Take and drink all of you.

God's Covenant in the Blood.
 

In a book on the Blood, Andrew Murray, (1828-1917) wrote of God's acceptance of Abel's blood sacrifice of his best lamb.

"He had this witness borne to him "that he pleased God." His faith, and God's good pleasure in him, are closely connected with the sacrificial blood. In the light of later revelation, this testimony, given at the very beginning of human history, is of deep significance. It shows that there can be no approach to God; no fellowship with Him by faith; no enjoyment of His favor, apart from THE BLOOD."

10 years later Murray communed with us in his book, 'The Lord's Table', and wrote:

And He took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My Blood.” The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a Communion of the Blood of Christ?” ^{(Matthew 26:27-28; 1 Corinthians 10:16.)}

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life” ^{(Leviticus 27:11)}. For the blood is the life, the living spirit; and therefore atonement is linked with the shedding of blood. It was the surrender of the life of an innocent animal in the place of guilty man. And thus with the shedding of Jesus’ blood, His life is surrendered for our sins. The worth and the power of that blood are the worth and the power of the life of Jesus. Every drop of that blood has in it the power of an endless life.

Holy God Almighty declares that without the shedding of the life blood of the innocent for guilty man-kind, there would be no pardon for sin.  God remains the discerner of the heart and the intentions of the supplicant, who in accordance with God's Covenant, would sincerely be requesting pardon and desiring to enter into, or to remain in God's Gracious Favor.  The old inferior Covenant was in the shed blood of sacrificial animals that could never atone for man's self idolatrous sins: But now God's New Covenant is in the poured out Life Blood of the Man, Jesus Christ.  For Jesus/Yeshua, with a Son's Perfect Love and obedience toward His Father Yahweh God Almighty, poured out His innocent Soul from His Body, and in His Bodily resurrection from the dead, He defeated the idolatrous ways of man-kind that only breeds death.  Therefore, the Word of God, in respect to God's New Covenant through the Blood of the Man Jesus Christ, continues in its Power, and affects the believer in spite of our ignorance or callousness towards the Word of our Salvation.  Seeing of its vital importance in Life and death, let us further investigate the strength of our themed Scriptural text.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you that eats any manner of blood; I will even set My face against that eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:

For, it is the blood that makes an atonement for the 'soul'.  Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, and neither shall any stranger that sojourns among you eat blood.  And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunts and catches any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: Therefore, I said unto the children of Israel, you shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: Whosoever eats of it shall be cut off. ^{(Leviticus 17 verse 10 thru 14.)}

Scripture testifies to the TRUTH of the WORD of God, for it reminds us that the old covenant forbade the eating or drinking of the blood of any animal that is of God's Covenant sacrifices.  We are to know that within the blood, was the unseen soul and life force of all flesh, and so it was with God's beginning Covenant with Israel and their animal sacrifices.  The soul was identified with the life within the flesh of the innocent animals that were daily sacrificed for the sins of the believing Israelites.  Although mankind equates blood to life, the Creator God has never equated the lower life/soul of an animal, with what was the elevated life/soul of Adam/Man.   In the Garden of Eden, and before his fall, Adam, the first Man, was created to be in the image and likeness of  his Creator God Almighty.  It is for sure that the reasoning man does not equate his life with the animal’s soul or life force, nor condescend to its base level.  After all it is the life of a beast, and yet is this not what unregenerate man has become? ^{(See Psalm 49 verse 12 and 20.)} Historically, all men judge from within their thoughts of what they think is good or evil for the preservation of their own self righteousness.  Confusion reigns in the flesh of the corrupted mind of the unsaved of man-kind.  But unfortunately, even the many who say they are saved, have forgotten why they were called, and do not take up their cross daily and follow in the Way of the LIFE of Jesus Christ that honors Yahweh the Almighty God of the living. ^{(See 2nd Peter 1 verse 2 thru 11.)}

Through out the centuries to the present time, we see the historical and violent results of man's bestial nature.  That nature is bent towards a life of action and reactions, similar to the naturally occurring lives of the wild beast of the field.  This life of man-kind is centered within the importance of ones self, and is the result of the confusion of sin.  In sin's confusion, man's reactions are entangled in superior and inferior base natures of earthly flesh, and may well be summed up by the naturalist equations of, 'the survival of the fittest', or 'might makes right'.  However, we know through the Word of God that for man to survive, there has to be the death of this bestial nature that is set on self preservation.  Without the Almighty God of the living's timely intervention in the death spiral of man-kind, man cannot survive, and the natural man would ultimately destroy himself, his offspring, and the life of the world about him.  

From the beginnings of  the mystery of iniquity, which was first revealed in the Garden of Eden, we can now know that man-kind's nature of flesh is infected with the self idolatrous sin that is derived from the affected nephesh or the life within the genetic blood of Adam.  The soul (life) and the life (soul) within Adam's Blood is naturally passed on to all of his descendants.  Now, because of sin's controlling influence within the natural flesh of man and affecting the nephesh (the soul and life of man), then man's judgment remains like an animal of the field, bent towards its own drive of self preservation. In God's original covenant that was to be maintained by the nation of Israel, we understand that in the temporary atoning animal sacrifices, the innocent blood containing the soul and the very life of passive animals was poured out on the earth, as a transitory solution for man's defiled earthly nature.  With the Eternal God’s merciful intervention at this time, the lamb, dove or bullock was sacrificed and their innocent blood which equates to the life (the nephesh) of the animal was poured out at the base of the sacrificial altar and flowed to the ground.  Afterwards, the flesh of the sacrificed beast was burned on the altar as a substitutionary offering for the sins of the people of God rather than God’s ultimate consuming justice of requiring the destruction of the guilty of Israel.  In this we we see the TRUTH of the Eternal God's Patience, for the first covenant with the Hebrews was to be temporary until the Lamb of God would come at the proper time, to be the last Adam and Holy God's final Sacrifice for the abject sin of Mankind.

The Almighty's Supreme Covenant was established before the world was created, for it would be necessary for His very Own Lamb to be sacrificed in reparation for  the rebellious sin of the first Man Adam.  Although the Jew should understand from scripture that the seat of all earthly life was in the blood, the sanctity of the animal's life was not necessarily reverenced in the animals that were slaughtered for the life of the Israelite.  The seriousness of the nature of treasonous sin, bringing death and separation from the God of the living, apparently became lost in the performance or the rite of the sacrifice.  Also at issue, is self-justification within a mind, which was further encumbered with partiality in the keeping of portions of God's laws for appearance sake.  Good works that satisfies our flesh are set in motion, to keep up the outward appearances of self righteousness.  Sin has diverted the mind of man, for we all love to have it our way, and our way fails to keep the weightier matters of the heart with a soul seeking after the Holy Will of the God of the living.  The perfection of love is not to be found in the fallen nature of the unrighteous flesh of self righteous mankind.

The original blood letting animal sacrifices would never, ever be the rectifying remedy for fallen mankind’s now bent and darkly distorted nature with his propensity to do violence in the earth.  It becomes obvious that the blood that bares the soul of the very life of the beast does not equate with the higher life form of the original Man/Adam, and the animal's life blood cannot be the final solution for humanity's death spiral.  Here in, are the principle reasons of why God's people were forbidden to eat or drink of the blood=life/soul of the beast.  The soul of a beast of the field can never be the soul of a child of God.  God's child to be, is given the  faith of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, and their soul is born again in God's Image and Likeness of His Spirit.  Significantly, there is not the planted seed of perfect love in the soul of a beast.  The soul of a man, must be born of God's Spirit, bearing the seed of His Holiness that only comes from the perfect Love, born of the sacrificing Life Giving Blood of the Perfect Genetic Son of Man, Jesus Christ.  The Blood of Jesus Christ is of Infinite value for it came from the Infinitely Holy God Almighty to sustain not just one Life, but the Life of all who will except God's Offering of the Life of His Lamb of Infinite Value. ^{(See 1st Peter 1 verse 19 thru 20.)} 

In Yahweh's Holy Communion, God's Spirit of Grace and Holiness presents to us, the Cup of our 'Yeshua', meaning Salvation, and to be sure, God's Love is in the Life Giving Blood of His Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, Who is the very WORD of GOD made the flesh of the first Adam.  The Heart and Soul of Yeshua the 'Incarnate Son of God', unlike the first created Man/Adam, Loves His Father Yahweh God above all things.  God's Holy Spirit, is One in the Infinite Holy Life Giving Blood of Jesus Christ, therefore the Holy Spirit of Christ will bring the faithful believer into Holy Fellowship with Father God Almighty.  It is impossible for Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty to have Fellowship or Communion with any form of unrepented sin, for unrepented sin can never be justified by Holy Yahweh God Almighty.  But now, with the repentance of the born again sinner, the shed New Covenant Blood of Jesus Christ is deemed to have cleansed sin from the old man of the flesh, so that the Life of God's Beloved Son is made manifest in God's new creation of man.  The man with the substance of faith, is cleansed from confessed sin, so as to be in the image and the likeness of Christ through the renewing Spirit of His Son, Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah.

How Great is the Love of God, and how far will God go to save man-kind from our sinful and damnable self serving nature of death?  Thank God through His Son Jesus Christ.  Therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus who do not walk after the flesh, but follow after His Spirit of Life. ^{(See Romans 7 verse 24 and 8 verse 1 thru 2.)}
 

Whether it be Jew or gentile, the inertia for human life, was created by Almighty God to be within the loins of Adam, the first Man.  Having been created in the image and likeness of the God of the living, apparently, Adam, the Man, with his Wife Ishshah were originally designed to bring forth life, in the image and likeness of their Creator.  However, with Adam's rebellion against his Creator Elohim, all the generational seed of man-kind were made heirs of sin and death, having forfeited the right to life, and made to serve the master of sin and death.  On our own efforts, we cannot save or pardon ourselves from our sinful corrupted nature that brings death.  For all life forms comes from Holy God Almighty, and where dying man-kind is concerned, only the God of the Living can pardon and grant new Life to man-kind under His terms within His LIFE Giving Covenant in the Blood of Yeshua/Jesus the Christ of God.

The first Covenant, ratified in animal's blood, is voided, being supplanted by Yahweh God's final Supreme Covenant in the Infinitely Precious LIFE giving Blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Lord of LIFE.  Within the expanse of God's New Covenant with man, God's Holy Spirit of Grace provides the Sanctifying Holy Blood of Jesus Christ that remains the only remedy for the sins of the flesh of the repentant individual, as well as for the Ecclesia church's confessed sin's of the past and present.

If the eyes of our heart are open to see the TRUTH, then we are enabled see that the Love of God has an infinitely higher calling into the heart and soul of fallen mankind than the life of a beast.  We live in this fallen flesh, and if we say we have no sin then we are in terrible deceptions and His TRUTH is not in us. ^{(See 1st John 1 verse 8-10.)} If we say that we have not sinned then we make (Almighty) God a liar and His WORD is not IN us. The WORD of God and His TRUTH is One and the Same. The Almighty God of the living has declared mankind guilty of their self serving idolatry that was initiated in the first Adam's rebellion.  Now all of genetic man-kind have become subservient to the power of the law of sin and death; therefore, all of Adam's genetic blood line of genetic flesh, even the past and present day Jew, have all become defiled with sin's corruption in death.  All of Mankind have no redeeming eternal life factors that can justify the continuance of life.  Even the geneticist sees that there are limiting time factors in the altered Epigenetics that affects the DNA code of mankind, which brings about the cessation of tissue regeneration. 

But Yahweh God's Spirit of TRUTH has the absolute solution to our death as the result of Man's sinful flesh. ^{(See again Leviticus 17 verse 10 thru 14).} The ultimate remedial solution or antidote for sin, required the Life/Soul within the Blood of the Perfect God centered Man.   The whole Life of Jesus (Yeshua) was centered in the Love of His Holy Father Yahweh God, for Jesus/Yeshua came forth from the Holy Father's bosom, to become the unleavened Son of Man, and that Life of the Christ of God is HOLY, and is forever consecrated in Love. "For God so loved the world that He Gave the LifeBlood of His Only Begotten Son" on the altar of the cross, so that we might become new born sons of God, born of faith in God’s TRUTH after the image and likeness of the Father's Son, Jesus (Yeshua).  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not.  ^{(1 John 3 verse 1.)}

For your further consideration, we have set before you, an abbreviated outline of the tradition of the four cups in the Passover Seder, which are also known as the four cups of redemption.  The 1^st Cup of Sanctification and the 3^rd Cup of Redemption both required a special prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to the Creator of the Universe.  With each of the four cups, there is the appropriate scripture from Exodus 6 verse 6 that makes reference to God's celebrated acts with Israel.  We have interjected comments, as well as the relative Gospel scriptures, which parallels a particular cup and the logical order of events in the Pesach.

Now when the Lord Jesus Christ, the I AM that I AM, lifts up the third Cup, “The Cup of Blessing and Redemption”, it was at this moment of time that Jesus instituted God's New Covenant in His LIFE giving Blood.  Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.  Not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: Which My Covenant they broke. ^{(Jeremiah 31 verse 31 thru 32.)}  God gave to Israel, His Covenant Word in the Torah with His Decalogue of 10 warning Commandments.  The Commandments were given as warnings to protect Israel from their sinful nature that breeds death.   The Messiah, and Covenant Word of God His Father, would come to earth, as the Son of Adam through the generational genetic seed of the first Man/Adam.  The WORD of God, as the Son of Adam, within the genetics of Woman came to the earth, and totally fulfilled the requirements of the former Covenant, and has now at the same Passover Table, inaugurated in His LIFE Blood the New Superior Covenant of God's Grace in the LIFE of His only Begotten Son.

The former blood and drink offerings of the Mosaic Covenant were a portend of that which was to come with the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Man, and now the 3rd cup of blessing and redemption is through the Spirit of Yahweh God, and is the effectual LIFE Blood of Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world.  In the old covenant, the sacrificial lamb's blood was first sprinkled on the sides of the altar for sin, trespass and peace offerings,  or poured at the sides of the alter for burnt offerings, and then the roasted flesh of the sacrifice may have been eaten, without the life blood of the animal.  ^{(See Leviticus 7 verse 1 thru 13.)} In the sacrifice of the animal, no one was to partake of the blood of the lamb, for it was the life of the beast. ^{(See Leviticus 17 verse 10 thru 12.)} However, Yahweh God did institute His grain offering, to be a token memorial, in the Unleavened Bread that was to be a perpetual memorial set before the Holy of Holies and God's Presence. ^{(See Leviticus 6 verse 14 thru 22.)} The fulfillment of God's token Grain Offering, was a sweet smelling savor of Promise, and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, Who was  the Lamb of God, Slain before the foundation of the world. God's Lamb of time, is the One Who takes away the sins of the world.  No man could take Yahweh's Lamb of Life, for Jesus Christ laid down His LIFE sacrificially in Perfect Love and Obedience to His Holy Father Yahweh God, and in His Perfection, as a Man, He could take it up again in fulfillment of a Son's LIFE of Love IN God.  The True Unleavened Bread of Heaven Who came down to become the Son of Man says: Amen, Amen, I say to you; except you eat of the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you have no LIFE in you. ^{(John 6 verse 53.)}  No man comes to the Father except by Me.  And God Almighty says: My Covenant will I not break, Nor alter the thing that is gone out of My Lips. ^{(See Psalm 89 verse 34 thru 37.)}