Christianity is full of blood.
We still sing the old hymn, “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus,” and pastors teach on the amazing work of God through Jesus’ blood. During communion, we drink wine to symbolize the shed blood of Christ.
From the beginning, the Bible reveals the importance of sacrifice and blood when instituting covenants. These blood covenants continue to show up throughout Israel’s history to the time of Jesus. Why are blood covenants so crucial to the Gospel story?
What Scripture Says about the Blood Covenant
In Scripture, a blood covenant institutes a sacred agreement between two parties, sealed through a form of sacrifice. These covenants become the foundation for deep and unbreakable relationships between people or between people and God. Including blood in the covenant symbolizes total devotion to the agreement, where both parties are required to fulfill their roles. A biblical covenant is an unchangeable commitment, willingly taken by both sides.
The biblical covenants involve sacrifice because of the seriousness involved. The covenant binds the whole life to the agreement upon punishment of death or curse if broken. Therefore, sacrifice reveals the cost and weight of the covenant. Shedding blood symbolizes giving one’s life to the agreement. The Bible expresses how life resides in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), placing it at the center of ritual and surrender. Without sacrifice, people might misunderstand the ultimate devotion required when they agree.
Blood goes beyond ritual and symbolism. Since blood represents life itself, it signifies purification and atonement.
Shedding blood also reveals the seriousness of sin. Sin leads to death, and sacrifice with blood teaches how human sin leads to death of self, others, and even the world around them. Adam and Eve’s sin placed all creation under a curse, and sacrifices reminded the people of those consequences, the tradeoff that needed to happen for cleansing of sin. Since blood represents life itself, the Bible uses it in rituals for purification and forgiveness. The Old Testament sacrifices instructed the people how blood covers sin, restoring the relationship between God and humanity. These continued sacrifices in the Mosaic law also allowed God to dwell with the people (Exodus 29:45-46).
Biblical blood covenants show ultimate commitment, an exchange of one life for another, and forgiveness for reconciliation between people or people and God. God himself entered into these covenants, fully agreeing to the terms. Even when Israel or others failed to fulfill their part, God remained faithful and provided ways of redemption. The blood covenant shows people how much God loves them and is absolutely dedicated to restore humanity in right relationship with the Father.
What Other Ancient Cultures Had Blood Covenants?
Other ancient cultures practiced blood covenants, too. They also established agreements and alliances. Sometimes people would cut themselves and mingle their blood or offer a sacrifice for the covenant. Similarly, the blood covenant showed both parties would give their lives to keep the agreement.
In ancient Mesopotamia, blood covenants were used in legal and political alliances. To symbolize their devotion, they would sacrifice animals and walk between the divided pieces. Breaking the covenant meant invoking the curse of death upon the transgressor. Egyptian rulers and officials swore oaths in their temples and might include sacrifices to the gods. For the Egyptians, their covenants of protection and loyalty didn’t always have a blood element.
The Hittites had a developed legal system, and they included blood covenants between kings and underlings, treaties for blessings and obedience, and curses for breaking the agreement. The idols or gods would bring consequences to the covenant breaker. In Africa and the Middle East, tribal groups also practiced blood covenants by cutting themselves and mixing the blood with another to show a bond or covenant agreement. Sometimes, these covenants would extend to their descendants.
As we see, the blood covenant existed in other cultures, but the Old Testament practice was unique in several ways. First, God himself instituted the Old Testament covenants. He provided the terms and took personal responsibility for fulfilling them. Second, God never asked people to shed their own blood, and the blood of animals became a substitute to provide life for humans, forgiving and restoring them. Third, these biblical blood covenants carried deeper spiritual importance. They defined God’s relationship with people, promised blessings, and spelled out the consequences for sin. Fourth, while some ancient covenants might last for a generation or two past the initial agreement, God’s covenants would include “forever” language, all parts of God’s greater redemptive plan. In this, the whole story and the covenants ultimately depended upon God, not humanity. This all foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice yet to come through Christ.
What Are the Main Blood Covenants in the Old Testament?
After Adam and Eve sinned, God instituted blood sacrifice by providing garments from animal skins to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21). Though not as formal as other covenants that followed, many scholars point to this moment as an establishment of biblical truth. Sin results in death, and covering sin takes the shedding of blood, setting a precedent for future covenants. God killed the animals and made the covering.
In Genesis 15, God takes the Mesopotamian model of blood covenant and uses it to express heavenly reality. The Lord has Abraham cut the animal in two, and God alone passes between the pieces in the form of a smoking firepot and a blazing torch. Abraham doesn’t pass through the pieces. God makes the Abrahamic covenant with himself, essentially, that he would produce a new people through Abraham’s descendants or his Seed, ultimately pointing to Christ (Galatians 3:16).
God instituted circumcision as a sign of Abraham’s covenant (Genesis 17). This blood covenant marked every male descendant of Abraham and symbolized separation from the world and set apartness to God. Pagan blood rituals were often done to make the gods happy, but circumcision was to be physically and spiritually “clean,” reminding Israel of their special calling on earth as God’s chosen people to bless all nations.
God delivered the Israelite slaves from Egypt, and the Passover covenant (Exodus 12) showed how the blood of the lamb gave protection and freedom. God had his people place lamb’s blood on their doorposts so the angel of death would “pass over” them. Of course, this speaks of the future Christ, the Lamb of God.
The Mosaic law, given at Mount Sinai, formalized the sacrificial system (Exodus 24). Moses sprinkled the blood of animals on the people to seal their covenant with God to obey his laws. The covenant had continual sacrifices for sin, communicating how humanity needs God’s intervention and forgiveness to live righteous lives.
Why is Jesus’ Blood Covenant Different from All Others?
The New Testament, from the Gospels to the apostolic letters, takes great pains to teach us how the blood of Jesus fulfills the Old Testament sacrifices and does deeper, greater works.
The Old Testament sacrifices only temporarily covered sin (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus the Lamb of God offered his blood once and for all (Hebrews 9:12), ending the need for continual offerings. Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples and redefines the symbolism, showing how he is the blood and body of a new covenant. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Through this, Jesus’ death fulfills and replaces the Mosaic covenant, as Christ’s blood establishes a better covenant based on grace rather than law (Hebrews 8:6). Through Christ, we see how God himself establishes and fulfills a new covenant, as he did with Abraham.
Jesus’ blood permanently removes sin, needing no repetition (Hebrews 10:10-12). In fact, the blood of Jesus goes beyond outward sin to the heart, cleansing the mind and will, removing the sinful nature that leads to sinful actions. The dead heart is transformed and renewed with the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33). Upon Jesus’ death on the cross, God tore the temple veil from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). This thick veil separated people from God’s direct presence, and only the high priest could go into the holy of holies once a year. Yet Jesus’ blood granted direct access to any who believe and repent unto the Father (Hebrews 4:16). Under the new covenant, Jesus’ blood and sacrifice offers salvation by grace through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Hebrews 12:24-26 shows how Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and his blood speaks a message more powerful than Abel’s blood. God once shook Mount Sinai to establish the Old Covenant, but now the Lord shakes both heaven (the spiritual realm) and earth through Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus’ blood brings eternal redemption, forgiving believers and giving them an unshakable kingdom (Hebrews 12:28). Jesus’ blood will ultimately transform all creation into a new heaven and earth.
The blood of animals or people could never do that.
What Can Christians Today Learn from Jesus’ Blood Covenant?
We can learn several important lessons from Jesus’ blood. As a blood covenant seals an agreement between two people, committing their lives to it, Jesus became a man to give his life and be the blood sacrifice for us. And to be part of the new covenant, we give our lives, as well.
First, Jesus’ blood reminds us that sin isn’t minor or trivial. The Old Testament sacrifices showed a serious cost, but Jesus’ crucifixion proves even more the high cost of sin, one we can’t ignore or dismiss. His suffering and death show how our rebellion against God in our hearts and actions required the ultimate cost: Jesus’ own blood. Through God’s grace and atonement, we must turn from sin and pursue holiness (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Second, Jesus’ blood expresses God’s abundant love and his willingness to forgive. He could have left us in our fallen, dead state, but he didn’t. He chose to sacrifice his Son so we could be redeemed. Christ willingly shed his blood, as any entering a covenant must do, and he deliberately suffered knowing the joy of redemption and reconciliation before him. We should praise God and rejoice at his love. We can now walk in freedom and extend God’s grace to others as he did to us (Ephesians 1:7).
Third, Jesus’ sacrifice is a free gift, but it does cost us something. To enter the new covenant requires our life, too, as Jesus called us to take up our cross like he did (Luke 9:23). This means surrendering our desires and living in obedience to the Father as the Son did, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, even when it requires our suffering, too. As Jesus shed his blood for us, we should give up anything standing in the way of our walk with him. True discipleship includes our full commitment (Philippians 3:8-10).
Fourth, any cost is worth it in the end. The cost of following Jesus is real, but the eternal blessings through his blood are infinitely greater than anything we might give up, things we couldn’t keep anyway (Romans 8:18). Through Jesus we have forgiveness, eternal life, adoption into the Father’s family, and the promise of eternal dwelling with God in a new creation (Revelation 21). Since we follow Christ in his sacrifice, what we gain lasts forever and can never be shaken or taken from us.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Peace.
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