covering that children grow up praying over themselves becomes a deeply rooted spiritual reflex that serves them throughout their lives. Why is the blood of Jesus described as precious in 1 Peter 1:19? 1 Peter 1:18–19 says you were redeemed not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. The blood is precious because of who shed it – the sinless, eternal Son of God. Gold has value because it is rare and imperishable. The blood of Christ has infinite value because it belongs to an infinite Person and carries the weight of an infinite sacrifice. No human calculation can quantify its worth. It is the most precious substance in the universe.

The Blood Has Never Lost Its Power

The old hymn asks: would you be free from the burden of sin? There is power in the blood. And after two thousand years, that answer has not changed. The blood of Jesus has not aged. It has not become less effective with time. It has not been neutralised by the sophistication of modern culture or the intensity of modern spiritual warfare. The blood that purchased redemption at Calvary is as powerful today as it was the moment it hit the ground outside Jerusalem.

You have access to the most powerful provision in the universe. Not through religious performance. Not through spiritual achievement. Through the blood of a Lamb. Apply it. Plead it. Declare it. Testify about it. And overcome by it. Because Revelation 12:11 remains true today: they overcome him not by talent, not by intelligence, not by position or resources – but by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

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ABOUT THE MINISTER Rev. Emmanuel O. Adejugbe Rev. Emmanuel O. Adejugbe is the founder and lead minister of the Divine Attention Prayer Network – a ministry built on the conviction that God’s attention never leaves His people. Through the Divine Attention Prayer Network, he continues to raise up a generation of believers who are grounded in the Word, fervent in prayer, and bold in faith.