Lynne Little Ministries - Higher Realm

God's Blood Covenant Part 1 - How A Sacred Agreement Shapes Faith, Identity, And Everyday Life

• Lynne Little

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Blood as currency sounds unsettling at first, but it becomes a doorway into one of the most important ideas in faith: covenant. We open a fresh series by asking why blood has carried so much meaning across cultures and why Israel treated it as sacred, then connect that history to the promises God makes and keeps. Along the way, we unpack a gripping field story about Henry Morton Stanley trading his goat for a spear and gaining safe passage through a warlike tribe—a living picture of how covenant confers identity, access, and protection.

From Eden’s first covering to Noah’s altar to the moment God “cuts” a covenant with Abram, each scene builds toward a larger truth: life belongs to God, and true promise is sealed by more than words. We trace how Abraham receives a new name, a new future, and a sign that marks belonging, all while learning that human faithfulness is fragile. Then we wrestle with Jesus’ startling claim in John 6 about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, a line that scandalized hearers steeped in Leviticus. Through the cross and resurrection, that hard saying resolves into a radical invitation—union with Christ that transforms nature, not just behavior.

Expect clear takeaways and honest questions: What makes a promise unbreakable? How does covenant reshape our identity and our trust? Why does God’s faithfulness hold when ours falters? By the end, we point to the hope at the heart of the gospel: Jesus as deliverer, mediator, and life-giver who bridges the gap we cannot cross. If this journey sparks new insight or a fresh start, share the episode with a friend, subscribe to follow the series, and leave a review to help others find these conversations.

Lynne:

You are listening to Higher Realm with Lynne Little. Our program highlights biblical strategies for moving through life's difficulties and finding your path to healing. We tackle issues particular to those who have experienced painful loss in any form. Lynne is the founder and president of Lynne Little Ministries and the author of Missing Lisa, A Parent Griefs, and Finding God in Death and Life, A Passage Through Grief. Now, here's Lynne. Hello, and welcome to the first episode of our new series on God's Blood Covenant. Although the title may be somewhat off-putting, it is my hope that the contents will turn out to be life-changing for my listeners. We'll first begin by researching the history of God's covenant, articulate some of the provisions, and also demonstrate the fidelity of this agreement between God and man. Throughout this series, we'll establish key foundational concepts to illustrate their relevance and significance to the contemporary church. Finally, as we deepen our understanding of the covenant, we'll learn how to personally receive its promises and privileges, benefits that can bring blessings, and in some cases, even prove to be life-saving. I recently encountered a statement that prompted considerable reflection, although I'm unable to recall its original source. But it was this: blood is spiritual currency. As distasteful as the statement seems on its face, the assertion evoked the following speculation regarding the meaning. Throughout the ages, blood has been spent at will by civilizations who believed in its power and significance. What did they understand? Why was blood so elevated? Well, we could point to the many things that blood represents, the primary thing being life. Without blood there is no life. But blood can also represent strong bonds, such as family ties. It can evoke powerful emotions, seal covenants, and in some cultures symbolize death and rebirth. In fact, many cultures still maintain the ritual of what is known as cutting the covenant with other tribes. The practice of creating blood brothers and offering sacrifices that call for blood are as ancient as man. Certain cultures use blood as a gift to a deity. But by far the most distinguishing mark of blood significance is mankind's association of blood with power. The occult world, for example, has always been obsessed with blood and blood rituals to the horrifying extent of sacrificing human lives to meet this end. Why? They hope to gain favor with the dark side and thereby receive power. These types of sacrifices were common practice in most ancient civilizations, with one notable exception. I am, of course, speaking of the nation of Israel. The reason for this was the covenant that the God of Israel had established with his people from ancient times. Unlike the civilizations they lived among, Israel was a theocracy, which is a government ruled by or subject to God. This was an exclusively theocratic civilization due to their covenant or agreement with Yahweh. In this culture, blood was considered sacred, used only for specific purposes. And God's covenant with Israel called for animal sacrifices, yet strictly forbade the sacrifice of humans. So what exactly is a covenant? A covenant is a mutual agreement between two or more parties, involving a shared understanding or approval of certain terms or actions. The literal meaning of the Hebrew word covenant means to cut. This rendering, of course, suggests an incision where blood flows. In ancient times and in a number of cultures worldwide, the concept of cutting the covenant was considered sacrosanct. Once an agreement was made, it was forever. The ritualistic process follows the general lines of a story retold by Dr. E. W. Kenyon in his book The Blood Covenant. Here is the encapsulated version. In the 1800s, a Scottish missionary and explorer by the name of Dr. Livingston traveled to Africa to establish missions and to find the origins of the Nile River. He disappeared for six years. A journalist by the name of Henry Morton Stanley was sent by his newspaper to find him. As the story goes, the journey was very difficult. And Stanley's party came to an impasse when they met with a very warlike equatorial tribe who wouldn't let them pass. Stanley's interpreter suggested that Stanley cut the covenant with the chieftain of the tribe. Stanley asked what it meant, and was told that it meant drinking each other's blood. Stanley revolted from such a right, but the conditions kept growing worse. Finally, the young interpreter asked him again to cut the covenant with the chieftain of the tribe. Stanley asked what such a covenant would mean, and the interpreter answered, Everything the chieftain has will be yours if you need it. This appealed to Stanley. After several days of negotiation, they arrived at the covenant. First, there was a parley in which the chieftain questioned Stanley as to his motives, standing, and his ability to keep the covenant. The next step was an exchange of gifts. The old chieftain wanted Stanley's new white goat. Stanley was in poor health, and goat's milk was about all he could take for nourishment. So it was very hard for him to give this up, but the chieftain wanted nothing else. So he finally gave up the goat, and in exchange, the old chieftain handed him his seven-foot copper-wound spear. At the time, it seemed as if he'd gotten the bad end of the bargain. Next, the old chieftain brought up one of his princes, and Stanley appointed one of his men from England. Then the priest came forward with a cup of wine, made an incision in the young prince's wrist, and let the blood drip into the cup of wine. He cut an incision in the wrist of the young Englishman, and let his blood also drip into the cup of wine. Then the wine was stirred, and the bloods were mixed. The priest handed the cup to the Englishman, and he drank some of it, and then handed it to the young prince, and he drank the rest of it. Next they rubbed their wrists together so that their bloods mingled. Now they had become blood brothers. Also, these two men were only proxies. They had bound Stanley and the chieftain, Stanley's men and the chieftain's soldiers, into a blood brotherhood that was indissoluble. As soon as the two young men had drunk each other's blood, a priest stepped forward and pronounced the most awful curses that Stanley had ever heard. Curses that were to come upon him if he broke the covenant. Then Stanley's interpreter took his part and pronounced curses upon the old king, his wife, his children, and his tribe if they broke the covenant with Stanley. They were serious and solemn pronouncements. Later, much to Stanley's surprise, everywhere he carried that seven-foot copper-wound spear, he not only received safe passage, provisions, and assistance, but the tribes actually bowed to him. They assumed that he had the same power as the king whose spear he carried. Families and tribes would often make covenant for the purpose of providing for one another's strengths andor weaknesses. There were many variations to the ceremonies. Some involved a meal, planting a tree, an exchange of garments or weapons, pledges of loyalty, and so on. But by far the most important component of the covenant was the pledge of a person's oath, their word, that the agreement would never be broken. Now, the idea of drinking blood is repulsive to us, and indeed should be. And God told the Israelites never to drink blood in Leviticus 17, 12. Even when a hunter killed an animal for food, he had to pour out its blood and cover it with dust, as described in Leviticus 17: 13. Blood was sacred and valued. Leviticus 17: 11 reads that "the life of the flesh is in the blood." So we would never want to bind ourselves to a covenant through that type of ritual. But that's why a statement spoken by the Lord Jesus in the book of John completely shocked and offended many of his followers, so much so that a number of them just walked away after they heard it. Here's what he said in John 6:56. "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them." To the hearers, the words were deemed ludicrous and highly sacrilegious, because they went against God's laws found in the book of Leviticus, that every God-fearing Israelite was taught to adhere to. What could Jesus have possibly meant by this saying? We seek our answer by traveling back to the dawn of time, to the very beginning of God's relationship with man in the Garden of Eden. In the account, God, Adam, and Eve had a very close and companionable relationship. That is, until his new creations decided to disobey God's order not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their disobedience broke fellowship with God, and this precipitated an action that became the first drawing of blood on the earth. Seeing that his beautiful creations were unclothed, God sacrificed an animal to make clothing out of the skins for Adam and Eve. This was the beginning of God requiring the shedding of blood for a covering. The story continues through the lineage of Adam to Cain and Abel. Something of the lesson of blood must have carried through to this generation when these two sons of Adam came to present an offering to the Lord. One involved the blood sacrifice of an animal, and one did not. We can guess which one was accepted and which was not, but dare we surmise why? Again, the offering of animals to God was revisited in the saga of Noah. After going through the flood with his family in the ark, Noah's first instinct was a sacrificial offering of worship to God. Genesis 8: 20 and 21 reads, "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, Never again will I curse the ground because of humans." What motivated Noah to perform this ritual? How did he know that it would create a pleasing aroma to God? There was definitely something there that carried a deeper meaning beyond the activity. Later, God made a covenant based on blood with a man named Abram. The Lord appeared to Abram several times to covenant with him. The first account was found in Genesis 15. "The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. I am your shield and your very great reward. He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? And here is where God first cut the covenant with Abram. The Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought all of these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces, essentially incinerating them. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I will give this land." And went on to provide an exact description of the inheritance in Genesis 13: 39. The second example of covenant is found in Genesis chapter 17. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty, walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you, and will greatly increase your numbers. Abram fell face down, and God said to him, As per me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations." Now here is the part where God begins to make clear some of the benefits of the covenant. And the purpose of quoting these statements will gain relevance as we progress in the series. So bear with me. And here's what God said. "I will make you very fruitful, I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God." Note here the repetition of the word everlasting. The permanence of such a sweeping statement is deeply meaningful in more than one context, as we will see. "Then God said to Abraham, As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants, after you for generations to come. And this is my covenant with you and your descendants. The covenant you are to keep. Every male among you shall be circumcised, you are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of a covenant between me and you. For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant." And it was in this same conversation that God promised Abraham a son. So, with the rite of circumcision, again we see the shedding of blood as the benchmark of cutting the covenant. Can you imagine the reaction of Israel and Abraham's household when he required this ritual to be performed? Now, why did God choose Abram? Abram's family worshipped other gods. But Abram obeyed a direct command from the Lord to leave his homeland and family, break from the surrounding customs, and move towards total faith in the one God. Some believe that it was due to his ethnicity. But God chose him before there was anything like a tribe or nation. Abraham was a Gentile who was chosen by God to be the ancestor of the Jewish people. God saw something in Abram's heart, specifically his obedience and his faith. This extraordinary agreement, known as the Abrahamic covenant, became the basis of Judaism and eventually Christianity. As you may have noticed, the covenant had conditions. God would protect and multiply Abraham, but Abraham had to be circumcised, faithful, and blameless. Quite the conditions. This certainly marked the beginning of mankind's hopeless task of trying to be blameless. But there were conditions that Abraham could certainly carry out. The most notable was his unyielding faith that God would indeed do what he had promised, and also his obedience to God's command. The covenant blessings were passed through Abraham's lineage, first through his son Isaac, then after him Jacob, and the blessing and protection of the covenant stayed in place. When Jacob followed his son Joseph to Egypt, it began the Hebrews' 400 years' servitude in Egypt. Although part of the blessing remained, for instance, they continued to be blessed as their numbers increased. They eventually forsook Yahweh and turned to the idols of Egypt. One important if then condition of the covenant, specifically to be faithful to God, was broken, and the Israelites' suffering increased. Still, through miraculous interventions, specifically through his servant Moses, God delivered the nation out of Egypt and set them on their way to reclaiming the promised land. Even in their obvious sin, God did not break his part of the bargain, but instead sent a deliverer to rescue his people. We are all in need of a rescue. We sin, we miss it, we make mistakes, and there is a great chasm between sinful man and a holy God that needs to be bridged. God sent us a deliverer. He sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrificial payment for our sins. When we embrace our deliverer through a simple prayer, an exchange of natures takes place. God takes out sin nature and replaces it with his nature. The Bible says, "if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new." Who wouldn't welcome the opportunity to make a new start? All it takes is one simple prayer. Would you pray this with me and mean it in your heart? Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross as payment for my sins. I believe he rose again on the third day. Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me of my sins and make me brand new. I receive you as the Lord of my life. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, contact us. LynneLittle Ministries @gmail.com. Next week we'll continue the saga of the Israelites, Exodus. Until then, God richly bless you this week. Thank you so much for listening. Lynne Little Ministries is a 501c3 whose mission is to assist those who have suffered loss and to help them discover hope, peace, and restoration. For books, resources, or to make a tax deductible donation, go to lynnelittle.org.