Elohim's blood covenants of infinite mercy, perfect justice and incredible love. (Biblical Themes)

Member Name: Mayan820

Product:	Biblical Themes
Date:	27/05/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See review

Disadvantages: See review

Hello there . . . it is me, Mayan820, again. Those of you who have not yet read the disclaimer I specifically wrote for reviews of this nature and/or in this category, I ask you kindly to please give it a glance. It can be viewed in the first 2 paragraphs of my review . . . "On the road from Nightmare to Blessing".

--- Introduction ---

This time I would like to do a review on the theme . . . covenant. Suffice it to say that this theme is nothing less than HUGE in Set-apart Scripture. The reader must please understand that I can NEVER do it justice in a single review, but because, I believe, a good, basic understanding of this concept is vital in understanding so many other crucial issues in The Holy Scriptures, I am certainly going to give it a try . . . Please take note, this is a rather long review.

Let us start with a definition for the word.

Covenant: An agreement/contract between 2 or more parties to legally
fulfil everything which is agreed upon between said parties.
(Mayan Viljoen, 29.05.09)

There can be little doubt that the legal contract in today's modern world has its very origins in the covenant of the ancient Middle Eastern world. The question is . . . What on earth did these ancient legal contracts (covenants) look like, so to speak? In order to answer this question more fully, we will have to travel approximately 4000 years back in time. Come, make this journey with me to a time when Almighty Elohim (G-d) first began to speak to a righteous man called Avram / Abram.

--- The ancient covenant plus examples from The Scriptures ---

The most common covenant type, if you like, during this time, was what we can call . . . the blood covenant. The blood of an animal or animals was a vital part of sealing any agreement between the covenant partners (the modern equivalent would be . . . the signatories to a contract). The whole idea behind the blood was, so obviously, that it would be a vivid reminder to the covenant partners that said contract between them was no light matter, at all . . . that an animal or animals had to be killed in order to completely seal the deal.

Linked closely to the above, I believe, was the covenant partners' understanding that a failure on any one of their behalves to strictly adhere to ALL the stipulations of said covenant, would, justifiably, lead to the covenant breaker being put to death by him/those who completely fulfilled it. If some modern online companies, who make elaborate refund promises, where they advertise their wares, on their websites, but, actually, have very little intention to issue the refunds when customers request it (in the modern, legal world this is called . . . breach of contract), would only take a leaf out of this book, so to speak, the whole of cyberspace will not, literally, be littered with the above, and other, kinds of customer complaints!

In the first book of The Set-apart Scriptures, i.e. B'reshit / Genesis, chapter 15, we see a classic example of a blood covenant. In this particular case, the reader quickly discovers, however, that, very much . . . "a given parameter" in all covenant making of that time, i.e. covenant partners of equal legal standing, is, most definitely, NOT in place here . . . Here we are witnesses to a covenant being made between Elohim and Avram. The former is PERFECT; there is no sin in Him, He is the King of the Universe. Avram is a sinful man. He is part of . . . an exponential "pyramid of death", which the first man, Adam, created, when he sinned against Elohim in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), and sentenced, so to speak, every single human being, which would come after him, to that selfsame state of falleness before a perfect Elohim. In case you did not realize it, this is one huge problem! Why . . . ?

In this covenant Avram will fail; his fallen state will cause him to break the covenant obligations, almost immediately after having sealed it, for which he will have to pay with his life. No one knows this better than the strong covenant partner, i.e. Elohim, Himself. We see the latter move on, at least, two levels to protect his weak partner from immanent death, i.e. He makes sure that He takes upon Himself ALL the obligations of this covenant (i.e. He makes ALL the promises, therefore their fulfilment is on Him alone; Avram makes no promises, therefore he can not break any!), and to make doubly sure that the latter would not perhaps promise something to Him, in return, out of a heartfelt gratitude for everything Elohim has, so graciously, promised him, while walking between those cut halves of bleeding carcasses, to seal the covenant between them, from his side, this awesome Elohim renders his weak partner unconscious in the words of verse 12 of chapter 15 . . .

"And it came to be, when the sun was going down, and a deep sleep fell upon Avram, that see, a frightening great darkness fell upon him." . . .

and while the latter is completely unconscious, this Awesome One, seals the covenant between them, all on His own, in these words . . .

"And it came to be, when the sun went down and it was dark, that see a smoking oven and a burning torch passing between those pieces." (B'reshit 15:17, refer)

How unfathomable is His love and compassion towards his weak covenant partner, but we will yet see greater love than this . . .

Approximately 650 years down the line, we see this great Elohim's desire to enter into another blood covenant (this time it is the covenant of marriage) with Avraham's greater descendants (a massive company of over 2 million people) encamping in a wasteless desert, before a mountain called Chorev, which Elohim describes as His mountain. The people are now led by a man called Mosheh / Moses, of whom Elohim says that He speaks to him . . . panim el panim / face to face. The scene is described for us from chapter 19 of the book of Sh'mot (which in Heb. means . . . Names / the book of Exodus) and onwards. This is nothing less than captivating reading . . .

It is here, in front of this smoking, thundering mountain, that this Heavenly Bridegroom enters into marriage with His new bride, the nation of Israel, and He charges His servant Mosheh to present her with a summary of all her obligations in this new covenant of marriage, by implication, for her approval or rejection of it. If she accepts it, the marriage covenant will be sealed and the marriage consummated, but if she rejects it, there will be NO marriage, and the Bridegroom will have to search for another, more worthy, bride. What will she say? How will she answer? We read her answer in chapter 19:8, i.e. . . .

"All of the people answered together and said, all that YHVH has spoken we shall do."

With these words, i.e. . . . "I do", Am Yisra-el (the Nation of Israel), on that day, entered into a covenant of marriage with Elohim, forever. We see that this covenant is, likewise, sealed with blood (the blood of bulls), which Mosheh takes and sprinkles on the bride (i.e. . . . all the people), while speaking these words, i.e. . . .

"See, the blood of the (marriage) covenant, which YHVH has made with you concerning all these words."[Sh'mot 24:8]

[Q - Which words? A - All the covenant obligations, to which the bride agreed two more times, in 24:3 (b) and in 24:7(b), before this very moment]

Now I can almost hear some of you screaming, in terror . . . "She has no idea what she has just done, she is human, sinful, intimately linked to the . . . pyramid of death, she can not be faithful, therefore she will have to die . . . She has just signed her own death sentence! Ken, kach b'di-uq / Yes, exactly so . . . was it not for her infinitely able, loving and compassionate Husband, who has, once again, made provision for His covenant partner to escape death, when she sins ( . . . breaks the covenant), by establishing the entire sacrificial system. (i.e., a system whereby a guilty party could atone for his/her guilt through the death and blood of an innocent animal. This is a complete theme in itself, and impossible to discuss here.) Yet, we will see even greater love than this . . .

As He was approaching Y'rushalai-im/Jerusalem for the very last time, with His disciples, at the time of Pesach (Passover), Yahushua / Jesus [who is, in every aspect of His being, . . . fully Elohim (Yahuchanan/John 10:30 refer)] understood, perfectly, all the terms of the marriage, blood covenant He was about to enter into, this time around, not with one man, neither, even with an entire nation, but with the whole of mankind, from that very time, onwards. This time around atonement for His weak covenant partner (all of humanity, present and future) would not be effected through the blood of bulls and goats, but rather, by means of . . . . . . . .

His very own blood.

This is the perfect picture of vicarious sacrifice, the death of the perfect Son of Elohim in the stead of the guilty sinner, who, by this one sacrifice, of Himself, has bought for Himself a bride from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, for the . . . olam ha-ba / world to come or eternity.

Every single person on the face of the earth has the choice to either enter into this covenant with Messiah or not. When we enter into the covenant, we are immediately transferred from the pyramid of death (whose latter end in the olam ha-ba is eternal death) . . . to the pyramid of life. (whose reward in the olam ha-ba is eternal life with Elohim)

--- How does one enter into this covenant? ---

We enter in by His mercy. We humble ourselves before Him, this Almighty King of the Universe, admitting to Him that we are nothing but fallen human beings before a perfect Creator, whose actions are fully deserving of His just punishment of death. We admit that His Anointed One's shed blood on the cross, on which He breathed His last, approximately 2000 years ago, is the only possible substance which can ever cleanse us from our sin, past, present and future, and, as such, make us acceptable to face our perfect, sinless Creator. We admit that Yahushua's resurrection from the dead, 3 days after His death, is the perfect forerunner of the resurrection of all His blood bought children, to eternal life with Him, after this age has passed away. This is the ONLY way we enter into this incredible deal (covenant). There is no other . . .

--- Very last thoughts ---

Here is a last thought before I sign off . . .

"No one has greater love than this . . . that one should lay down his life for his friends." [Yahuchanan 15:13]

Thank you so much for having taken the time to read this rather long review through. I pray it was meaningful to you.

Mayan820.

PS. The sages of Israel used to teach, and it is still taught in Judaism,
today, that the Almighty One's attribute of MERCY is 500 times stronger
than His attribute of JUDGEMENT. Where on earth did they get this from?
Well, it originates from the book of Sh'mot / Exodus chapter 20 and
verse 5 and 6. This is also the second of The 10 Commandments (or . . .
The 10 Words, as they are known, in the original Hebrew.) Their
reasoning was as follows:

The text states that Elohim will visit the crookedness of the fathers upon
the children to, even, the 4th generation of those who hate (or, are
indifferent to) Him, but that He will show MERCY to thousands (They
said . . . this means, at least, 2000.) of those who love Him, and obey
His commandments.

These wise men took the number . . . 4, above, as representative of
JUDGEMENT, and the number 2000, as representative of MERCY, and,
simply, divided the former by the latter, i.e. . . . 2000/4 = 500.

Summary: "Behold, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world." [John1:29]