COVENANT

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Hi all,

While reading today’s Scripture, I was reminded of the covenant cut by God in front of Abraham’s eyes in Genesis 15. I was also reminded of the Covenant Jesus cut for our salvation. So I felt that this meditation should focus on covenant. To some extent, touching on covenant is a bit like trying to pour the Atlantic Ocean into a thimble.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 20 November 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	COVENANT
For as long as I can remember the Bible was divided into two parts. The Old and New Testament. Then I started hearing people talk about the Old and New Covenant. What it was and what the difference was between a Testament and a Covenant was unknown. In those days we would use words without really knowing what we meant. It made us look good as a child and that was far more important than anything else. I had a sort of vague understanding that it was something like a legal contract but more binding. It also had something to do with marriage! It was only when I went to Bible School that I started to get an understanding of the term. I found that it was an unbreakable agreement or contract made between people or families, which was forever binding through the centuries! The meaning became clear when I looked at marriage. Here two unrelated people were joined to start a new family. From being unrelated, marriage changed the couple into being each other’s next of kin. Then I learned men also entered into covenant with other men for mutual support. Like David made a covenant with Jonathan. Apart from marriage, Westerners have little understanding about covenant. On the other hand the indigenous people of Africa, South America and the Far East seem to understand it better than we do. Its origins go back to antiquity. Abraham was familiar with cutting (making) covenant. Little boys sometimes make a commitment to each other by pricking their fingers and rubbing the bleeding areas together while swearing they will be lifelong friends. They say they are now “blood brothers”. Usually it lasts at least until Mom calls them for supper! The boys were correct in one respect. A covenant demands the shedding of blood, hence the expression, “Blood Covenant”. There is not space here to go into the details of the meaning and ritual of “cutting covenant”. Abraham was familiar with it! We see it set out in what happened when Abraham asked God how he would know God would give him the land. What God did, provided proof beyond a shadow of a doubt. The animals were killed and laid out in the way they were. Next, God recited the terms of this “binding agreement”. Then God “walked” between the dead “walls of blood”. Abraham knew that a covenant was unbreakable. So when The Lord carried out the covenant ritual, it was Abraham’s guarantee that God would give him the land. Two thousand years later, on mount Calvary, Jesus cut covenant. This was the New Covenant made by God for the salvation of humanity. There on that mountain, the Son of God cut covenant with the Son of Man. They were the same person. Then He shed His blood and died. It is His guarantee that all who come to Him will be saved! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			15 For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity--the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 NLT 4 Israel, listen to me. The LORD is our God. The LORD is the one and only God. Deuteronomy 6:4 NIrV 20 Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when He gave His promise to Abraham. Galatians 3:20 NLT 6 We have sinned, just as our people of long ago did. We too have done what is evil and wrong. 7 When our people were in Egypt, they forgot about the LORD's miracles. They didn't remember his many kind acts. At the Red Sea they refused to obey him. Psalms 106:6-7 NIrV 23 So He declared He would destroy them. But Moses, His chosen one, stepped between the LORD and the people. He begged Him to turn from His anger and not destroy them. Psalms 106:23 NLT 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God's messenger and High Priest. 2 For He was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God's entire house. Hebrews 3:1-2 NLT 6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for He is the One who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. Hebrews 8:6 NLT 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:11-12 ESV	We have a mediator but He did it on His own. He didn’t need assistance and He was all alone. It was a brand new covenant which Jesus came to cut. Had He been unsuccessful, no if, or and, or but, The people He created, forever would be lost. That’s why He came and did it, despite the frightful cost. We saw it first with Abraham in Genesis fifteen. We read and then we wonder, what is this strange routine? God said he’d have children; that he would own the land. “How can I know I’ll get it? In ways I understand?” Abraham requested. The Sovereign Lord agreed; And there He cut a covenant in action and in deed. Bring Me a three year heifer, a female goat and ram. A turtle dove and pigeon said God, the Great I am. Kill and split the animals in half and let them lay, Side by side together and placed in such a way, That men can walk between them, declaring upon oath, That they will love each other like husbands pledge their troth. “If I should ever break it, do this to me and more. This is our firm commitment enforceable by law”. Then as the sun was setting and night began to fall, The promises of covenant the Lord began to call. Then a smoking fire-pot depicting God Most High; And a flaming torch portraying Him Who cannot die, Walked between the carcasses, confirming this will be. I, the Lord, have done this, it will last eternally. Abraham could only watch, for He was in a dream. A terrifying darkness underscored the theme. And by this special ritual, a covenant Divine, Was made by the Almighty until the end of time. There was no mediator. A creature wouldn’t do. God Himself was swearing He would be ever true. No further proof was needed; it was His guarantee That what He had just stated, forevermore would be. Then upon Mount Calvary, the Saviour did the same. But Jesus was the sacrifice. He would take all the blame. And as His precious blood ran down and trickled to the ground. Forgiveness for all sinners in Him now could be found! Jim Strickland  Written 20th November 2012