HOW TO LIVE FOREVER   PART FIVE

We have seen that a Covenant between God and humans must be sprinkled with blood before it can come into force.

But this involvement of blood in the process of making a holy covenant can seem strange and bizarre to humans: “Why does an innocent animal have to die just for some religious ritual?” and “I want nothing to do with a God who kills innocent animals as part of His religion.”

Satan the liar pretends to be outraged at this killing of innocent victims. And he attempts to infect humans with his confected outrage. Never revealing of course, that the shedding of innocent blood is a direct result of Satan’s own murderous attack on human beings, a direct result of Satan’s attempt to have all humans destroyed. Without Satan, the shedding of innocent blood would have never been necessary.

When Satan seduced humans into sin, he seduced them into death. And to destroy Satan’s plan of death, there would have to be the death of an innocent Victim. That innocent blood was eventually shed, and Satan and death were permanently defeated:

“For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

Jesus was the innocent Victim whose blood would need to be shed in order to sprinkle the New Covenant and bring it into force. As Hebrews obscurely explains:

“For where a covenant is, the death of him covenanting must be offered. For a covenant is affirmed over those dead, since it never has force when The one covenanting is living. From which we see that neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood.” (Hebrews 9:16-18)

What this is saying is that where a covenant would be made, there must be a blood sacrifice to confirm it. That is, there must be a covenant sacrifice – “the death of him covenanting”. And the covenant is not in force until the covenant sacrifice has died.

The Old Covenant was dedicated with the blood of animals, but the New Covenant was dedicated with the Blood of Jesus. And therefore the New Covenant is now in force.

But what exactly is in force? We have seen God’s side of the New Agreement:

"For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people....For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10,12)

But what is the other side of the New Covenant? What must humans do in order to make the New Agreement with God?

We have established that there are three steps to making a covenant: the terms of the covenant are revealed, the terms are accepted, and the covenant is sealed with blood. There can be any amount of time between those steps.

In the case of the Old Covenant, the steps followed each other closely. In the case of the New Covenant, the periods between the steps are vast.

The words of the New Covenant were written in the time of Moses. The Covenant was sealed by the death of Jesus over a thousand years later. The acceptance comes for a person at a time of God’s choosing:

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44)

So the terms of the New Covenant are understood and accepted by someone whom God calls, then that person is sprinkled by the Blood which Jesus shed over two thousand years ago. And they are now under the protection of the New Covenant and have become immune to death.

But just as God has obligations under the Covenant, so do humans have obligations under the Covenant. What are those obligations?

In the time of Moses God made two Covenants with the Israelites. The first was the Covenant made at Mt. Sinai, about three months after the Israelites had fled Egypt. That’s generally called the Old Covenant. But forty years later God made another Covenant with the Israelites:

“These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.” (Deuteronomy 29:1)

This was a different Covenant from the Old Covenant. As Moses said, it was besides, different from, the Old Covenant. This New Covenant was never sealed with blood, and therefore never came into force. At least not for the Israelites at that time.

This “besides” Covenant, this New Covenant, only came into force when it was sealed with the Blood of Jesus:

“For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

This second Covenant, the New Covenant, is better than the Old Covenant, because this new Covenant enables people to live forever. Which is the whole point of everything God is doing on earth.

The Old Covenant could not give anyone freedom from death, because the Old Covenant could not remove sin. Because the Old Covenant used animals as sacrifices to remove sin, and as Hebrews says:

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4)

And without the removal of sin there could be no freedom from death.

But the New Covenant, a better Covenant, does give freedom from death:

“But now He (Jesus) has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much He is also the Mediator of a better Covenant, which was built upon better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)

The better promises are that God’s side of the Covenant includes the forgiveness of sin, which is made possible by the Blood of Jesus, the Covenant Sacrifice. Which Blood sprinkled the New Covenant and brought it into force.

But back to our point, what are the words of the New Covenant?  Well the words are what Moses told the Israelites when he told them that God was making a new, different, Covenant with them:

“And now, Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

The words of the New Covenant are found in the Book of Deuteronomy – the words that Moses spoke to the Israelites that day.

Within those words is the authority that God gave Jesus to change the law:

“Jehovah your God will raise up to you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, One like me. To Him you shall listen...I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brothers, one like you, and will put My words in His mouth. And He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him. And it shall happen, whatever man will not listen to My Words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15,18-19)

And within those words is the promise that the New Covenant applies to all humans, not just the Israelites:

“Rejoice, O, nations, with His people.” (Deuteronomy 32:43)