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Blood Covenant

A covenant is an agreement between two parties. In the scriptures, it is between God and His people or certain specific individuals. The fulfilment of God’s purposes of salvation expressed in the covenants of the scriptures, mediated by Jesus the Messiah and sealed in his blood. This is good news. God has an agreement with me.

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal agreement [covenant], even Jesus our Master. | Hebrews 13:20 (NASB)

It is a covenant of grace, the benefits of which include forgiveness, a renewed relationship with God and, through the Holy Spirit, an inward transformation that enables obedience to its demands and so ensures that it will not again be broken.

The new agreement with God, bought by the blood of Jesus, is eternal. The basis for this marvelous work is “the blood of the everlasting covenant”. This is the New Covenant that was discussed in Hebrews 8, a covenant based on the sacrifice discussed in Hebrews 10. Because this New Covenant was a part of God’s eternal plan of salvation, and because it guarantees everlasting life, it is called “the everlasting covenant.” But apart from the death of Jesus the Messiah, we can share in none of the blessings named in this profound benediction.

The New Covenant brings eternal blessing. Jesus the Messiah is the Author of “eternal salvation” and “eternal redemption”. The New Covenant can never get old and disappear. The Greek word translated “new” means “new in quality,” not “new in time.” This New Covenant is of such quality that it will never need to be replaced!

Yes, our Master is ministering on the basis of a better covenant, a New Covenant that makes us partakers of the new nature and the wonderful new life that only the Messiah can give.

  • Hebrews 13:20 (NASB) — Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Master,
  • Isaiah 61:8 — For I, the Master, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them.
  • 2 Corinthians 3:11 — For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
  • Jeremiah 50:5 — “They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Master in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
  • Hebrews 8:7 — For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.
  • Hebrews 8:13 — When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.