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… for the life of all flesh is its
blood. (Leviticus 17:11)
In a world where few can be trusted and where friendships only
endure as long as there is a perceived personal benefit mankind is
always looking to make covenants. He seeks strong and secure
relationships for himself and also for his family. He seeks
committed friends who will be there for him when enemies rise up
against him or when he falls into misfortune. This inner emptiness,
this desire for a deep and meaningful connection to a life-giving
companion goes back a long way.
In fact it goes back all the way to the relationship man had with
God in the Garden of Eden. In those days before the fall of man Adam
walked with God. It was in that relationship that Adam found his
provision and his delight. After his fall from grace mankind has
experienced a deep emptiness within. This inner “angst” is a sense
of being alone and cut off from the flows of life.
Blood covenant was amongst the first and oldest of historical
traditions.
To increase emotional weight on the covenant ritual blood has to
flow to seal the covenant between two partners.
Blood Covenant In History
As we know from history, men were most often untrue to their word.
Accordingly their covenants were just not trustworthy. Covenants
were made and then broken based on personal benefit. If the other
covenant partner felt grieved by this broken covenant he might try
to force the issue in some way in order to maintain it. If not then
the ensuing battle might see a bloody contest and the perpetrators
life put in danger. But most of the time he escaped any punishment.
Men went on making vows of fidelity without any intention of keeping
them. When the covenant was broken the ones who had trusted them
were left desolate. This state of affairs has caused untold grief
and misery.
In the resulting insecurity mankind has sought ways out of this
dilemma. He has looked for the ultimate covenant.
In the oldest cuneiform writings we find an example of this. The
Gilgamesh Epos tells us the story of the two heroes Gilgamesh and
Enkidu. This Sumerian tale dating between 2750 to 2500 BC contains a
description of a blood brotherhood that is unforgettable. The two
individuals became one single acting unity. Each one lived for the
others sake. And so the death of one partner destroyed the meaning
of life in the surviving member. There was unity in life till death.
The personal advantage of such a deep connection is obvious. This
total reliance and confidence in each other enabled these two “Half
Gods” to overcome the seemingly invincible mountain spirit, Humbaba.
This story been told by gifted storytellers around the campfires
since ancient times. It started to fill the minds of even the
youngest listeners. They clearly saw the purpose and the benefit of
entering into such a covenant. Here in covenant with a totally
committed friend they could find strength, might, invincibility, and
security.
In 1.Samuel 18:1-3 we see a similar brotherhood…Jonathan became one
in spirit with David. Even though his father, Saul was at war with
David Jonathan loved him as himself. The Bible doesn’t tell us that
David and Jonathan sealed a blood covenant in any formal way. But it
does describe in detail the love and selfless attitude that ruled
their relationship. In the “Song of the Bow” we see David expressing
the unspeakable mourning which overwhelmed him when Jonathan, his
“other half”, died in the battle at Gilboa. (2 Samuel 1)
In spite of all these idealising stories and the attempts of mankind
to see these dreams fulfilled we have to realize that all of these
humanistic covenants have been and continue to be broken. If history
tells us anything in all this then it must be this fact. Mankind
here on this earth is not able to keep any lasting covenant with his
fellow man. All the best plans and covenants of the noblest of men
eventually fade away and come to nought.
Nevertheless the desire for such a lasting covenant is still there.
Deep inside of us we have a deep longing for a just and righteous
society built with covenants of absolute reliability and
trustworthiness.
This desire can’t be fulfilled here on earth – earth is earth – and
true covenants must be made from a different material, due to our
transience all we create, our covenants, too, will fade away.
The only covenant partner able to join with us to make an absolutely
unbreakable covenant is God. He is beyond time, and space. His ways
are far above the transient ways of this world. He is omniscient and
all knowing. He is also omnipresent, (all-present), and omnipotent,
(all-powerful).
HE is the “dream partner” of very human being.
The Blood Covenant Between GOD And Abraham
Abraham entered into covenant with El Shaddai, YHVH, the Almighty
God, Creator of heaven and earth. This is described to us in Genesis
15:17-21. The word “covenant’ means “cutting”. This is how the
covenant was “cut”.
God had told Abraham to prepare for a covenant agreement with Him.
He was told to slaughter several animals. Following the common
ritual of this time Abraham did this. He slaughtered the animals cut
them that two halves of the animal would lie on the ground opposite
each other. The two parties would then walk around those two halves
in a figure of eight path through the blood. In that ritual they
would pledge themselves to each other to the extent of all they had,
- even to their very lives. In that covenant they would name all the
blessings and benefits of the covenant. Then they would name the
curses to be exacted should that covenant be violated. There in the
bloody ground they would pledge themselves to each other and promise
to uphold the covenant requirements come what may. It was a covenant
unto death. It was a sombre moment. They affirmed in effect
that,
“If either one of us violates this covenant then may that person be
as this animal that was sacrificed and in whose blood we are now
standing.”
This scripture shows this passing through when the fiery torch (representing
God) appeared rushing to and fro between the slaughtered animals.
God is promising Abraham an eternal covenant, everlasting
reliability and security but HE required an obvious seal of this
covenant – the circumcision (Genesis 17:1-14).
This circumcision is an act done in faith. It is a “bloody” ritual
too. Every male descendant of Abraham was required bear this
covenant mark. In verse 13 God is repeating HIS promise confirming
the eternal character of this covenant, but the following verse
gives us the clear consequences if this covenant should ever be
broken. It is the death of the perpetrator.
This point is very important. We shall refer to this later. But now
let us take a closer look at the most holy covenant of all – the
Blood covenant.
This was the covenant God made with Abraham – and this covenant is
available till today!
God is the “dream partner” of very human being. Is it possible for a
man, woman, or child to enter into a blood covenant with HIM?
If you would become one with HIM, then it would no longer be just “you”.
It would not even be just “you” and ”HIM”.
Rather, it would also be “we” with HIM.
You would have sealed the ultimate covenant.
But this covenant has a price, it will cost you the utmost you can
give. It will cost you your very life. You have been called to lay
down your own life to receive HIS life. You have to die that HE will
live in you.
Let us take a look at this covenant in detail.
The Eternal Blood Covenant
Every covenant sealed by man was always grounded in the agreement of
two covenant parties. They pondered about the cost / benefit factor
and vowed loyalty to each other for consensual benefit.
Whereas God chose a different way to show us HIS way to the ultimate
covenant:
Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13)
In this scripture Jesus says that HE
gave the ultimate sign of HIS love as HE was slaughtered before a
covenant partner was there.
This death of Jesus Christ isn’t just the atonement of our sins
alone. It is the ultimate covenant, the most magnificent covenant
ever been made available to man.
No other covenant has had such dramatic consequences. No other
covenant has cost such a high price.
In Matthew 26, 26-29 we read the following words:
While they were eating, Jesus
took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his
disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying,
"Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell
you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on
until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's
kingdom.
Jesus speaks here about “The blood of
the covenant”. This is not just some other form of a covenant.
Rather it is the most high covenant available. We are talking here
about a blood covenant backed up by God himself! This covenant
brings man into communion and unity with God. In this covenant we
become partakers of God’s character.
That they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in
Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the
glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one
just as We are one:
(John 17:21-22)
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been
revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
(1.John 3:2)
These scripture show us the
mind-boggling dimensions of this new covenant. This covenant goes
beyond the grasp of our human imagination.
But just as it was with Abraham this covenant has a condition we
must fulfil. With Abraham it was the circumcision God was demanding
from him and his descendants. The ultimate covenant, the New
Covenant, has a condition too. Like circumcision it may involve
blood, even the cutting off and death of our flesh-life. Our Apostle
Paul speaks of this as a circumcision of the heart. (Rom.2:29) We
are not speaking here about our physical death, although that does
happen to God’s witnesses. No, this death is meant for our dreams,
desires and the ruling, (or mis-ruling), of our life by our own
fleshly desires. Everything that resists this total, overall
surrender to God’s hand has to die. Jesus says:
For whoever desires to save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will
find it.
(Matthew 16, 25)
Paul is expressing it the following
way:
For to me, to live is Christ and
to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we
were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His
death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His
resurrection.
(Romans 6:3-5)
Jesus says:
In the same way, any of you who
does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
(Luke 14:33)
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into
the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and
he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I
am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My
Father will honor.
(John 12:24-26)
The New Covenant has its price. And
yes I realize that this price is hardly spoken about in today’s
wealthy Christendom. Jesus is the One who saves and heals and
performs miracles this is true. But today a watered-down version of
Jesus is preached. He is portrayed as some sort of generous doting
super-wealthy merchant who just stands there and hands out blessings
free for the asking.
But the story is only half told. We are the agents of the Great
King. The covenant conditions required to flow in God’s anointing
are there. But they have been hidden from view. These conditions are
deliberately withheld from most believers for reasons of keeping
Christianity easy for half-committed people to enter in. Maintaining
popularity and “customer satisfaction” is the thing. The main goal
in the post-modern merchant church is to make the narrow way the
broadway. This is done to keep up the numbers on church rolls
and raise the Christian television ratings.
In spite of this ignorance and our lack of good performance the
covenant God has given us is still valid. But all the wonderful
promises tied to this covenant cannot be activated if we do not meet
the conditions.
God’s word gives us clear vision concerning the consequences we can
to expect should we misrepresent Him:
Therefore whoever eats this bread
or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and
drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many
sleep (have died).
(1. Corinthians 11:27-30)
Let us remember God’s covenant with
Abraham. There God commanded that everyone trespassing against this
covenant should be annihilated.
Our New Covenant through Jesus Christ has awful consequences as well
for those who misrepresent him.
Similarly the Lord’s Supper is not just a church ritual. No, it is a
holy covenant with our God. Death and sickness, unnecessary pain and
sorrow, spiritual ineffectiveness and paralysis are the consequences
for those who are not willing to fulfil our covenant part.
No amount of church showmanship or clever religious marketing can
help us here.
The Lord’s Supper is a blood covenant ritual, a holy act. Only those
who are willing to lay themselves on the altar and die to themselves
should partake.
If we are unwilling to do this we should not be taking communion at
all.
Right now many readers will think, “Nobody has ever told me this!”
Let us pause and be silent for a moment. Ask God for a revelation of
HIS will deep inside of you. It is of crucial importance that we
stop painting our own human pictures of God. We have to accept HIM
as HE is.
The highest and most glorious promises have been given to us. But
where can you find them in the western churches today? Where are the
believers displaying the glory of the LORD? Why do we see spiritual
sickness and death everywhere?
Brothers and sisters it is time to change the direction of our lives.
It is time for us to flip the steering wheel and to turn around and
go in a new direction. But for this we need a clear vision of where
we are spiritually right now:
And to the angel of the church of
the Laodiceans write,
"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the
Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works, that you
are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So
then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, "I am rich, have
become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that
you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-- I counsel
you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be
rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the
shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your
eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens
the door, I will come in to him and dine with him (covenant
ritual - confirming the coveneant), and he with
Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My
throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His
throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches.”
(Revelation 3, 14-22)
God is waiting for you. He awaits
your return to HIS covenant. He has fulfilled HIS part 2000 years
ago. HIS covenant stands unshakable. Now HE is calling you. Everyone
is called to experience the benefits and riches of this covenant.
And everyone who is willing to pay the price will enter into this
glorious destiny. That price is the death of our own self life, our
own fleshly desires, (the id), and our own ego.
In Psalm 50 verse 5 God speaks the following words:
Gather My saints together to Me,
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
There is a place where we can meet
our covenant partner. There is a place where He is waiting for you.
It is at the altar of sacrifice. There you will meet HIM. At this
place where you stop being merely a life unto yourself. Where your
own life will be consumed by the fire of dedication and selfless
love you will find your life again. You will find it in HIM!
Become a overcomer! The glory of God is awaiting you!
Amen
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