Pursuing the Wind: covenant

I've often wondered why God made the payment of sin to be death when He knew He would have to pay it in order to have any relationship with us at all.

Recently, my Pastor preached on the biblical covenants. Last week he reiterated God's covenant with Abraham. All these covenants were made directly to the Jews, but the Abrahamic covenant promised to spill over to the rest of the world through Abraham's Seed—Jesus.

Another unique distinction in the covenant with Abraham (here still called Abram) is how the oath was sworn.

Yahweh said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.....

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram... (Genesis 15:9-12, 17-18a)

In the ancient Near East when a covenant was sworn, both covenanters would walk through an aisle of dead animals, such as described in Genesis. The purpose of doing such said, in essence, that both were agreeing to fulfill the covenant or sacrifice their lives.

Throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh was always the One reaching out to mankind. With Abraham, it was no different. Yahweh desired to fulfill a promise through this man. Being a man, however, Abraham would not be able to keep his end of the contract, perfect obedience to Yahweh's covenant, for himself or for his descendants; therefore, all of us would be condemned to eternal punishment...the sacrifice of our lives.

Because Yahweh desired a relationship with the human race, He took the fulfillment of the covenant upon Himself. He alone walked through the dead animals, guaranteeing the covenant at the sacrifice of His life.

Humans, Abraham and every person throughout time, has failed to keep the requirements of God, as Yahweh had known. To remind us of the horror our sin is to Him, He required that the Jews sacrifice animals. The lambs, goats, cattle, etc. took the death that we deserved. This did not cleanse us of our sin. It only reminded us of the blood that needed to be shed because of our faithlessness.

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)

As Yahweh foreknew, a time came when sacrifice had to be made. He came in flesh. He came to be one of us, to experience the temptations, yet to resist them. Someone once pointed out that His withstanding the temptations were a greater test of His empathy than if He had given in to them. Because He resisted, He knows the extent of temptation's strength.

For thirty-three years as a man, He completed our half of the covenant, which not one person in thousands of generations had been able to do. At the same time, as God, He fulfilled His promise to sacrifice His life because of our breach of the covenant.

Jesus blood became the entrance into the New Covenant. The cost is incomparable. Because it cannot be matched, any who refuse to enter into this covenant through Jesus will never find peace with God. Any who refuse to accept Jesus death as their payment will be required to pay with their lives...for eternity.

Each Easter we remember again, not just the sacrifice, but that Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection placed Him at the right hand of Yahweh to interceed for all who come before God in His Name.

Are you trying to arrange a covenant of your own, which will leave you the sole fulfiller and the one responsible for a perfect life?