We were ransomed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. His blood ate away like acid the cords that bound us. The ropes of sin could not longer tie us down to death, division, and a destroyed destiny.

John 2:18-19
¹⁸ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
¹⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy [luo] this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

The Jews wanted a sign from Jesus that He had the authority to cleanse the temple. “Kill me,” He said, “and I’ll raise myself in three days.” Of course, He didn’t say it in a way that they could get it—but He said it nonetheless. He became obedient to the death of the cross.[1]  He was delivered to death that we might be delivered from death, but death couldn’t hold Him.

Acts 2:22-24
²² Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
²³ Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
²⁴ Whom God hath raised up, having loosed [luo] the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

It was impossible for death to hold Him. Imagine the scene: satan is feeling pretty big. He’s walking around strutting like a chicken. “Yep, I’m head of death,” he says, “Jesus is on the cross, so I’ve got them now.” All of the sudden, the guy who can walk through walls shows up. He steps up to the devil and smacks him around a bit. “Give me those keys,” He says, ripping the key ring off satan’s waistband.[2] “Remember me? I’m letting them out. You can’t keep them because you can’t keep me.”

His soul was not left in hell.[3] He was loosed from death. And it was through His death that He destroyed the devil who had the power of death.[4] God required propitiation to be paid, but the devil—he’s the hijacker. He’s the terrorist. He is the kidnapper that wanted a ransom paid. Well, Jesus paid the ransom. How are you going to get people out of hell if you don’t go there? And how do you go there if you don’t die? Jesus understood the process; that is why He asked for the cup to be removed. But He became obedient unto death and redeemed us. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are loosed from death by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Loosed from the Devil’s Work
1 John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy [luo] the works of the devil.

What are the works of the devil? Sin, and sin leads to death. Jesus was manifested to destroy sin, and destroy it He did. He destroyed it by His blood. His blood paid for our iniquities, sins, and transgressions. Once the blood is applied, the debt of sin is cancelled; it has no claim on us. Do you still send money to your cable company after you cancel the service? No! Neither should we pay homage to sin.

Sin is how the devil works in our lives. We should have a holy motivation not to sin. We want to be well-pleasing to God. But it might help us avoid sin if we saw it as working for the devil. “It’s okay, God, I just want to go over and work in the devil’s saloon today. It’s all right. It’ll only be for a couple of hours. It’s just for fun. Besides, there’s going to be a whole lot of other people who aren’t saved there and maybe I can witness to them.” Can’t we see how foolish this is? Who in their right mind would ever want to work for the devil?

Sins not only divide us from God, they divide us from each other. By shedding His blood, Jesus Christ destroyed the dividing walls between us and God, between us and each other.

Ephesians 2:13-14
¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down [luo] the middle wall of partition between us…

The devil’s work is destroyed. The sins that separated us from God and ruptured our personal relationships have been washed away by His blood. Thus, we are loosed from the things that divide us, loosed from the walls that separate us, loosed from the veil that holds us back from God. All these obstacles are broken down by the blood of Jesus Christ.

He Loosed the Vision of Our Destiny
Revelation 5:1-4
¹ And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
² And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose [luo] the seals thereof?
³ And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
⁴ And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

This “book” is a scroll and it is written on the front and back side. They typically didn’t write on both sides of a scroll, but this scroll is full of writing, indicating that nothing may be added to it. It was sealed with seven seals. These seals were not placed in a row on the leading edge of the scroll as we see in some artistic representations of this verse. Rather, the seals were arranged in such a fashion that they closed off different sections of the scroll. Breaking the first seal would only allow access up to the second seal, and so on. But at this point, no seals were broken because no one could be found in the whole Creation with enough power to rip a single seal.

This scroll has been called many things by many commentators. Some say it’s the New Testament (which seems unlikely since most of it had been written by the time of John’s revelation). Others say that it is the title deed of man’s inheritance and still others say that it is the title deed of the earth. The Bible doesn’t give this scroll a name. But the fact that it is written and that it is in the right hand of God Almighty should tell us clearly what it is. It is nothing more and nothing less than a revelation from God. He sits poised to deliver it, but none can open it.

Here is God Almighty with communication in His hand and no one can get to it. No one can get to His will; no one can get to His revelation of the future; no one can get to redemption’s ultimate end. There is no one strong enough. And John weeps. Wouldn’t you? Can you imagine being called to heaven and seeing all its wonder? The living creatures are raising their eternal hymn. The four and twenty elders are bowing before the throne. And God stretches out His hand with a scroll—and nobody can open it! “How could this be?” I can almost hear John asking, “I am in the place where all answers lie and no one can open the scroll!” But then somebody steps forth.

Revelation 5:5
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose [luo] the seven seals thereof.

Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, steps out of the crowd. He has prevailed and has the strength to open the seals. But who is it that actually opens the seals?

Revelation 5:6-9
⁶ And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
⁷ And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
⁸ And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
⁹ And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation…

It wasn’t as the Lion that He opened the seals, but as the Lamb.[5] He was worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals because He had been slain and had redeemed us to God by His blood! This scene plays itself out in the throne room of heaven, the house of God. The saints are gathered around in intercession,[6] singing the song of the redeemed—the song of those bought back from death.

This scroll is the revelation of God that He gave to His Son Jesus Christ. And He, as the Lamb of God, is able to loose those seals by His blood and reveal to us our destiny and the destiny of the whole earth. Our destiny is to be kings and priests unto our God and to reign upon the earth.[7]

He is the one that reveals to us our dominion and our authority. Because of the shed blood of the Lamb of God, we are loosed from death, we are loosed from sin, and we are loosed from the ignorance of our ultimate destiny to reign with Him in the kingdom of God by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Thus endeth the word study!

[1] Phil 2:8
[2] Rev 1:18
[3] The ransom price of His soul went to hades, hell. See Acts 2:27.
[4] Heb 2:14
[5]Rev 6:1 says “I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals.” Then, Rev 6:2, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 8:1 all say “when he had opened,” the “he” referring back to the Lamb of Rev 6:1.
[6] See also Rev 8:1-5

[7] Rev 5:10