THE POWER OF THE BLOOD: The Blood Covenant Part 1 “The Foundation in the Old Testament (From Adam to Mt. Sinai)”

One of the principles of life is that once we no longer understand WHY something is important…we no longer have a reason to value it….this is a very dangerous thing!

Sometimes this is through ignorance….or because our culture has changed so much that we just don’t get it anymore

EX: the traditional concept of a “family” has almost gone by the wayside…and our culture now accepts people of the same sex living together as normal….or the fact that no longer is The 10 Commandments welcome to hang on the walls of our courts because it is considered mixing church and state…when the Commandments are what our very laws are founded on..

One of the most important biblical concepts that is in danger of being forgotten…or that is no longer understood…and in some places, no longer being taught because it OFFENDS people….is the principle of the BLOOD COVENANT

Satan and his demons HATE this message about the blood of Jesus because it means their destruction….they shudder at the very MENTION of the blood.

Humanists and religious people also hate the message of the blood…to them, the idea that to be “right” with God comes through Jesus blood rather than by HUMAN EFFORT is foolish and it doesn’t sit well with them….but

Hebrews 9:22 says “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of BLOOD there is no remission.”

Think about that song we sing…”What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

Over the next few weeks…we are going to do an in depth study of the Blood…but today I want you to get a foundation to build your understanding on….over the next few weeks, we will learn the significance of the Tabernacle, what Jesus says about the Blood, what power is there in the Blood, and how to apply the Blood to our lives…..

We are gonna start with learning about the BLOOD in the OLD TESTAMENT and the COVENANT of BLOOD that God has made with us….it’s a LOT of KNOWLEDGE…..

It was by that BLOOD the Covenant God made with us had its foundation and power….it is by the BLOOD alone that God and man can be brought into covenant fellowship

A COVENANT is often compared to a CONTRACT…but a covenant goes much, much deeper

The word COVENANT means: a binding agreement between two parties. The Hebrew word for covenant is BERIYTH which means “to fetter” or “confederacy, compact, and league…more precisely it means “to cut until bleeding occurs”…the Greek word is DIATHEKE…it

actually means “an agreement to cut a covenant by the shedding of blood and walking between pieces of flesh”

Without BLOOD there could be no access by us…sinful man…to a Holy God

A blood covenant between two parties is the closet, the most enduring, the most solemn and the most sacred of all contracts. It absolutely cannot be broken.

Let’s take a quick History lesson to Hebrew culture….then we will start back in Genesis…

A SIDENOTE OF HEBREW HISTORY“The Hebrew Ritual of Cutting Covenant”

The Eastern (Hebrew) mind regards blood quite differently than the Western (USA) mind…

When Eastern men drew up a contract…they would seal it by CUTTING A COVENANT

“No blood, no covenant”

The Hebrews had a blood covenant ritual that was very similar to other nations around them

All nations practiced a blood covenant because man INSTINCTIVELY sought this relationship…..

These are the common steps to entering into a covenant…it is a very specific ceremony…

The Scriptures I will show you PROVE that the Israelites understood what Covenant was…

STEP 1. TAKE OFF YOUR COAT or ROBE

1 Samuel 18:1-4 “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.”

A person’s robe represented the PERSON…so, Taking off your coat or robe and giving it to the other person was like saying “I’m giving you all myself”…and then the other person would do the same to you

STEP 2: TAKE OFF THE BELT

Belts weren’t used to hold up their pants back in the day…they were used to hold their weapons….so symbolically you were telling the other person that you were giving them all your strength and pledging them all your support…If anyone attacked them, it was like they were attacking you…their battles become your battles and visa versa…..this is kinda like compacts nations make today….but THIS ONE COULD NOT be broken…

STEP 3: CUT THE COVENANT

Jeremiah 34:18-19 “The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. 19

The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf…”

In this step, you actually “cut the covenant” by taking an animal and literally cutting it right down the middle…..F.Y.I….the ONLY time animals were split right down the middle was in a covenant ceremony

After the animal was split, each half was laid beside us, we would stand in between the two bloody halves of flesh with our backs to each other…then we would walk right through the bloody halves, making a figure eight and come back to a stop facing each other…

This was saying two things….FIRST…we would be saying that we are dying to ourselves…giving up the rights to our own life and beginning a new walk with our covenant partner UNTO DEATH…..SECOND….since the blood covenant is the most solemn pact….we would each point down to the bloody animal split in two and say “God do so to me and more if I ever try to break this covenant. Just split me right down the middle and feed me to the vultures because I tried to break the most sacred of all compacts.”

STEP 4: RAISE THE RIGHT ARM AND MIX BLOOD

Isaiah 62:8 “The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm…”

We would raise our right arms, cut our palms, and bring them together…as we touch them together…our blood mixes…then we would swear allegiance to each other (HA! Don’t you remember doing this as a kid with your BFF!)

The thought was that as our blood mixes together…we would be becoming one life….

We would be saying that we are putting off our old nature and putting on the nature of our blood covenant partner

STEP 5: EXCHANGE NAMES

EX from God changing names….Genesis 17:5 ”No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.”

Genesis 17:15  “God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.”

You would take my last name as a part of your name and I would take your last name as a part of my name

STEP 6: MAKE A SCAR

Isaiah 49:16 “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;        your walls are ever before me”

We would now rub our blood together to make a scar…this scar would be a permanent testimony to the covenant we made…..

If anyone tried to harm us…we would raise our right arm to show our scar…by that we are saying “there’s more to me than meets the eye…if you’re coming after me, you’re also going to have to fight my blood covenant partner…and you must not know how big He is!

STEP 7: GIVE COVENANT TERMS

Scripture EX of giving terms: Genesis 31:52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.

Genesis 21:23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you."

We would stand before witnesses and give the terms of the covenant…”All my stuff is yours…if you need anything, you don’t even have to ask…it’s yours…and if I die…all my children are yours by adoption and you are responsible for my family….but at the same time, you would also get all my liabilities…if there is ever a time when I need money…you will give it to me.”

So………….we would read allllll this before witnesses

STEP 8: EAT A MEMORIAL MEAL

Genesis 26:28-30 They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us'-between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD." Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.”

Genesis 31:44-54 “Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us." So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me." Laban also said to Jacob, "Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.”

The memorial meal is bread and wine….Genesis 49:11 Calls wine “the blood of grapes”….the wine represents our lifeblood…the bread represents our flesh

We would take the loaf of bread and break it in two and feed it to each other saying “this is symbolic of my body and I’, now putting it in you”…then we do and say the same thing about the wine…..and now…symbolically…I am in you and you are in me….we are now one together with a new nature

STEP 9: PLANT A MEMORIAL

Genesis 21:27-33 “So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?" He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well." So that place was called Beersheba, [a] because the two men swore an oath there. After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham PLANTED a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

This step completed the ceremony….from now on we were known as FRIENDS…..

In Bible times, they didn’t use the word “friend” as loosely as we do today…you became friends only after you had cut covenant…and all our children are included in this covenant…even the unborn ones….later, when they are born and come to an age of understanding about our covenant, they can choose to stay in it or reject it

Now…every time you read these words in the Old Testament about trees being planted, meals taken, and stuff like that…you know they are cutting a covenant….the Bible doesn’t spell it out every time because back in Bible days everyone understood what was happening…

There are lots of examples in the Old Testament about people cutting covenant…Abraham cut covenant with the Philistine King Abielech, Laban cut covenant with Laban, David cut covenant with Jonathan…but let’s start from the beginning…

So…..let’s work our way through the first instances that God used to establish a PICTURE in our minds of just how important the BLOOD is…

OLD TESTAMENT FOUNDATION:

When Adam and Eve sinned…it plunged the entire world into darkness and then the “death process” started…though Adam and Eve didn’t die for many years…it was SPIRITUAL death that came first just as God had warned them when He said “In that day you shall surely die.”…..

Death means separation from God.

You can start reading in Genesis 3….as you read, notice that Adam as WITH Eve when the serpent was talking to her….then notice that as

soon as they had taken a bite of the forbidden fruit…IMMEDIATELY their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. Now…they had seen each other’s bodies for days….I personally don’t believe they are recognizing they are physically naked…but they are realizing that they are UNCOVERED….there is something INSIDE them that has changed …there is a vacancy inside of them….so they try to cover themselves with FIG LEAVES….so when God calls to Adam and Adam is hidden…notice what God asks him…”Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of good and evil?”….

Even back in the Garden of Eden….

But God….in His extreme goodness…gives us the FIRST hope of the coming Messiah in Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity (war) between you (Satan) and the woman (Israel), and between your seed (Mankind) and her Seed (Messiah); he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

These are words from the very mouth of God that He was promising that one day the Messiah would come and make everything better…

At this point…something completely AMAZING happened… God gives them a covering through the shed blood of an innocent animal:…..now…back up just a bit….when Adam and Eve sinned…they realized they were naked…they covered themselves with FIG LEAVES…that was THEIR WAY of covering themselves…but God was like…nope…that won’t cut it….He showed them in a way that they could understand…that there was only ONE WAY to come before Him now…through the BLOOD

Gen 3:21 "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. “

Notice that He clothed them with tunics of "skin" and that the ONE sacrifice clothed them both…. The word CLOTHED speaks of blood atonement…. They had never seen anything die…don’t you know that it must have horrified them to see an innocent creature be killed because of something THEY did… this animal could have even been a PET of theirs….after all, they had named all the animals and lived at peace with them all…..can you imagine watching your innocent pet be killed and then SKINNED because of something YOU did???!!!!....yet they saw God the giver of life take a life because when God clothed them He had to slaughter an innocent animal to do it

THINK ABOUT IT: An INNOCENT animal was slaughtered…instead of them…a SUBSTITUTE… in order to COVER them so that they could still approach God

This was a sign of the coming Messiah that would be the substitute for all mankind!

Now God didn’t have Moses record every little thing that went on during that “clothing” but you can almost bet on it that God had Adam and Eve watch as He killed that animal and then He explained to them what the deal was….the fig leaves they had used didn’t cut it because they didn’t show the evidence that a price had been paid!

From this point on one could only approach God through the blood. This would be the vehicle of redemption. Without the blood there

was no other possible way for man to be saved. No matter how good he may be:

Leviticus 17:11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'

EVERYDAY they wore skins as clothing…it was a CONTINUAL reminder of the SAVIOR to come!!! HOW WOW IS THAT!!!

Then… right outside of the Garden of Eden…with Abel’s sacrifice. When Abel brought the “firstlings of his flock” to the Lord as a sacrifice….BLOOD was shed…Genesis 4…..why was his brother, Cain’s, sacrifice not accepted?

Cain brought the best of his good works and God was repulsed. There are NO good works that were good enough….…..God is setting us straight right from the beginning that our GOOD WORKS are NOT enough to let us approach a Holy God and that there can actually be not approach to God at all…EXCEPT through a BLOOD sacrifice!!....

Isn’t this exactly what man tries to do to this day….to approach God with self-righteousness…???!!!

You can also bet that surely Adam would have told his sons about what God did for them in the Garden after their big sin….surely Adam would have explained how it had to be a BLOOD sacrifice when coming before the Lord….that would only

make sense….because why would Cain and Abel have been bringing a sacrifice to the Lord at all…unless they had been TAUGHT that…and taught the right way to do it

Abel knew that he was unworthy and that is why in faith he brought a substitute. Notice what it says in Hebrews 11:4

Hebrews 11:4 “By FAITH Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”

Abel accepted God’s way…but Cain rejected it….Cain became furious with God…but even then, God gave Cain a chance to repent…

Genesis 4:5,7 “but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast…. If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

But Cain didn’t repent….1 John 3:12…God tells us what Cain’s heart was like …”Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one (satan) and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.”

That left God with no choice to drive Cain from His presence…Cain’s descendants turned their back on the BLOOD COVENANT and chose to follow their own evil ways (Genesis 4:17-24)…

The Bible warns us about those who go the way of Cain….Jude 11-13 “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

God gave Adam and Eve another son to replace Cain…His name was Seth….from Seth came the descendants of Noah….according to Genesis 4:26 tells us that Seth’s descendants called upon the name of the Lord

1600 years pass…then came The Flood which was God’s judgment on sin…But even then…the very FIRST thing that Noah did after he left the ark was to offer a burnt sacrifice to God…..burnt offerings were acts of worship…the Bible says in Genesis 8:20-21 that the offering offered by Noah was a “sweet savory smell” …another reminder to us that there has to be BLOOD shed in order to approach God

500 years later…the world has once again turned from God to idol worship….Abram’s family were idol worshippers…

Joshua 24:2,14 'Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River [a] and worshiped other gods…. “Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.”

We then see Abram…..God told him to get out of his pagan household and go to a country that God would show him…with him God was starting the formation of a people to serve Him….He was going to bless him and make him a great nation…out of Abraham’s seed all the nations of the world would be blessed...

God brings Abram to the land of Canaan than approaches him in a way that he would understand….God establishes a BLOOD COVENANT with him….remember that this COVENANT making was a part of their culture and the surrounding cultures so this was something that Abram clearly understood

The COVENANT ceremony is described in Genesis 15….as we read it…be in AWE of how God is continuing to reveal His plan for our ultimate redemption…..it completely BLOWS ME AWAY!!!

Genesis 15: 1, 9-18 “After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward (God was telling Abram that all He had was his…this is the passing of the ROBE and BELT…remember ROBE symbolized “the person”…God was giving Abram Himself) So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other (AT THIS MOMENT ABRAM REALZIED GOD WAS CUTTING COVENANT WITH HIM….SO ABRAM KNEW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT GOD WAS GOING TO DO WHAT HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO DO!!!!); the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, (these birds of prey…vultures.. symbolized Satan…trying to break up the covenant before it is completed by snatching away the acceptable sacrifice before it

can be offered…just like Satan taunting Jesus while He hung on the cross…”can’t you come down from there?”…) but Abram drove them away (He was trying to help God out….but that just wouldn’t work…cause man could not approach God on his own…God knew that the only person who could complete the covenant was HIMSELF…so he caused a deep sleep to fall over Abram and would wake him up when the covenant ceremony was over.). As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch (could this have been the GLORY OF GOD!!!!) appeared and passed between the pieces (do you see this….!!!!! Abram saw passing between the bloody animals, someone taking his place…Someone was saying “I’m dying to myself. I’m giving up the rights to my own life…..GOD stood in for Abram….HE was the only one that could have stood in for him…for us!). On that day the LORD MADE A COVENANT with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-…”

Once again we see how the Old Testament is a picture of a person in the New Testament!!!!! IT IS SO WOW!!!!!

THE SCAR: Genesis 17…God wakes up Abram to seal the covenant….remember the seal is the SCAR given as the testimony to the covenant….it was the guarantee…..for Abram it would be

CIRCUMCISION…..Abram would bear in his flesh, the evidence that he had entered into a blood covenant with God….

All of Abram’s natural descendents would confirm their accepting the covenant by taking the seal of circumcision on newborn males….in this way, the seal, the reminder to the covenant was passed down

CHANGE OF NAMES: According to covenant ritual…God and Abram changed names. ….God becomes known as the God of Abraham…and Abram became known as Abraham and Sarai becomes known as Sarah….One study I read said that God, who was known as YHWH to the Hebrew’s, took the “H” from His Name and inserted it in AbraHam and SaraH

Now they are known as FRIENDS….

James 2:23 ”And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God's FRIEND.”

But the problem was…Abraham had no son through Sarah…and he was 75 years old at this time!...God is asking Abraham to have supernatural faith….Abraham has never had a covenant partner like God…it takes him a little bit to get with the program…..

Well, 25 YEARS LATER, when Abraham is 100…Abraham and Sarah have a son, Isaac…it was a SUPERNATURAL birth…..remind you of something else….?? Jesus’ supernatural birth!!!

Remember that Abraham had SLEPT through the whole covenant ceremony…God had been proving that He would keep His end…now it was time to see if Abraham would do his part…

Remember that when a covenant is cut…each person HAS to be willing to give his TOTAL being to the one he is in covenant with…

SO…there is really only one way to see if Abraham is committed to the covenant…is he willing to sacrifice His only son???....did you know that this was common practice in the pagan religions…..God is asking Abraham if he really loves Him as much as the heathens love their idols…

Romans 4:20 says “Abraham staggered not at the promises of God.”

For a Middle-Easterner, like Abraham, to offer his only son’s life was a far greater sacrifice than offering his own life….this was the ULTIMATE sacrifice…cause in the Middle-Eastern mind…to die without a son was the most terrible thing in life…your whole life would be considered a failure

Genesis 22 tells us about the 3-day journey that Abraham and Isaac took to Mount Moriah….for 3 DAYS Abraham believed his son to be as good as dead…..does that remind you of something!!!!....Jesus was in the grave for 3 days!!!

As Abraham and Isaac walked up the mountain, Isaac asked where the sacrifice was and Abraham replied…Genesis 22:8 “God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

Just when Abraham is about to take the life of his son…God steps in and provides a SUBSTITUTE…Genesis 22:11-12 “Abraham, you’ve proven your faithfulness to the COVENANT. Take this ram I have provided and offer him in place of your son. I will accept him as a substitute sacrifice in our covenant.”

TOTAL WOW!!! What a picture of our Savior!!!

God is asking us to believe the SAME THING he asked Abraham to believe….He asks us to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, has entered into a covenant with God the Father on our behalf. We are separated from God by our sin and there’s no way we can SHOO AWAY the birds ourselves….meaning there’s nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God…We can’t “help God” with our own righteousness…we can’t have enough “good works”…in fact…the only way we can come into the covenant is to confess helplessness before God and accept the ONE who walked in our place as Abraham did!!!!

400 years pass….Isaac and his descendents have grown to become the “children of Israel”…they are recognized as God’s First-born among the nations….as they are delivered from the Egyptian bondage…again…it is NOT WITHOUT BLOOD….by the sprinkling of the door frames of the Israelites with the BLOOD of the lamb….Passover….God said “When I see the BLOOD I will pass over you”…..this was to teach the people that life can obtained only by the death of a substitute…..Life was possible for them only through THE BLOOD of a life given in their place…and then the BLOOD was “sprinkled”…the BLOOD had to be APPLIED…that is very important!!!....you have to ACCEPT the Blood for it to operate in your life!....

SIDENOTE…….The Children of Israel would have completely understood why God required for BLOOD to be applied…..they understood the concept that was very prevalent among ALL NATIONS back-in-the-day…..they all understood BLOOD COVENANT….

FYI…Through the BLOOD…not only did the Israelites receive deliverance…but also HEALING…. Think about it…they had been SLAVEs…working in yuck conditions…surely they had some hurts and pains….but Psalm 105:37 “He brought them forth with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.”….Israel left Egypt as a new and blessed nation with abundant wealth and health!!! In fact…all the wealth from the wealthiest nation in the world had just been transferred to the Children of Israel….in one night…. ALL BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD!!

The BLOOD the Israelites smeared on their doorposts was a type and shadow of the BLOOD of the Lamb…Jesus…by smearing the blood around their doors, they were looking ahead in faith to the BLOOD of the Savior!

FYI….a little info on the 10 Plagues:….to the Egyptians, divine presence and the natural world were inseparable…each of the 10 plagues attacked one of the religious views that the Egyptians held…God did this to show that HE was sovereign!!!!!...The Egyptians worshipped the Nile River…so when God turned it into blood…He revealed that the river was not divine….the Egyptians worshipped animals…God sent millions of FROGS…they represented the fertility god, Isis… then the millions of frogs that represented life to the Egyptians, suddenly died….then God sent plagues of lice, representing Seth, the Egyptian god of the earth, and flies, symbolizing Baal-zebeb, the lord of the flier and the god of Ekron…

Then God sent a disease that killed the Egyptians cattle….the bull was especially sacred to them, they thought all animals were possessed by the spirits of the gods, especially their god Apis…the next two plagues demonstrated God’s sovereignty over nature…BOILS…the Egyptians considered body sores to be punishment for sin…then hail mixed with fire fell and killed both man and beast…this was God’s way of attacking their beliefs in sorcerers and shamans who were believed to control physical healing, agriculture, and the weather….then the locusts which attacked the agriculture…then God covered Egypt with a deep darkness…to prove that their sun god Amun-Re was not a god at all…en God sent the 10th plague…it really blew away all the Egyptian religion…They had believed that each night the sun fought and defeated the snake, Apophis, who symbolized the darkness. In that way, day came anew after each night…They also believed Pharaoh to be the incarnation of the sun. Three full days of darkness followed by death of the firstborn at midnight proved Pharaoh’s impotence as a deity and proved ALL of the Egyptian religious system to be WRONG

When God laid out in Exodus 12:21-24 what was to be done to protect His people…one study I read said that at least 3,500 lambs were slaughtered that night…but I’m wondering…if there were millions of Israelites..that number might have been much, much higher…can you only imagine that!…this is known as the Passover….this lamb was also most probably a PET….it was an animal they had raised and cared for…..

Most Jewish people and historians consider this exodus and deliverance of the children of Israel, the BIRTH of the Jewish nation…

Do you realize that without the death of the first Passover Lamb…there would be no Jewish nation, therefore no Jewish prophets, no

Jewish Bible, and no Jewish Messiah….That means there would be no Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and without Christ…there would be no salvation!

1 Corinthians 5:7 “… For even Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us…”

As with all lambs sacrificed on the altar, the Passover lamb had to be perfect, without spot, flaw, or blemish…Jesus, our Passover Lamb, was spotless, unblemished by sin.

God wants His people to remember the Passover and how they were liberated …Exodus 13:8 “…And you shall show your son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came up out of Egypt.”

The Hebrew word for Passover, PESACH, means: to pass over in the sense of protection….when we place our faith in Jesus, the Passover Lamb, we build a protection over ourselves, our families, and our households….a covering protection of BLOOD!

FYI…Do you realize that the Egyptians could have been spared this night…IF they just would have obeyed God’s command and had slaughtered a Lamb and sprinkled the BLOOD on their doorposts…..the BLOOD was the only sign God was looking for at this point….wow

50 days later….Israel had reached Sinai …God had given His law to Moses as the foundation of His covenant….that covenant could only be established with…you guessed it… the shedding of BLOOD…Exodus 24 tells us that the sacrificial BLOOD must be sprinkled, first on the altar, then on the book of the Covenant (which represented God’s side of the Covenant), then on the people, with the declaration “This is THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT”

Exodus 24:4-8 “ And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words."

Moses had to sprinkle the BLOOD on the people because covenant is only made with the application of blood. As the nation "received" the blood of the covenant, the covenant was sealed.

Let’s look at the way the BLOOD was applied in these cases…cause it is different…with Abraham and Isaac: Isaac’s life was redeemed because the BLOOD was SHED….in Egypt: the Blood was SPRINKLED on the DOOR POSTS of the house….but at Sinai: it was SPRINKLED ON THE PEOPLE…..do you see what is happening….it keeps getting closer and closer…..the closer it gets the more POWERFUL!!!!

You may be thinking….why is all of this Blood sprinkling not freaking out the Children of Israel….why didn’t they question having to sprinkle the blood over their doorposts…why did Moses sprinkle blood on them….

Well, remember from earlier…every culture back in Bible days knew the principles behind a COVENANT….

Do you see the parallels here between what happened with Blood Covenants and what Jesus did for us!!!!???...

During the covenant ceremony He had with His disciples…He shared bread and wine…then He went out and left a memorial to the covenant…He “planted a tree”…a cross…and He spilled out His blood on it…ALL of His blood

The “terms of the covenant”….God said “I’ll take all your liabilities, all your sins, all your sorrows, all your sickness on Myself….I’ll forgive you your sins and remember them no more, I’ll give you My own righteousness…you clothe Me with your robe of sin, sorrow, and heartache, and I’ll clothe you with My garment of salvation and My robe of righteousness. We’ll exchange natures. For I’ll put My Spirit within you and bless you with all spiritual blessings. You’ll partake of My own nature by intermingling of our blood. You can become part of me and I’ll live in your heart. My house will be your house. You can feast at My table. I’ll be a Father to you and adopt you as My own son. You will reign with Me for a 1,000 years and have eternal life with Me, This is My free gift to you to show you that I love you.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12 (same thing!) "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Ezekiel 11:19-20 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 36: 25-28 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”

Just as in the NATURAL/PHYSICAL cutting of covenant…when you are of age…you will have to make a CHOICE…you can partake of the covenant…or walk away from it…YOU have to decide

If you decide to enter into this covenant…then Jesus said you will be known as His FRIEND

John 15:14-15 “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

You will even exchange names and be called a Christian, a believer, disciple…

Do you realize that you are now a blood brother to other people who claim the name of Christ!!!!..Whether they are in your church or anywhere else…they are more than just “friends”….this is a relationship that we in the Western world take much too lightly…

If we understood what this really means…there would be less strife, division, and gossip among our “blood brothers”

We are bound by BLOOD to love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, never speak evil of one another, encourage one another, build each other up, and appreciate one another’s gifts because WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER just as we BELONG TO CHRIST!

John 6:53-57 “Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in

you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”

James 1:19-20 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his FRIENDS.”

Keeping covenant means placing others’ good and welfare above our own and living a lifestyle of HOLINESS

Philippians 2:3-4 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Like the scar….Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to all who will enter into covenant with Him

John 20:22 “…and with that, He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit is the seal…He is the constant reminder…the guarantee…that we are in covenant with God through the blood of Jesus…

2 Corinthians 1:22 “…set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Showing the scar….When Satan comes against us…we are to SHOW THE SCAR…the power of the Holy Spirit….

1 John 4:4 “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.”

When Satan sees the scar…he will flee from us because he knows he has already been whipped by our BLOOD COVENANT BROTHER…Jesus Christ!!!!!!

Ephesians 1:18-23 “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus invites us to enter into this COVENANT with Him….

Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”