Terrible judgment comes upon a nation when its citizens turn away from God and look toward satisfying the lusts of the flesh, and toward the astrologers, witches, fortune tellers, and mediums, in order to fulfill their needs and desires.

When the sword of the Lord begins to renew His way on the earth (and it always is God who directs the judging and destroying—Satan has no authority or power in destruction except as God commands—Isaiah 54:16; Amos 3:6) the only protection available is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood alone can prevent the destroying angel from coming into our household and executing the Divine sentence on us.

As our characters are in the process of being formed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ, the Passover blood continues to protect us from the destruction that is falling all around us (Psalms 91).

The blood of Jesus does more than shield us from God's judgment. Included in the authority and power of the blood of the Lord Jesus to make an atonement for sin are the following effects: covering, forgiveness, cancellation, mercy, reconciliation, propitiation, annulment, adjustment to differences, justification, restoration, remission, cleansing, purging. The blood covers us until we have been made perfect in Christ.

There may be no one English word that carries the complete meaning of the expression make atonement . The phrase restore completely to Divine favor comes fairly close to the meaning of "make atonement." The reconciliation of man to God is the key thought.

The blood of Christ protects us, covers our sins and shortcomings from God's sight, is the basis for God's forgiveness, satisfies the demands of justice when the laws of righteousness are violated, and has the power to purge all unrighteous behavior from us.

In addition, the blood of Christ is our life. Jesus invites every human being to drink His blood so that he or she may live by Him as He lives by the Father.

There are two areas of redemption involved in making an atonement for our sins. The first area is that of forgiveness of our sins, the wiping of the record clean. The second area is that of deliverance from the power of sin so that we do not keep on committing sins while we are serving God is this life and in the life that is to come.

The Temple of God, the Body of Christ, always must be in a state of guiltlessness (justified) by confession and repentance; and also must be morally strong—moving consistently toward righteous, holy, and obedient behavior so that sin no longer has any part in it.

The making of an atonement includes two major actions: one, the satisfying of justice because of the violation of Divine law; and two, the removing of the tendencies and consequences of sin from the believer and the repairing of his whole personality.

Forgiveness and cleansing, cancellation and deliverance, freedom from both the guilt and the power of sin, remission and purging, mercy and healing—these are the two effects of the blood of Jesus, the two areas of grace that work together as we humans press on toward the fullness of the indwelling of God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. (from Christ in You)