Ladies Bible Study
The Blood of Jesus Pt. 1
Fulfillment and Power
This is beginning a new series for Ladies Bible Study and it will encompass a lot that the Lord has been dealing with me. It will include many things from both the Old and New Testaments. Dealing with the sacrificial system, feasts and priesthood described in the Book of Leviticus and how Jesus fulfilled them as described throughout the New Testament, especially in the Book of Hebrews.
Turn with me to Genesis 3:
Genesis 3:6-7,9-11: So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings…. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?'' So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'' And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?''
It was not the nakedness that Adam had to cover but the sin. Man will never be able to cover or take care of sin, only God can do that. God had to spill the first blood in slaying an animal to make coverings or clothing for Adam and Eve, to cover their nakedness, symbolic of the sin they had committed.
There were consequences immediately for the sin Adam committed.
Genesis 3:12-19: Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'' And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?'' And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.''
So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.'' To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.'' Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, `You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.''
Adam and Eve were immediately separated from the presence of God. Their fellowship had been broken and they were cast out into the world that had been cursed, to have to work and toil for what God had freely given them.
Man was held accountable for his actions immediately, but God also had a plan in place for this event.
Look again at verse 14-15: So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.''
This is the first promise of a savior who would redeem man from Adam’s sin, Jesus Christ our Lord!
1 John 3:8: He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus purpose is to destroy the works of the enemy, the devil. His role was to fulfill the law and the prophets as the Messiah.
Matthew 5:17-18: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
John 10:10-11:. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Someone had to give his life for the sins of man and that someone was Jesus Christ.
Immediately man began making sacrifices to God as evidenced by the story of Cain and Abel. Man continued to exhibit his sinful nature causing the flood and salvation of Noah and his family, the Tower of Babel and the origination of separate people and languages.
Then in Genesis 12-38 we see God truly beginning the plan of salvation. He had to establish a Covenant with someone, someone who was faithful. Despite man’s sinful nature God is merciful towards us and had a plan to show us His loving Grace.
He needed a chosen people to complete the plan. This chosen race was needed for three reasons.
- That they might be entrusted with the Holy Scriptures.
- That they might be witnesses to the other nations.
- That through this line, the promised Messiah would come.
Genesis 12:1-4: Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'' So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
If you look back in Genesis 11, it is a genealogy of mankind after the flood, ending with Abram. After this, the entire book of Genesis is devoted to the story of Abraham and the beginning of the Jewish nation.
Hebrews 11:8-9: By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
We all know the story of the birth of Isaac and Jacob. The strife involved in Jacob’s family
resulting from Jacob favoritism of Joseph and then later Benjamin. The selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt and how God planned for it to be used to bring Jacob and his family to a place where they could develop into a nation separate from the nations around them.
God established a blood Covenant with Abraham.
Genesis 15:1-8: After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.''
But Abram said, "Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?'' Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!'' And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.'' Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.'' And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be.'' And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.'' And he said, "Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?'' So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.'' Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
"Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.'' And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.
Blood covenants have been around since time eternal. God initiated the first, by slaying an animal, shedding its blood to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. It is a life and death agreement between two parties, sealed with the shedding of blood. In Abraham’s time the animal was killed, split into halves and the parties of the Covenant walked between the carcass of the animals, symbolizing the penalty of breaking the Covenant.
As we read above God made the Covenant with Abraham and then confirmed it later in Genesis 17.
Genesis 17:1-11: 1. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.'' Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. "Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'' And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. "This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; "and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
God promised to bless Abraham, confirmed it with His Word and Abraham agreed by the act of circumcision. Abraham had to promise to keep the Covenant and his descendants afterward, by the act of circumcision. Abraham had to also live the life of faith for he could not possibly see the total fulfillment of these promises in his lifetime.
Hebrews 11:17-19: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,’’ accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
God contributed the animals to be sacrificed as we read in Genesis 15 and Abraham sealed the Covenant with his shed blood by the act of circumcision, Genesis 17.
Throughout the entire Old Testament, God revealed His plan of salvation. He gave it to Moses in the Law. The first five books of the Old Testament are very important as shadows of God’s promises.
In Genesis we see humanity ruined, in Exodus we see humanity redeemed, in Leviticus we
see humanity worshiping and in Numbers we see humanity serving. (What the Bible is all About, Dr. Henrietta C Meyers, Regal Books From Gospel Light, Ventura, California, 1983 page 70.)
Exodus is the redemptive Book, it tells of God’s grace in delivering His chosen people out of bondage. It starts in the darkness and oppression of Jewish slavery and ends in the glory of their redemption.
God proves himself the One True God, God of all, Lord of all in Exodus by the ten plagues he sent to the Land of Egypt. Each plague attacked a specific religious belief and God of the Egyptian religion. Each proved that God alone was God, Creator and Savior of mankind.
Each plague attacked a specific religious belief, first that Pharaoh himself was a god,
they worshipped the Nile River as divine and sustenance, all animals as divine and the sun god, Amun-Re as the supreme god.
The plagues are as follows:
- Exodus 7:15-17- turning the water of the river Nile into blood. This proved that the river was in no way divine. God and God alone controlled the river.
- Exodus 8:1-6: plague of frogs, frogs represented the fertility god, Isis. Frogs were literally everywhere, the Egyptians could not walk, sit, eat, talk, bath or anything else without stepping, sitting or seeing a frog. Then they were all smitten by God and killed, polluting the land horribly. This was a direct attack on the god of fertility.
- Exodus 8:16: plague of lice, representing Seth, the Egyptian god of the earth. Genesis 8:19: Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God.'' But Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.
- Exodus 8:19-25:, God sent the swarm of flies to the land of Egypt only, they did not invade the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt, thus proving that God was God over all the land. This attacked the “lord of the flies” Baal-zebub and the God of Ekron.
- Exodus 9:1-6: all the cattle of the Egyptians died, as we discussed above the Egyptians revered animals, especially the bull. It was linked to their god, Apis. Only the cattle of the Egyptians were killed.
- Exodus 9:9: the plague of boils on man, body sores were considered a punishment of god on man. Only the Egyptians were effected.
- Exodus 9:16: God tells Pharaoh that for this purpose was he raised up, for God to show his power. Then hail and fire were sent, both the boils and hail were a direct attack on the Egyptian sorcerers and magicians who were believed to control healing and weather. Even the magicians were covered in boils and could not copy the hail and fire or stop it.
- Exodus 10:4 describes the plague of locusts, which totally destroyed what was left of their fields and crops. This was the completion of God showing the Egyptians that He and He alone was God over all the land, weather, and agriculture.
- Exodus 10:20: the three days of darkness attacked the sun god, Amun-Re, proving he was no god at all. This was no freak eclipse for it was so dark in the land that no light whatsoever could penetrate it. You literally could not see your hand before your face even with a candle. Only in the land of Goshen, the land of the Israelites was there light. Imagine the fear in the land, especially if you could look over into the dwellings of the Israelites and see light and normalcy.
- The last plague is the death angel and the institution of Passover. We will discuss this in the next lesson.
(The Hidden Power of the Blood of Jesus, by Mahesh Chavda. Pages 30-32.)
God in His grace and mercy had a plan for our redemption, it is very important for us as women of God to understand the plan, the price of our redemption and what it has brought into our lives. We belong to God, we are his children and we have the power of that name.
“Jesus paid it all and all to Him I owe,” are words of a very old hymn. Dedicate your life to serving God to your fullest. Don’t be satisfied with a garment of salvation, but strive for a robe of righteousness, so that on the day you meet your Savior face to face, He can say to you “ Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen!