BLOOD COVENANT

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

John 6:54-58 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

I. ADAM

• He only had to "eat" to progress in God's will.
• We must "eat and drink".
• Adam's covenant to obtain eternal life was very simple.
• Never another so simple again.
• Only eat of the Tree of Life.
• However, sin broke the covenant

Gen 3:22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

• How we get into the Garden again and eat if we are blocked out?
• Is there a way to get BACK to the Tree of Life?

II. LORD'S SUPPER

Mat 26:26-27 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

• Symbolic of our Covenant
• Reminds us of Adam's Covenant
• Bread blessed and broken for us to eat and get eternal life.
• Like eating fruit of Life from Tree of Life
• Eating.
• Jesus ate the Bread and consumed it.
• But do not stop there!
• Jesus said we eat to receive eternal life.
• As Adam had to eat to receive eternal life.

John 6:58 "...he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."

• Eating has to do with eternal life still today.
• (Of course, eating the Bread represents BELIEVING His Words - John 6:63).

III. WE MUST DO SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST EAT - WE MUST ALSO DRINK

• After Jesus ate the bread, He took the cup full of wine.

1 Cor 11:24-25 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

• The drink was called, "The New Testament in my blood..."
• Why blood? Why does HIS covenant need BLOOD?
• Why do we have to eat AND DRINK?
• Adam only had to eat.
• We have to eat and drink.
• Adam ate to receive eternal life
• We eat to receive eternal life, also.
• But why must we also DRINK?
• What does drinking represent if eating represents getting eternal life?

HINT: Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

• The blood (drinking) is for Remission of sins.
• Therefore, we must drink for remission of sins.

Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

IV. WE MUST DRINK FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS

• Since Adam's fall (when sinned and cast out of the Garden), sin is in us all.
• We are born in sin which makes us UNHOLY.
• Our ancestor, Adam, put sin into the human race.
• We are born "unrighteous".
• Not "right" with God.
• We are not good enough to go to the Tree of Life and eat and live forever
• UNHOLY.

Gen 3:22-23 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

• Adam was unrighteous, so he could not eat from the tree.
• The fruit of eternal life is very holy and its in a very holy place which unholy people cannot enter.
• God will not give eternal Life to unrighteous people.
• Eternal Life is GOD, Himself.
• He does not only HAVE eternal life, but He IS eternal Life.

Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

• If we are not holy we will not see God, and will be lost.
• We are not worthy of eternal Life if we are not holy.
• The Garden was a holy place, so Adam was thrown out when he became UNHOLY.

V. EATING FLESH REPRESENTS BELIEVING GOD'S WORD

• Jesus' flesh gives eternal life.
• John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh,
• When Jesus says we eat His flesh, He actually means we "believe his words."
• The SON is the Father's WORD.
• Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
• God's WORD created all.
• John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
• John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

John 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

John 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

• The Son is the WORD of the Father that became flesh.
• That WORD became flesh and a man one day.
• When the WORD became flesh, we have the SON of God.
• Jesus always said the WORDS he speaks were from the Father.

VI. THE REASON GOD WAS MANIFEST IN FLESH

• We could not EAT eternal life due to sin.
• God wanted to do something about that.
• We could not EAT.
• Something had to be done so we could be holy and eat again, because Eating the Fruit of Life would give eternal life.
• We needed eternal life somehow!
• So God was manifest in flesh in order for us to be able to drink so that our sins may be removed, and THEN we could EAT.
• FLESH has blood.
• So God became manifest in FLESH.
• Why did Bible forbid BLOOD to be eaten?

Lev 17:10-11 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth 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 maketh an atonement for the soul.

• Why did Jesus say we could drink His blood if Blood was forbidden?
• Blood represents SOUL - LIFE
• Natural life is not holy.
• Eating blood, in God's mind, is like seeing us saying I can save myself through NATURAL means,
• I do not need God.
• Like: I do not need holy life from God
• natural life is already holy.
• WRONG.
• Jesus had no sin in Him, so we could DRINK His blood.
• None of us are born without sin.
• There is no natural way in this world to save you.
• You need God's SUPERnatural help.
• And that is the miracle of salvation.
• Healing is a miracle, but nothing compares to salvation - a soul saved from hell!

VII. FIT TO RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE

• We must drink of His blood, to remove sins, so we can eat.
• We must be made righteous and holy, and THEN receive eternal life.
• Jesus had the Cup - The New Testament in His blood.
• This is different than Adam's Testament/Covenant
• It is the way to make you fit to be worthy to get eternal life.

VIII. EXAMPLES IN OLD TESTAMENT FORESHADOWS

Exo 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

• Enter through BLOOD and then EAT MEAT.

Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Lev 16:15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:

• Inside the Holiest room in the Temple, past the veil, was where God would SPEAK.
• Where the WORD was.

Exo 25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

• God would SPEAK from the Ark.
• His WORD was on the Ark behind the Veil in the Holiest place.
• The WORD is what gives us eternal life.
• The Fruit of Life represents the WORD of Life.
• You cannot get the eternal life without the BLOOD.
• In other words, you cannot get eternal life without being made holy and righteous first.
• Eating is getting eternal life.
• Drinking is remitting sins so we can be made holy and righteous to enter and get eternal life.

Josh 2:18-19 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

• The scarlet thread let the soldiers know they were to spare all in that house.
• Rahab was saved from DEATH, and found LIFE because she had a scarlet thread on her house.
• The scarlet thread represents the BLOOD.
• Blood remits sins and makes us holy, and THEN we can receive eternal life and not die.

IX. FRUIT IS NOT ENOUGH TODAY - NEED BLOOD

• Adam only had to eat fruit.
• Today we need to be made sinless so that we can get eternal life within us.
• Fruit has no blood in it.
• Adam tried to solve problem with only vegetation.

Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

• Fig leaves were bloodless
• God had to take something with blood to help him.

Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

• Cain did not think he needed blood either.
• Thought he was alright since it was ADAM and not him that sinned.
• Many today do not believe they are sinners since they did not hurt anybody.
• They do not understand that Adam made us sinners before we were born.
• Look what happened to Cain:

Gen 4:3-4 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

• Cain brought bloodless fruit.
• Abel brought blood sacrifice.

Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

• God would not accept Cain's sacrifice without blood.
• Cain needed to know that his sins had to be remitted.
• Before Adam sinned, he needed no blood to remit his sins, for he was without sin.
• But after he sinned, all humanity need sins remitted.

X. REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS (BOTH)

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

• Today many are like Cain.
• They do not think they need sins remitted.
• They do not think God would not save them because they are "good" people.
• They think they do not need baptism.
• They do not think they need to repent AND be baptized for the remission of sins.
• Baptism has something to do with blood, because baptism and blood are for the remission of sins.

Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

• They do not think they need the BLOOD.
• They do not think they need to drink.

XI. REMISSION OF SINS

John 20:22-23 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

• Jesus told the disciples to remit sins.
• Whosoever sins they remit would be remitted.
• How does a preacher remit your sins?
• He baptizes you in Jesus' name!

...be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38.

• Jesus DIED
• Shed His blood.
• He was BURIED, for He died and shed His blood.
• Baptism ACCEPTS His blood - HIS DEATH.
• Blood represents His death.
• Drinking His blood is BELIEVING YOU NEEDED HIS DEATH to make you holy.
• And if you believe you needed His death, you will be buried WITH HIM EVERY TIME YOU PRAY, MAKE SURE YOU END IT BY SAYING "IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST", BECAUSE THAT POINTS TO HIS DEATH. YOUR PRAYERS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND THE ONLY REASON YOU CAN EVEN TALK TO GOD IS BECAUSE JESUS' DIED FOR YOU AND YOU BELIEVED IT. HIS BLOOD/DEATH IS YOUR ONLY WAY INTO THE HOLIEST.