Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Ephesians 1:5-7
Lewis Edgar Jones attended Moody Bible Institute in the same class as the famous evangelist Billy Sunday. Though he was never as widely known as his classmate, Jones worked faithfully for many years in gospel ministry, and often wrote hymns in his spare time. His best-known hymn, “Power in the Blood,” written during a camp meeting revival in Maryland, is still sung today:
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder working power,
In the blood of the Lamb,
There is power, power wonder working powerÂ
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
Few doctrines in the Bible have proved to be as divisive and controversial as the blood atonement. Mark Twain famously derided Christianity as a “slaughterhouse religion” because of its emphasis on the blood. The truth that the blood of Jesus is our only hope of salvation is offensive to many because it clearly teaches both the severity of our sin in the eyes of a holy God and our complete inability to atone for it ourselves. But whether people are willing to believe it or not, the truth remains: nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus can clothe a sinner in perfect righteousness. “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). All efforts to come to God apart from the blood of Jesus are doomed to failure. The sacrifice made on our behalf is our only hope in this life and the next. Nothing compares to the power of the blood of Jesus.
