Covenant of blood

DEVOTION

EXODUS

COVENANT OF BLOOD

Ex 24:4-8

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

NIV

Once again the people vowed by their word, or gave their word they would do everything the LORD has said, they would obey. But this time Moses covered them in blood. Well it is recorded that he sprinkled the blood on the people declaring it was the blood of the covenant. We have heard that same phrase used when Jesus was in the upper room when they were celebrating the Passover for the last time with him.

Matt 26:27-28

27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant , which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

NIV

Here is Exodus, God was already showing the people the forgiveness of their sin was going to be covered by the blood. He knew, although they gave their word they would obey, that they would not obey, that they would in fact sin against him. Yet he covered them in the blood as a covenant he made with them. God always keeps his covenant even though we do not. This is the point, the lesson for our life. God is faithful to his word, but so often we are not faithful to our word. It is bad enough that we make promises to other people and do not keep them. But it is truly bad when we promise, give our word, that we will follow Christ that we will obey God, and we don’t. Yet God has made a blood covenant with us, the blood of Christ. We are covered under the blood for the forgiveness of our disobedience. Now as we were told, we should not just go on sinning, or living a life of sin, just so his grace can abound. No, we are to make every effort to live a life pleasing to him, but he knows we are going to fail, just as he knew the children of Israel would. So he makes and keeps his covenant. We do not. Just think how make times we failed to keep our word with other people, much less with God. We give our word so many different ways in our relationships with other people. Yet for whatever reason it seems all too often we do not keep our word. Because of this, there are times our relationships suffer, mainly because the person we broke our word to cannot find it within them to forgive us. Then there is a chasm between us. It is a good thing God does not keep a record of our wrongs, for he loves us so much he died for us, to cover us under his blood covenant. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. But what about this not keeping our word to each other? How are we going to solve this problem? What about when others do not keep their word to us? If we are followers of Christ, then do not have the obligation to forgive those who sin against us? Is that not part of the Lord’s Prayer? “Forgive us our trespasses as we for those who trespass against us”. So then the first step would be to forgive those who do not keep their word they have given to us. The second step would be to make every effort to keep our word. But should we fail in either we simply need to try again and again, not giving up on our journey with the Lord, for he has covered us with the blood. He has made the ultimate sacrifice for that blood. Let us always be mindful of this covenant of blood.