The Blood Covenant

[Nicodema]

By the way, just wanted to let everyone know that Clio told me she will be gone away from her home for 4 days, so if we don't hear from her during this time, that's why.

[Clio]

Not to Nico... just generally following along...

From the pen of EGW with reference location.

They [the heirs of grace] have even a more sacred relationship to God than have the angels who have never fallen.--5T 740. {TA 286.4}

[Gerr]

Blood Covenant cont'd.

Now let us go to the NT with the perspective of what we have learned so far about blood covenanting. While reading Acts 15, I began to understand why the Pharisees who were converted to Christianity were so upset when they learned that Paul & Barnabas had been preaching & converting Gentiles to believe in the Jewish Messiah without requiring them to be circumcised. Why were they so insistent that a rite, which in the past only meant to me the mere cutting off of a foreskin, mean so much to the point of saying, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved?" Act 15:1 NKJ.

I believe that the only way to understand the insistence & persistence of the circumcision party is to understand it in terms of the symbolism of the blood covenant rite. In Gen 15, the LORD cut a covenant with Abraham and this was established by the cutting in half of animals. It was a blood covenant. In Gen 17, the LORD extends His covenant to Abraham and beyond, making it an everlasting covenant. Circumcision was made the sign of this everlasting covenant, "which shall be in your flesh" 17:13.

Trumbull points out that circumcision was a blood covenant of friendship consummated by Abraham giving his personal blood "at the very source of paternity", thereby pledging not only himself but also his descendants. No other human being has been specifically singled out as God's friend. And this was a friendship "forever", 2 Ch 20:7.

Bearing also in mind that the religion of the Pharisees was a religion of externals, no wonder the Pharisee Christians were so insistent about this rite which "shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant". What they forgot was that, as Paul argues in Rom 4 on the basis of Gen 15:6, Abraham was accounted righteous, i.e. saved, before he received the sign of circumcision solely on the basis of his trust in God. This was no mere mental assent kind of belief/faith, this faith which was covenanted in blood, was a total trust and commitment. So totally trusting & committed in fact, that he confirmed it by his willingness to sacrifice the only promised heir, reasoning that the same God who could bring out a child from a barren womb way past menopause, "was able to raise him up, even from the dead".

To be cont'd.

Gerry

[Gerr]

Blood Covenant contd.

Sorry I've been side-tracked. I would like to continue and hopefully bring this to a conclusion.

Let us now turn our attention to the Lord's Supper. Jesus took & broke the bread first and then said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and then gave it to them to drink saying, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many...." Mk 14:22-24 NKJ.

According to Trumbull these "are two distinct covenants, in Oriental practice as well as in biblical teaching....The Covenant of Bread is temporary; the Covenant of Blood is permanent. The one secures a truce; the other secures a vital union. Symbolically, the one gives nourishment, the other hospitality, and it brings one into family or tribal relations with those proffering it. The Covenant of Blood is immediately personal and individual."

If this is true, then one can easily the progression of the relationship in the Lord's Supper. To me, hospitality, acceptance, cleansing, are seen in the foot washing service. In the partaking of the bread, the pledge of hospitality is re-inforced, a truce declared, and the relationship nourished by the partaking of it. The relationship then moves on to a deeper more permanent level with the partaking of the proxy blood.

To be cont'd.

Gerry

[Gerr]

Blood Covenant cont'd.

For me, it was with this background of blood covenanting that Jn 6:53-58 became clearer.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, 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 food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven - not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." NKJ.

Here is the co-mingling of natures. The Infinite Deity became man, and man now becomes partaker of the divine nature by eating the flesh & drinking the blood of the Son of God!

And how do we do that? What Jesus told the crowd offended & turned many of them away. When they came to Jesus for an explanation He said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." Jn 6:63. To eat His flesh & to drink His blood, therefore, is to make His words a part of one's very being. The Word becomes flesh and bones all over again in the person of His believers.

One cannot have a co-mingling of natures and not have a radical transformation of nature.

Gerry

[archierieus]

Quote:

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Gerry Cabalo said:

Here is the co-mingling of natures. The Infinite Deity became man, and man now becomes partaker of the divine nature by eating the flesh & drinking the blood of the Son of God! . . . To eat His flesh & to drink His blood, therefore, is to make His words a part of one's very being . . . One cannot have a co-mingling of natures and not have a radical transformation of nature.

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Absolutely. That is what is so exciting about the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes a person on the inside, so that we become a new creation in Christ Jesus. As we continue to feed on Jesus through communion with Him, through His Word, through prayer, through exercising our faith, that new nature is strengthened and grows, just like the mustard seed. Former things are passed away, and new things are come. Praise the Lord for His miracle-working, life-changing power.

Dave

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

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archierieus said:

Absolutely. That is what is so exciting about the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes a person on the inside, so that we become a new creation in Christ Jesus. As we continue to feed on Jesus through communion with Him, through His Word, through prayer, through exercising our faith, that new nature is strengthened and grows, just like the mustard seed. Former things are passed away, and new things are come. Praise the Lord for His miracle-working, life-changing power.

Dave

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However, it would seem to me to be true, that reality does not become complete until our Lord returns in glory at His second coming. Else these words would not be true.

[:"red"] "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." [/] Ecclesiastes 7:20 KJV

[:"red"] "If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not)" [/] 1 Kings 8:46 KJV

Our Father in heaven sees the final reality as complete the moment we receive Jesus as our Savior, but this verse following will not be completed until the return of our Lord.

[:"red"] "...Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" [/] Hebrews 12:2 KJV

[:"red"] "lo, I tell you a secret; we indeed shall not all sleep, and we all shall be changed;

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trumpet, for it shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we -- we shall be changed: " [/]

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 YLT

[Gerr]

Glorification at the Second Coming is only the capstone on God's work in the believer's life that began in the here & now.

Gerry

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

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Gerry Cabalo said:

Glorification at the Second Coming is only **the capstone** on God's work in the believer's life >>that began<< in the here & now.

Gerry

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Re: ** ** & >> <<

[:"red"] "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" [/] Hebrews 12:2 KJV

[:"red"] "...that no man may boast before God.

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD." [/] 1 Corinthians 1:29-31 NASB

Capitals theirs LHC

[Gerr]

Blood Covenant cont'd.

So, in Jesus the Christ, God's pledge of friendship with mankind is sealed/confirmed, no longer with the blood of animals that could not take away sin or cleanse the conscience (Heb 10), but with the blood of the Lamb He Himself provided in the person of His own Son!

Just think what our awesome God has done. [:"red"]"God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls...." Heb 6:17-19 NLT[/]

A promise. Made on oath. Two immutable things. Made by an All Mighty God. Confirmed by His own Blood! What more can He do to make Himself trustworthy?

Gerry