It’s a Covenant of Blood.
Jews should understand more than any other people. It has been a blood covenant from the time of the Exodus. In judgment, the waters of Egypt were turned to blood. (Exodus 7:20-21) Zipporah cut off her son’s foreskin and called Moses, “Surly, you are a husband of blood to me.” (Exodus 4:25-26) The blood of circumcision. Death passed over them when blood was over their door posts. (Exodus 12:13;22-23) And then there was the blood of the covenant.
“Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.’
And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.'” (Exodus 24:5-9) Thank God Israel had the sacrifices, they didn’t keep their word. A beast perfect and without blemish would die to cover their sin.
They lost the old way of dealing with their sin. God tired of their act. “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ Says the LORD. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls Or of lambs and goats.” (Isaiah 1:11) That Covenant was broken beyond repair. So what’s a Jew to do?
Man’s vain attempts.
Good deeds will never be enough to excuse violating God’s Holy Law. Only a proud spirit thinks that their deeds will satisfy the justice of God. The religious have their rules to keep, but God says, “I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.” (Isaiah 1:13) What is the Jew to do about inequity? Where is the blood? “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22)
Behold the man who knows that his sin separates him from a Holy God. With a palm branch he rejects his sin as he beats it to the ground. How does a sinful man approach a Holy God? The desire is there, but not the means, he will walk away with his sin. Behold the man who wants what you as a Christian have, forgiveness because of shed blood.
The time has come for the church to pray that Israel enters into the New Covenant that Jeremiah told them about. Pray that the Spirit of God moves in their mind and heart to seek the truth written in their own Holy Scriptures. Pour out some love. Be confident in what the God of Abraham has done for you. He sacrificed His Son.
“Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.” (Romans 11:11) This is God’s will: to pray for them and to be a witness that God’s redemption has come to you. Your sin has been dealt with through the shed blood of Jesus. He is the God of Salvation.
To be continued.
His Family Table 