November 09, 2015

Our God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.  He has bound Himself to us through a blood covenant which was enacted when Jesus was crucified.  People gathered around the cross of Jesus weren’t merely watching a crucifixion of an innocent man.  They were watching a covenant plan unfold.

• Jesus walked the blood path, something done in ancient covenant making.
• Jesus represented us before God, something that happened when God covenanted with Abraham in Genesis 15.
• As was tradition in ancient covenants, there had to be a sacrificial lamb.  Jesus was the sacrificial lamb during the covenant process.
• He gave us His robe of righteousness in exchange for the filthy rags of our sin.  He gave us His identity, His authority, His weapons, and promised to fight for us.  All of these steps were part of an ancient covenant.
• Covenants contained blessings and cursing.  Both were represented on the cross.
• Even the meal Jesus had with His disciples, now the meal we call Communion, the meal that strengthens and encourages us, was part of an ancient covenant ceremony.  As we observe Communion, we celebrate not only that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and paid the price for our sin, but that God has bound Himself to us in an everlasting covenant-relationship.

When you look at the cross, you will see the blood.  You will see the bruised body of our Lord, but allow the Holy Spirit to show you the depths of this covenant of love that God has established with His people because of that blood.  O the blood of the New Covenant!  It washes me white as snow and ensures God will never leave me and that I will one day be with Him forever!  Praise the Lamb of God!