Kenneth Copeland Publications

KennethCopelandPublications

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is from the King James Version ofthe Bible.Covenant of BloodPDF ISBN 978-0-88114-715-530-8076 1987 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. akaKenneth Copeland MinistriesAll rights reserved under International Copyright Law. No part of thisbook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or byany information storage and retrieval system, without the writtenpermission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations used in reviews.This e-book is licensed for your personal, noncommercial use only andmay not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like toshare this book, or sow a copy into another’s life, please purchase anadditional copy for each person you share it with. If you are readingthis book and did not purchase it, and/or it was not purchased for youruse only, please visit kcm.org and purchase your own copy.Kenneth Copeland PublicationsFort Worth, TX 76192-0001For more information about Kenneth Copeland Ministries, visit kcm.orgor call 1-800-600-7395 (U.S. only) or 1-817-852-6000.

Covenant of BloodIsrael was a nation that lived by and relied ontheir covenant with God. Those who knew theirGod and the integrity of their covenant with Himwere mighty and did exploits in His Name.David was a prime example. He credited hiscovenant with God as the power behind hisability to slay the lion, the bear and the giant. In1 Samuel 17:26-37, we find David assuring KingSaul that he was well able to slay Goliath. “Whois this uncircumcised Philistine, that he shoulddefy the armies of the living God? The Lordthat delivered me out of the paw of the lion, andout of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me outof the hand of this Philistine” (verses 26, 37).Circumcision was the sign of the covenant. Bycalling Goliath uncircumcised, David was makingthis very pointed statement: He may be a giant;he may be strong; but he has no covenant withGod, and that’s why I can kill him. Of course,

you know the rest of the story. David bravelyslew Goliath in the Name of the Lord—becauseof his covenant.The book of Hebrews promises that we havean even better covenant than David had. Ourcovenant has better promises. But to know exactlyhow much better they are, we must understandwhat the promises of the old covenant were.The covenant David stood on was made longbefore he ever faced the giant. God established itwith a man called Abram. He promised to makeAbram the father of many nations. He promisedto give him a great deal of land as an inheritanceso his descendents could live peacefully on it.And in Deuteronomy 28, you will find more veryspecific promises that God made to Abram’sdescendents—promises of health, well-being,blessing and victory.These were very awesome promises. It washard for Abram to believe God actually wanted todo these things for him. In Genesis 15, we readhow God made a blood agreement with Abram inorder to convince Abram once and for all that Hemeant what He said. Abram asked, “How shall I6

know that I will inherit this land?” The Lordanswered by telling him to prepare for a bloodcovenant. He said, “Take me an heifer of threeyears old, and a she goat of three years old, and aram of three years old, and a turtledove, and ayoung pigeon. And he took unto him all these,and divided them in the midst, and laid each pieceone against another: but the birds divided he not”(Genesis 15:9-10).In Abram’s day, the blood covenant signified anabsolute and unbreakable guarantee of a man’sword. Nothing short of a blood agreement couldhave convinced Abram of God’s desire to blesshim. By cutting the covenant with him, AlmightyGod communicated His unfailing love and fidelityon a level Abram could understand. God was estab lishing a love relationship with him that could notbe broken without the penalty of death.In order to see just how that covenant com pares to the one we have with the Father today,we need to see what the covenant God cut withAbram involved. That way we can begin to seeclearly why ours is even better.In Abram’s society, when two families made7

covenant together, they gave to one anothereverything they had and all they represented.They were no longer two, but one. Familiesbound themselves together in blood agreementsin order to fill in the gaps created by each other’sweaknesses and needs. Where the first tribe wasstrong, the second was weak. Where the secondtribe was strong, the first was weak. Together,they were both strong.These two families drew up the terms oftheir agreement and discussed them until eacharticle was fully and mutually agreeable. Thenthey chose representatives and a place to cutthe covenant.As they prepared for the solemn ceremony, atleast three large animals were sacrificed. Theircarcasses were split down the spine, and thehalves were placed on the ground opposite eachother. The result was a trail of blood between thehalves. This path was called “the way of blood.”When the covenant ceremony began, the tworepresentatives exchanged their coats. This sig nified the mutual exchange of authority. By thisact the covenant representatives were saying,8

“All that I do, all that I have is now yours.”Next the covenant representatives exchangedtheir weapons. Through this they were saying,“My strength is now your strength. Your enemiesare now my enemies.”After the coats and weapons were exchanged,then came the walk of blood. Twice the representa tives walked through “the way of blood,” stoppingin the center. There they pronounced their pledgesof loyalty, making promises to each other thatcould never be broken. This pronouncement wascalled “the blessing of the covenant.”A curse was also pronounced. The curse wasthe penalty for breaking the terms of the agreement. They swore by their god, thereby makinghim third party to the covenant.Next came the cut of the covenant. Therepresentatives cut their hands and wrists andbound their wrists together so that their bloodwould intermingle.After their loyalty was sworn to each other, thefamilies joined their names together as a permanent sign that they had become one. Finally, theyate a covenant meal of bread and wine together.9

The bread signified their flesh, and the wine signified their blood. The covenant meal representedtheir willingness and commitment to lay downtheir lives for each other.Such blood agreements were very serious inAbram’s day. That is why God chose to make acovenant with him. He wanted to convinceAbram that His promises were true. He wantedhim to understand that the great El Shaddaide sired an unbreakable relationship with him andwith his children after him. God wanted Abram toknow (without a doubt) that He loved him andthat He would care for him, not because He hadto, but because He wanted to. By making bloodcovenant with him, Almighty God proved that Hewanted to exchange His strength, His weaponsand His authority with Abram. He proved that Hewanted to bless man for a thou sand generations.Romans 4:21 tells us that Abram got the message. He became fully persuaded that God wasable to perform that which He had promised,and his life was never the same again. Even hisvery name was changed to Abraham, meaning“father of many nations.” And eventually Isaac,10

the long-awaited son of promise, was born toAbraham and his wife, Sarah.Years after Isaac’s birth, that covenant was stillstrong in Abraham’s mind. And nothing—noteven a request from God Himself—could shakehis confidence. We see this in Genesis 22. ThereGod asks Abraham to place his only son on thealtar and sacrifice him. How could He do thisafter promising Abraham that he would becomethe father of many nations through this son?We would expect Abraham to be distraughtover such a request. We would expect him towring his hands and pace the floor all night ingrief and anguish. But we’re not as covenantminded as Abraham was.Abraham was confident in his covenant. Hewent to sleep that night and rose up early thenext morning ready to go. And when he tookIsaac up on the mountain of sacrifice, he turnedto his servant and said, “Wait here—the boy andI will be back.” He had a covenant!Hebrews 11:17-19 says that Abraham, byfaith, had already received Isaac raised from thedead. God had promised him Isaac would make11

him the father of many nations, and he knewGod could not possibly break that promise. Eventhough he’d never seen or heard of such a thing,Abraham reasoned that God would just raiseIsaac back up from the dead if He had to. Heknew that God would do whatever it took tokeep their covenant.And when Abraham laid his son down on thealtar of sacrifice, he opened the way for God—hiscovenant partner—to do the same thing with Hisonly Son, Jesus, on the cross years later. But here’san important point for you to realize. Jesus didn’tjust appear on the scene at that time. He’d beeninvolved in that covenant from the beginning.According to Galatians 3:16, while God was bindingHimself in covenant to Abraham on earth, He wasalso making covenant with Jesus in heaven. “Nowto Abraham and his seed were the promises made.He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as ofone, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Abrahamwas the earthly representative. Jesus was theheavenly representative. The covenant was notonly between God and Abraham, but betweenGod the Father and God the Son. By making12

covenant with Jesus, He was making covenantwith someone He knew would never break it,thereby removing the need for a curse.How does all this apply to you and me?Galatians 3:29 is the binding tie. “And if ye beChrist’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirsaccording to the promise.” We are the unborngenerations who looked on as God cut the cov enant with Abram, the father of our covenantfaith. Romans 8:17 calls us joint heirs with JesusChrist. Through the new covenant, God has prom ised to care for us the same way He would loveand care for Jesus.This new covenant is better than the old. Ifyou’ll read Deuteronomy 28, you’ll find the bless ings that are promised to those who keep the termsof the agreement. They’re wonderful promises—it’shard to imagine any better. But keep reading andyou’ll also find the curse that will fall on those whobreak the agreement. That’s where our covenantdiffers. Although we ourselves have been guilty ofbreaking the terms of the covenant, we’ve beenfreed from the penalty of it.From the time Jesus was born until He died at13

Calvary, He never broke the terms of the covenant.Yet when He went to the Cross, He bore thecurse, or penalty, for breaking it. Why? So thatyou and I would never have to bear it.“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed isevery one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing ofAbraham might come on the Gentiles through JesusChrist; that we might receive the promise of the Spiritthrough faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).Every demonic and diabolical thing that couldever come against you during this lifetime wasplaced on Jesus when He went to the cross. Hebore the penalty for your sin. He bore all of yoursicknesses and carried all of your diseases.He totally stripped the devil of his power toharm you. He bore the curse for you so that youcould receive the blessing of Abraham throughfaith in Jesus Christ.Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb that estab lished your covenant with God. His own bloodwas shed. The book of Hebrews says that we havea new and living way to approach God. Remember“the way of blood”? Well, the blood of Jesus has14