 Blood
Kinship With God
Rev. Lawrence "Buddy" Martin
Senior Pastor
Christian Challenge
The Old Testament covenants carried the idea of 'kinship' with the
god of the covenant. (This was true for all the Semitic peoples.) But
this was an 'adopted' kinship. No man could be kin to God in a true
spiritual sense.
In the new covenant the idea of 'kinship' changes. New covenant
people become ‘blood kin’ of God. The apostle said, “The Spirit
Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Rom
8:16)
To cut the covenant in the Old Testament meant taking a sacrificial
animal, splitting it in two while the parties of the covenant passed
between the pieces. It was the tribal fathers who cut the covenant.
The god of the fathers became known as 'the father's god.' Thus we
have the statement, 'The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' In a blood
covenant the members were considered one blood. If aggression is made
against one, it was aggression against all. Blood covenants ran deep.
A picture of the 'blood kin' is seen in the tabernacle of Moses.
Listen to Hebrews
9:19-22: "For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses
to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the
calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, 'This is
the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.' And in the same
way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the
ministry with the blood." The sprinkling of blood was not simply
to the forgiveness of sins, but signified oneness with the God of
Israel.
But we have to come back to adoption. The sprinkled blood of the
sacrificed animal was a symbol. As the blood was sprinkled the people
'came under' the blood of the sacrifice. Since this was a symbol, the
people themselves could only be adopted. They were not by nature God’s
own spiritual children. Their nature was still unlike His. Paul
explains this in calling attention to Israel; “Who are Israelites,
to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants
and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises.”
(Rom
9:4)
Paul speaks of ‘the adoption as sons,’ but he does not speak of
a spiritual birth. No one in the Old Testament could be born of God
until the Lamb came on the scene. Moses himself made this
distinction.
Before I quote from Moses, let me draw attention to how Peter
concluded his Pentecost message. Peter said, "Be saved from this
perverse generation." (Acts
2:40) Why would Peter make such a disparaging remark? Peter was
quoting Moses. Those listening to Peter would have recognized what
Peter meant by ‘perverse.’ In the natural Peter was saying no more
than what could be said to any lost man; "You must flee from the
land of lostness, and into the land of salvation." But the idea
went deeper for the Jewish people of the time.
As Moses was completing his final address to Israel, he broke into
song. It was a song of redemption. Peter is quoting from this song on
the day of Pentecost. One thing Moses said in his song was, "They
have acted corruptly toward Him, they are not His children, because of
their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation." (Deu
32:5)
The term 'defect' is 'mum' in Hebrew. It refers to any physical or
moral blemish. Moses was saying that Israel had a moral blemish. This
would be in reference to the fall of Adam. All unsaved peoples carry
in them the blemish of Adam. This is also why the sacrificial animals
under the covenant of Moses had to be without blemish. The sacrifice
was a picture of Jesus, who would offer Himself “without blemish to
God.” (Heb
9:14)
We don't have space to get into the song of Moses, but in the book
of Revelation this song is spoken of as 'the song of Moses, the bond
servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.' (Rev
15:3) Only through the sacrifice of Jesus, the unblemished Lamb,
could a person be born again, and enter into a true spiritual kinship
with the Almighty.
Peter again draws attention this very fact, when he said, "If
you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each
one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on
earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like
silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your
forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and
spotless, the blood of Christ." (1
Pet 1:17-19)
Peter says our redemption is with 'precious blood, as of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.' The blood of the
'unblemished' Lamb of God is sprinkled on the human spirit, and thus,
we become children of God without defect. (Cf. 1
Pet 1:1,2)
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No person who has
ever lived on this planet could be said to be of 'kin' to God
without the Lamb's precious blood being applied. |
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Notice that Peter calls attention to "your futile way of life
inherited from your fathers." In this sense Peter is speaking to
the Hebrew peoples, although it fits every class of the human family.
The apostle's point was that no person who has ever lived on this
planet could be said to be of 'kin' to God without the Lamb's precious
blood being applied. Peter's point was that no human can be saved
aside from the sprinkled blood of Jesus.
This issue of salvation must never be overlooked. The Jewish
peoples during the time of Christ believed that they could not be lost
because of their blood line to Abraham. John the Baptist and Jesus
Himself and all the apostles came against any such notion. The whole
human race was contaminated by sin. We were all a 'crooked and
perverse' generation. This came from our father Adam. The bloodline of
Abraham was no exception. But now through Christ Jesus we have the
reality of what the Old Testament types could only point to. The blood
that Moses sprinkled on the people could only speak of their adoption
to God, but it could not remove their sins, nor could it actually make
them true spiritual children of God. Only the blood of Jesus could do
that.
It is Peter once again who explains what happens when a person is
born again. He says, “By the sanctifying work of the Spirit [our
separation to Christ], to obey Jesus Christ [receive him as Lord and
Savior] and be sprinkled with His blood.” (1
Peter 1:2)
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The blood that ran
through the veins of Jesus was literally God's blood. |
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The apostle Paul explains that the blood than ran through the veins
of Jesus was literally God’s blood. So when the blood of Jesus is
sprinkled on the human spirit, that human become a totally new
creature, both from heaven, and responds to the promise given to
Abraham, where God says, “’Now look toward the heavens, and count
the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So
shall your descendants be.’” (Gen
15:5)
Are you kin to God? If you are born again you are born of His blood
and His Spirit. You are His very children, nature of His nature, blood
of His blood, seed of His seed.
Think about it.
Bro. Buddy and his wife Betty founded Christian Challenge in 1976
after having pastored and evangelized for several years. He serves as
Senior Pastor and General Overseer. Bro. Buddy and Sister Betty have 3
children and 9 grandchildren, all of whom worship at Christian Challenge.
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