The Covenant of Blood.
The Old Testament had requirements for the shedding of blood for the salvation of mankind. The issue of blood is a central point made in both the Old and New Testaments for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin right standing with God and covenant with God.
Blood plays an important role in our relationship with God and your life. The creator and father of life demands respect from its creation. God created man to respect life and gave him restrictions that limit what he can do and what he can't do. However, sin robs you the better life you are struggling to obtain. The limitations in Gods law help to promote a better life in the long term. Disobedience to God is sin and sin destroys the life you are trying to build.
Because of sin Adam and Eve brought the penalty of sin and the curse of the law, man is under till this day.
Most Christians know the story of original sin and how Adam and Eve died a spiritual death eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were driven out of the garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life, so they would not live forever. Does the knowledge of good and evil things prolong your life? The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, so knowledge was not the sin but what you do with that knowledge. Adam and Eve knew that by eating from the tree God told them not to eat from that they would die. Adam and Eve paid the price for disobedience, yet Adam and Eves judge preferred mercy over the penalty of the law
The judge of eternal life preferred to allow the blood of another creature to be substituted for the penalty of Adam and Eve’s sin. God approved the lamb, the oxen, and dove, all ceremonial clean animals to be sacrificed as a substitute for the penalty demanded by his law. When these animals were slaughtered, their blood was collected into bowls and taken to the altar. The blood being the evidence that the penalty of sin, death took place. Some of the blood was splashed against the side of the altar and the rest was poured out before the altar. The carcass was then skinned, cut into pieces and arranged in a prescribed order.
Try to describe a picture of what the priest working at the altar must have looked like. The blood was on his feet, on his robes, both hands from handling the blood of the sacrifice. As bloody as it was, it is important to recognize that this gives a picture of Christ in the future.
Christ was scourged, his back was ripped open by the Roman whips that were laced with sharp objects. Chunks of his skin were missing that started a flow of blood down his legs leaving a trail behind him. With his wounds still screaming with pain he was forced to carry his cross while bleeding to Calvary. So weaken by his wounds another man took his cross the rest of the way to the place Christ would be executed. Christ was then placed in a specific manner on the cross so he would have the most painful death man had ever devised by man. Even as he was dying the people of Israel they turned away and trampled his blood into the ground on their way back to Jerusalem.
In the days of Abraham, covenants were made between men with the blood of animals. When the two parties came to an agreement, they dug a V shaped trench, slaughtered the animals on to each side of the trench and allowed their blood to mingle at the bottom of the trench. The two parties would walk through the blood and take an oath may you do this if I fail to keep my part of the agreement. In other words the offended party had the right to slaughter the offender and wade in his blood. Needless to say few ever broke their part of the agreement.
This is the kind of agreement God made with Abraham Genesis in 15:9-18 as God passed between the pieces. A similar agreement was made to God in Jeremiah's time.
Let us consider the blood covenant we have with God. Jesus said,
The blood covenant we have with God goes into affect when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and received the forgiveness of your sin. We didn't deserve the death of Christ, or his blood he gave as atonement for our life. Jesus in the form of man offered is own blood to reconcile us to God. His blood paid the ransom for your life and freed you from the bondage of sin. However, God prefers a different kind of Sacrifice from you.
God prefers a sacrifice that only you can do that begins with the condition of your heart. Are you at the heart level, truly repentant?
While you may believe that you are truly repentant will you offend God again with the same sin? Asking for forgiveness for the same sin is a good sign that your heart has deceived you. Sorrow should accompany repentance including making amends for your sin. If that doesn't work then tell God what you have done to correct the problem and ask his help.
There is still another portion of the blood covenant yet to come that we have not spoken of. God takes his covenant seriously and deals with sin harshly. Could it be that God would choose to exercise his rights of the covenant he made with man?
Jesus Christ will return for his elect one day and robes will be stained with the blood of the slain, those he slaughters on the day of his vengeance. The scriptures above show Christ’s intentions to trample the blood of those who refused to repent or accept the mercy of God. Salvation is a gift but you have to accept it with all your heart.
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