“He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.” – Genesis 15:9-10
In Hebrew, what we translate as “make a covenant” literally means “cut a covenant”. Solemn covenants were always ratified by the shedding of blood. Life was sacrificed and lifeblood poured out to publicly proclaim, “may the same thing happen to me if I break this covenant”. That’s how serious a biblical covenant is! In Genesis 15, God cut a covenant with Abram to give his descendants the land we know as Israel. The animals were cut in two and God’s presence passed between them – that’s how serious God is about the land of Israel!
If Jesus is your Savior, a different covenant has been cut for you. A covenant of grace – guaranteeing that your sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus, the Son of God. Like every biblical covenant, a life was sacrificed and blood was shed to ratify this New Covenant. However, instead of animals being sacrificed, it was the willing suffering and death of Jesus Himself when He went to the cross for our sins. There is nothing higher by which God could swear than Himself, which is what happened at the cross. There is no covenant more serious than one sealed by the innocent blood of the eternal Son of God.
This is your covenant! The covenant promise that your faith in Jesus has resulted in your sins being forgiven and you being reconciled to God forever as His beloved child. Your covenant was sealed by the innocent, sinless blood of Jesus – fully God and fully human. Realize the beautiful weight of this covenant… If you’re in Christ, then there’s absolutely nothing in heaven or on earth than can break God’s covenant promises. There’s no covenant more ironclad than the New Covenant because it was ratified with the broken body and shed blood of your Risen Savior. God’s grace cannot be thwarted and through faith in Christ, you are the blessed beneficiary of the greatest covenant. #FollowJesus