The Power of the BloodExemple

The Power of the Blood Protects All Future Generations and Represents Christ’s Sacrifice for Us Upon the shed blood of Jesus rests every facet of our covenant with God. Every promise, every provision in God’s Word, is ours through the blood of Jesus. Yet so many Christians have claimed only the cleansing from sin and missed the rest of what God has provided. The Old Testament covenants foreshadowed a great many of God’s provisions for us today: And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.” And Abraham said, “I will swear.” Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized (Genesis 21:22–25). This covenant included the men’s children’s children! Similarly, Jesus didn’t shed His blood just for you: He shed it for your household. God told Abraham, “Circumcise your sons; tell them to circumcise their sons.” Why? Because God’s intention was for the agreement to continue throughout all generations, and His intention still stands for you and your family today! When reading Genesis 21:27-30, notice the elements involved in the cov­enant between Abraham and Abimelech: So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?” And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” Included in the covenant were a lamb and a well. Abraham later planted a tree in commemoration of the pact (Genesis 21:33). Compare this with our covenant. We came to Jesus and accepted the shedding of His blood as sufficient to cleanse our sins. We said, “You shed Your blood for me personally.” We sacrificed nothing. We only believed that the covenant was cut in Him and that the nail prints in His hands were for us. Believing caused us to enter into an enduring relationship with God. A lamb is involved in the relationship, because Jesus is the “…Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). A well is involved because when we received the covenant cut with Jesus’ blood, we also received “…the washing of water by the word…” (Ephesians 5:26). And our covenant includes a tree because it was Jesus “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree…” (1 Peter 2:24). Without the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, there would be no covenant.