Religion or Blood?
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56).
Have you ever been denied a miracle?
As a believer perhaps there have been desperate times in your life when you felt it would be appropriate for God to give you a miracle. You read about His miracle working power in the Bible, you read that He loves you, now you want to see it in your circumstances. Putting these two assumptions together, you ask God for a miracle, and you expect Him to give it to you. Sometimes He does, but sometimes, perhaps even more often, He does not.
What are you to believe? Where is God in your affliction?
Perhaps we can learn from the events recorded in John chapter 6. Jesus had just supernaturally fed more than 5,000 poor and needy people in the setting of a third world country. He took five loaves of bread and two fish and did a miracle of increase that would astonish anybody. They thought for sure that this was the prophet that Moses had spoken of, the one who would again provide manna from Heaven. "Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone" (John 6:15).
The disciples entered their boat and crossed the sea. Jesus walked on the water, and they arrived together. But the crowd who had been fed looked for Jesus the next morning hoping for another miracle. They finally found Him.
Jesus refused their request.
"Jesus answered them and said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him'" (John 6:26,27).
Jesus admonished them to turn their efforts to what God requires. He knew that feeding them again would simply be another short-term fix, but it would not solve their true problem, which resided in their hearts and souls. Jesus wants us to prosper. Jesus wants to meet our needs, but from the inside out, not from the outside in! "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" (John 6:29).
Then Jesus started a conversation that really caught them off guard. He has a way of doing that. We may be thinking about a material or earthly need, and He turns our attention to the real issue.
"Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' Then they said to Him, 'Lord, give us this bread always.' And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:31-35).
Their response was interesting.
"The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, 'I am the bread which came down from heaven'" (John 6:41).
Then He took them even deeper down His road of surprises when He said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51). "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:56).
Jesus was offering them a blood covenant with the Maker of the Universe. Jesus was using mystical blood covenant language in this conversation.
This is what He offers you and me. Can you just imagine? The infinite Almighty God, sinless and holy offers to exchange places with you and me, mere created and sinful people! He knew that having a blood covenant would make these people one with Him. They would abide in Him and He would abide in them. He knew that if they accepted the covenant that all their needs would be cared for. Which would you rather have, a miracle to take care of today's problem, or a covenant of blood with Deity?
"Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, 'This is a hard saying; who can understand it?'" (John 6:60).
Jesus persisted and even made things sound more difficult. He asked them how much more they would be offended if He left and they could not even catch Him to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He was speaking of His crucifixion and resurrection (John 6:62). It is human nature to desire a god or an idol that the natural eye can see.
Here is the major point.
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). In other words He was saying, "You don't have to actually become a cannibal and drink my blood, but if you want a blood covenant with Me you will eat my Word, because My Word and I are one. My Words are supernatural. The more of the Word you obtain, the more of my blood you receive!" Covenants are made with words. In this case the Word replaces blood. Yes, Jesus shed His blood, and that blood is transferred to you through His Word. You have an invitation to cut the blood covenant with the Maker, God Himself. All He has is yours, provided, of course. that all you have is His!
Sorry Jesus, without a miracle I am out of here!
"From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (John 6:66).
Some stayed.
"Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 'Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'" (John 6:67-69).
Jesus, through the blood covenant and exchange that took place, gave us His resurrection power so that we could apply it here on earth on His behalf, in His name!
Quick fixes and miracles will not build your character; they will make you dependent slaves. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word" (Psalms 119:67). God created us to be fed from the inside not from the outside. Remember He said in Matthew 6:28 that lilies are clothed better than Solomon because they have life inside of them. Our provisions and all of our needs, emotional, spiritual and physical are to come from the life of God on the inside of us.
Blood covenants are embedded in the nature of mankind.
Historically most every culture in the world has recognized the ritual of the blood covenant. It is only in recent civilized history that mankind has become so "educated" that they have reasoned their way out of the significance of the blood covenant.
Contracts have replaced covenants in much of today's civilized world. A contract is a document that states an agreement between the parties and then lays out what happens when the contract is broken. It is altogether "selfish." It assumes that the parties will break the agreement.
A covenant is the basis of relationship, an expression of love between the parties. It carries the spirit of generosity, sacrifice, and death to a self-centered life. It carries the spirit of resurrection to an abundant life, love and intimacy. It is a lifelong commitment to each party wherein each party gives up its right to its own possessions, strengths and resources. In a covenant relationship, each party dies to his/her own personal interests, and puts the interest of the other party in first place!
Covenants are usually between unequal parties. In a primitive culture one party may have great expertise in agriculture and sees itself as totally defenseless militarily. The other party may have great military strength, but is having a difficult time feeding its people. The covenant they make in blood contains those mutual promises to care for the other's weakness. The penalty for failing to do so is death!
The American Indian attacked the white man even when the Indians knew it would be to their death. Why? Because the white man made covenant with them and broke it. The Indian had a spiritual obligation to seek death. That meant more to them than their own destruction.
We must allow God to renew our minds to covenant thinking in order to really understand and appreciate Him the most. If we do not understand covenant thinking we will not appreciate the Bible, its power, its authority and God's love. We will not understand the depth of God's love because we will continually judge His love from our own perspective.
Covenant love is like none other.
In Hebrew it is expressed as checed, which is commonly translated mercy or lovingkindness as in Psalm 23, "Surely goodness and mercy (checed) shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever" (Psalms 23:6, KJV).
In the New Testament Greek the word is agape. It indicates an aching love just looking for someone to pour on.
It is expressed in Ephesians 2:4-7 (Amplified) which 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, Even when we were dead [slain] by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace [His favor and mercy which you did not deserve] that you are saved [delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation]. And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus."
A blood covenant defined.
[1]"A rite by which two persons absorb each the other's blood, either by drinking or by transfusion to the veins, whereby they become bound to each other in even a closer connection than that of brotherhood. It prevails in many countries, civilized and uncivilized, and may be traced back to extreme antiquity. It existed in the rites and literature of the ancient Egyptians, and is frequently alluded to in the Bible. Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, who has made a scientific examination of the subject, holds that its origin is in the universally dominative primitive convictions that the blood is the life; that the heart, as the blood-fountain, is the very soul of every personality; that blood-transfer is soul-transfer; that blood-sharing, human or divine-human, secures an interunion of natures; and that a union of the human nature with the divine is the highest ultimate attainment reached out after by the most primitive as well as by the most enlightened mind of humanity. With savage and barbarous peoples the rite lies at the foundations of cannibalism; it is the motive of sacrifices, in which the animal is offered to the god as a substitute for the human blood. In one form the drops of blood were put in wine or other draughts and drunken; then the wine was drunken without the actual presence of the blood, whence we have the use of wine in pledges of friendship and in marriage. Among the Jews it is symbolized in circumcision; among Christians, in the use of wine in the sacrament."
What would you choose?
Which would you rather experience, a miracle that will fix your problems, or the miracle of a blood covenant with the Creator of the universe? Don't be like those disciples who walked away from Jesus as recorded in John chapter 6. Many Christians do that. They don't really walk away in their minds, but they do not cherish the Word of God as the essence of the relationship.
Isaiah 53:3 says, "He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." Who is the Him in this Scripture? Jesus. Who is Jesus? The Word of God! Despise means to consider worthless. Why do so many Christians despise the Word of God and consider it of little value?
We avoid the curses in our lives and invoke the blessings when we hear and obey the Word.
Deuteronomy 28:2 (KJV) says, "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Hearken means to listen to, to understand, to yield to and obey. Deuteronomy 28:15 (KJV) says, "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee."
When you need a miracle and you don't see one manifesting, pursue the blood covenant by being diligent to hear the Word of God. Do whatever it takes to stay in the Word until that logos, the general Word of God, becomes rhema, the personal Word of God coming directly from the lips of Jesus to your heart. You will become addicted to that relationship.
I pray that you will be impacted in a way even deeper than having your needs met. I pray that when you realize that you indeed have a blood covenant with the Creator, the One who never did not exist, that you would experience a sense of awe and reverence of what you now contain. You have become the container of Deity. This should be enough to make anybody get their minds off of themselves and their temporal needs, and onto Jesus, God Almighty!
It is not just about you!
I heard a story about a psychiatrist who was counseling with a lady. She was in her fifth session. The psychiatrist said, "I am going to write you a prescription that will totally heal your problem." She said, "Okay, fantastic. Let me see it." The doctor handed the lady what he had written. She said, "This is absurd. This is shameful. What do you mean taking my hard earned money and giving me something like this? This says to check into a nice hotel at
Now go ahead and give Jesus your words, and absorb His blood covenant Word. Stand in awe of what you receive, and you will never be the same!
[1] Walsh, William S. Curiosities of Popular Customs - Copyright 1897 by J.B. Lippincott Company Copyright 1925 by Katharine Walsh -