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
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 20 November 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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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
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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COVENANT
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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
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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
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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
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