The efficacy of the Blood hasn’t changed but believers have often debated about how to receive the power of the Blood. The marvelous thing is that whenever people start seriously glorifying the Blood of Christ, the work of the Cross, heaven breaks forth in the natural realm.
Forgiveness flows and people are healed.
Dutch History
Go back in time with me.
Americans usually have a quaint idea of what being Dutch means: wooden clogs and windmills; even though it was Dutch infrastructure, legal claims, initial trading outposts, and settlement patterns who provided the initial European claims before the English in the Delaware Valley. The Dutch laid down the first templates of order in the New World.
Educated students might recall Leiden, Netherlands was the place where the pilgrims fled from persecution during the reign of King James I and were given safe harbor from 1609-1620. Although I doubt if many can draw a map of the dikes in the Netherlands that keep 60% of the country from drowning or explain how a small region called Holland once held back complete and total destruction of Protestantism, twice.
The beauty of Holland ought to sing out in our minds like a violin in the symphony of America’s history and yet, we’ve mostly forgotten. Modern missionaries would do well to pay attention though, because the vanguard strength and superior discipline of the Dutch is an inspiration. (And Rembrandt. Let’s never forget Rembrandt.)
““Holland was the cradle of the Reformation, which inspired the beginnings of modern Democracy. Equality before God, the priesthood of all believers, and personal responsibility towards God, became the fundamental ideas of modern Democracy, in sharp contrast with the Democracy of the later French Revolution with its ‘Ni Dieu ni Maître.’ The American Democracy was from the beginning rooted in the ideas, not of the French Revolution, but in those of the Reformation, and remained so in the time of John Adams, notwithstanding the influence of Jefferson and Paine” (T. De Vries, Holland’s Influence on English Language and Literature).
The Netherlands upheld genius and beauty.
Long before any of the above, in 1406, a 12 year old German boy left his hometown to enter a community of Dutch scholars in the Netherlands where he would live out the remaining 78 years of his life. There, he wrote one of the earliest books ever printed, The Imitation of Christ, a book which rekindled a flame of devotion in Europe and would go on to influence priests, novelists, leaders, laymen, kings, and martyrs.
It was so widely reprinted that the editions - even in the 15th Century- are in more languages than I can list. The Imitation of Christ went on to influence Martin Luther (1483–1546). The infrastructure, initial ideas, and groundwork for personal devotion to Christ swept through Europe.
Thomas à Kempis
In Chapter 16 of De Vries’ excellent book (quoted above), he details the significance of Thomas Kempis, a German-Dutch monk who took sixteen years to copy out the entire Vulgate Bible, chronicled monastery life, learned from the mysticism of spiritual leaders and pointed the way to a personal understanding of Christ Jesus. In 1471, just before his death, Kempis’ little book The Imitation of Christ was given to the world.
It is still sparking discussion today.
“Sir Thomas More, England’s famous lord chancellor under Henry VIII (and subject of the film A Man for All Seasons) said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, read a chapter a day from it and regularly gave away copies as gifts. Methodist founder John Wesley said it was the best summary of the Christian life he had ever read. They were talking about Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ, the devotional classic that has been translated into over 50 languages, in editions too numerous for scholars to keep track of (by 1779 there were already 1,800 editions). Little is known of Thomas himself, and he is known for little else—although this one contribution to history seems to be enough” Christian History Magazine Editorial Staff. 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (p. 262).
And guess what Kempis wrote about in his book The Imitation of Christ?
The Blood
Considered a devotional classic, Kempis gave spiritual instructions for the interior life of the believer. Over a fourth of his book is spent on the Eucharist or the Blessed Sacrament that he called the “key” to spiritual life.
I’m not Catholic. I have no intention of becoming Catholic. I do not believe in the transubstantiation, and yet, I wonder if Protestants have perhaps forgotten some serious aspects in their remembrance of what the Passover originally meant, what communion with Christ means, what having a blood oath with God can entail.
If you read my article on ancient blood rites you might begin to consider for yourself which theme ought to have preeminence in Christian conversation: the covenantal power, the gift, the offering, the welcoming that is the Blood of Christ.
Every time someone glorifies the power of the Blood there is renewed vigor in the Body. Kempis instructed his readers to meditate and participate in a covenant with Christ Jesus.
His Word is one of relationship.
Imitation of Christ
Behold I come unto Thee, O Lord, that I may be blessed through Thy gift, and be made joyful in Thy holy feast which Thou, O God, of Thy goodness hast prepared for the poor. Behold in Thee is all that I can and ought to desire, Thou art my salvation and redemption, my hope and strength, my honour and glory. Therefore rejoice the soul of Thy servant this day, for unto Thee, O Lord Jesus, do I lift up my soul. I long now to receive Thee devoutly and reverently, I desire to bring Thee into my house, so that with Zacchaeus I may be counted worthy to be blessed by Thee and numbered among the children of Abraham. My soul hath an earnest desire for Thy Body, my heart longeth to be united with Thee. Give me Thyself and it sufficeth, for besides Thee no consolation availeth. Without Thee I cannot be, and without Thy visitation I have no power to live. And therefore I must needs draw nigh unto Thee often, and receive Thee for the healing of my soul, lest haply I faint by the way if I be deprived of heavenly food. For so Thou, most merciful merciful Jesus, preaching to the people and healing many sick, didst once say, I will not send them away fasting to their own homes, lest they faint by the way. Deal therefore now to me in like manner, for Thou left Thyself for the consolation of the faithful in the Sacrament. For Thou art the sweet refreshment of the soul, and he who shall eat Thee worthily shall be partaker and inheritor of the eternal glory. Necessary indeed it is for me, who so often slide backwards and sin, so quickly wax cold and faint, to renew, cleanse, enkindle myself by frequent prayers and penitences and receiving of Thy sacred Body and Blood lest haply by too long abstinence, I fall short of my holy resolutions” (Thomas à Kempis.The Imitation of Christ).
The Divine Fire
“Wherefore if it is not suffered to me to draw from the fulness of the fountain, nor to drink unto satisfying, yet will I set my lips to the mouth of the heavenly conduit, that at least I may receive a small drop to quench my thirst, that I dry not up within my heart. And if I am not yet able to be altogether heavenly and so enkindled as the Cherubim and Seraphim, yet will I endeavour to give myself unto devotion, and to prepare my heart, that I may gain if it be but a little flame of the divine fire, through the humble receiving of the life-giving Sacrament. But whatsoever is wanting unto me, O merciful Jesus, Most Holy Saviour, do Thou of Thy kindness and grace supply, who hast vouchsafed to call all unto Thee, saying, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you” (Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ).