Crucifixion Does Not Save

The Romans crucified tens of thousands of Jews. This is a matter of historical record. It is not crucifixion that brings about salvation. It was not the brutality or even the injustice of Jesus’ death that saved us from sin. These were all a part of God’s plan but others have died cruelly and unjustly and they did not redeem the world. Blood Covenant is the aspect of Salvation that is unfamiliar to most people.

Blood Pays

It was Jesus’ blood that saved us. That blood was offered to pay the penalty for a broken BLOOD COVENANT. Adam broke the covenant God had made with him. He obeyed another and rejected God’s word to him. Even today the penalty for treason is death.

Sin is the system Adam accepted in place of faith in God. Death is the end/ fruit/ culmination of sin. (Romans 6:21,23) Death now claimed all souls.

God refused to accept that so He sent a Redeemer to pay the consequences/curses of the covenant with His Blood. This sounds like nonsense if you do not understand blood covenant.

Legal Considerations

Therefore I need to show that blood covenant is the legal binding agreement between God and humanity in the Bible and then outline the aspects and requirements of blood covenant that Jesus fulfilled.

Life is in the blood. (Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:11-12)
Blood is required as payment/consequence for the breaking of covenant. (Exodus 21:23, Deuteronomy 19:21)
Blood ratifies covenant. Moses sprinkled the people and the articles in the Tabernacle with blood. (Exodus 24:6-8)

BLOOD COVENANT:

a legally binding agreement – unbreakable and with the most dire consequences.

Adam was given dominion/regency/stewardship of the earth by God and was instructed to be fruitful and multiply, care for the garden of Eden.

Adam was told that one tree belonged to God alone, His portion. This tree was not to be eaten from.

You are a servant of the one you obey. Adam obeyed Satan’s words and ate from that tree. Satan gained the position of regency which Adam had surrendered to him. (Genesis 1: 26-28, 2: 17, 3:6-24)

In Genesis 3:21 God made a blood covenant with Adam. He killed animals to make garments that would cover and protect them.

God’s first covenant had no curses attached to it, only blessings.

This second covenant detailed the curses that had sprung from their treason in verses 14-24. God’s subsequent covenants with Abraham, Israel, David and Mary laid out the details of the covenant of redemption that God was establishing to be fulfilled in Christ. It is beyond the scope of this article to detail those specifics.

Aspects of a Blood Covenant:

1) Blessings and Promises made by the covenant makers to each other.
2) Curses / consequences are specified for the breaking of that covenant.
3) Covenant enactment – the Way of Blood.

It is apparent that the Bible is full of the Blessings and Promises of covenant. They are highlighted in yellow and green in the Hellrazer’s Bible

The curses or consequences of broken covenant are also evident in scripture. These are highlighted in purple. The red highlighting includes aspects of both.

Blessings and Promises:

Identity is exchanged.

The parties to the covenant vow to be in perpetual unity and to take on the debts and enemies of their counterpart as well as to share in the prosperity and peace of their partner. “Your enemies are my enemies. Your allies are my allies. We have joined our families together” (much like marriage which is another form of covenant.)

Promises are the positive element of the agreement: Security, Prosperity and Peace were the intention of these promises.

God used the promise aspect of the covenants He initiated with Abraham, Isaac and David to allow Him to declare the words which would legally allow Him to insert the Messiah into the earth in spite of the regency exercised by Satan. The promises were necessary to bring about the redemption.

Curses:

The consequences of breaking the covenant

Deuteronomy 28: 15 – 68 specifies a comprehensive list of these cursed consequences that were declared.

The Covenant Cutting ceremony

Once the promises and curses of the agreement had been negotiated, sacrificial animals were killed and cut in half. The pieces were placed parallel to each other in a line. This formed a pathway that was known as

“the Way of Blood”.

It was in the midst of this path that the covenant makers spoke the promises and curses agreed upon to each other.

“May it be to me as to these animals if I should break this oath.”

This was the message of the sacrifices. A covenant-breaker had agreed to be treated as the sacrifices – cut in pieces. This involved more than suffering and death.

Shalom,

the concept of our wholeness and integrity is very important spiritually. More can be lost than life. Brokenness , loss of shalom, was considered more dire than pain and death.

LINK TO PART 2