Day 120: Bound by Blood (Bonus Lesson 19)

 When the Bride made the bold statement: my Beloved is mine and I am His, it was a statement backed up by confidence in an unbreakable bond. 

When we say Jesus is ours and we are His, we claim the benefits of our oneness with Him. However, our claim is only as potent as our understanding of that union. A union is only as strong as its bonds. Let's examine what binds Jesus and His Bride.

In ancient Israel, it was a father's responsibility to find an ideal mate for his son. We see an example of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 24. In the absence of the father, an older brother, uncle, or next of kin did the honor. So, love was not the reason many couples married though there were exceptions. For example, Samson and the Philistine woman he loved in Judges.

However, whether the man and woman loved each other did not matter. Marriage is a covenant and as said in Lesson betrothal was as final as marriage. It was expected that you would love whoever you were in covenant with. The highest expression of love was not your emotions but willingness to enter into a covenant. It was not an either-or. If you loved someone, you would enter into a covenant with them to show it. If you cut a covenant with someone you don't love you're obligated to love them. Both are inseparable. We see an example of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18.

Covenants are sealed by covenant acts. Sexual intimacy is the covenant act that binds a man and woman into one. The Bible clearly explains that in 1 Corinthians 6.

For two people not married, the most potent covenant type is the blood covenant. It was considered that those who cut a blood covenant became one in estate and wealth, reputation, strengths, and weaknesses. If either of the two parties broke their covenant, death was the penalty. A blood oath was generational. It didn't end when the parties who cut the covenant died. David was faithful to his covenant with Jonathan after he died.

We see an example of a blood covenant in Genesis 15, when God cut a covenant with Abraham and his generation. God is so merciful, He put himself under oath to assure Abraham of His faithfulness but even though Abraham was still expected to follow the terms of the covenant (circumcision of every male in his lineage), God didn't put him under oath. 

The Israelites understood their relationship with God was both of love and covenant. It's why you'll find phrases like loving kindness or faithful love in the Old Testament.

Our bond with Christ also is both of love and blood. In the upper room when Jesus' death was approaching, Matthew 26:26-27 says:

 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Jesus giving His body to be broken and His blood to be shed was an act of love. He said in John 15:13:

 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 

For man to be redeemed, God had to become one with man. He had to clothe himself with flesh and enter into a covenant with man to show and express His love. This covenant is unbreakable. Hebrews 6:16-18 says:

 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 

And Romans 8:38-39 says about God's love:

 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Our relationship with Christ is guaranteed by unchanging love and blood covenant. So we can boldly say our Beloved Jesus is ours and we are His. Our union with Him demands that we give Him our all and He gives us His all. Jesus' part is fulfilled. He has given promises of the scripture by which we can receive whatever we want. But does Jesus have all of you?

PRAY WITH ME:

Dear Lord, thank You for Your unchanging love and covenant. I let go of whatever I have held back from You today and boldly declare You are mine and I am Yours. Amen.

REFLECT & ACT:

• Is there anything you hold back from the Lord? 
• How do you approach the Lord when you are in need? Are you conscious of your covenant with Him as a believer?
• To understand your covenant union with Jesus, study the book of Hebrews.
• Meditate on 1 Corinthians 6:17:

 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.