July 2013 Construction Month

There was no manna for the month of July 2013.

Happy 4th of July Week!

Since it is holiday week, I like to leave the list of ten parts of "The Blood" topics for awhile. If you wondered where in the world did I ever get those topics? Actually, I had watched the Classic Sermon of Billy Graham from TBN last March 2013. "The Blood" topic has a very rich knowledge of God's word. May the Lord bless you as you study them. Dorothy Callies

PS. The next Manna will be on August 1, 2013. I'll be working on new Manna during the month of July. I suggest to review all the past Manna and also check out the "Hope Series" in Deaf Prayer Partners Lifeline and they are very encouraging in time like this. May  God bless you. [July 5, 2013] 

The Blood of Everlasting Covenant

Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

The important thing to notice is that Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant and that was signed with His blood. The New Living Translation put together Heb.13:20-21 “And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ all that is pleasing to him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with his blood. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Jesus Christ is the One who has established the everlasting covenant between God and man. A covenant is an agreement between two persons. He has provided the way for us to approach to God. What is that covenant? How can we approach to God? The covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ and the blood of Christ is the way we approach God.

What does this mean? It means that Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself and bore the guilt and judgment for our sins. He died as a Perfect Sacrifice and what He did was acceptable to God, a well pleasing to Him.  He established a new and living way into God’s presence; by His death Jesus Christ has established a new covenant, a new agreement between God and man. It is now the will of God for man to approach Him through the blood of Christ; the everlasting covenant.  

In the Old Testament, the everlasting covenant was mentioned in several places such as Psalm 105:8-11 “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.” Just think: it has always been Christ from the beginning of the Old Testament, Genesis 3:15, the Promised Seed until the New Testament, the Revelation, He is called, “The Blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14, 12:11). Jesus Christ is the Everlasting Covenant.

Hebrews 13:20-21 is a prayer of the writer for the Hebrew believers. It is a prayer to make you perfect, to grow, and to mature in every good work to do God’s will. It gives us a beautiful picture of God and of Christ. God is a God of peace, the Source of peace. God plants the seed of peace within our soul and the peace just grows and grows. In fact, the more we as a person waters and nourishes our relationship with God, the more seed of God’s peace takes over our lives. The question is: Have we done that? It is our only hope for peace is to come to God. God and God alone can give us perfect peace within our heart.

Prayer for you: "And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ all that is pleasing to Him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with His blood. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen" [NLT]. 

May the Lord give us peace since Jesus Christ is our Everlasting Covenant! 

[Footnotes: The Preacher’s outline & sermon Bible; The Full Life Study Bible, Donald C. Stamps]

The Blood of Covenant

Exodus 24:8 “And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you …’”

What impressed me was that Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. The people responded and said that they would obey the commandment of God. So Moses sprinkled the blood from the basins (bowl) over the people and he said, “This blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you …”

The covenant was sealed with Israel through the sprinkling of blood, showing that atoning (make up for the wrong) sacrifices were necessary to keep their relationship with God. The blood is a sign of cleansing and forgiveness made possible by having a life sacrificed to God. Why? This kind of sacrifices opened the way to reconcile with God and the people’s obedience to the faith.

The most important meaning of “the blood of the covenant” was realized when Christ shed His blood on the cross. He had established the new covenant, ‘The Lord’s Supper, the Communion.’ He said, “For this is My blood, which seals the new covenant between God and His people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many” [Matt. 26:28 NLT].

The importance part of obedience and blood must always be joined together to validate (legal binding) to God’s acceptance of His people and their consecration to Him. Only after the people pledged to obey God through the atoning blood could they participate in the covenant blessings. In a similar way, the apostle Peter states that we are “elect … unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1Peter1:2). It means we are chosen to obey and are sealed by His blood.

Song: Lead Me to Calvary

1. King of my life, I crown Thee now,

Thine shall the glory be;

Lest (if) I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,

Lead me to Calvary.

Chorus:

Lest (if) I forget Gethsemane;

Lest (if) I forget Thine agony;

Lest (if) I forget Thy love for me,

Lead me to Calvary. (Remind me of Calvary)

2. May I be willing Lord, to bear,

Daily my cross for Thee;

Even Thy cup of grief to share,

Thou hast borne all for me. (Then Chorus)

[Lyrics: Jennie Evelyn Hussey, Sing His Praise]

Dear Holy Spirit, help me to remember that Jesus said: “For this is My blood, which seals the new covenant between God and His people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many” [Matt. 26:28 NLT].  In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

The Blood of Christ

Hebrews 9:14-15 “How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge (make clean) your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament …”

The blood of Christ is central to the New Testament concept of redemption. At His death on the cross Christ gave His innocent blood in order to remove our sins and to reconcile us with God. By His blood Christ accomplished the following:

1) His blood forgives sins of all who repent and believe.

2) His blood ransoms all believers from the power of Satan and evil powers.

3) His blood justifies all who believe in Him.

4) His blood cleanses the believer’s conscience that he might serve God without guilt in full assurance.

5) His blood sanctifies the people of God.

6) His blood opens the way for believers to come directly before God through Christ in order to find grace, mercy, help and salvation.

7) His blood is a guarantee of all the promises of the new covenant.

8) The saving, reconciling, and purifying power of the blood of Christ is continually appropriated to the believer as he draws near to God through Christ.

1 John 1:7 tell us that “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanse us from all sin.” Sometimes we don’t realize how much the blood of Christ has done for us until we study His word with the notes and commentaries. It tells me a lot of things that I have come to appreciate Christ more. It just makes me want to love Him and to worship Him. For He alone is worthy! It reminds me of a few song.

Song: O Come, All Ye Faithful [chorus]

O come, let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him,

Christ, the Lord.

[Lyrics: Latin Hymn; Frederick Oakeley, tr., Sing His Praise]

[Music: John Francis Wade’s Cantus Diversi, 1751]

We pick up from others who sang those words:

For He alone is worthy,

For He alone is worthy,

For He alone is worthy,

Christ, the Lord.

We’ll give Him all the glory,

We’ll give Him all the glory,

We’ll give Him all the glory,

Christ, the Lord.

Dear Lord, allow Your Presence to become real to all of us in Jesus’ name!

The Blood of Remission

Matthew 26:28 “For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Hebrews 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged (to make clean) with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.

Now the word, remission means to release from guilt or penalty of: pardon, to excuse the offense without a penalty. The word, forgiveness means to give up resentment of or to stop feeling resentment against. Remission is often translated to forgiveness. Both have the similar meaning.

The author of the Hebrews tried to explain that the old system in the Law of Moses that required the blood of animals to be sprinkled over the book, all the people, both the tabernacle and furniture and the vessels of the ministry. This was the blood of testament which God has made with His people (Heb.9:19-21). All things were required by law to make clean with the blood and without using the blood, there would be no remission, no pardon, and no release from guilt or penalty from sins.

Now Jesus came before disciples and He said, “for this is My blood of the new testament …” fulfilled in Hebrews 10:7 “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do thy will, O God.” The Old Testament was the volume of the book, the shadow or type of good things to come.

It was the Old Testament time, (the old agreement) when Jesus came and now He declared that His blood was the New Testament, (the new agreement) and He gave His blood for many to be released of their guilt, their penalty and their punishment of sins. How would Christ give His blood? It was through His stripes 39 times and His death on the cross so there would be remissions of our sins. We are now released because He took that punishment for our sins upon His body at the cross.

Song: At the Cross

Was it for crimes that I have done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity, grace unknown,

And love beyond degree (measure)!

Chorus:

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,

And the burden of my heart rolled away.

It was there by faith I received my sight,

And now I am happy all the day!

[Lyrics: Isaac Watts; Ralph E. Hudson, chorus, Sing His Praise]

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful words of revelation that you revealed to us. We are your disciples when we continue in the study of your words. Let Thy words become a blessing to our souls and bodies in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen!

God bless you today and let the healing flows into our bodies!

The Blood of Peace

Colossians 1:20 “And, having made peace through the blood of His cross …”

The word, peace is a very broad subject to write about so I would like to focus on “the blood of peace.”

When did we actually lose the peace of God? It goes back to the time when Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent and ate of the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:1-7), their disobedience introduced sin and disrupted creation’s original harmony. At that time, Adam and Eve experienced, for the first time, guilt and shame before God (Gen. 3:8) and a loss of inner peace. Their sin had destroyed their peaceful harmony relationship with God. Adam and Eve were no longer able to have a wonderful close fellowship with God.

When God began discussing their sin with them, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. This was the beginning of the loss of their peaceful harmony between husband and wife. It had carried on into social conflict which led to arguments and violence of the homes. Also it led to the international conflicts and wars. Why wars?

Man is not at peace with God. Man’s soul is restless and disturbed, lonely and empty, without direction and purpose. Man’s soul is separated from God. Man does not know God personally. Man have not experience the peace of God. Man’s heart is not settled.  Man does not know what it means to have the God of peace helping him face the affairs and trials of daily life.

There was a great need of peace between God and man. “For God so loved (a man), the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn.3:16). Christ brought man and God together. The only step a man needs to do is to acknowledge what Christ has done for him. It was through the blood of Jesus, who died at the cross and He has brought peace between God and man.

Song: Saved by the Blood

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun,

Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son;

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Chorus:

Saved! … saved! …

My sins are all pardoned,

      my guilt is all gone! …

Saved! … saved! …

I’m saved by the blood

      of the Crucified One!

[Lyrics: S.J. Henderson, Sing His Praise]