The importance of understanding the Blood Covenant is found in the fact that the basis of Christianity is rooted in a Blood Covenant. The Blood Covenant between God and Abraham is the foundation for the relationship of God to His chosen people. God chose Abraham and did an alliance, an agreement with him that involved shedding of blood.
In the Old Testament, God chose people. Old Testament Kings, Prophets and Priests where chosen by God to represent Him to the world. In the New Testament Christian people are the ones who choose God. Christians also represent Christ to a dying world. The blood of Jesus sealed this second type of Covenant.
In the New Testament God established the New Covenant. This time between God and those who choose to serve Him in Christ.
Galatians 3:26 "for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
1. We are sons of God through faith (faith in the shedding of blood by Christ at Calvary)
2. We then need to be baptized (to sign our part of the covenant)
3. We are in a Covenant with God just like Abraham.
WHY BLOOD?
Blood is a substance whose vast mysteries and capabilities have yet to be fully explored. Modern day Doctors in the twenty-first century transfuse it, draw it, separate it, package it, store it, ship it, and sell it. Without blood humans and animals would have no way to circulate the necessary oxygen and proteins that their bodies need in order to survive and reproduce. Hemoglobin found in the red blood cells carries oxygen to the brain, which in turn uses that oxygen to allow it to control the entire body. A brain without oxygen is like a car without. Blood makes all of the functions in the body possible.
God gave very specific laws in the Old Testament about the blood. Blood is the agent that gives life to the flesh and it's considered sacred and precious by the Lord. In the Old Testament God established a very specific law concerning the blood. No one could eat blood or they should be cut off from fellowship.
Leviticus 17:10 "If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.
Moses wrote: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." Because red blood cells carry oxygen (due to hemoglobin in the cells), life is made possible. Science knows today that human red blood cells carry approximately 270,000,000 molecules of hemoglobin per cell. If there were any less, there would not be enough residual oxygen to sustain life. Moses knew the secret of life 3,500 years before modern Science came to this conclusion. Blood is the "liquid of life".
BAD BLOOD
Bad Blood is an English phrase referring to enmity between two (or more) people or groups. This is a reference to the breaking of military covenants.
Not too long ago in the 19th century leeches were enjoying a golden age. Millions were raised for medical use as their fame as a cure-all ensued. The mid 1800s saw their constant use for local bloodletting. Druggists administered thousands of leeches to patients with anything from gumboils to facial discolouration. For over 4000 years, the leech has been a familiar remedy, with Greek and Roman physicians praising the application of this clever invertebrate. Leeches would extract blood from the patient and only in recent days this form of medicine was practically discontinued. The idea was to extract "bad blood" so that the body could regenerate. These "bloodsuckers" can be extremely efficient in restoring blood circulation. After medicine abandoned these methods just a few decades ago now there is new interest in leeches and some surgeons are starting to use them again in Hospitals. Old wisdom has some advantages...
When we reject God there is "bad blood" between God and us. Yes he may help you and even protect you but He has not an obligation to do so. God is love and He is merciful. However, when you decide to follow Christ and enter in a blood covenant with God there is a powerful promise that you now become a child of God. You can become an heir of God's promises just like Abraham. You need to be baptized in water to seal your part or the deal and allow some "Spiritual leeches" to remove the "bad blood" of your sins so that you can be renewed in your way of life, healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit.
BLOOD AND WATER
In the Abrahamic Blood Covenant, God made the covenant only with Abraham, no one else. Others entered into the Covenant between God and Abraham through the rite of circumcision. In Genesis 17:7-14, God outlines how others will enter into the Blood Covenant cut between Him and His friend, Abraham.
God did not cut a personal Blood Covenant with every Hebrew male, He provided for an entrance into the Blood Covenant He had with Abraham through the rite of circumcision, the very vehicle Abraham used to provide his blood for his Blood Covenant with Almighty God. Later, in the New Testament, Paul writes about the Circumcision of the Heart, where the old nature is thrown away and the new nature from God is placed within the new believer in Jesus.
Romans 2:29 "But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
The New Blood Covenant is based on the Covenant relationship between God, the Father and Jesus, the Son of Man is patterned after the original Abrahamic Covenant. We now need to be circumcised in the spirit. This requires to be born again in the Spirit. Water Baptism is the external sign of this Covenant.
After his death on the cross the roman soldiers had to remove the bodies of the crucified since there was a religious celebration to come and out of respect for the Jews they wouldn't let dead bodies to hang on the wooden poles. They started by making sure that all the crucified men where dead so they where breaking the legs of the condemned.
John 19:33 "But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water."
Blood and water came out of the earth of Jesus! I believe this was a living prophetic act that revealed the nature of the New Covenant.
Mark 16:15 And he (Jesus) said to them, " Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Baptism is just a simple act that we do in the natural world that has tremendous implications in the Spiritual realm. This is when our heart is circumcised. Jesus had to shed blood to ratify the Covenant, we just need to be baptized in water to do our share.
Colossians 2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When we reject God there is "bad blood" between Him and us.
Conclusion
The circumcised of heart have true faith. It is the faith that is "mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). All things are possible to such a believer because "the eyes" of his "understanding" has been "enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18).
This faith has the assurance that Christ is truly Saviour and Lord, and is enabled to bear witness with these words ... "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25) and "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
Today I want to challenge you to end the "bad blood" between you and God. Do you know that leeches live in water? That's right when you are baptized in Christ the disease of sin can be healed. Just allow the blood of Jesus to wash away your sins.
Jesus used blood we use water! Blood is not used to clean but water is. It's not the water of baptism that takes away you sin but faith in the blood of Jesus is the cleaning agent that will give you New Life.
What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! Are you washed in the Blood? Faith in the blood will wash away your sin and through obedience and baptism you seal the covenant on your end and proclaim to yourself and to the World that nothing shall separate you from the love of God manifested in Christ Jesus. Decide to follow Christ and receive the blessings of the New Covenant today!
