“As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.” (Zechariah 9:11-13 NIV)
“And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11 AMP)
I don't believe that I have ever read a more powerful passage of Scripture concerning God's liberating men than this one here in Zechariah. It was as if God Himself was on a covert mission to go behind enemy lines and rescue POWs (prisoners of war). Here, God through his Prophet, is depicting people in such horrible captivity that the best way to describe the scene is to call it a pit wherein is no water. This of course refers to bondage so bad that there is absolutely no relief from it. Or is there?
The answer is found in the first part of verse 11 where God said, “because of the blood of my covenant with you" I have come to rescue you. What does this mean to you and me today? It is a beautiful typology of what Jesus has done for us by means of His very own blood. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, God has delivered the prisoners held captive by satan. This is a perfect picture of people that have been captured behind enemy lines. People that are prisoners of war in the clutches of the enemy of our soul, people that have been in bondage and are just waiting for freedom. How can they receive that freedom? Through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ still has power over the devil. The blood of Jesus Christ can still set the captive free. The blood of Jesus Christ still sends satan running away from a child of God. Why? Because there is a blood covenant between God and man, and it was sealed by the blood of Jesus. And when a man or woman enters this blood covenant by having their sins washed in the blood, there is a bloodline that surrounds them that satan cannot cross.
There may be some reading this that would ask, “how can mere blood set people free?” Well, there's the problem right there–mere blood can't. But the blood of Jesus isn't mere blood. It's royal blood. It's spotless blood. It's pure blood. And in that blood is power. Not just a little bit either. Not just some little, small amount. But all the power that exists is found in that blood. And when you realize that, then you can understand how the blood of Jesus can be a mighty weapon in the hands or in the heart of a blood-washed believer. The blood of Jesus is a weapon at our disposal that can be used against the devil. The blood of Jesus is a weapon that we can use to bring victory into our lives time and time again.
I'm telling you, that when that blessed songwriter penned the words, “There is power, power, wonder, working power in the blood of the Lamb,” that he had a revelation that most of the church world hasn't gotten to this day. He knew that the blood could defeat the devil, and thus he wrote that beautiful hymn as a tribute to the power of his Master’s blood. Only a man that was in blood-covenant with Jesus could have that kind of insight into the workings of the blood of Jesus.
A blood covenant is a promise made by God that He will choose a people for Himself and bless them. The covenant was originally for Abraham’s physical descendants but was later extended, spiritually, to all those who, like Abraham, believe in God. Now, God’s promise of eternal blessing is given only on the basis of faith in the saving blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Whereas in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, the blood of bulls and rams would have to sprinkled by the High Priest on the mercy seat for an atonement for the people’s sins once a year, when Jesus shed His royal blood, He because the ultimate High Priest and entered once and for all into the spiritual Holy of Holies and offered His pure blood for the sins of all mankind. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:12).
Think of a blood covenant this way; In old western movies, we’ve seen two people making a blood covenant by cutting an incision on their wrists, joining hands, and lifting them to heaven in a promise, a covenant, a co-mingling of lives. The scar remaining was called “the mark of the covenant.” That is what Jesus did for us! If you ever doubt the blood covenant that He made for you, just remember the scars on His hands, the scars in His feet, the scar in His side, the scars on His back! Every time you remember those, you are remembering the blood covenant that He made with you.
Every day that you live here on this planet, you have the right to exercise God’s authority by pleading what the blood of Jesus has done for you. The devil is a defeated foe, and through the precious blood of Jesus, we are victorious! When you receive revelation that the blood of Jesus has provided authority over the devil, you will begin to operate in the fullness of its power! The power of the blood of Jesus is enough to overcome everything the enemy throws at you. There is power in the blood!