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Jesus said in John 3:3 that one could not even see the Kingdom of God without being born again, or without the blood covenant. Being born again is the result of the blood covenant with God. In this chapter and the several following we are going to emphasize the blood covenant.

After one is born again, or after the supernatural miracle of the spiritual blood covenant takes place, then we can see and begin to understand the Kingdom of God.

However I submit that this process is always an uphill battle. If "seeing the Kingdom of God" or in other words, living our lives under the authority and provisions of it, depends upon the blood covenant, then perhaps an ever increasing knowledge of the blood covenant is what we need.

As we live life often the cares of the world crowd in and it can seem as though we are on our own without God's help. In my experience the antidote for this mindset is to obtain a fresh revelation of the blood covenant. Another way to state it is that we need an ever increasing revelation of the Cross of Jesus, its finished work and what it accomplished for us and the world. As we focus on the Cross, then the Kingdom laws and principles will prevail in our lives, and God will have His way with us. This is what Jesus taught in John chapter 6 which says, "Then they said to Him, 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent'" (John 6:28,29). Believe in the finished work of the Cross, the blood covenant.

If we know, and are convinced by revelation knowledge, that the life of God actually abides in us, then we also know that we have nothing to worry about. The life inside of us will provide for all our needs, and the needs of those around us.

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28-30).

Look, lilies have life in them therefore they do not need to toil. You have the life of God inside of you; therefore everything will be all right. This is just what Jesus was trying to teach to poor people in John chapter 6 when He was telling them that they needed a blood covenant with Him.

Right after Adam relied on his own resources rather than the life of God in him and the Word of God, he came under the curse of "toil." When we realize the truth of the blood covenant, we can rest.

 Abraham understood the blood covenant when God cut the covenant with him in Genesis chapter 15. Abraham expressed his doubt at the promise of God, "And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" (Genesis 15:8). Have you ever asked God a question like this? God told Abraham to cut several animals in half and to place them on either side of a ditch so that the blood could run down it. Normally both parties would walk down such a ditch after they have swapped names, weapons, and coats. They would pronounce the blessings and curses of the covenant. Often the curse for breaking the covenant was death. However this time God put Abraham to sleep and He Himself walked the blood ditch for both parties, represented by a smoking oven and a burning torch. Prior to resting, Abraham had to drive away the vultures, which I submit represents a type of spiritual warfare on our part. God knew that Abraham and his descendents could not keep the covenant, so God swore to His own death to keep both sides of it. Eventually He gave His Son, His very own flesh for the broken covenant. In effect God was saying to Abraham "I you fail in this covenant and therefore are condemned to the curse of death, don't worry, I will die for you. I will walk the blood ditch for both you and for Me."

Jonathan, Mephibosheth's father, had made a covenant with David.1Samuel 18:1-4 says, "And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle."

One day, after both Saul and Jonathan were dead, the love produced by the covenant hit David so hard he could not stand it. He just had to bless someone. So he called to find out who was a survivor of his covenant with Jonathan. David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?" (2 Samuel 9:1). The word "kindness" in Hebrew is "checed" which is the word for covenant love. It is not a polite little "be kind" type of word, it is a powerful word describing love based upon a blood covenant. In the New Testament the counterpart word is "agape," the same love based upon a blood covenant. Some call it unconditional love because it has nothing to do with the person being loved but with the person who is doing the loving out of a strong feeling and commitment for a blood covenant. Jesus introduced this word when He was on earth.

"Oh, I have such an ache in my heart to bless my covenant family!" That was the cry of David, but it also the cry of Jesus. Ephesians 2:4 says, "but God - so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us." David was an example of the heart of God showing that He has an ache to bless His covenant people. David was a callused warrior, but he cried out to bless his blood covenant family.

Mephibosheth's story. Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13.

Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan with whom David had a covenant. The covenant was effective to Jonathan's ancestors as well as David's.

When Mephibosheth was a young boy his maid dropped him and he became lame for the rest of his life. Mephibosheth was limp and lame like we were without God. His name means "a dispeller of confusion and shame." He had a curse that was keeping him down. He was Jonathan's son, the grandson of Saul, who had tried to kill David. Mephibosheth had been living beneath his rights. He had a covenant with the king and did not know it! He was living in Lodibar, which means a place of no bread. It must have been a horrible poverty stricken place! For us it means the place where we have no revelation from the Word of God, the Bread of Life. Now put yourself in his place.

Ziba, a servant of the deceased Saul, took King David to Lodibar to find Mephibosheth. When Mephibosheth saw the king he was afraid that he would receive some harsh treatment no doubt. He probably had heard of the enmity between his grandfather Saul and David. Mephibosheth called himself a "dead dog" when he saw David coming. He thought that his bad luck had matured!

Just imagine Mephibosheth's response when David told him that all he wanted to do was to bless him. David told Mephibosheth that he wanted bless him for the sake of his father Jonathan. David ordered that Mephibosheth should eat at his table for the rest of his life, he ordered his entire grandfather Saul's possessions to be turned over to him, and he hired servants to tend the family farm for the benefit of Mephibosheth. We should always remember that we were "dead dogs" when Jesus found us, but because of God's covenant we are the recipients of God's grace, mercy and abundant favors.

God wants to bless us beyond our imagination, but He wants us to get rid of our "dead dog" attitude. That takes faith when circumstances are treating us like "dead dogs." But faith pleases God.

The Apostle Paul preached only the Cross. According to Galatians 6:14-15, Paul indicated that keeping the laws was not something to be preached. Instead, Paul preached the Cross, which resulted in the new birth. By preaching the Cross he was preaching the blood covenant.

When Paul journeyed to Athens he preached to many philosophical people and argued with them according to their tradition. They disputed with him and very few believed. He most likely left feeling like he did not bear much fruit. Then he left and went to Corinth, a port-city loaded with prostitutes, sailors, and merchants. "After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth" (Acts 18:1).

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 Paul spoke about the power of the Cross. I believe that he learned his lesson in Athens, and by the time he arrived in Corinth he decided to preach only the Cross, or the blood covenant.

He said, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

Then he went on to say, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

"For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." What a beautiful testimony! With this type of preaching a vibrant spirit filled church was planted in Corinth!

The Cross defeated Satan.

God gave man exclusive rights to dominate the earth. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'" (Genesis 1:26). "You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet" (Psalms 8:6).

Man (male and female) were to dominate and rule by means of his/her words. In turn, they were to receive their words by listening to God. Therefore, God through man would have access to the earth, but only through man. If God would have attempted to rule here by any other means He would have broken His Word, and His Word could no longer be trusted.

This is a major point I wish to emphasize. God made laws, and He keeps them. That is why we can trust His Word. He gave man dominion of the earth, and in doing so He relinquished His right to rule the Earth except through man. So when I use the word "legally" I mean that God must obey His own law. That is one reason so many non-believers do not understand why and how a loving God can allow so much evil to prevail. It is because He is honoring His Word. He in effect gave man a lease to the Earth, and until the lease expires, He cannot occupy it except through man's permission.

If God had stopped the couple from sinning, He would have broken His promise, His Word, and perhaps the entire universe would have imploded. Remember His Word upholds all things. If God were to break His Word we could no longer rely upon His promises to us.

Humans were the only beings that could legally operate here. Human is a word made up of two words, humus and man. Humus refers to dirt, or the dust of the earth, and man refers to the spiritual person that God made in His own image.

Satan is a spiritual being, therefore he had no right to rule and dominate here without an earth body. Therefore he had to make a deal with the serpent to use his body as a step towards his final goal of using man. He tempted Eve to obtain something she already possessed, to be like God. When she and Adam sinned, the Spirit of God left them, and Satan therefore had access to use them and their descendents to rule by proxy (A person authorized to act for another; an agent or a substitute. The authority to act for another).

If Satan could convince a human to speak his words instead of God's Words, Satan could therefore legally rule. He did indeed, and still does. That is why so many people think that God is impotent when they see so much evil happening and do not see God intervening. But God had a plan, a proxy plan, even before this scene in the Garden of Eden. God also had a proxy plan which legally overrules Satan's rule.

"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). Before anything was created, God had given His son as an atonement for man's sin. He had shed His blood in the blood covenant. The only thing left out was the manifestation of this shedding of blood in the natural. Even though spiritually the deal was as good as done, somehow God had to come to Earth, become a man, and shed His blood. Now remember, God could not come to Earth legally.

God pronounced the curse on Satan in the Garden of Eden. God also shed blood in the Garden as He killed an animal with which to clothe the man and woman. "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). He said that the seed of a woman shall defeat Satan, not the seed of a man. Normally children are the seeds of men. This of course was the prophecy of a virgin birth. God created the wo-man, a human with a womb primarily as a vehicle through whom to bring Himself into the earth legally. Notice I said primarily. This is in no way to lower the status of a woman. God prizes females equally with males, it is just that females have a very special privilege.

Notice one of the main prophecies for the coming of the Messiah is in Isaiah chapter 7:14 which says, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." The word Immanuel when taken apart has three parts; Imm which infers in, man, and el which means God. When taken together it really means God in man. In my opinion the writers have had a difficult time saying "God in man," so they have always interpreted this as "God with man." He used to be with us, now He is in us.

This of course is a prophecy for the virgin birth of Jesus through the virgin Mary. Instead of a descendent of Adam becoming the father of Mary's child, the Word of God spoken by the angel became the male factor. You have been regenerated, born again, not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God (1 Peter 1:23 Amp.).

It is interesting that the blood of a child in the womb does not mix with the mother's blood. Therefore Jesus had perfect, sinless blood. He was the only candidate to shed His blood to redeem mankind from Satan's legal domination. This was the only legal way (legal meaning without breaking His Word) that God could come to influence Earth. He had to become hu-man.

When Jesus was crucified, His murder was illegal. Only criminals and people with sin could legally be killed. The wages of sin is death. Jesus had no sin, nor did He have any inheritance of sin, His blood was perfect. Therefore, Hell could not hold Jesus. Furthermore, Satan was now condemned to Hell. Also, Satan no longer has dominion of the new race, the new creation that was brought into being with the resurrection. Satan broke a major spiritual law by killing Jesus, and in doing so he lost his dominion.

"knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:6-11, 14).

Once again, a human dominates the earth through the man Christ Jesus. The fact that we need to recognize is, now He dominates through us, His body on earth. We are His hu-man. Once again we are the only legal means He has to obtain His will on earth. Not only do we need Him, but also He needs us! God gave us His proxy and expects us to use it for His benefit. This is true covenant mutual benefit!

If we could just realize the depth of what really happened when we were re-born spiritually! We need to continually meditate on the Cross and the depths of its accomplishments. Satan can only lie to us. If we know the truth, he cannot do anything to us.

This is where overcoming comes in.

One of Satan's greatest ways of lying to us is by circumstance. We look around and have a difficult time believing God's Word in the face of our current circumstance and experience. While it is true that God defeated Satan and that we are now blessed and no longer under his dominion, it is also true that we need to believe. We need to make this truth manifested in our lives by believing. Believing can be a long and difficult process, and few people really stay the course. The process is called overcoming. We need to continually renew our minds to the blood covenant, we need to continually take up our cross, and we need to continually do spiritual warfare with the Word of God on our lips. When we put the Word on our lips, we are giving God access to the earth. This is why praying in tongues is so powerful. It gives God access to speak His will into the earth unhindered by our finite mind and understanding.

Satan still lurks to murder innocent people. If you are in Christ you are an innocent person. However you may still be "poor."

"He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor" (Psalms 10:8, KJV).

The word "poor" in this Scripture means "dark, unhappy, hapless, unfortunate." If you find yourself in dark unhappy circumstances, be an overcomer!

Overcoming is directly related to the blood covenant.

We have been emphasizing overcoming as a "back door" way to emphasize the blood covenant and the Cross. Overcoming appropriates the fullness of the Cross and the blood covenant.

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11). Here are the three components of overcoming.

The Cross of Jesus is the first and key component, "the blood of the Lamb." Our knowledge of what Jesus did for us on the Cross is key! We need to continually renew our minds in this truth. If not, our brains will slide into mere carnal thinking and we will find ourselves trying to perform in the Christian life rather than "working to believe."

The second component in overcoming is "the word of their testimony." Like Abraham needed to drive away the vultures from the blood covenant ceremony, we need to drive away Satan from our blood covenant relationship. We do that by testifying what the blood of Jesus did for us, or confessing the Word of God in our prayer lives.

The third component in overcoming is, "and they did not love their lives to the death." A blood covenant is not vibrant and active if just recognized by one party. Both parties need to shed blood, and we need to take up our cross. In future chapters we will see that taking up our cross is dying to our natural soul life, our will, mind, and emotions, and allowing the life of God to prevail in each of these areas.

The overcoming lifestyle focuses on eternal rewards more than temporal.

I believe that a part of taking up our cross also includes living a life that is more focused on eternity than on today's life. Moses is a good example. "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt [the world]; for he looked to the [heavenly] reward" (Hebrews 11:24-26).

Overcoming makes the blood covenant active on our behalf!

As we practice the overcoming lifestyle, we are positioning ourselves for the benefits of the blood covenant, or for the Kingdom of God to work in our lives. We are realizing the benefits of the life of God dwelling in us. If we leave out any of the three components, we will not realize the full benefits.

The next several chapters have to do with the various results and benefits of the Cross or the blood covenant. I suggest that these not simply be read for knowledge. Rather I suggest that you continually renew your mind with these chapters here that have to do with the Cross. The icon showing His Cross identifies these chapters.

The Cross - Redemption-purchased from slavery.

This chapter focuses on how the blood of Jesus purchased us from the auction block of slavery. We now belong to God.

The Cross - Righteousness- Joining the family of the righteous.

This chapter focuses on how the Cross made us righteous and in right standing with God. It explains that being righteous is simply being a member in God's family. It does not depend upon how you feel or how you perform.

The Cross - Propitiation The Unveiling of God's character.

This chapter focuses on how God could be just in removing our sin without compromising His character and holiness. It shows how God's wrath is appeased and how your wrath can be appeased.

The Cross - Blessings and Curses.

This chapter is meant to educate the reader on possible curses that may be operating in his/her life and on how to position his/her self for overcoming and becoming free.

The Cross - Reconciliation- The Great Exchange.

This chapter compares that negative attributes that we gave to Jesus to the positive attributes He gave to us in the blood covenant.

The Cross - Intimacy Exchange leads to Intimacy.

This chapter focuses on how the result of the Cross, the blood covenant creates intimacy with God.

The Cross - The Reconciliation of Evil.

This chapter shows that no matter what evil may come into your life, that the life of Jesus living within you and the overcoming process will turn that evil into a blessing.

The Cross - The Cross - Justification- The Cosmic Courtroom.

This chapter peeks into Heaven and shows the invisible courtroom that is currently underway in your life. You will learn the cast of characters and you will learn how to be an effective witness when you are on the stand. This is another view of the overcoming process.

The Cross - Justification- The Cosmic Courtroom in action.

This chapter shows the final verdict and the conclusion of the invisible trial which is taking place in Heaven. Because of Jesus we are deemed not guilty in our trials of life. The courtroom tables are turned on the prosecutor, Satan, and he is deemed the guilty one and he is sentenced to his punishment.

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List some areas in your life for which you need an ever-increasing revelation of the blood covenant.

Briefly explain in your own words how the Cross of Jesus defeated Satan.

List some circumstances, which have tempted you to believe Satan's lie.

List practical ways through which you determine to practice the three disciplines of overcoming; i.e., the blood of the Lamb, the word of your testimony, and not loving your life to the death (taking up your cross).

List the questions you might have for this chapter, and/or difficulties you may have regarding the above questioning statements.