A blood covenant between two parties is the closest, most enduring, most solemn and the most sacred of all contracts. It absolutely cannot be broken. When you enter into a blood covenant with someone, you promise to give them your life, your love and your protection forever… till death do you part.
Covenant is an agreement or contract between two people or two groups. It can never be broken.
All debts are shared equally. Through the covenant with Abraham, God was able to rightfully and justly take on the responsibility to deal with the sin problem of the world. He was able to send forth Jesus through the lineage of Abraham to be the ultimate sacrifice for mankind. Jesus paid the debt/penalty for our sins to appease the Father’s wrath through the blood covenant. Jesus established the New Covenant through His blood. Jesus came in the form of a baby born of a virgin, lived and walked among His creation prior to being the ultimate sacrifice on the cross to take away the sins of the world.
God in the right time sent forth His Son through the virgin Mary.
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
God worked through the different generations to bring forth Jesus through the unconditional covenant established with Abraham. There is a scarlet thread that runs from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It records how God pursued us with His love and commitment through the establishment of covenants.
From this passage we learn that God honors His word and promise.
Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Men tend to be fickle minded and will not honor their words. There might be some who will intentionally tell a lie or say things that you want to hear but don’t really mean what they say. We get disappointed, disillusioned by people especially people whom we thought should have integrity. Sadly, we live in a world where there are many broken promises therefore we should not be quick in making promises which we are not able to fulfill especially when we are Christians. The word of God represents Him so our word should also represent us.
It is His nature not to lie therefore if God has established a covenant with us then we can put our faith completely in Him.
Sermon Series: Christmas
什么是盟约？
在各种盟约当中，“血约”是立约双方最紧密，最持久，最庄严和最神圣的一种约定。是绝对不能背弃的。当你和某个人以血立约，代表着你向对方承诺 要永远交付你的生命，你的爱，以及你对他的保护，至死方休。
立约，就是两个人或是两个群体之间的协议或契约。 是永远不能背弃的。
立约后的双方要均等地分担所有的债务。借着与亚伯拉罕所立的约， 神能够正当地而公正地担起处理世人之罪的责任。神因而能够差派耶稣，从亚伯拉罕的谱系而生，成为拯救全人类的终极救赎。藉着血约，耶稣以祂立约的宝血偿付了我们的罪债，平息了父神的烈怒。耶稣以祂自己的血立了新约。祂以童贞女之子的形式降世，生活并行走于祂所造之物当中，直到祂在十字架上成为终极的献祭，以除去世人的罪。
上帝选定了时机，差派祂的圣子借着童贞女马利亚降世。
马太福音1:18耶稣基督降生的事记在下面：祂母亲马利亚已经许配了约瑟，还没有迎娶，马利亚就从圣灵怀了孕。
上帝历经数个世代的预备，藉着与亚伯拉罕无条件地立约，好把耶稣带到世上。从旧约到新约，有一条血红色的线贯穿其间。它记录了上帝是怎样藉着立约以祂的爱和执着来寻求我们。
从以下这段经节里，我们得以知道 神信守祂的承诺。
民数记 23:19神非人，必不致说谎，也非人子，必不致后悔。他说话岂不照着行呢？他发言岂不要成就呢？
人往往善变，并且不信守承诺。可能有些人会故意说谎或者言不由衷地说些对方想听的话。我们因此对人感到失望，幻想破灭，尤其是对那些我们以为是正人君子的人。遗憾的是，我们所处的世界充满着遭背弃的诺言，所以我们切勿不假思索就作出无法履行的承诺，尤其当我们的身份是基督徒的时候。上帝的话语代表着祂自己，相同地，我们的承诺也应该代表我们自己。
不撒谎是神的本性，如果神已经与我们立了约，我们就可以以全然的信心来信靠祂！
讲章系列: 圣诞节
Image Source: pixabay.com