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Israel, through the blood covenant struck with Abraham and then renewed at the Passover in Egypt and reinforced by the Levitical sacrificial system, is in blood covenant with God. It is a covenant of service, but the requirement to serve works both ways. Israel serves God according to His word and He serves Israel according to His faithfulness and righteousness..
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 And now, Israel, what doth Yahweh thy God require of thee, but to fear Yahweh thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
The blood covenant like all covenants has no time limit but this one has to be renewed daily.
Exodus 29:37-39 Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:
Very clearly the blood covenant has to be renewed daily.
And Paul says – 1 Corinthians 15:31 ……… I die daily.
That might come as a shock. Hebrews 9:12 says …. not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, (Christ) entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.
The blood covenant no longer requires daily renewal by blood for Christ entered by His own blood once for all, but it does require us to renew our commitment to it as Paul did, dying daily on the altar, recognising our waywardness before God and confessing our sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All that being the case let’s now look at our relationship with the Lord through the blood covenant in the dispensation of the Renewed Covenant wrongly referred to as the New Testament.
1 Peter 1:18-19 Since you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot ……….. so that your faith and hope might be in God (v 21)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.
1 Corinthians 7:22-23 For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called being free, is Christ’s bondservant. You are bought with a price; be not the servants of men.
The implication being that in comparing the states – of being a bondservant to man with being a bondservant to the Lord – the difference is a clear one between bondage and freedom.
You have been redeemed by the precious blood of Messiah, you have been bought out of bondage by that payment, but as with all payment ownership was transferred and ownership of your soul passed from hell to heaven.
And there is a requirement placed upon us. We must recognise we are no longer our own and we must serve God with spirit, soul and body.
We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Clearly our salvation calls for more than just belief in God, though that will get you into heaven. We have to work out our salvation so that we can become the fullness of what we have been called to be.
Through the blood covenant we enter into salvation but the relationship is one of Lord and bondservant. We honour the terms of this covenant by willing obedience to the Word of God. As we do this we feed our better natures at the expense of the evil nature. In this way we firstly work out our own salvation and secondly we are being changed into the likeness of Christ – bit by bit, day by day.
But the blood covenant is just the start. As glorious and as life-changing as the blood covenant is, there is even more on offer if we will receive it and enter in.
And that leads me very neatly into the Salt Covenant which I will talk to you about shortly – God willing.
God bless you all
