The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line
Jos 2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. Jos 2:19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
One day, a Pastor from Canada who was on ministry in New Zealand was visited by the devil, who said; he would kill the Pastor’s children with rabies who were on his farm property in Canada. The Pastor prayed and cancelled the enemy’s statement by pleading the blood line of Jesus around his entire property in Canada. He continued his ministry in New Zealand unperturbed and in full assurance of faith. About a month later when he went back to Canada, his brother who took care of the property for him while he was away said; he had found three dead foxes dead next to each other on the border of his property. Because they had unusually large heads, he had them examined in a laboratory. The finding was, each of the foxes carried rabies in them.
The thin red line of the blood of Jesus took care of the devil’s attempts to kill, using animals. The devil is not just threatening people as some preachers would like to say but he is carrying out his threats on all those who are unbelieving and living in sin. He does not stop there. He attempts to attack all of God’s children no matter who they are. We have an invisible enemy who does not respect human life but seeks to destroy us. We should not take matters for granted and live like he does not figure in our daily lives. Jesus is our thin red line, our last line of defence. We must use all the weapons provided for us by Jesus to become overcomers and live victorious lives. Knowing who we are, where we came from and what we are expected to do in this world is critical to our lives.
The thin red line is a concept used by Rudyard Kipling in his poem,
The Thin Red Line (1881) by Robert Gibb, depicting the 93rd Regiment fighting off Russian cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854
When we use the blood of Jesus as a repellent against the enemy, we can be sure that it works. The Bible teaches us to use the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony against the enemy to overcome him. Many of us do not understand the weapons we have been given by God to battle our enemies in the demonic realm. As a result, many battles are lost trying to plead our cause with God or running away from the battles. Many marriages, relationships, lives, businesses and especially churches could have been saved by using the blood of Jesus as a defensive and offensive weapon against the devil.
The main area of attack by the devil against Christians is the conscience. He defiles it by keeping past and current sins locked into our thinking. In this manner, he defeats our attempts to grow in Christ and to walk without condemnation. Let us examine what the blood of Jesus does for our consciences. Heb_9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The offering of animal sacrifices and the doing of good works never saves a person. It is the cleansing of the conscience that eliminates sin from our thinking and daily lives. The blood of Jesus is like a soap of deliverance, a cleansing agent for sin that otherwise cannot be cleansed.
The weapon we have in the blood of Jesus is so powerful that it can destroy sin for everyone and for all eternity, if they believe. The problem is; people do not know how to appropriate this blood. Appropriate means; using the blood by faith to rectify their situations in life. The primary weapon of the devil is condemnation for sin and mistakes. However, God has given us the power over sin and death through the blood of Jesus. Rahab the prostitute in the Old Testament knew she was going to die unless she acted by faith. The typology here is, she used the last line of defence she had to avoid being destroyed by the invading forces of Israel. Her faith brought her into agreement with Joshua and Caleb. Once the covenant was made between themselves, she had to appropriate her faith and trust in the covenant by an action of tying a red cloth to represent her house so that Israel would not kill them. It came to pass just as the covenant was made. Once you become born again you do not automatically get released from the attacks of the enemy. You have to act by faith through the weapons of your warfare. There is no weapon greater than the blood of Jesus. It is a stark reminder to the enemy of his great loss at Calvary. Likewise, the blood when used in communion is a stark reminder of the victory of Jesus at the cross.
The thin red line also represents the weakness of our abilities and the greatness of God. In our weakness, He is made strong. Through the blood, we can stave off thousands upon thousands of demons and overcome many a situation in life. Taking communion regularly, pleading the blood line of Jesus around properties, applying the blood when going out and appropriating the blood when walking by faith are all methods by which we appropriate the blood of Jesus and draw the thin red line. Once we do this, the devil cannot pass no matter how many forces he sends against us. The attacks may not cease but the blood of Jesus holds the ground; not us. Eventually, our faith in what the blood can do is what wins our battles and staves off the enemy.
Without the blood, it is impossible to enter into the presence of God. How it works is incredible. We have to understand this through the Bible. Lev_8:15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. Lev_8:30 And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.In the Old Testament, the blood of animals represent atonement for sins and purification of the priests and holy vessels. However, it could not cleanse the conscience of man. The Bible records for us that without blood there can be no purification of a soul or remission (forgetting) of sins. This was a perplexing problem as they had to kill animals on a regular basis each day for various people and sins. What they did not know was; God had no pleasure in it though it acted as a necessity. Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
If there was no pleasure for God in these sacrifices, why did He institute sacrifices? The answer is in what He eventually was going to do. The Law and sacrifices were a fore shadow of things to come that would do away with such requirements. The final sacrifice of His Son Jesus as a living and pure sacrifice was imminent. Every other sacrifice of blood was impure. They were acceptable only as a temporary answer to the problem of sin and access to God’s presence. A High Priest had to have blood on himself before he entered the presence of God. In the New Testament, Jesus our High Priest takes His own blood and sprinkles it on all vessels and furniture in the temple and Himself through the sacrifice of His own body on the cross. Heb_13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
The blood is the thin red line of defence. It protects against the devil’s accusation and condemnation and from the wrath of God. God is a consuming fire who will devour His enemies unless there is a barrier; a defence against it. Num 16:46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. Num 16:47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. Num 16:48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Aaron with the censer became the thin red line of defence between death and life. This is faith working through wisdom that God had given Moses. We must know how to call on God to save us from Himself. This where repentance becomes a powerful gateway to escape the wrath of God.
The atonement (reconciliation based on a price paid) today in the presence of God is nothing else but the blood of Jesus. When God looks upon us, He sees the thin red line of defence of the blood of Jesus and He cannot go past that to release His wrath on us. The price has been paid. Jesus has become the permanent defence for us. However, reconciliation now can only take place with repentance. When the defence of Jesus holds and stops the advancement of sin and death, we are given the power of choice to appropriate the blood of Jesus. Choice is extremely important because the blood line will only work based on us choosing to live under the protection of the blood. If we choose to live outside the bloodline, we will be subject to punishment and attacks of the enemy. When the woman was taken in adultery, Jesus did not condemn her but told her to go and sin no more. When Moses was asked to sprinkle blood on the doorposts, nobody could go outside the boundaries of the blood line or they would die. When Jesus healed the man who was sick at the pool of Bethesda, He told him to go and sin no more or something worse would come on him. We are convicted by the Holy Ghost to stand within the thin red line but the choice is ours.
Lots of love
Pastor Noble
19/08/2018