(1) Seeking The Scarlet Thread

SEEKING THE SCARLET THREAD     WEEK 1

“It is the glory of god to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” (Proverbs 25:2)

We are going on a journey to find and follow a trail, to seek out the CONCEALED MATTERS, to investigate and find a miracle that will, I hope, change our lives forever as we see Gods’ glory in his beautiful pictures and shadows of the Messiah, revealed in the Blood Covenant. 

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

The only place to start this search is in the Word of God.  And the best place to begin is at the beginning. 

The Word is divided into two parts, known to all believers as the Old and New Testaments.

In Hebrew, the word testament would be better translated as Testimony or Covenant.

The two divisions have historically caused some believers to feel that the Old Testament is outdated and that we don’t need it today in our age of Grace.

The problem is, we can’t fully understand the New without the Old.

It has been said The New is in the Old Concealed, the Old in the New Revealed. 

 We need to remember that in Jesus day the Scriptures were the Law, Prophets and the Psalms.

Have you ever read Psalm 22?  It is the words written by David, but it is so much more than that!

The Gospels give us a third person account of the crucifixion of Jesus, an eye witness testimony.
Psalm 22 IS THE THOUGHTS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS, A PERSONAL REVELATION OF THE PAIN AND MENTAL ANGUISH THAT BOUGHT OUR SALVATION!

READ FROM PSALM 22

 It is one very graphic example of the Gospel in the Old Covenant.

Jesus told the Pharisees:

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me and have life.” John 5:39-40

The Jews followed the teachings of Moses, called the Torah, (lit. teaching or Word) the first five books of the Old Testament, considered the Law.

Jesus said that the Torah was about Him. 

“But do not think that I will accuse you before the Father, Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5:45-47

So, in our journey we need to first understand that the Old Covenant is THE SCHOOL OF LEARNING necessary to understand the New Covenant. IT IS THE KEY IN IDENTIFYING THE TRUE MESSIAH!

Jesus taught the key to understanding the Old Covenant and its’ importance when he appeared to his disciples after His Resurrection:

“He said to them ‘This what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentence and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’” Luke 24:44-47

SO, HERE WE SEE IT! Jesus said the whole of the Old Covenant was about Him! This is how the two Testaments are linked together.  They both tell the same story!

It is the story of God entering into a Blood Covenant with himself for mankind through Jesus.

This is the Scarlet Thread that runs through both Testaments, the blood of Jesus.

Did you ever wonder why it was Moses and Elijah that appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration?

To the Hebrew mind Moses represented the Law and Elijah the Prophets. This is true to this day.

Jesus stood with these two who then disappeared, and What did God say?

“Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is My Son whom I love. Listen to Him.” Suddenly, they looked around, they saw no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures! God said listen to Him! This is the goal toward which we will journey for the next few weeks.

As Jesus said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

As we journey we will see the Lord in all His glory, in the pictures painted by God from Genesis to revelation, down the Scarlet Thread.

 THE BLOOD COVENANT

We have seen that Jesus taught that the Old Covenant is more than just rituals, customs, and unrelated events.

On the contrary, it is an orderly, progressive, unfolding revelation from God, of the sacred blood covenant God has entered into with mankind through Jesus, our Savior and Lord.

At this point it would probably be helpful to define what a covenant is: 

The Hebrew word for covenant is Berith, it means literally, “to cut covenant” it is an agreement to “cut a covenant by the shedding of blood and walking between pieces of flesh.”

A blood covenant between two parties is the closest, the most enduring, the most solemn and sacred of all contracts.

It absolutely cannot be broken. In Hebrew and Semitic cultures when you enter into a blood covenant with someone, you promise to give them your life, your love, and your protection forever..till death do you part.

In Semitic cultures marriage was a blood covenant, with the proof of blood on wedding night sealing the covenant. This is why God is so opposed to premarital sex and adultery, it is covenant breaking. God takes covenant keeping very, very seriously,

 “The men  who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between the pieces.” (Jer. 34:18-19)

 God is a covenant keeping and honoring God.

If two men cut covenant, they became closer than a brother, lit. a friend that “sticks closer than a brother,”  In Hebrew culture it was considered a Covenant of Brotherhood.

A good example of this is the story of David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:1-4). David had just defeated Goliath and found favor with King Saul. The bible tells us that Saul’s son Jonathan “became one in spirit with David and loved him as himself.” Jonathan CUT A COVENANT with David, as evidenced by the taking off of his robe and weapons,(REMEMBER THIS; we will see the significance later). Later, Jonathan is killed with his father and David becomes King. In 2 Samuel 4:4; we see that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. When the word of the death of Saul and Jonathan reached the nurse of Mephibosheth, who was five years old, the nurse, fearing that David would kill the boy, fled with him and while she ran she dropped him, crippling both his feet. Later in  Samuel 9, David remembers the covenant he had with Jonathan and wants to find any descendent to bless them for his covenant partners sake. A servant of Saul’s household tells David where to find the boy, hiding in LoDebar. David immediately had the boy brought to him. Mephibosheth, fearing it was the end, bowed before David. David, for the sake of his covenant partner, gives all of the lands and goods of Saul to Mephibosheth and he is brought to sit at the king’s table as an adopted son for the rest of his life.(2 Samuel 9:6-13).  REMEMBER THIS STORY, It’s  significance will be clear later.

When was the first blood covenant cut?     

The first death, the first shedding of blood in the Garden of Eden.  God covered the sin and shame of Adam and Eve with the skins of innocent animals after their attempt to cover their sins with leaves (only God can, through blood provide the garments to cover our sin and shame). Though the curse of death came into being, so did the promise of a sacrificial redeemer: 

“And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and between your offsprings (John 8:44) and hers, He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.”Genesis 3:15

Who are the “offsprings” of the serpent?

“Jesus said to them,’If God were your Father, you would love me. For I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent Me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to caryy out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth.” John 8:42-44a

REMEMBER THIS VERSE AS WE GO ON IT WILL BE PORTRAYED IN FULLNESS VERY SHORTLY.

Did Adam and Eve understand that they had entered into a blood covenant relationship?

CAIN AND ABEL

The sons of Adam were obviously taught about the Lord and the concept of sacrifices and offerings.

Both brought before the Lord offerings, (Genesis 4:3-4)

Abel of his flocks, the shedding of innocent blood.

Cain brought the works of his hand, the fruit of the cursed ground.

God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.

Hebrews 11:4 tells us; “By FAITH Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did. By FAITH he was commended as a righteous man……”

Faith comes by hearing, so Abel and Cain must have heard the truth of God’s provision through blood, otherwise how could Abel have faith in that which he didn’t know?

Cain chose a different way, as so many do, trying to do in the flesh what can only happen in the spirit. 

As Jude 11-12 says:

“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain…..They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind…”; Here Jude quotes Proverbs 25:14 “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of FALSE GIFTS.”

 God confronted Cain lovingly when he was angry over his offering being refused. God said;

“Why are you so angry? Why is your face downcast? If you DO WHAT IS RIGHT will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.”Genesis 4:6-7

What was the right thing that Cain needed to do?  MAKE THE RIGHT COVENANT SACRIFICE BY FAITH! Faith in what? The Blood Covenant for forgiveness God had revealed to Adam and Eve! God then told Cain that there was no protection from sin if he did not overcome his pride and DO RIGHT. Much as Jesus confronted the Pharisees in John 8!

There must be blood shed for sin.

“without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22b) Mark a huge X in your mind here!

Cain did not submit, being unable to bend to Gods’ words, and in an act of jealousy, mastered by sin, he killed his brother, (the devil, being a murderer from THE BEGINNING) hiding his body in a field.

God confronted Cain again and said something very pointed:

“Listen! You brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground,… which opened it’s mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”Genesis 4:10-11

God heard the blood! Abel was in a blood covenant with God because of his proper sacrifice, and his blood cried to its’ covenant partner.

God takes the blood very seriously, as it points to the most precious thing in all the universe; the blood of Jesus.

The blood covenant was there from the beginning, the Scarlet Thread of promise.

And so it moves on, through the years until Noah, who saved through the flood, immediately offered sacrifice to God of the clean animals he had brought through the flood, renewing the covenant for mankind, all of us who were still in his loins and the loins of his sons.(Hebrews 7:9-10)

And then there was Abram.