Systematic Theology – Covenant

Blood and Life

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Lesson: 12-22

Genre: Speech

Track: 12 of 22

Dictation Name: 12 Blood And Life

Location/Venue:

Year:

Before we begin our second session which is on Blood and Life I’d like to pass on to you a little item, during our intermission Caroline Kelley [sp?] was telling me of a church in England that she visited this summer. It was a church going back to the middle ages and one of the parish records referred to a gift by a man to create an interest free loan fund to help those in the church who are in need. This kind of thing which we are just seeing revived now has a long history in the church. We have forgotten it because in our time people have become, as the old saying has it, too spiritually minded to be of any earthly good. Now to continue with our subject blood and Life. Some months ago we did deal with the doctrine of the Blood of the Covenant. Genesis 22 is a landmark in the meaning of the, in the study of the meaning of the covenant. Before the flood we have references to the covenant but there is an absence of blood before the fall. With the fall blood begins to play a prominent role in the covenant. In Genesis 15 when God makes a covenant with Abraham it is the blood of a heifer, of a she-goat, a ram, a turtle-dove and a young pigeon that is used. In a covenant both parties offer their blood to set forth a common life and an allegiance unto death and a readiness to die for the covenant or to be sentenced to death for failing the covenant. In the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 God commands the sacrifice and then orders it to be set aside. Man’s sin disqualifies man from offering his own life in atonement. The principle of vicarious ness is brought in, it is God alone who can provide the atoning blood. This is important for us to realize because the blood represents something we too often forget.

We think of the blood because it is shed as signifying death but it signifies something far greater, life. Life which only God can provide. We see the issue of blood again in the plagues upon Egypt. In the first plague against Egypt the waters were turned into blood, in Exodus 4:9 and Exodus 7:17-21. God declares according to Exodus 12:12:

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.”

A very interesting book on the plagues written a few centuries ago deals exclusively with this aspect of the plagues. Not its affect upon Egypt as such but the plagues as a war against the gods of Egypt. The last plague of course was also a plague of death on all the firstborn, the firstborn represent in principle the totality. In the last plague the doorpost was to be sprinkled with blood, the blood of the passover lamb as Exodus 12:7-22 makes clear. And the redeemed of the Lord were to d o nothing but seek shelter under the blood. We encounter blood again when God having taken Israel to Sinai enters into covenant with them. On that occasion we read as in Exodus 24:5-8:

“And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”

However in Hebrews 9:19 we read something further about that episode which we do not find in the Exodus account. According to Hebrews 9:19:

“For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,”

We have a clear statement not only the people and the altar but the book of the law was sprinkled. Sad to say some commentators have gone very much astray there, [unknown] for example, said that because the scriptures have a human side therefore they needed atonement too which is a ridiculous concept that God’s infallible and inerrant word should mean atonement. As a result there is a lot of nonsense on that particular text but the law as it is set forth there, the book on which the blood is sprinkled is the law that establishes the bond. And to see the blood as only in terms of atoning for the law or for the altar is nonsense. One of the problems here is that most men have a negative view of the covenant blood. Now it is true that the blood of the covenant does set forth the fact of a death, the death of our Lord, for example. But the blood cannot be viewed purely as a symbol of death. It is a symbol of even more, of life. The old gospel hymn ‘there’s power, power, power, wonder working power, power in the blood of the Lamb’ gives us something of the older theology and its positive view. The blood as a source of power, of life and so we have to recognize that the blood of the covenant represents life. It represents community with God through the grace of God in terms of His law. And so that the blood that is shed says that we have been bound to God by the very act of God in making atonement for our sins.

So the blood spells life for us and without that shed blood no life. Apart from that shed blood death. Those who are not covered by the blood as we saw at the Passover death falls upon them. The blood spells life. We should have known this, should we not, because of Leviticus 17:11 does not tell us that death is in the blood but the life is in the blood. And it means not only that life is in the blood because the animal is alive, the animal of the sacrifice but that the shed blood represents life, because it typifies what God does through the vicarious sacrifice of his appointed one. The blood spells life for us apart from the blood we are under sentence of death. The sprinkling of the doorposts and of the people was thus not a sign of death but of life, the assurance of life, of the assurance that they were spared because they were under the blood. In fact 1 Corinthians 11:29 says of the communion cup which sets for the blood of Christ that is only if we drink unworthily that it is a sign of death to us, of damnation. The covenant blood is therefore not only a sign of life but a reminder of God’s grace and law. The covenant blood reminds us that ours is a privileged life, that we are heirs of God through Christ. That we are the privileged people of God because we are not only given His law but we are given the power to keep it by the Spirit. This is why historically, unfortunately too seldom observed in many churches now, the communion service was preceded by the reading of the law. Because the reading of the law celebrated the righteousness of God which was now the way of life for the people of the Lord.

The law of course is seen in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 as the way of blessings. Moreover we have a very interesting law, the law of the phylactery, Exodus 13:9. The phylacteries were things that every Israelite wore. He wore a band around his head from which there was a very small leather pouch and again a kind of leather bracelet to which was attached a small leather pouch in which in small leters were written several passages of scripture which set forth the covenant and the law. The passages which were in these phylacteries were Exodus 13:3-10 or rather 3-16, and Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 13-22. Exodus 13:3-16 and Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 13-22. Now in times of persecution when it was dangerous for an Israelite or a Jew later to have the phylactery which would mean death because it would identify him it was permissible instead to wear something with a red thread in it or to have a red thread under his clothing around his neck as a sign of redemption, of life as it was for Rahab. Now a very important and interesting fact that is all but forgotten but which we do find in the literature of the early church, the early Christians for several centuries used phylacteries. Thy would have written in a small leather pouch or put into something like a locket the key verses in the first chapter of John’s gospel. The first eighteen verses usually, to indicate that they were the Lords, that they were always to remember that God in faithfulness to His covenant sent His only begotten son to die for us that we might live through Him. It’s a sad fact at the synod of [unknown] in the late fourth century where a great deal of hostility was manifested to the Jews the synod forbad on penalty of excommunication any further use of phylacteries by Christians.

The whole point of the phylactery was to make you always conscious that you wore the covenant sign of God. That the law of the covenant or with the Christians a reminder that Jesus Christ had come and died for us in faithfulness to God’s covenant, would always be on you and in your thought and in your action. Blood represents life, Christ’s life, Christ’s life blood shed for the remission of sins. The Passover blood is as Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 5:7 the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. The atonement is sacred. It is a sign of life and atonement and the sacredness of the blood therefore is very clear in the law. We are told emphatically in Leviticus 10 that blood cannot be eaten, it is sacred before God. Moreover, when any animal was killed by a farmer he had to go to the door of the tabernacle and shed the blood there, this we read very clearly in Leviticus 17:3-6. This custom was maintained for centuries in many areas by many churches, I found evidences of it in certain parts of the South some years ago in the rural areas and a portion being given to the pastor always. I know that to this day in soviet Armenia it is done. The farmers will go to the door of the church and there on a stone slab kill the animals, laying their hands upon it first and saying Lord we know that it is not the blood of bulls and of goats that redeems us but the shed blood of Jesus Christ and we therefore shed the blood of this animal remembering the shed blood of Christ and then a portion would be given to the pastor and they would return home.

Moreover the law tells us in Leviticus 17:13 that when out hunting in which case of course the blood of the animal would be shed in the field the blood was to be spilled on the ground and covered in dirt or dust. Blood always in all circumstances was to be treated respectfully. God very early says to Cain the blood of thy brother cries out from the ground to me. Blood represents life, God does not allow us to treat life casually. Moreover we are told in Leviticus 17:6 that the offering of blood is to make a sweet savor unto the Lord. We meet with that expression again and again, a sweet savor unto the Lord means to be pleasing unto God. That is, it represents having communion with the Lord in His appointed way. The whole burnt offering meant total surrender to the Lord in covenant faithfulness. To please God we must obey Him in His appointed way. The blood typifies God’s covenant redemption, it typifies salvation. It is however a type not a reality and therefore again and again the scriptures stress that God requires not the outward sacrifice devoid of meaning but faith from the heart as manifested itself in the obedience of the sacrifice. For example, in Psalm 50 beginning with verse seven:

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.”

In other words, the essence is in faith and obedience, not merely in the ritual of sacrifice. We meet with this again and again in the scriptures, the passages and the prophets are numerous setting forth this emphasis that we can never treat these types as realities. The reality is faith and obedience. Again in Isaiah 1:11-17 we read:

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

In other words, God says that while the sacrifices are important to Him and the very blood of the sacrifice even though a type is to be treated reverently because it symbolizes life, it represents life, yet without justice, without righteousness, these things are an abomination unto Him. Blood represents life, it represents power, there is as the old song has it, power in the blood, wonder working power, which releases us from the penalties of sin guilt and death.

The blood of the covenant and the Old Testament is sprinkled over the people, now we drink the communion cup commemorating Christ’s shed blood for us. And the communion cup for us means communion and life. It means that we are now the privileged people of God because we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and we move in faithfulness to His law word. The sprinkled book has set forth in Hebrews 9:19 thus means that the people of the law are the redeemed people of Christ and they are the people of the law because they are the redeemed people of Christ. We live because of His blood, we are the recipients of God’s grace and we are therefore the people of the covenant law. The book has a place, a central place in the making of the covenant; therefore it is sprinkled with blood, the symbol of life because it is the way of life, the way of sanctification to those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Are there any questions now? Yes?

[Question] There was an article in today’s newspaper… [unknown]

[Rushdoony] I’m not sure that I understand the position of the Jehovah’s witnesses on that so I don’t think I can comment on their view of blood, they have a number of strange doctrines that I don’t fully comprehend. They do not really have any orthodox view of the atonement by the way or of the resurrection for that matter.

Any other questions or comments?

I trust you understood why it is so dangerous when theology takes a negative view of things such as the blood of Christ because then we miss out on the positive aspect that it does represent life for us and power. That’s why I like that old gospel tune, there’s power in the blood, because it does have a rousing tune, a sense of power goes with it and too seldom our singing and our preaching doesn’t have that rousing sense of power. Yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes. What they do is to emphasize that the fact of the shedding of blood spells death. So…what they do then, well, when you have within the church the emphasis on the blood as death rather than the blood as life Good Friday becomes more important than Easter Sunday morning, the death more than the resurrection. This is why in certain parts of the world, for example, some years ago [unknown] wrote a book on the Spanish Christ, now some have contested his thesis but I think there is a very real element of truth to it, and he called attention to the fact that in Latin American churches the emphasis is very heavily on Good Friday, on death, not on the resurrection. So that people will crowd into the churches on Good Friday rather than on Sunday morning. Death has a priority with them because the blood spells death. Now that warps of course a person’s outlook, it leads to a faith which is sterile.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Well…not all…and the Spanish tradition I think the emphasis on death is very heavy, this is not true in all the Catholic traditions. So while John [unknown] may have overstated his thesis I think he was essentially right that the Latin American tradition, the Spanish tradition has an overemphasis on death and an insufficient emphasis on resurrection but this is not true in all the western churches.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony]Oh yes there are many but you see it depends on when the church was built because there was a time when for example in church art the last judgment was the thing that was most heavily stressed. Then there was the time when the [unknown] was very heavily stressed or the cross. In some of the church art preceding the reformation in some following the reformation, the cross was everything and in [unknown]’s art in particular you have a really horrible presentation of the gruesomeness of death on the cross but very little on the resurrection. On the other hand in other periods but medieval and reformation and 18th century you have the resurrection very heavily emphasized so you have different strands of this throughout the centuries, I think today we’re very weak on our emphasis on the resurrection in all the churches.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Well that’s very often true but it also depends on a great deal on the tradition and the background of those who establish the church.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes, a great deal of Catholic piety today is baroque in origin and therefore the church has suffered under this baroque emphasis.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Well….[interruption] the best symbol I think has been of a cross with a crown on it [laughs] and sometimes with a lamp with a cross with a crown over it on its shoulders, that’s been I think the happiest symbol that has been developed because as one title of some centuries ago stated it, no cross, no crown. Any other questions or comments?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Exactly, exactly. Yes, Caroline?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes the question of blood and meats today. Most of the meats have been bled although sometimes not as thoroughly but in some countries in Europe I should say this is not done. In fact there’s a preference for meat with the blood in it. In this country by and large the meat has been thoroughly bled. Now there will be still a little residual blood but I think that’s unavoidable that there should be a little that seeps out but usually if you let it sit there if you’ve got it in the freezer and you bring it out that little bit will come out. Yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] No, no, in some countries they prefer the meat unbled so that by their particular ways of killing they do not bleed the animal.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Strangling it, or just hitting the animal on the head and then not bleeding it, there are varieties…yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes. Right. Yes, among many peoples, pagans especially, drinking of blood is felt to be very important. Yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes the blood meal comes from the slaughterhouses and it is mingled with something to create a kind of powder.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] It should be returned to the soil. Yes, any other questions or comments? Well if not we’ll bow our heads in prayer and meet again on the second Friday of next month.

Our Lord and our God it has been good for us to be here. We thank Thee for Thy covenant of life with us through Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that there is power in the blood, that we have been called to be the people of power and to rejoice in Thy so great salvation. Make us more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord, in His name we pray, Amen.