We are protected from the destroyer for good

For the past few posts I've been mulling over the 6 things that I saw in John 10:25- 30 that are characteristic of Jesus' followers. I've taken one of these things at a time and today I want to look more at the fact that we, Jesus' followers, are protected from the destroyer for good. Here's the portion of these verses that I'm getting this from:

Jesus answered, "I told you, but you don't believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You don't believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind."

This sentence "they are protected from the Destroyer for good" seems clearly connected in thought to a bit later when Jesus says that His Father is greater than the Destroyer.

When I see the word Destroyer I think of that old testament event - Passover. The Destroyer passed over God's people because they had the blood of a lamb. Here's a quick version of the story from Exodus 12:1-20: 1 -10 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, "This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it's roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don't leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

11 "And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it's the Passover to God.

12-13 "I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14-16 "This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always. You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses—anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.

17-20 "Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always. In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread. For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel. Don't eat anything raised. Only matzoth."

A lamb had been sacrificed for this occasion and everyone who did not have the blood of the lamb on their door posts and lintel had their first born killed that night. Then God told them to never forget this. I believe that God did this to bring His people out of slavery and as a symbol. He wanted this to be remembered and celebrated, to become a part of their thoughts.

In Hebrews 9:21-23 there is a parallel drawn between the sacrifice at Passover and all the other sacrifices the Jewish people offered to cover over their sins to the final work of Jesus' shed blood:

18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God's "will"—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, "This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God." He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, "This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you." Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That's why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

23-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren't needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

For some reason that I can not understand, God's ways are definitely not mine, the universe is so set up that there is a deep connection between the shedding of blood and forgiveness of sin. It's interesting because we see this practice in lots of primitive cultures, as if they've caught onto this truth but not all of it.

I find what Daniel Rhodes says on this topic of value:

"The night the children of Israel were to leave Egypt, they were instructed to strike the lintel and the door posts of the house with the blood of a lamb for protection for their family as the destroyer passed over that night. If, for any reason, that blood was missing, there would be sure death of the firstborn in each family. That included the Israelites, if they didn’t apply the blood of a lamb correctly and obey the rules completely: “For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you” (Exodus 12:23). Notice, the Lord called this day, “the Lord’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11). We have a much greater and more meaningful Passover in the Lord Jesus Christ. “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7). Because of the blood of our Savior and Redeemer, we not only have the forgiveness of sins, but we also have protection from all the destruction, calamities and other evils that could befall us. We do not have blood to literally apply to the doors of our houses as they did, but the act of striking, pleading, applying or speaking with our mouths is a way of applying the blood that will do the same thing for us.

When we strike the blood in faith over our properties, families or those things that need a protective covering, we are assured the wonderful protection covenant people are promised. One way to apply the blood over your house is to say: “I strike the lintel and the two side posts of the door of this house with the blood of Jesus who is my Passover, as a protection against the destroyer.” This should not be done in a mechanical manner, but must be done with faith and obedience to the Word.

I am amazed at how many people are skeptical of using the blood as a protection against calamities and other destructive forces. We are promised protection, regardless of what the carnal or religious minded “Christian” thinks about it. There are many scriptures that give us such promises. We have those classic verses in Psalm 91 of the Lord’s protection. In verses 9 and 10 the Psalmist proclaims, “Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” What a precious promise to cling to in this evil time when dangers are on every hand and we know not what the future has in store! Many people have testified of the protection they received by speaking the blood when they were facing some danger. You can boldly speak the promises by saying something like this: “In the name of Jesus and by the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and on the authority of my covenant with Almighty God, I proclaim myself and my household protected.” I have watched storms turn and head another direction when I boldly spoke the word of faith. Even if it doesn’t work for you every time, keep doing it until your faith reaches the level where it will work every time. We have a covenant right to expect protection and blessing when we are living the Bible way.

When believers apply the blood and speak forth their covenant rights, angels are assigned to help them receive their covenant promises as recorded in Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” The plan of salvation also gives us this promise: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7). Then again in Psalm 91:11-12 we read, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Even under the Old Testament, people understood that it was alone through the shedding of blood that they were given protection from their enemies and catastrophes that would come upon them. Literally millions of animals were sacrificed to keep that blood flowing, whereas, it was only necessary for Jesus to be offered once: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28)." You can see the entire sermon of Rhodes at his website: http://www.truthlightandlife.org/online_reading/speaking/speaking.htm.

This passage that Daniel Rhodes quotes near the end of his writing on the protection of the blood, Hebrews 1:14, is in the context of a portion of scriptures that explains that Jesus is way higher than the angels. If you read Hebrews 1:1-20 you'll see that it's saying that Jesus is God in the flesh and that angels are created beings to serve. Then we get this almost side thought in verse 14 that angels are sent out to serve those who have received salvation.

OK - so what have I got here? Jesus' death gives me, as His follower, protection from the Destroyer - Satan - Demons too no doubt since they're just Satan's angel followers. So what's the practical application of all this?

I know that almost every night I pray with my sons at bedtime and I pray that the blood of Jesus be over our home and that we be protected. I have a picture as you walk into their bedroom of a mighty warrior angel standing watch over the bed of a sleeping child. So sure, that's an application of this.

But what about in daily life? What about in my life today?

Oh dear God I thank You for all You've done for me in the incredibly great sacrifice of Your son and Yourself on the cross. Thank You for shedding Your blood for me. May my heart always be grateful to You for what You've done. Help me, today, to be aware of that supernatural realm and what is really going on behind the scenes of life that I see, in the unseen realm. Help me depend on Your blood and it's power in my life today and every day. Show me ways that I am to do that. Thank You Father.

Just as a side note here, because I don't have time to go into it today, but it's interesting to me that this scripture where Jesus says He'll protect us from the Destroyer, it adds "for good" and then He goes on to say the Father is more powerful than the Destroyer and that no one can ever take His followers out of the Father's hand. Many believe this means that once we've chosen to follow Jesus we are sealed with His salvation forever, that Satan can not lure us away from God. I tend to believe this way and maybe on another day will spend more time looking into this in scripture.