Time with Jesus - Saturday,
09 November 2013
The next requirement is understanding
what people wrote about. For instance, if I wrote a letter to you talking about
Naas Botha, you would need to know he was a very talented Springbok rugby
player. That’s fine. But suppose one of you descendants picks up the letter in
1000 years, the name “Naas Botha” would be meaningless.
The next requirement is to know
something of the background of the letter. I don’t need to write an expose’ on
cricket in order to explain that someone was fielding at “silly mid-on”. Or
that Graeme Smith was “caught in the slips”. You know what I mean, unless you
come from USA where cricket is almost unknown. In fact, according to Mark
Twain, cricket is a sport designed by God in His wisdom, to give unspiritual
English people, some idea of the meaning of eternity! But I digress!
Our Bible is filled with statements
which, on face value, border on the meaningless. A good example is Genesis 15.
Do yourself a favour. Read Genesis 15 in your favourite Bible – not one
containing a commentary. Then ask yourself what it was all about? Most
Christians are not aware that this is one of the most important chapters in the
Old Testament. Why? Because it follows almost step by step, the procedure for
“cutting a covenant”.
There is not enough space in this
message to describe a covenant and its significance. What I must say is that a
basic understanding of covenant and its meaning is required reading for
Christians who are seeking a closer walk with God. For simplicity, the
following table looks at the basics of blood covenant. If people are prompted
to look at covenant in more detail, that’s great.
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Table showing some of the steps, symbolism
& meaning during the ritual of “Cutting a Covenant of Blood”
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Step
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Action
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Meaning
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1
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Remove coat
or outer garment
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I give
myself to you
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2
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Remove or
take off belt
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I give you
my strength
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3
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Cut
Covenant. – The procedure was roughly as follows:
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a
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Split an
animal in half and arrange the pieces (the walls of blood) so that someone
may walk between them
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Means I die
to myself and saying God do this to me if I break it.
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b
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Stand back
to back with right hand raised between the walls of blood then walk between
the pieces in a giant figure of eight while swearing to keep the terms of the
covenant
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The terms
of the covenant are the terms of the agreement and commitment being entered
into.
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c
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After
walking through the walls of blood and swearing to keep the terms of the
covenant the two parties stand facing each other
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Figure of 8
is maths infinity sign “∞” for time
duration of covenant
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4
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Cut hand
(palm) or arm (wrist) so that the blood flows
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I pour out
my blood for you
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5
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Bring the
two bleeding wounds together – (palms or wrists)
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Mix our
blood to make us one.
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6
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We exchange
names
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I take
yours and you take mine
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7
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Spell out
the terms of the covenant in detail for all to hear and see
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Details of
our mutual commitment
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8
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Eat a
memorial meal
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I
assimilate you into me and you assimilate me into you
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9
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Plant a
memorial
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Display the
sign of the covenant.
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By way of suggestion, think
about the Lord’s Supper and a Christian wedding ceremony. You will find a
number of examples from the above table, included in these two “ceremonies”.
Incidentally, a covenant should never be broken. God honours covenant and so should
we. Breaking covenant is one of the most important reasons why God hates
divorce. So should we!
We should also realise that we are
in covenant with Jesus Christ. The covenant He cut on our behalf is called the
New Covenant. One of the reasons we are able to speak of “eternal security” is
because Jesus does not change His mind. He doesn’t suddenly decide that He
doesn’t love us. He will never do so, because He is in covenant with you and
me. It’s an unbreakable covenant. Read the Book of Hosea to get a taste of
God’s faithfulness. God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute who will be
unfaithful to him. That’s what happens. She leaves him and goes back to
prostitution. It’s a heart breaking story. Later, Hosea goes out and finds
Gomer for sale in the slave market. So he buys her back and takes her home
again.
The book is, in many ways, a
reflection of Jesus’ love for us. We have prostituted ourselves with the
“delights” of sin. Jesus comes and woo’s us back. He finds us in Satan’s slave
market, buys us with His precious blood and takes us home. Would I do that?
Would you? I wish I could say “Yes!”
Shalom
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 9 Nov 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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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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THE
OLD AND NEW COVENANT
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Most
of us think that when we refer to God’s Law we are referring to the Ten
Commandments. This is not surprising. The ten commandments are just about
impossible to keep. In fact Jesus is the only person who succeeded in doing
so. According to Nelson’s Illustrated New Bible Dictionary, “There are eight distinct categories of
civil law in the Old Testament: (1) laws regulating leaders, (2) laws
regulating the army, (3) laws respecting criminals, (4) laws dealing with
crimes against property, (5) laws relating to humane treatment, (6) laws
about personal and family rights, (7) laws about property rights, and (8)
laws regulating other social behaviour”. For the likes of you and me,
these laws are equally impossible to keep. They had inflexible penalties. For
example, death was the penalty for fornication, adultery, homosexuality,
prostitution, incest and bestiality. These penalties were absolute. Man had
no authority to change these laws. In Jewish law, these penalties were
rigidly applied.
It’s
important to understand that these laws have not been rescinded and are as
true now as they were in days of old. What has changed is that in Christ, the
penalty no longer applies. The curse of the law was the penalty applicable
when the law was broken. Paul points this out: 13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that
God's laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, "Everyone
who is hung on a tree is cursed." Gal.
3:13 GW
For
those familiar with the game “Monopoly”, it’s a bit like having a “get out of
jail free” card. If you get sent to jail during the course of the game, the
card enables you to continue playing. You are “just visiting”. What we need
to remember is that although we have been redeemed from the curse of the law,
it does not mean that the law no longer applies. Jesus made this very plain: 8
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear,
not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is
achieved. Matt 5:18 NLT
Note
that the law is still in place. It’s just as true as ever. It’s the penalty
that has been taken away. The danger for us is to think that because the
penalty has gone, we can sin as much as we want. Paul discusses this at
length in Romans 6. He points out that in Christ we are dead to sin and alive
to Christ. In other words, 12 Do not
let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Rom 6:12 NLT Living under the Old Covenant was
not easy. Living under the new covenant should not be thought of as “easy”!
Under the New we can be forgiven for sins that demanded the death penalty
under the Old. But to continue to live in sin under the New Covenant is anathema.
The New Covenant demands
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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5 "Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
Psalms 50:5 TNIV
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There are many differences for folk
like me and you,
Between the major Covenants. The Old
one and the New.
The Old had no provision for a
deliberate sin.
The penalty was final. There’s no way
man could win.
A murderer found guilty was taken out
and stoned.
There wasn’t a provision for such sin
to be atoned.
Taken in adultery? Death was the only
way
To satisfy the penalty for what was
done that day.
You couldn’t get forgiveness, no
matter how you tried.
If you had sinned deliberately, then
you were going to die.
David got away with it. He took
Uriah’s life.
By lying with Bathsheba. She was
Uriah’s wife.
Uriah was then murdered for Bathsheba
was with child.
Her marriage to Uriah was utterly
defiled.
David and Bathsheba. They both should
have been stoned.
But who dare challenge David while he
was still enthroned?
And so it’s very clear that David was
above the Law.
Who would dare accuse him and Uriah
was no more.
We know that he repented. He did the
best he could,
To satisfy the matter. But legally he
should,
Be stoned because of murder and for
adultery.
But kings were all untouchable; he had
to be set free.
The law was unforgiving. The penalties
were clear.
Accidental sins were all atoned for
every year.
They were “covered over” by the blood
of sacrifice.
A ram had to be slaughtered. There was
no other price.
There were different gifts that were
all offered to the Lord
But none of them were perfect. Each
one of them was flawed.
How many should be slaughtered to pay
for just one man?
Thus in the New Covenant, God had a
better plan.
The sacrificial system was still very
much in place.
But who could ever pay the price for
all the human race?”
The offering would have to be the Son
of God Divine.
His blood and His alone forgives all
sin. Both yours and mine.
So Jesus, by one offering, could pay
for every sin.
By His blood of sacrifice, we now can
enter in.
This means that the Old Covenant for
us is obsolete.
Jesus blood is final; and forgiveness
is complete.
Jim Strickland
Written 9 Nov 2012
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28 In the same way, Christ was offered up once.
He took away the sins of many people. He will also come a second time. At
that time he will not suffer for sin. Instead, he will come to bring
salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:28 NIrV
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15 That is why He is the One who mediates a
new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive
the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set
them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first
covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 NLT
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24 Father, I want those you gave me To be
with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendour you
gave me, Having loved me Long before there ever was a world.
John 17:24 MSG
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27 And He will send out His angels to gather
His chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth
and heaven.
Mark 13:27 NLT
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4 Even if you have been banished to the
most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather
you and bring you back.
Deuteronomy 30:4 TNIV
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16 For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17
After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 TNIV
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