Happy Resurrection Day! God has fulfilled His promise in giving Jesus Christ to us as a sacrifice for sin and a purchase of eternal life. If this by chance is your first look at this series then I would encourage you to go and read the previous three post to gain an understanding of this important foundational series. The following is a description of the final three steps of the ancient covenant making ceremony.
Step 8 “Covenant Meal”
In ancient culture they would begin this step by feeding each other and saying “As you are ingesting this food you are ingesting me; you are taking me into your life.”
This step is seen in many places in the Scriptures but as you read the following passages together you will see them come together in a very clear way. Be encouraged that Jesus is of bread of the life.
O.T. – Ex. 16:4-5 “Manna From Heaven”
N.T. John 6:31-59 “True bread of life”
Step 9 “The Exchange of Names”
This step in the ancient culture is when the last part of each of their names would be placed in the middle of the other. One way to understand this is if we took our last names and made them each others middle names. This is what God was doing when He changed Abram to Abraham. God's name is understood as YHWH. This in the Hebrew is really unpronounceable and is more like the breath sound or the sound of wind. Say the names Abram and Abraham out load and you will hear what God did. This exchange is also seen in the fact that YHWH became known as the God of Abraham. It is also what happens when we take on the name Christian and Jesus was known as the Son of Man. You will see this as you read the following passages.
O.T. Genesis 17:1-5 (Abram to Abraham and YHWH the God of Abraham)
N.T. – Acts 11:26 / 1 Peter 4:16
Step 10 “The Exchange of the Oldest Male Child”
This final step in ancient culture is the most intense and difficult part of the covenant making process. The covenant partners would literally take and raise the others oldest male child. This would seal the deal. Read the following passages to see how this plays out.
O.T. Genesis 22:1-19 / Hebrews 11:17-19 “Abraham giving Isaac”
N.T. John 3:16
May you come to know that He has given you His all,
Paul
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Covenant Sermon #3 "Difficulty in the Deal"
I realized looking into steps 1-3 that this Covenant is pretty one sided. What I mean here is that I have nothing to give but have received everything from God. The beauty in this is that all God wants from me, is me. He does not want my stuff or what I can do. And all God wants from you is you. However as we look into steps 4-7 of the ancient covenant ceremony we come to discover that there is a fare amount of difficulty involved in this covenant. The point that can be made here is that the blessings are not without difficulty. If fact none of what makes life beautiful is easy. The following are steps four through seven in which we come to see the intensity of the ceremony increase.
Step 4: The Sacrifice
During this step in the ancient ceremony a sacrifice was made. This would define the covenant as a blood covenant which would be binding forever. The animals used would be dependent upon the wealth of those making covenant and because God's covenant is for all, each level of society was represented when God told Abram to get the needed animal for the sacrifice. Open your Bibles and read the following passages, They portray this step in both the Old and New Testaments.
Genesis 15:1-11
Hebrews 10:1, 19-23
Step 5: The Walk of Death
This fifth step is when things really begin to grow intense. The two who were coming together to make covenant would walk through the pieces of sacrifices animal. They would walk through in a figure eight patter repeating the statement, "if I should break my covenant with your may it be done to me as it has been done to this animal. You will notice as you read the following passage in Genesis that God caused Abram to fall asleep. Though this seems strange God did this because He knew that Abram nor those that would follow him could keep the covenant. In fact most believe that the two object described in the Genesis passage are symbols of the God and Jesus taking the death walk which would result in Jesus going to the cross for this sin of man. This step also brings clarity to Jesus statement in Matthew 16 to "take up your cross". I also think this step brings clarity to Paul's teaching on Baptism in Romans chapter 16.
Genesis 15:12-21
Matthew 16:21-25
Romans 6:1-8 “Baptism”
Step 6: The Mark on the Body
In the ancient culture this was called “the striking of hands” perhaps the meaning behind Is. 49:16. each covenant partner would cut a mark into the palm of their hand and then shake each others hand. From then on this mark on the body would tell others who they were in covenant with. As they approach some one on the road they would wave their hand displaying the covenant mark. The mark on the body is the reason for God demanding the Jews to be circumcised. The reason for circumcision and not a mark on the hands was do to the reality that God was creating a nation that would bless all others. This should bring a fair amount of clarity to the following passages.
Circumcision – Genesis 17: 10-11
Circumcision of the heart – Romans 2:28-29
Step 7: The Pronouncement of curses and blessings
This step was also completed as they walked through the pieces of the sacrificed animal. They would pass each other and repeat blessings for holding the covenant agreement and curses that would result if one should break covenant. The wording of this exchange is very similar to what we find in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is the thought that the curses are not found in the New Testament. This is still a work in progress for me personally, those who know more about this than I do say that they are not there. Search for yourself by beginning with the following passages. We can be sure this that Jesus has become a curse for us by hanging on the cross.
Deut. 28 (Bless. V.1-14 / Curses 15-68)
Galatians 3 (all kv -13) (The curses have been lifted)
To rap this up I would challenge you to embrace the difficult for the sake of the blessing. We have been called by God to join Him in covenant and that calls for joining Him in His work of redeeming this dark world with the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
May you be blessed,
Paul
Step 4: The Sacrifice
During this step in the ancient ceremony a sacrifice was made. This would define the covenant as a blood covenant which would be binding forever. The animals used would be dependent upon the wealth of those making covenant and because God's covenant is for all, each level of society was represented when God told Abram to get the needed animal for the sacrifice. Open your Bibles and read the following passages, They portray this step in both the Old and New Testaments.
Genesis 15:1-11
Hebrews 10:1, 19-23
Step 5: The Walk of Death
This fifth step is when things really begin to grow intense. The two who were coming together to make covenant would walk through the pieces of sacrifices animal. They would walk through in a figure eight patter repeating the statement, "if I should break my covenant with your may it be done to me as it has been done to this animal. You will notice as you read the following passage in Genesis that God caused Abram to fall asleep. Though this seems strange God did this because He knew that Abram nor those that would follow him could keep the covenant. In fact most believe that the two object described in the Genesis passage are symbols of the God and Jesus taking the death walk which would result in Jesus going to the cross for this sin of man. This step also brings clarity to Jesus statement in Matthew 16 to "take up your cross". I also think this step brings clarity to Paul's teaching on Baptism in Romans chapter 16.
Genesis 15:12-21
Matthew 16:21-25
Romans 6:1-8 “Baptism”
Step 6: The Mark on the Body
In the ancient culture this was called “the striking of hands” perhaps the meaning behind Is. 49:16. each covenant partner would cut a mark into the palm of their hand and then shake each others hand. From then on this mark on the body would tell others who they were in covenant with. As they approach some one on the road they would wave their hand displaying the covenant mark. The mark on the body is the reason for God demanding the Jews to be circumcised. The reason for circumcision and not a mark on the hands was do to the reality that God was creating a nation that would bless all others. This should bring a fair amount of clarity to the following passages.
Circumcision – Genesis 17: 10-11
Circumcision of the heart – Romans 2:28-29
Step 7: The Pronouncement of curses and blessings
This step was also completed as they walked through the pieces of the sacrificed animal. They would pass each other and repeat blessings for holding the covenant agreement and curses that would result if one should break covenant. The wording of this exchange is very similar to what we find in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is the thought that the curses are not found in the New Testament. This is still a work in progress for me personally, those who know more about this than I do say that they are not there. Search for yourself by beginning with the following passages. We can be sure this that Jesus has become a curse for us by hanging on the cross.
Deut. 28 (Bless. V.1-14 / Curses 15-68)
Galatians 3 (all kv -13) (The curses have been lifted)
To rap this up I would challenge you to embrace the difficult for the sake of the blessing. We have been called by God to join Him in covenant and that calls for joining Him in His work of redeeming this dark world with the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
May you be blessed,
Paul
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)