God's covenant with man
ABEL
In this first session on Abel we begin by focusing on the covenant that God made with man. Even though Adam broke this covenant we see, God's grace and faithfulness shining through. We look at why there is so much in the Bible about blood, and then move on to look at how Abel approached God.
Before commencing this session try to answer the questions below.
1. Has God's covenant with man been broken?
2. What does the shedding of blood symbolise?
3. Why were Abel's actions considered righteous?
God's side of the covenant has never been broken.
God entered into a covenant with man so that man could be blessed.
Adam broke the covenant (Hosea 6:7) in that he broke man's side of the covenant by thinking he knew better than God.
The covenant still continued since nothing can break God's binding agreement to covenant Himself to man. Think of it this way.
I may make an agreement with someone and break my side of the agreement (for example, to pay for an item). In a court of law that agreement still stands; there is a price to be paid.
Scripture tells us that he full penalty for breaking our side of the covenant is everlasting separation from God in a lost eternity (Rom 6:23).
Before Christ, redemption had not been historically accomplished in space and time - yet was already seen in the mind of God (note, 'Christ slain from the foundation of the world' Rev 13:8, 1 Pet 1:19-20).
God has always been fully prepared to involve Himself in the punishment that was due His enemies - covenant breakers. He paid the price for our sin.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Col 2:13-14
God could have simply come as the rightful judge of all humanity and nothing else. Instead, He came as a servant (Phil 2).
In the Old Testament the blood of animal sacrifices offered temporary remission of sins. No death of an animal would suffice as man's representative, yet the blood of the lamb looked forward to God's provision of the Lamb of God.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. John 1:29-30
Blood
Blood issuing from a cut speaks of a rupture in our body; something has gone wrong. Biblically speaking, spilt blood (as in the case of Abel) speaks of a rupture in the fabric of life.
On a much bigger scale the shedding of blood down through the centuries in wars and individual acts of violence speaks, in one way, of a 'haemorrhaged universe'. There is the constant reminder around us that all is not as it should be. Think about all the pain and suffering; the tragedy of sin as well as the evil.
One day this world will be called to account by God.
The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood. Revelation 8:7-9
So what are we to do? Paul writes that, 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.' (1 Cor 15:50.)
What Paul is saying is that the old existence and way of living must fall away. It will not secure life for us. As 1Cor 15:51 states, the believer shall be changed, this coming about because of God's love so clearly seen in the work of Christ.
Due to God's intervention blood also speaks of the making of a covenant by a gracious God who pays the penalty for man's transgression with the blood of His Son.
In Hebrews 9:22 we read, 'In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.' Note that redemption comes through the 'precious blood of Christ' (1 Peter 1:19). It is through the shedding of His blood and not our efforts, or the giving of our own lives as a means of securing blessing.
In the blood lies the power for sanctification (Heb 13:12) and the conquest of all powers of enmity with
God (Rom 12:11). A transforming and renewing power flows from the atoning death of Jesus into the life of those who have accepted redemption in faith. Christ's blood makes possible life in God's presence; it gives access to God (Heb 10:19; Eph 2:13f).
Dictionary of N.T. Theology, vol 1, p 223. Ed: C. Brown.
Life in the Blood.
The shedding of blood symbolised the surrender of life to the holy, blood being seen as the seat of life
But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Genesis 9:4
In Israel the draining of the blood before eating the meat was a way of giving the life force of the animal back to God, recognising that all life belongs to Him. It was recognition that life has been taken (with permission), and that man is always the guest of God. Think about it - in a sense we are all God's guests in the world that He has provided for us, this being possible through the life He has given us.
The release of the blood of a lamb in sacrifice was seen as the release of the individual's life. Note, for example, the blood of the lamb in Exodus ...
When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. Exodus 12:23
The firstborn of Israel were not spared because of the nature or character of the nation. They were spared because they came through the blood. They were spared because God has not given up on His people.
Even before the nation had left Egypt, God illustrated the way of divine salvation in the events of the Passover, by which He delivered His people from the last of the ten plagues. God had earlier proclaimed the death of all the firstborn of Egypt (Ex 11:5). In the place of the firstborn of His own people a lamb was to be substituted; its life constituted a 'redemption' for the men who would otherwise have been themselves involved (13:13). The blood around the door of a house served, therefore, to exempt that house's occupants from the fatal visitation of the destroying angel; (12:23). The death penalty had already been paid by proxy!
Dr J. Barton Payne, 'The Theology of the Old Testament', p 247
As already mentioned, blood speaks of the life of man, and the entrance of sin corrupted life, therefore sinless blood (sinless life) was needed to bring about man's redemption.
Because of the temporary remission of sin through the blood of an animal offered in sacrifice (in the O.T.), man could approach God without coming into condemnation.
In approaching this way man had to recognise the all-sufficiency of God's provision and his own total lack of ability to make any provision in and of himself that could merit favour with God.
Ultimately, man needed someone to stand in his place, as his representative and pay the price for his transgression so that he could return to a loving heavenly Father.
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased". Then I said, 'Here I am - it is written about me in the scroll - I have come to do your will, O God. 'Hebrews 10:5-7.
The power of sacrificial blood is atoning (Lev 16:6), purifying (Lev 14), and sanctifying (Ex 29:30). This will be looked at in later sessions. For now, please stop and really think about the following quote.
'Thus the sacrifice of Christ is but the supreme example of that which all true love is always doing according to the measure of its power.
Dr Lidgett, 'The Spiritual Principle of the Atonement', p 190
Abel
Abel recognised that God is the giver and man is the receiver. He came with that which only God could provide - a life.
'The blood is not a symbol of the life, it is the life, or contains it. The offering of the blood to God is the actual offering of the life. The slaying of the victim and the offering of the blood are not two separate acts. They are one act, which consists in offering the life or victim to God. The death is not to be regarded as a mere means of getting the blood; the death and the offering are the giving to God of the life of the victim.'
Dr Davidson, 'The Theology of the Old Testament', p 352
Abel came to God on God's terms, recognising God as the injured party and man as the transgressor.
In his actions Abel proclaimed the way of the Lord: God was his helper.
Abel's sacrifice was a shadow pointing forward to the great sacrifice that Christ made so that we could enter into fellowship with God.
Abel's blood is seen as 'righteous blood' (Matthew 23:35) in that he was a man who realised all these things - that everything was due to God's grace and not personal achievement. Therefore Abel's actions were righteous in that they were in accordance with God's will (1 John 3:12).
to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:23-24.
The simple point is that the blood of Christ speaks of better things than Abel's offering. The Perfect One gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sin.
Now go back over the answers you gave to the questions at the beginning of this session. Can you add to them in any way? What does this session tell you about God?