The Blood Avenger
Spring 2001
By Martha LuciaThere
is a cry arising in the earth; it is the cry of the innocent blood that has
been uncovered. “For behold the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: The earth also shall disclose her
blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Isa. 26:21). As followers of
Jesus Christ, we have been given the privilege of answering this cry.
When we avenge the blood of Jesus on our adversary it will silence the
cry of the blood from the land. In
the Old Testament, which is a foreshadowing of the new covenant, God gave the
Israelites some very specific instructions related to the blood in the Law.
Not only did God direct the priest to make blood sacrifices, but He also
set up laws to deal with those who shed the blood of another.
He described certain cities as “bloody” and described the woes they
were destined to receive if they did not have a change of heart and repent.
In this edition we will try to give an understanding of these subjects.
Then we will explore our opportunity to become the blood avenger and
redeem the blood through the accomplished plan of redemption established by the
Father before the foundations of the world, when Jesus died, arose and ascended
to the Father. According to 1 Peter 1:18-20 the blood of Jesus paid the price
to redeem everything. We will concentrate on this one area in this writing, the
Blood!
Avenging
and Redeeming the Blood
The avenger of blood is defined in Deuteronomy 19 as the one who could
avenge the blood of his next of kin when they had been slain.
To avenge means to take vengeance on behalf of another or to exact
satisfaction for a wrong by punishing the wrong doer. The Hebrew word for
avenger is ga’al, which means to redeem according to the law of
kinship. God was not only giving
the next of kin the right to bring punishment in retaliation for the innocent
blood that had been shed, but He was also giving him the right to redeem the
blood. As the next of kin of
Jesus, we have full authority to avenge His blood upon the head of the enemy
and bring redemption through the shed blood of Jesus (Ro. 8:17).
You might be asking, “Who was the murderer of Jesus?”
1 Corinthians 2:8 says, “which none of the princes of this world
knew; for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”
If the prince—ruled by Satan had known what would be accomplished on the
cross he would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
Satan and his demons are responsible for the shedding of Christ’s
innocent blood, but what a surprise they were in for!
They had no idea of the power contained in that sacrifice.
Now the sons of God have every right to avenge the blood of Jesus on
every principality, power, ruler of the darkness, and wicked spirit in high
places. Jesus came to destroy the
works of the devil. He came to give us abundant life, but bring destruction to
the devil.
God was very clear in His direction to Moses that it would be beneficial
to the people of Israel for the blood of the innocent to be purged from their
land. God had given them the land
as an inheritance. The shedding of
innocent blood would defile the land, tarnish their inheritance, and ultimately
the blood guiltiness of the land would come upon them.
Isaiah prophesied over the nation of Israel:
“Behold,
the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy,
that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.” (Is.
59:1-3)
The blood guiltiness of the land had encompassed the hearts of the
people and separated them from God. It
had drawn them into iniquitous sins. There
was evil and perversion in the land and in the people, yet no one was calling
out for redemption or executing judgment.
This displeased God.
“And
he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor:
therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it
sustained him. For he put on
righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he
put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a
cloak. According to their deeds,
accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies;
to the islands he will repay recompense.”
(Is. 59:16-18)
This is a picture of who Jesus had to become and of the garments He was
required to wear in order to fulfill this Scripture. By becoming the
intercessor for us and putting on righteousness, salvation, vengeance and zeal,
Jesus became the Blood Avenger to redeem the blood.
We, as children of God, have been given the right to wear that same
clothing. The enemy will continue
to rule until God finds a people who will join Him in His redemptive purposes.
In Isaiah 59:21 God made a covenant with His redeemed:
“My
Spirit is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
mouth of the seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”
The same spirit and words of judgment God put in Jesus’ mouth have
been put in the mouths of the redeemed.
“To
execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people; To bind
their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute
upon them the judgment written: this HONOR have ALL his saints.
Praise ye the Lord.” (Ps. 149:7-9)
“With
my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will
seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of
the world will learn righteousness.” (Is. 26:9 NKJV)
It
will take executing the vengeance of God for the world to learn righteousness
and as the saints of God we have the honor to execute these judgments and bring
the plan of redemption to bear on all God’s creation.
Isaiah
prophesied about the day of vengeance in Isaiah 61:1-2:
“The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and
the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn.”
Jesus echoed these words in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he
hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord.”
It is interesting to note that when Jesus read this scripture, He did
not include the next segment, “and the day of God’s vengeance.”
I believe Jesus did not make this proclamation because it was not time
for it yet. He had not yet become
the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn. 2:2).
But the day of vengeance was in His heart as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah
63:3-4:
“I
have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me:
for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their
blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed
is come.”
The
blood of Jesus answered the cry of the blood as He became obedient to the
cross. His Church is the executor of His victory we must carry it out. The cry
of Jesus that has echoed down through history strikes fear in the heart of
demons—It is Finished!
Vengeance and redemption have always been in God’s heart.
Redemption comes through executing His vengeance.
Verse 8 of Isaiah 63 says, “For it is the day of the Lord’s
vengeance (revenge), and the year of recompenses (reward) for the controversy
(contest) of Zion.” Wow!
It is time to be rewarded for the contest we have been in since the fall
of man. Hallelujah!
The
Blood Cries Out
The voice of the blood is rising from the ground.
I believe God is telling us that now is the time to take our stand as
the blood avenger. The cry of
the blood will be answered either by the atoning blood of Jesus being applied
or by the bloodthirsty demons that require continual sacrifices of blood
through war, abortion, witchcraft, the occult, etc.
The blood has always been precious to God.
It provided the sign on the doorpost that freed the Israelites from
bondage (Ex. 12:13, 23). The blood
represented God’s covenant with His people (Ex. 24:8). The blood was offered
as a sin offering (Ex. 30:10; Lev. 4:25,30,34; 5:9; 7:2; 14:14; Ez. 45:19).
Blood was also used to purify and sanctify the altar and to make
reconciliation (Lev. 8:15). The
blood was used to sanctify the priests (Ex. 29:20-21, Lev. 8:23) and to make
atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11). Blood
was offered as a peace offering (Lev. 7:14, 2 Kg. 16:13) and as an offering for
the kingdom and the sanctuary (2 Ch. 29:21,22).
The priests applied the blood to the horns of the altar of sweet
incense, which represents prayers (Lev. 4:7).
The life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11).
God heard the cry of the blood when it was offered as a sacrifice unto
Him or when it was shed for unjust reasons.
Jesus’ blood redeemed it all. The
blood of Jesus redeemed even the shed blood!
In Genesis 4 we find the account of Cain and Abel where God said to
Abel, “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the
ground.” The innocent blood
of Abel was crying out for God to avenge him of his adversary.
God responded to that cry by pronouncing a curse on Cain, “When
thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength
(produce, fruit, substance, wealth).”
The defilement of blood brought a curse of desolation on the land.
The demonic forces would love to see that curse remain in the land.
But the curse God pronounced on Cain affected more than just the land.
God decided to place a mark on Cain to prevent further bloodshed and
drove him from His presence. At
that time the law allowing the avenger of blood had not yet been established
Today, we can see where the demonic forces of death, hell, and war have
ruled in areas of the world where war after war has resulted in the death of
many innocent people and this blood guiltiness has left the land desolate.
When bloodthirsty demons answer the cry of the blood, the spirit of
death, hell, and desolation remain. Revelation
6:8 describes hell and death as spirits:
“And
I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth
part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and
with the beasts of the earth.”
The spirit of
hell, which causes war when it rules over the land and people, comes with death
to torture, maim, and rape. Their
ultimate desire is to bring death, fear, and torment to people—the saying war
is Hell is true. Because of
Jesus’ victory on the cross, these spirits have been defeated and must not be
allowed to continue to rule. We
are to rule in the midst of our enemies (Ps. 110:2).
Jesus said:
“Do
not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And I have the keys of death and
hell.” (Rev. 1:17b-18)
Again
God said the innocent blood pollutes or brings corruption to the land.
The only way that defilement can be avenged is through the blood.
Blood redeems blood.
The
Israelites knew that the shedding of innocent blood resulted in defilement, but
their social injustices brought about national and moral transgressions.
God was displeased!
One would think that over the course of time a city and a people would
understand the consequences of their actions and turn from their iniquitous
ways. But even in the days of
Jesus, the people were again assigned the blood guiltiness from the foundations
of the world. Jesus said to the
Pharisees:
“Therefore,
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill
and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute
from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of
Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say
to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” (Mt.
23:34-36 NKJV)
This word was re-enforced when Jesus was crucified and the people cried
out, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
What incredibly heavy cursing words!
We started out in France where the spirit of reason has taken over the
minds of the people and turned their churches into places where men are exalted
and venerated, where those such as Joan of Arc were burned at the stake.
Next we went to Napoli, Italy where we visited the cave of the oracle of
Cuma–the false prophetess–and the coliseum where more Christians were
martyred than in Rome. We went underneath into the catacomb-like passageways
where the Christians and lions were held.
The spirit of weeping hit us as we felt the impact of what took place
there.
Our next stop was Rome, the head of the Roman Empire, which was guilty
of much bloodshed. We visited the
Circus Maximus and the Coliseum, which held the games and chariot races, which
killed Christians in the name of entertainment.
As we approached the gateway of the Coliseum the spirit of fear flooded
me and I felt what the Christians of that time must have felt.
We must be free of fear if we are to come against these bloodthirsty
demons. The Coliseum was a picture
of the spirit of entertainment gone insane.
Next we visited the Vatican. There
is truly no place on earth like it. It
is its own nation, ruled by no man but the pope.
On the ceiling of the famous Cistine Chapel we discovered that between
each of the true prophets of the Bible is painted a false oracle of Cybele.
It is a picture of the foundation of the Church (prophetic/apostolic)
turned upside down. The mixture of true and false destroys the power
of the gospel.
Then we headed on to Switzerland where the Lord spoke “blood
money”–that is, money obtained through shedding of innocent blood.
The nation of Switzerland remained politically “neutral” during
World War II while they received blood money from many nations.
Our last stop was Belfast, Northern Ireland where much blood has been
shed in the name of religion, yet definitely tied to politics.
A wall stands in the city separating the two sides even as the Berlin
Wall did, with a no man’s land, which is not crossed by either side.
There we met with a passionate people of the Lord who are crying out and
working hard to see their land healed. As we go into the 40/70 window we can
expect tremendous opposition from the warring religious, anti-Christ spirits.
We applied the blood of Jesus at each location along this journey as we prayed
and asked God to raise up His true Church and establish the right foundation in
these places. Praise God for His
redeeming power!
In 1992, Bishop Bill Hamon
had a prophetic vision of the Third World War that is being planned by Satan.
He saw that the warring spirit would arise in China, some Islamic
nations, and a few other existing Communist nations.
He called it the East-West War and England was at the very point of this
war. East meets west in England at
Greenwich, from which all time is measured.
I pray England will arise and redeem the time, the meridian line, and
the point of entry and silence the warring demons that stand ready to shed more
blood. We have a choice, we can
win this war in the spirit or we will have to fight in the natural.
God has given us the tools and the authority to win in the spiritual
realm. Let our faith rise as we
proclaim the victory through the blood of Jesus!
Father, we accept
Your clothing of vengeance and zeal as we execute Your judgment to establish
Your Kingdom on this earth. We
thank You for the blood You shed that gives us the victory to avenge your
enemies in this world. With
boldness, Your vengeance, and a zeal for Your house, we press on, testifying of
Your redemptive power.
Announcements:
Seeing Israel Through
Prophetic Eyes, a 12 Day Spiritual Journey to The Holy Land hosted
by Martha Lucia. Tour dates are July 18-29, 2001, Tour price is $2,695 per
person from Atlanta. Call 1-800-388-5308 for more information.
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book soon to be released, The Gate of Prayer by Martha
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