# The Power of the Blood of Christ: A Standalone Study Guide

*A companion study guide to* When Angels Speak *(Roland Buck on the Power of the Blood of Jesus)*

> **How to use this guide:** Work through it chapter by chapter alongside the book. Page numbers refer to the book. Where an answer is given, it appears in *italics*. Questions without an answer are for your own reflection or group discussion.

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## Chapter 1

**Page 3**

1. Has God ever spoken directly from His heart to your heart?
2. How important is the blood of Jesus to you?
3. What is the power of the blood of Jesus?
4. How great is the power of the blood of Jesus?
5. Who is Jesus, and therefore why is Jesus’ blood so powerful? (Colossians 2:9)
6. What makes Jesus’ blood so powerful?

**Page 4**

7. What determines the value and power of blood?
*By whom it flows through.*
8. How does God take Jesus’ blood and give it to us?
9. Where or how did the blood of Jesus get its ability to wash away our sins?

**Page 5**

10. What are five things God is like? What is His character?
11. What are some verses that reveal our position in God?
12. How can we prepare for the believers’ judgment day?
13. Do you believe that through Jesus’ blood you have favor with God?
14. How can God see us with total favor even though we may still have more maturing to go through?
15. How do we secure our position in God and come under His beautiful covering provided by Jesus’ sacrifice?
16. What are the two things needed to come under the Atonement of Christ?
*Sincerity and repentance from our sins, and faith in the Truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us through His sacrifice.*
17. What are the two things that would remove a person from the covering of Christ?
*Rebellion and idolatry.*
18. Can you visualize yourself right now wrapped up and covered in God’s great love?
19. Have you thought about how nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ?

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## Chapter 2

**Page 7**

1. What central truth has proven to be the heart of the Bible, the heart of God, and the heart of all of history?
*The sacrifice of Jesus.*

**Page 8**

We learn from Abel’s story that from the very beginning there can be no approach to God, no fellowship with Him, and no enjoyment of His favor apart from blood.

2. Have you ever tried to obtain favor with God apart from Jesus’ blood?
3. Is it liberating to you to know that because of Jesus’ shed blood you can now have an audience with the KING?

> **Action Step:** Take a few moments to sit with the KING. How was it?

4. Do you believe you have anything apart from the blood of Jesus to offer God in order to earn anything from Him?
5. What do Adam and Eve, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Children of Israel, and Jesus all have in common?
*All of these participated in some way in, or were beneficiaries of, a blood sacrifice that brought deliverance from God or brought God’s favor and blessing to those who accepted and believed in it.*

**Page 9**

6. How do we partake of communion in a worthy manner?
*By putting your faith in what Jesus did on the cross and His shed blood for you.*
7. Why is it impossible to make ourselves ready to take communion by our own efforts?
8. What did Jesus mean when He said that if we don’t eat and drink of Him, we won’t have any life in us?
9. How do we access the life of Jesus by taking communion?
*The Holy Spirit sanctifies us by Truth, and taking communion is a way to remember Jesus’ sacrifice and drink in the Truth of what Jesus accomplished for us. Truth sets us free.*

**Page 10**

10. If your source of Life is in the blood of Jesus and you’re able to access His life by taking communion, will you take communion more often?

**Page 12**

11. How is Jesus Christ like the Golden Lid Covering, or Mercy Seat, that covered the broken laws placed in the Ark of the Covenant?
*He is our propitiation, the mercy seat covered with blood.*
– *1 John 2:2: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”*
– *Hebrews 2:17: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”*
– *Romans 3:24–25: We “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”*
– *1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”*

### Going Deeper: What Does “Propitiation” Mean?

*From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Propitiation” (via BibleStudyTools.com):*

> The word is Latin and brings into its English use the atmosphere of heathen rites for winning the favor, or averting the anger, of the gods. In the Old Testament it represents a number of Hebrew words (ten, including derivatives) which are sufficiently discussed under ATONEMENT, of which propitiation is one aspect. It represents in the Septuagint the Greek stems *hilask-* (*hile-*) and *katallag-*, with derivatives; in the New Testament only the latter, and it is rarely used.
>
> Propitiation needs to be studied in connection with reconciliation, which is used frequently in some of the most strategic sentences of the New Testament. In the Septuagint, *hilasterion* is the term for the “mercy-seat” or “lid of the ark” of the covenant, which was sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement. It is employed in exactly this sense in Hebrews 9:5, where later versions have in the margin “the propitiatory.” Elsewhere in the New Testament this form is found only in Romans 3:25, and it is here that difficulty and difference are found extensively in interpreting. Greek fathers generally and prominent modern scholars understand Paul here to say that God appointed Christ Jesus to be the “mercy-seat” for sinners. *Hilasmos* is found in the New Testament only in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10. Here the idea is active grace, or mercy, or friendliness. The teaching corresponds exactly with that in Romans. “Jesus Christ the righteous” is our “Advocate (margin ‘Helper’) with the Father,” because He is active mercy concerning (*peri*) our sins and those of the whole world. Or (1 John 4:10), God “loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for (active mercy concerning) our sins.” This last passage is parallel with Romans 3:25, the one dealing with the abstract theory, and so Christ is set forward as a “mercy-seat”; the other dealing with experience of grace, and so Christ is the mercy of God in concrete expression.
>
> The basal idea in Hebrew terms is that of covering what is offensive, so restoring friendship, or causing to be kindly disposed. The Greek terms lack the physical reference to covering but introduce the idea of friendliness where antagonism would be natural; hence, graciousness. Naturally, therefore, the idea of expiation entered into the concept. It is especially to be noted that all provisions for this friendly relation between God and offending man find their initiation and provision in God and are under His direction, but involve the active response of man. All heathen and unworthy conceptions are removed from the Christian notion of propitiation by the fact that God Himself proposed, or “set forth,” Christ as the “mercy-seat,” and that this is the supreme expression of ultimate love. God had all the while been merciful, friendly, “passing over” man’s sins with no apparently adequate, or just, ground for doing so. Now in the blood of Christ sin is condemned and expiated, and God is able to establish and maintain His character for righteousness, while He continues and extends His dealing in gracious love with sinners who exercise faith in Jesus. The propitiation originates with God, not to appease Himself, but to justify Himself in His uniform kindness to men deserving harshness. Compare also, as to reconciliation, Romans 5:1–11 and 2 Corinthians 5:18.

**The Atonement: At-One-Ment, or Reconciliation with God**

**Page 13**

12. What is God’s New Agreement, or Covenant, which was put into effect by the blood of Jesus? (Hebrews 10:17)
13. What activates and turns on the switch to God’s New Covenant with us?
*Our faith in the blood of Jesus.*
14. How do we develop faith to receive and take what God has offered and made available to everyone?
*Hear the gospel and believe it, and also celebrate communion.*
15. What did Roland Buck mean when he said that the power of the whole Godhead is now taken and given to us?
16. Do you think this statement goes too far or exaggerates, that there’s nothing God does for us that is not tied to the blood of Jesus?
17. Why can we now suddenly be bold when entering the throne room of God, the throne of grace?
18. What was the power that raised Jesus from the dead?
*His blood (Hebrews 13:20).*

**Page 14**

19. What are the three barred doors that were opened to us by the blood of Jesus?

—

## Chapter 3

**Page 17**

When the blood of Jesus covers an individual, their sin is so entirely covered and atoned for that it can no longer be identified with the transgressor.

1. Was there anything you did in the past that you worried would mark you, or that God would always remember or identify you with?
2. After hearing the truth that the blood covers you and separates you from your past sin in God’s sight, are you thankful?

> **Action Step:** Take time to thank God for this!

3. What are some other references in the Word that tell us where our sins are, or what happened to them?
– *Isaiah 44:22: Blotted out as a thick cloud.*
– *Micah 7:19: Cast into the depths of the sea.*
– *Hebrews 8:12: Remembered no more forever.*
– *Psalm 103:12: As far as the east is from the west.*
– *Leviticus 16:21–22: Transferred to a place where they can never be found (upon a live goat released into a barren wilderness).*
– *Numbers 19:9: The ashes of a red heifer are symbolic of how Jesus turned our sins into ashes.*

**Page 18**

4. Since the Holy Spirit comes when a person puts their faith in the blood of Jesus, have you put your faith in Jesus’ blood to save you?

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## Chapter 4

**Page 21**

As we ponder the power of Jesus’ blood, we are reminded of the love of God and His desire for us to be restored to fellowship with Him and total innocence before Him. Every time you see a reference to the sacrifice and blood atonement of Christ in the Bible, see it as a window to the love God has for us: a picture of God’s desire for us to be with Him, to restore us to communion and fellowship with Him, and to bring us back into sharing His life in our bodies.

> **Reflect:** Spend some time pondering this connection between the blood and sacrifice of Jesus and His desire to bring you back into sharing His Life, partaking of His Divine Nature, enjoying communion with Him, and living in oneness of spirit with Him.

There are many of these prophetic pictures throughout the Word. Here are a few:

– God killing an animal and taking its skins to clothe Adam and Eve
– Noah offering burnt sacrifices after the flood
– Abraham and Isaac
– Melchizedek bringing out bread and wine to Abraham
– Moses and the Children of Israel eating the Passover Lamb and putting its blood on the doorposts
– Jesus sharing the Passover meal with the disciples

**Page 22**

Think about some of the benefits of the blood of Jesus shared in Romans chapter 5:

– **A. Justification** (“just as if” it had never happened, in God’s sight)
– **B. Peace with God**
– **C. The sin barrier removed**
– **D. God’s wrath against sin appeased**
– **E. Hope** from God’s love shed abroad in our hearts

**Page 23**

Gabriel told Roland that the world had forgotten the real meaning of the incense offered by the High Priest.

> **Action Step:** Spend some time pondering the meaning of this incense, which Jesus Christ became for us on the cross when He took all our sins upon Himself and faced God’s judgment for them without any covering for Himself. This suffering is typified by the priest who took the crushed incense and applied a hot burning coal (a type of judgment) from the fire to produce that sweet-smelling, smoky cloud covering in the Holy Place (Leviticus 16:12–13; Ephesians 5:2).
>
> Picture that cloud ascending from the cross as the fire of God’s judgment struck Jesus for our sins. See it ascend and cover all time and space. See it stretch backward to the beginning of man, erasing all of those charges that kept coming up every year, and see it spread across all ages to the end of time, completing a plan formed in God’s heart before the world began: making man acceptable in His sight.

**Page 28**

The book states, “The victorious are those who receive the abundance of grace” (Romans 5:17). When we quit struggling and simply accept the free gift of His righteousness and start loving Jesus, drawing the strength that comes from Him, we begin to grow and are able to overcome the enemy.

1. What are a few ways God has released grace and strength to you?

**Page 30**

Colossians 1:20–22 tells us that through the sacrifice of Jesus, God looks at us and sees us as blameless, holy, and unreprovable, because He is looking at us through the covering of Christ’s atonement.

> **Action Step:** Give God thanks for this truth.

**Page 32**

2. How can God still be just and also the justifier of the one who puts their faith in the blood of Jesus?

> **Action Step:** Thank the Lord for taking the full charge of wrath and judgment for our sin.

**Meanings of Reconciliation in the Greek**

1. To make cheerful
2. To remove the reason for gloom
3. To lift the fallen countenance
4. To cover sin
5. To find God gracious and merciful
6. To avert calamity (because we were heading toward judgment)
7. To restore to divine favor, or our original position with God

> **Action Step:** Thank the Lord for reconciling you to the place you originally had in His heart before the fall, where you can walk and talk with God without worrying that He has a list of things to reprove you for, knowing you appear unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.

**Page 33**

> **Action Step:** Tell at least one person the good news that they can be reconciled to God and enjoy peace with Him through what Jesus has done. When you sense sincerity, a willingness to surrender their heart to follow the Lord, and faith in response to this message, you can tell them their sins are forgiven and link them to God.

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## Chapter 5

**Page 35**

> **Reflect:** Spend a couple of minutes thinking about how God wove His redemption story into the natural blood that flows through our veins.
>
> Medically, when you receive an inoculation of serum from someone who has recovered from an infection and developed antibodies in their blood, you become immune to that infection. Likewise, Jesus was smitten with the curse of sin and made sin for us, taking the full force of God’s judgment for sin. Now His blood, injected into us by the hand of God, creates immunity from His wrath and judgment against sin. We’ve received an inoculation of the blood of Jesus.
>
> When God sees the blood of Jesus, His wrath is turned away, because He remembers. Jesus’ blood carries a message on our behalf. The record of Jesus’ whole life, including His sacrifice for sin, is carried in His blood, and in one look the Father can see it all. His wrath is turned away because the charges of His judgment were already executed and spent on the day His Son Jesus died for our sins.

**Page 36**

1. Since His blood constantly cleanses us while we remain in fellowship with God, what are some practical ways you remain in fellowship with God?

**Page 41**

God shows us what He does with our sins when we accept His forgiveness through two goats.

One goat was sacrificed, and its blood was sprinkled over the top of the mercy seat. Through this God was saying: when you come to this mercy seat, to Jesus (who has become the propitiation, the same word translated “mercy seat” or “golden lid”), and you identify yourself with Him, there I will meet with you, and I will talk with you from above the cherubim.

> **Reflect:** Picture that blood covering over you in the Spirit right now.

The other goat fully illustrated how God cleanses us from all sin. The sins of the people were pronounced over the live goat, and it was released into the wilderness, to a place where it could never be found.

> **Reflect:** Picture the seeds of death being destroyed by the seeds of life in Christ’s blood that flows in you.

—

## Chapter 6

**Page 47**

> **Reflect:** Think about the definition of sanctification that Pastor Roland received: *”Sanctification is the sharing of Jesus’ life in our mortal bodies.”* Another way to say this is, *”Sanctification is actually adapting to the life force of Jesus.”*

**Page 48**

The life of Jesus begins to flow through the Name of Jesus.

> **Action Step:** Reverently call upon the Name of Jesus for a couple of minutes. Throw in some “I love You”s, and experience the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, who brings the river of God through faith in the blood of Jesus. Let Him do whatever is necessary in your life as that river flows from God’s heart right through you. Whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.

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## Chapter 7

**Page 51**

Many gospel seeds have been sown around the world. Jesus’ life is Light, and His light causes the sown seed to germinate. As we partake of His divine nature, His life can be effective in and through us, causing life to spring forth.

1. In what ways are you partaking of Jesus’ life and divine nature?
2. How much time are you spending meditating and waiting on the Lord?
3. How long do you sit in His presence and simply draw from Him and love Him?
4. How much time do you spend simply enjoying oneness of spirit with Him?

**Page 61**

In God’s presence is where the fellowship is.

5. How do you get into God’s presence?

**Page 66**

Surely the thing we really need in our lives is fellowship with our heavenly Father.

**Page 67**

After Jesus died and finished the work of applying His blood in the tabernacle of Heaven, He sat down, resting in the assurance that it is done, and He wants us to rest in Him too.

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## Chapter 8

**Page 75**

When Christ Jesus went into the tabernacle in heaven after rising from the dead, His blood carried a message to God. It spoke.

> **Reflect:** Spend a few minutes imagining Jesus’ blood speaking to God on your behalf. Hear it by faith saying, “They’re forgiven. Their sins are destroyed. The records of sin are gone. Father, count [your name] holy in Your sight.”

**Pages 76–78**

> **Action Step:** Memorize, and thank God for, the nine meanings of the word Atonement (*kaphar*):

1. To cover
2. To cancel debt
3. To remove the cause of wrath
4. To render the charges void
5. Forgiveness
6. To obtain mercy
7. Restoration to divine favor with God
8. To purge (as our conscience is purged)
9. To reconcile and make peace

—

## Chapter 9

**Page 83**

> **Action Step:** Thank God for the highest purpose He had in mind for the blood of Jesus: restoration to a place of communion with Him, a oneness of spirit between God and man.

**Page 89**

The Lord wants you to look for reasons why you can participate in communion and remember His death, so that you can be a partaker of His life. Jesus’ blood was shed and given for you.

Our real communion with God, when we accept Him, is not only the celebration of the Lord’s Table. We feed on Him, and He feeds on our fellowship as we are in His presence. When we celebrate communion, we are celebrating what’s been provided for us through the sacrifice of Jesus and receiving His blood, life, and body. When we hold that communion cup to celebrate Jesus’ victory and remember His death and all He has accomplished, He is present. Jesus is supping with us. The completion of Jesus’ sacrifice began the Kingdom Life, and we can now experience communion with God, a oneness of spirit with Him.

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a celebration of what is already happening in our inner man: a constant communion with Christ. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we can now enjoy constant, continual communion, a oneness of spirit between God and us.

> **Action Step:** Spend the next few minutes lovingly declaring the communion declarations and thanksgiving statements below.

—

## Communion Declaration Prayers

*To pray while taking communion*

– Dear God, thank You for tasting death for me. (Hebrews 2:9)
– Jesus, thank You for bearing the wrath of God for my sin. (Isaiah 53:10)
– Jesus, I accept what You’ve done for me on the cross. (John 3:36)
– Thank You, Jesus, for giving me fresh strength for the journey. (Deuteronomy 8:4)
– Thank You, Jesus, for demonstrating Your love for me by dying on the cross for my sins even when I was still Your enemy. (Romans 5:8)
– Praise You, Jesus, for removing my sins as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12)
– Thank You, Jesus, for sharing Your wonderful life and nature with me. (2 Peter 1:4)
– Thank You, Holy Spirit, for helping me to overcome through the blood of Jesus. (Revelation 12:11)
– Thank You for Your constant cleansing as I continue to walk with You and talk with You. (1 John 1:7)
– I declare, through taking these symbols of Your broken body and shed blood, that I am putting my faith and trust completely in what You accomplished for me at the cross, and not in my own actions or abilities in any way. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
– Thank You, Jesus, for adapting me to the power of the flow of Your endless life. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
– Thank You, Jesus, for inculcating Your divine nature within me. (John 14:20)
– Thank You, Father, for providing for all of my needs through the sacrifice of Jesus. (Romans 8:32)
– Thank You, Jesus, for destroying the roots of every sin that has been held against me. (Romans 8:2)
– Thank You, Jesus, for unclogging the rivers of Your living water within me. (John 7:38)
– Thank You, Jesus, for that river of Your life that brings joy to Your city and people. (Psalm 46:4)
– Thank You, Jesus, for removing the records of my sin. (Romans 5:1)
– Jesus, we celebrate and proclaim the benefits of Your life, death, and resurrection for us. (1 Corinthians 11:24–26)
– Thank You, Lord Jesus, for restoring us to a place of oneness of spirit and communion between us. (John 14:20)
– Thank You, Jesus, for spoiling the principalities and powers of darkness and totally stripping them of all their authority to accuse me for sins You have already been judged for. (Colossians 2:15)
– Thank You, Jesus, for conquering death and defeating the devil. (2 Timothy 1:10)
– Thank You, Jesus, for removing the stains and guilt of my past failures and sins. (Hebrews 9:14)
– Praise You, Jesus, for purging my conscience from all accusation and condemnation through the power of Your blood. (Hebrews 9:14)
– Thank You for making me a channel for Your life to flow through. (John 7:38)
– Praise You, Jesus, for restoring me to a place of total innocence before You. (Colossians 1:22)
– Thank You, Father, that You see me looking exactly as though my past sins had never happened. (Ephesians 1:4)
– Thank You that for all of eternity You will see me as blameless. (Colossians 1:22)
– Thank You, Jesus, for a new beginning every morning. (Lamentations 3:23)
– Thank You, Jesus, for entering into a covenant with me that will never be broken. (Hebrews 10:16)
– I praise and thank You, Lord Jesus, for bearing all of my sorrows and emotional baggage. (Isaiah 53:4)
– By faith I release forgiveness to myself and to everyone who has ever hurt me. (Matthew 6:15)
– If I have any bitter roots toward anyone, I thank You for the power of Your endless life to help me forgive and be healed. (Mark 11:26)
– Father, thank You for freeing me from whatever deposits were made in my soul that were not from You. (Hebrews 2:14–15)
– Thank You that there is now no condemnation for me, because I am in Christ. (Romans 8:1)
– By faith, through the blood of Jesus, with an act of my will, I choose right now to loose any darkness, any addiction, any anger, any fear, any work of the enemy, regardless of how it got there. Leave my soul now, in Jesus’ Name. (Matthew 18:18)
– Father, thank You that through Jesus’ sacrifice my soul is whole. (Acts 9:34)
– Father, I celebrate and receive deposits of Your love and life, because Jesus died for me to receive them. (John 10:10)
– I praise You, Jesus, and celebrate the full benefits of Your sacrifice, which include healing and health for my body, soundness in my mind, and peace in my soul and spirit. (1 Peter 2:24)
– Thank You, Holy Spirit, for invading my life and family with the life of Jesus through His blood and this communion time. (Luke 24:49)

**I am covered. (1 John 2:1–2)**
**I am forgiven.**
**I am cleansed.**
**I am saved and being saved.**
**I am sanctified and becoming sanctified.**

## HALLELUJAH!

*Partake of the blood and body!*