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Revelation 12:11
In addition to covering our sins and granting us access to the throne of God, the blood of the Lamb gives us eternal life. Notice Christ's words: Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:53-56) By partaking the wine at Passover, we symbolically take in the life in that blood (see Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11, 14). Yet the life that is in His blood is eternal life. Verse 54, particularly Christ's words, "I will raise him up at the last day," assures us of the resurrection. Those who have Christ's life in them will be raised from the dead, just as He was. Satan may have the power of death (Hebrews 2:14), but through the resurrection of the dead, death is swallowed up in victory. He can no longer threaten us with death. Because of the promise of the resurrection, death no longer has a lasting "sting" (see I Corinthians 15:54-57). Verse 56 shows how close this communion becomes: We abide (dwell or live) in Christ, and He abides in us. This facet of the blood of the Lamb makes it clear that it is part of an ongoing relationship. Some of the previous aspects could be considered as happening in a distant or detached manner, but this shows that the blood is inextricably linked with a relationship. This harmonizes with John 17:3, which says that eternal life—what we have through the blood—is to know the Father and the Son. Thus, Christ's blood enables us to overcome Satan, his world, and our own sin because the Father and the Son are now living in us, and anything that we need to be victorious is available.
David C. Grabbe
How Did They Overcome? (Part Two)
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