But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry,
by how much also he is the mediator of a better
covenant, which was established upon better promises. For
if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no
place have been sought for the second. Hebrews 8:6-7
In the teaching of the message of faith, a great deal has been
taught about the name of Jesus, but there has been little teaching
on His blood. However, the blood of Jesus is significant in
the New Testament. The blood of the Lamb which was spilled
and which even appears in Heaven is mentioned frequently in
the book of Revelation. Therefore, we need to examine its importance.
Because of a lack of knowledge about the blood, some people
have carried the blood too far. For example, they "plead
the blood" over everything, ignorant of the fact that
there is no precedent in the Word of God for doing this. Remember,
Jesus left us the power of His name, not His blood.
In order to fully understand the significance of the blood,
look again at the verses from Hebrews 8, which are quoted above.
We must find out just what is meant by "the first covenant," and
why ours is called a better covenant. For that matter, we need
to understand what is meant by the word covenant.
The reason we have a better covenant is because of Jesus. The
old covenant consisted of pictures, (types and shadows) painted
through the blood of animals. But, the New Testament tells
us that we no longer need the blood of animals. It tells us
that the blood of Jesus shed once and for all, will never,
be shed again, and that it purchased the full redemption price
for us.
Another thing we need to consider is that the Bible was written
by Eastern people, and that' for those of us with Western minds
to understand many of the illustrations in it, we should learn
about the customs of the' time and the way the people thought.
Now let's take the word "testament" of "covenant." The
same word is translated either way. Actually, the word covenant
comes from the Old Testament "berith." The word "berith" will
help us to understand what the word covenant
means. Berith means "to cut." More precisely, it
means, "to cut until bleeding occurs." This refers
to a cut so deep that the blood flows. In America we don't
like the sight of blood. We flee from it. We do everything
to keep from shedding our blood. When we do, we don't want
to look at it. And we want to stop the flow as soon as possible.
However, the Eastern mind looked at blood differently. The
blood meant much more. Blood was used whenever covenants were
made. To the Eastern mind, a covenant was not actually ratified
until blood was shed. For example, when Eastern business men
would draw up a contract, once that contract was drawn up,
they would "cut a covenant." This would ensure that
neither would back out.
There are four ways to enter into a blood covenant. The first
way is to cut the palms of the hands to the point that blood
begins to flow into the palms, then the hands are put together.
This is where the twentieth century handshake originated. It's
really too bad that the handshake means nothing more than it
does today. In the early days of this country, a person's handshake
was his bond. That meant he didn't back out. When he shook
hands, he guaranteed the promise with his life. Today a handshake
is nothing more than a greeting.
The next type of covenant is the cutting of the wrists. After
doing this, the two people involved would mingle their blood
by rubbing their wrists together. Notice that in both cases
there is a mingling of blood. The blood of both parties goes
together as one blood.
The third method was that the same cut would be made either
in the hand or in the wrist or in some part of the body, maybe
the finger. But then the blood of each person was put into
wine. The blood was mingled together with the wine and both
people drank it. Although this was a tradition in the ancient
world, it is forbidden to drink blood in the Word of God. We'll
find out why later.
The final way to enter a blood covenant is the way the New
Testament does it, and that is, an animal could shed its blood
in substitution for the two that were going into covenant.
This is God's way. God always used the blood of an animal and
placed it there to be substituted when men drew up an agreement.
Turn to Genesis 9:3-4 to see what God said about blood and
why the shedding of blood was so important.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green
herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof,
which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
These verses are not saying that they could eat the flesh of
the animal. Rather, they could not eat the flesh of the animal
if they did not drain its blood first. They could not eat "the
life thereof which is the blood." The blood is the
life of the animal. You can eat the animal, but don't eat its
life.
Leviticus 17:10,11 repeats this idea.
And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or
of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I
will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will
cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood:
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:
for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Notice that life had to be spilled to make atonement but we
are warned not to eat the life. "The life of the flesh
is in the blood." This shows us the importance of two
men shaking hands and rubbing and mingling that blood together.
To the Eastern man, his blood is his very life. When I give
you my blood, I give you my life.
Thus, the blood covenant is the exchange and the co-mingling
of two lives so that the two lives have become one. I now stand
accountable for the one with whom I make a covenant and he
now stands accountable for me. My life is his life. His life
is my life. We blended the two together. If someone comes against
him, they come against me. If someone comes against me, they
come against me. I have to protect him. He has to protect me
because he is me; I am him.
Think about this for just a minute. What is your life?
What are some of the first things that would come to your mind?
Time? Family? Are you beginning to see something? When you
look at that drop of blood on your finger, your family is involved,
your time is involved, your job is involved. In fact, everything
you've ever worked for is involved. This even includes your
finances and your possessions. If you lose all your blood,
you lose all your possessions.
Therefore, it is logical that when I shake hands with someone
and I mingle my blood with his, my time belongs to him, my
family belongs to him, my finances belong to him. That blood
represents my car, my food, my children, my wife. Those children
within me that are yet to be born are still part of me at that
moment, I carry their seed. My children fall under that covenant
that I'm drawing up with him. Can you see how important a drop
of blood is to that Eastern mind? To mingle blood was to mingle
life.
Even my covenant partner's name now belongs to me. Likewise,
my name now belongs to him. You say, "What does your name
do?" My name unlocks all my money in the bank. He now
has right of attorney to all my money. On top of that, he has
right of attorney to all my credit cards and the money that
I have yet to get. My credit belongs to him. His credit belongs
to me. If I need something and don't have the money for it,
I have the right to go use his credit card. I have the power
of attorney. His life is my life. My life is his life.
It is important to realize that I not only gain all of his
possessions, but I also get all of his debts! Likewise, he
not only gets all my assets, he also gets all my debts. My
bills are all his. All these things are involved in the co-mingling
of two lives together. Our lives drastically change from the
moment that we enter into a covenant.
The good news about covenants is that believers have a covenant
with God! We have a better covenant (shedding of blood) than
they had in the Old Testament or under the old covenant because
the blood that was shed for us is the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You and I, as believers, haven't entered
into a covenant with men, we have entered into a covenant with
the Father God. On the day that Jesus shed His substitutionary
blood for us, the blood from our hands mingled with His. In
other words, we shook hands with God. At that time God gained
all our assets and our liabilities and we gained all of God's
assets, liabilities, debts, everything. Actually, we didn't
have any assets. God owns everything anyway.
When God found you, you were so deep in debt, you owed everything
you had to the devil. You were spiritually dead, lost and dead
in your trespasses and sins. You didn't own a thing. You were
mortgaged up to the hilt and didn't have a penny to pay your
way out. You couldn't, by your own self-effort, pay our way
out!
God gained our debts and we gained His. How many debts does
God have? None. So we gained only assets. Furthermore, we have
the right to His Name. We even have the right to His Name.
We even have the right to His time.
To the natural mind God is not getting a good bargain. Yet
God accepted it. What would make Him do something like that?
Let's look at a similar example in the natural. If you have
even allowed another person to live in your home, you know
that this causes your lifestyle to change dramatically. You
must watch the way you dress. The meals you prepare aren't
the same as they used to be. The whole atmosphere of the home
changes. What is it that causes you to set aside your home,
your time, all those things and bring another person into your
home? What causes you to suffer through all that? The answer
is the same as God's reason for entering into a covenant with
us. Love!
John 15:13 tells us, "Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends." Notice
that friends is plural. One day I gained a greater understanding
when I read it this way, "Greater love hath no man, that
he lay down his blood for his friends."
Jesus went to the cross and shed His blood in order to reconcile
the world to Himself. He now calls the world His friend. All
He asks the people of the world to do is to join hands with
Him, to give Him their spiritual death in exchange for His
eternal life, to give Him their nothing, but to receive His
riches in glory. He asks that they give Him their curse and
He will give them His blessing. He'll exchange their position
in Adam for His position in Christ. He promises to provide
all their needs and to protect them.
When we enter into a covenant, we must trust the other person
to do what he promises. The same is true of our covenant with
God. All we need to do is believe Jesus and trust that He will
perform what He promises.
Furthermore, once we enter into a covenant with God and the
provisions have been made, we need to know what they
are so that we can take advantage of them. For a long time
after I was born again and had been pro- vided with all God's
benefits, I couldn't appropriate them because I didn't even
know what they were!
I heard the story of a man who had scraped together just enough
money to buy a ticket on an ocean liner. He was coming to America.
He took a bag of food on board with him and stayed in his room
and ate from his bag the whole voyage. When the ship docked
in the U.S., the captain saw the man disembarking and mentioned
to him that he had not seen him in the dining room for meals.
The man replied, "Well Sir, all I could do was scrape
together enough for the ticket and I didn't have enough to
buy my meals." The captain said, "Didn't you know
they were included in the ticket price?"
There are a lot of people who have been born again, yet they
are still trying to dig up the purchase price for healing,
or are trying to buy their prosperity. They think, "If
I can just work hard enough for Jesus and do enough good works
he might heal me. He might prosper me."
When I sign a covenant with someone and shake hands with him,
at that moment all his assets belong to me. All I have to do
is ask him for them and he has to release them! The
Bible says, "You have not because you ask not." Know
the atonement grounds on which you stand. The shed blood of
Jesus purchased everything, and you don't need to work for
anything.
Bob Yandian
If you like this article, check out A Better Covenant or The Blood of the New Covenant at the BYM Store.
Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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