BLOOD COVENANT
MF Blume
January 19, 1997
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground
made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good
for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
John 6:54-58 Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even
he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not
as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread
shall live for ever.
I. ADAM
- He only had to "eat" to progress
in God's will.
- We must "eat and drink".
- Adam's covenant to obtain
eternal life was very simple.
- Never another so simple again.
- Only eat of the Tree of
Life.
- However, sin broke the covenant
Gen 3:22-24 And the LORD God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest
he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to
till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
- How we get into the Garden
again and eat if we are blocked out?
- Is there a way to get BACK
to the Tree of Life?
II. LORD'S SUPPER
Mat 26:26-27 And as they were eating,
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
- Symbolic of our Covenant
- Reminds us of Adam's Covenant
- Bread blessed and broken
for us to eat and get eternal life.
- Like eating fruit of Life
from Tree of Life
- Eating.
- Jesus ate the Bread and
consumed it.
- But do not stop there!
- Jesus said we eat to receive
eternal life.
- As Adam had to eat to receive
eternal life.
John 6:58 "...he that eateth of
this bread shall live for ever."
- Eating has to do with eternal
life still today.
- (Of course, eating the Bread
represents BELIEVING His Words - John 6:63).
III. WE MUST
DO SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST EAT - WE MUST ALSO DRINK
- After Jesus ate the bread,
He took the cup full of wine.
1 Cor 11:24-25 And when he had given
thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken
for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took
the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood:
this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
- The drink was called, "The
New Testament in my blood..."
- Why blood? Why does HIS
covenant need BLOOD?
- Why do we have to eat AND
DRINK?
- Adam only had to eat.
- We have to eat and drink.
- Adam ate to receive eternal
life
- We eat to receive eternal
life, also.
- But why must we also DRINK?
- What does drinking represent
if eating represents getting eternal life?
HINT: Heb 9:22 And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
- The blood (drinking) is for
Remission of sins.
- Therefore, we must drink
for remission of sins.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood
of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
IV. WE MUST DRINK
FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS
- Since Adam's fall (when sinned
and cast out of the Garden), sin is in us all.
- We are born in sin which
makes us UNHOLY.
- Our ancestor, Adam, put
sin into the human race.
- We are born "unrighteous".
- We are not good enough to
go to the Tree of Life and eat and live forever
- UNHOLY.
Gen 3:22-23 And the LORD God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest
he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to
till the ground from whence he was taken.
- Adam was unrighteous, so
he could not eat from the tree.
- The fruit of eternal life
is very holy and its in a very holy place which unholy people cannot enter.
- God will not give eternal
Life to unrighteous people.
- Eternal Life is GOD, Himself.
- He does not only HAVE eternal
life, but He IS eternal Life.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
- If we are not holy we will
not see God, and will be lost.
- We are not worthy of eternal
Life if we are not holy.
- The Garden was a holy place,
so Adam was thrown out when he became UNHOLY.
V. EATING FLESH
REPRESENTS BELIEVING GOD'S WORD
- Jesus' flesh gives eternal
life.
- John 1:14 And the Word was made
flesh,
- When Jesus says we eat His
flesh, He actually means we "believe his words."
- The SON is the Father's
WORD.
- Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there
be light: and there was light.
- God's WORD created all.
- John 1:1-3 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not
any thing made that was made.
- John 8:28
Then
said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye
know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things.
John 7:16 Jesus answered them,
and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
John 8:26 I have many things to
say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him.
- The Son is the WORD of the
Father that became flesh.
- That WORD became flesh and
a man one day.
- When the WORD became flesh,
we have the SON of God.
- Jesus always said the WORDS
he speaks were from the Father.
VI. THE REASON
GOD WAS MANIFEST IN FLESH
- We could not EAT eternal
life due to sin.
- God wanted to do something
about that.
- We could not EAT.
- Something had to be done
so we could be holy and eat again, because Eating the Fruit of Life would
give eternal life.
- We needed eternal life somehow!
- So God was manifest in flesh
in order for us to be able to drink so that our sins may be removed, and THEN
we could EAT.
- FLESH has blood.
- So God became manifest in
FLESH.
- Why did Bible forbid BLOOD
to be eaten?
Lev 17:10-11 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.
- Why did Jesus say we could
drink His blood if Blood was forbidden?
- Blood represents SOUL -
LIFE
- Natural life is not holy.
- Eating blood, in God's mind,
is like seeing us saying I can save myself through NATURAL means,
- Like: I do not need holy
life from God
- natural life is already holy.
- WRONG.
- Jesus had no sin in Him,
so we could DRINK His blood.
- None of us are born without
sin.
- There is no natural way
in this world to save you.
- You need God's SUPERnatural
help.
- And that is the miracle
of salvation.
- Healing is a miracle, but
nothing compares to salvation - a soul saved from hell!
VII. FIT TO RECEIVE
ETERNAL LIFE
- We must drink of His blood,
to remove sins, so we can eat.
- We must be made righteous
and holy, and THEN receive eternal life.
- Jesus had the Cup - The
New Testament in His blood.
- This is different than Adam's
Testament/Covenant
- It is the way to make you
fit to be worthy to get eternal life.
VIII. EXAMPLES
IN OLD TESTAMENT FORESHADOWS
Exo 12:7 And they shall take of
the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post
of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be
to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood,
I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you,
when I smite the land of Egypt.
- Enter through BLOOD and then
EAT MEAT.
Heb 9:7 But into the second went
the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered
for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Lev 16:15 Then shall he kill the
goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within
the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock,
and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
- Inside the Holiest room in
the Temple, past the veil, was where God would SPEAK.
Exo 25:22 And there I will meet
with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which
I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
- God would SPEAK from the
Ark.
- His WORD was on the Ark
behind the Veil in the Holiest place.
- The WORD is what gives us
eternal life.
- The Fruit of Life represents
the WORD of Life.
- You cannot get the eternal
life without the BLOOD.
- In other words, you cannot
get eternal life without being made holy and righteous first.
- Eating is getting eternal
life.
- Drinking is remitting sins
so we can be made holy and righteous to enter and get eternal life.
Josh 2:18-19 Behold, when we come
into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which
thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother,
and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it
shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the
street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever
shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand
be upon him.
- The scarlet thread let the
soldiers know they were to spare all in that house.
- Rahab was saved from DEATH,
and found LIFE because she had a scarlet thread on her house.
- The scarlet thread represents
the BLOOD.
- Blood remits sins and makes
us holy, and THEN we can receive eternal life and not die.
IX. FRUIT IS
NOT ENOUGH TODAY - NEED BLOOD
- Adam only had to eat fruit.
- Today we need to be made
sinless so that we can get eternal life within us.
- Fruit has no blood in it.
- Adam tried to solve problem
with only vegetation.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons.
- Fig leaves were bloodless
- God had to take something
with blood to help him.
Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to
his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
- Cain did not think he needed
blood either.
- Thought he was alright since
it was ADAM and not him that sinned.
- Many today do not believe
they are sinners since they did not hurt anybody.
- They do not understand that
Adam made us sinners before we were born.
- Look what happened to Cain:
Gen 4:3-4 And in process of time
it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
- Cain brought bloodless fruit.
- Abel brought blood sacrifice.
Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to
his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance
fell.
- God would not accept Cain's
sacrifice without blood.
- Cain needed to know that
his sins had to be remitted.
- Before Adam sinned, he needed
no blood to remit his sins, for he was without sin.
- But after he sinned, all
humanity need sins remitted.
X. REPENTANCE
AND BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS (BOTH)
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Today many are like Cain.
- They do not think they need
sins remitted.
- They do not think God would
not save them because they are "good" people.
- They think they do not need
baptism.
- They do not think they need
to repent AND be baptized for the remission of sins.
- Baptism has something to
do with blood, because baptism and blood are for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood
of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Heb 9:22 And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest
thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord.
- They do not think they need
the BLOOD.
- They do not think they need
to drink.
XI. REMISSION
OF SINS
John 20:22-23 And when he had said
this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever
sins ye retain, they are retained.
- Jesus told the disciples
to remit sins.
- Whosoever sins they remit
would be remitted.
- How does a preacher remit
your sins?
- He baptizes you in Jesus'
name!
...be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38.
- Jesus DIED
- He was BURIED, for He died
and shed His blood.
- Baptism ACCEPTS His blood
- HIS DEATH.
- Blood represents His death.
- Drinking His blood is BELIEVING
YOU NEEDED HIS DEATH to make you holy.
- And if you believe you needed
His death, you will be buried WITH HIM EVERY TIME YOU PRAY, MAKE SURE YOU
END IT BY SAYING "IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST", BECAUSE THAT POINTS TO HIS
DEATH. YOUR PRAYERS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND THE ONLY REASON
YOU CAN EVEN TALK TO GOD IS BECAUSE JESUS' DIED FOR YOU AND YOU BELIEVED IT.
HIS BLOOD/DEATH IS YOUR ONLY WAY INTO THE HOLIEST.