A New Blood Covenant

"Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission (forgiveness) of sin."

Hebrews 9:22

As "Good Friday" reminds us, today is the day that Jesus was brutally crucified. Some wonder why this was the way God chose to deliver us. Why would He require Jesus to die? To show His power when Jesus was raised from the dead three days later? Yes. To provide a way for us to come straight to Him instead of through a priest? Yes. To show us He loved us so very very much? Yes. But this day, Good Friday, means so much more than just remembering what Jesus went through. This day had to happen. Jesus had to die. It was God's covenant to us. A New Covenant. A Blood Covenant. Let's go back several chapters in the Bible to the story of Abraham. Genesis 15 shows us the story of the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham. If you don't know much about Abraham, the big thing to know is that the Lord promised him many descendants, in fact, a whole nation of descendants (and promised land to those descendants as well). To make this promise a covenant, the Lord had Abraham take several animals and split them down the middle and lay them out on the ground. The Lord then passed a "smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves" to seal the covenant. It's kind of gross to think about, but can you imagine the amount of blood there was to do this? Why did The Lord want it to be a blood covenant? I think that He wanted Abraham to know that this was serious business. That He fully intended to keep His covenant to Abraham. Anytime that an animal was killed in those days, it was a sacrificial thing. It was significant. So fast forward back to the day Jesus died. Why did God choose Jesus' death to be the way by which we are saved? He wanted us to have a Blood Covenant with Him. He really means business when He says that Jesus died so that we may live. Jesus died - and went to Hell for three days - in our place. We have a Blood Covenant with God that says we will not go to Hell if we believe that Jesus went for us and was resurrected three days later. Jesus was the Ultimate Sacrifice. Not only was this a Blood Covenant between us and the Lord, it was also a New Covenant. Before Jesus died for us, the earthly presence of the Lord was hidden behind a veil in the Temple. Only certain high priests were allowed into the presence of God. At the very moment Jesus died, the veil was torn from top to bottom (signifying that the Lord tore the veil, not man), so that from then on, anyone can be in the presence of God. Jesus not only was the Ultimate Sacrifice, but He made it possible for us to go directly to God instead of through a priest. The New Blood Covenant. It is still with a burdened heart and heaviness that I write about this, remembering all that Jesus went through and His eventual death. But the Lord really impressed it upon me that Good Friday had to happen the way that it did. It was the only way our sins could be covered and the only way that we could enter into Covenant with God. I do not say any of this to diminish the fact that Jesus is no longer dead, but was raised from the dead and is Alive....I just feel an extraordinary significance about Good Friday....."Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission." Nothing but the blood of JESUS!! What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh! precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see. For my cleansing this my plea Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Naught of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now by this I’ll overcome. Now by this I’ll reach my home. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Glory! Glory! This I sing. All my praise for this I bring. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.