It is believed by many, including the author, that man started on a higher plane in the beginning of his creation, and in his degradation retained perverted vestiges of God's original revelation to him. This could be discovered by the study of primitive myths, and of aboriginal religious rites and ceremonies, all over the world. One of these primitive rites is the rite of blood-covenanting: a form of mutual covenanting, by which two persons enter into the closest, the most enduring, and the most sacred of compacts, as more than brothers, through the inter-commingling of their blood. This rite is still observed in the unchanging East; and there are historic traces of it, from time immemorial, in every quarter of the globe; yet it has been strangely overlooked by biblical critics and biblical commentators generally in these later centuries.

A covenant of blood forms a tie or a union which can never be dissolved; even up to seven generations after it is made. Both parties pledge to give their very lives for each other if necessary. They pledge to defend and protect each other even above family relations. It is the chosen compact of loving friends who are drawn to it only by mutual love and trust. The blood covenant is more sacred and more binding than any other compact.

The long symbolized covenant of blood was made a reality when God sent His own son, Jesus Christ, into the world to bring mankind back into relationship with Himself and to bring about a reconciliation through His own blood. It was not an utterly new symbolism that Jesus was introducing into the religious thought of the world: it was rather a new meaning that he was introducing into, or that he was disclosing in an already widely recognized symbolism. The world was familiar with the shadow of truth; Jesus now made clear to the world the truth's substance. Man's longing to be a partaker of the divine nature had manifested itself through all the ages and everywhere. Jesus now showed how that longing of death-smitten man could be realized. "...The appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" of his blood-covenant 2 Timothy 1:10.

Dear reader, my question to you is, "Have you made covenant with the Lord by His sacrifice?" I do not ask if you are religious, or have joined a denomination, or whether you are a good and moral person. If a blood-covenant between two persons is binding above all other relationships, how much more is God's covenant of blood compelling us to forsake all for Him. Jesus said, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26, 27 And just in case we are still holding on to something, he further states in verse 33 "whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

Have you forsaken all worldly friendships? "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4:4 You cannot deceive yourself into thinking that you can enter into a blood-covenant with God and still have your affections tied to anything or anybody on this earth. God gave His all and He also expects you to give your all. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ......Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14, 17, 18

If we were but to grasp the full knowledge of what God desires to do for us and understood the nature of His promises, it would make the Covenant the very gate of heaven! May the Holy Spirit give us some vision of its glory.

Oh Lord Jesus, reveal yourself more fully unto us, and grant us a clearer revelation of the depths and the riches of the mystery represented in the elements and in the observance of Communion.

References: "The Blood Covenant" by H. Clay Trumbull