One night many years ago, I was lying in bed not feeling very well, so I asked my husband to pray for me. While we were quietly waiting on the Lord to show us how we should pray, I had the following visionary experience:
I saw Jesus standing before me holding a gift in His hands. The gift was red with a white ribbon wound around it and fashioned into a bow on the top. Suddenly, Jesus held it out toward me and said, “I have a gift for you. Will you take it?” I answered, “Yes,” then cautiously reached out to receive it from Him. The moment the gift was in my hands, a feeling of unworthiness filled my heart. This made me reluctant to open it, so I just stood there silently staring at it.
Jesus waited for a few minutes then asked me if I wanted to open it. I answered, “Yes,” but still did nothing. Then, He tried to encourage me to open it by telling me to pull on the bow. I did, and the bow opened easily enough that I also loosened and removed the ribbon. What I was left holding was a neatly folded red material that was very soft. Jesus told me to open it, so I did. After unfolding it very carefully, I discovered that the gift was a long, crimson red hooded cloak.
When the gift was finally revealed, Jesus informed me that this cloak represents the covering of His blood. Then, He told me that my feelings of unworthiness to receive it and my resultant reluctance to open it come from a lack of understanding the full purpose and scope of His sacrifice, which therefore prevented me from laying hold of everything that He has paid for.
Then, in order to remedy this, Jesus proceeded to show me how and why His blood was shed:
- The blood of Jesus was first shed when He was praying just before He was arrested. Knowing all that He was about to suffer, Luke 22:41-44 says that Jesus knelt down and prayed saying, “’Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done’….And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” By submitting to His Father’s will, Jesus agreed to lay down His life to pay for the sins of all of mankind. As He went through this terrible struggle, His blood flowed in order to seal salvation for all time, for everyone who will believe in Him and receive Him as their Savior.
- The blood of Jesus was shed when the Roman soldiers beat Him with rods and scourged Him with a whip called a, “Cat of Nine Tails” (an instrument of torture including nine separate strips of leather, joined together and embedded with pieces of stone and metal). Isaiah 52:14 says, “…His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.” Jesus was mercilessly beaten in punishment for all of the righteous works He had done on earth to heal, deliver and restore people. As each strike with this whip tore the flesh from His body, His blood flowed in order to seal healing, deliverance and restoration for all time, for everyone who will believe in Jesus and receive Him as their healer, deliverer and redeemer.
- The blood of Jesus was shed when the soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head. Though He was rejected as the King of the Jews, Philippians 2:8-11 says that because Jesus “…humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And, in Revelation 19:16 it says, “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” As the thorns from this cruel crown dug into His brow, His blood flowed in order to seal His Kingdom authority for all time, for everyone who will believe in Jesus and receive Him as their King and Lord.
- The blood of Jesus was shed when a soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a sword to make certain that He was dead. Leviticus 17:14 says, “For the life of all flesh is in its blood: its blood is its life.” And, in John 4:10, it says that Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and the living water that all of mankind desperately needs. As the blood and water flowed from the wound in His side, it flowed in order to seal eternal, abundant life for all time, for everyone who will believe in Jesus and receive Him as their way, their truth and their life.
After Jesus showed me all of this He said, “When you are covered by My blood, you are covered for all that My suffering and death accomplished for you. Will you receive My gift?” When I answered, “Yes,” He told me to turn around, so I did. Then, He draped the cloak over my shoulders and covered my head with the hood. Once the beautiful, crimson cloak was covering me from the top of my head down to my feet, Jesus smiled and said, “I’ve got you covered. Therefore, you don’t need to ask for it, you just need to lay hold of it every day by applying the covering of My blood over everyone and everything within your realm of authority.” Then, with a heart filled with gratefulness, I hugged Jesus and thanked Him for this beautiful cloak — the covering of His precious blood.
For years, my feelings of unworthiness prevented me from receiving many of the benefits of this precious gift. But now, I understand that no human being could ever be worthy to approach God or receive anything from Him except for His Son Jesus. However, because God loves mankind and wants us to know and love Him, Jesus willingly came to the earth to seek and save the lost, to heal all who were sick and oppressed by the devil, to destroy the works of the devil, and to give us abundant life by becoming the ultimate, sacrificial Lamb of God.
Jesus gave mankind the most precious gift that anyone could ever receive! The pure, precious blood of Jesus Christ paid for our forgiveness and salvation, for our redemption and restoration, for our deliverance and healing, for protection from the evil one, and for abundant and eternal life so that mankind can have the opportunity to have an intimate loving relationship with the God of all creation!
Additional Scripture references: Isaiah 53, Luke 19:10, Luke 22:17-20, John 3:14-15, John 10:10, John 14:6, Acts 10:38,
1 John 3:8 and 1 Peter 2:24.
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