The Blood of the Covenant Brings us into God’s Presence to Receive His Speaking

We need to open to the Lord and ask Him for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17), and we need to be unveiled to see what is the meaning and importance of the blood of the covenant.

We may treasure the blood of Christ for our redemption, but again and again in both the Old and the New Testament, God mentions the blood of the covenant in His relationship with man. And even if the blood is not mentioned, many times it is implied.

For example, after Adam and Eve sinned, God covered them with lambskins and cast them out of the garden of Eden; this implies the blood being shed for their redemption and forgiveness, which is also confirmed by the fact that Abel was raising sheep for only one reason: to offer them to God for His satisfaction and for man’s redemption.

When God made a covenant with Noah, Abraham, and others, there was always the shedding of blood, and this blood enacted the covenant and made it strong and secure.

After Moses decreed the law as it was given to Him by God, he enacted the law as a covenant (also known as the old covenant) by the shedding and sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices. Before this, however, Moses went up on the mountain and met God, and he was in God’s presence for 40 days and 40 nights; the reason he could be with God and not die (since he was a sinner just like us) was that God had the blood in view.

Today we want to see what is the relationship between the redeeming blood, the blood of the covenant, and the presence of God. We need to realize that, in order for us to meet God, fellowship with God, have God’s presence and receive His speaking, we need the blood of the covenant, the redeeming blood of Christ.

Only the Redeeming Blood Qualifies us to Enter into God’s Presence

Moses went up on the mountain and spent forty days and forty nights in God’s presence; he was a fallen, sinful, and corrupt person just like the rest of the people, but he could remain in God’s presence because God had the redeeming blood in view. The only way man can come into God’s presence to fellowship with God and be infused with God is under the redeeming blood of Christ.

Moses was fallen and sinful just as us all, but he could stay in the presence of God and be infused with God on the mountaintop for forty days to become God’s reflection because God had the redeeming blood in view; this was the reason that, instead of dying when he saw God, the skin of Moses’ face glowed when he descended from the mountain (see Exo. 34:27-35).

The blood is the ground which enabled God to allow Moses to come into His presence, and it is only the blood of Christ (and not our good works, our efforts to please God, or our zeal for God) that qualifies us to enter into God’s presence and remain there.

In the tabernacle, it was only the high priest that was qualified to enter into God’s presence after he offered the sacrifices in the outer court and had the blood to sprinkle on the lid of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies.

God’s presence, God Himself, was in the Holy of Holies, and more specifically on the lid of the Ark of the covenant. The only one qualified to enter the Holy of Holies and to come to the Ark with the expiation cover was the one who brought with Him the redeeming blood from the outer court; this blood, which was the blood of the covenant, brought God’s people into the Holy of Holies to enter into God’s presence and have God’s speaking (see Lev. 16:11-16).

The place where God met with His people was the expiation cover, the lid of the ark; this place is the propitiation place in Rom. 3:25 and Heb. 9:5 and is the lid of the Ark signifying Christ as the cover of God’s righteous law and also the place where God meets with His redeemed people and speaks to them in grace (see Exo. 25:17, 22).

The high priest came with the blood into the Holy of Holies, sprinkled the lid of the ark, and had God’s presence and His speaking. The only thing that qualifies us to enter into God’s presence is the redeeming blood of Christ, on which we stand when we meet with God; this blood satisfies God’s holy, righteous, and glorious requirements of us, and it qualifies us to be in God’s presence and have His speaking to us in grace.

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your precious blood. Though we are sinful, fallen, and corrupt people, we have the redeeming blood of Christ to qualify us and give us the standing to enter into God’s presence and have His speaking. Lord, we come forward to You to fellowship with You and be infused with You by standing not on our merits or deeds but on the redeeming blood of Christ, the blood of the covenant. Lord, speak to us. We want to fellowship with You. Thank You and praise You for Your redeeming blood, the blood of the covenant!

The Blood of the Covenant Brings us into God’s Presence to Receive His Speaking

In Rom. 3:25 Paul shares his realization of how God set Christ as a propitiation place through faith in His blood. The footnote in the Recovery Version really helps us to understand more what this is about,

The propitiation place is typified in Exo. 25:17 by the sin-covering lid on the ark. The ark was the place where God met with people. In the ark was the law of the Ten Commandments, which by its holy and righteous requirement exposed and condemned the sins of the people who came to contact God. However, by the lid of the ark, with the propitiating blood sprinkled on it on the Day of Propitiation, the entire situation on the sinner’s side was fully covered. Therefore, upon this sin-covering lid God could meet with the people who broke His righteous law, and He could do this without, governmentally, any contradiction to His righteousness, even under the observing of the cherubim that bore His glory and overshadowed the lid of the ark. Thus, the problem between man and God was appeased, enabling God to forgive and be merciful to man and thereby to give His grace to man. This is a prefigure of Christ as the Lamb of God taking away the sin that caused man to have a problem with God (John 1:29), thus satisfying all the requirements of God’s holiness, righteousness, and glory and appeasing the relationship between man and God. Hence, God could pass over the people’s sins that had previously occurred. And, in order to show forth His righteousness, He had to do this. This is what this verse refers to. (Rom. 3:25, footnote 1, part 1)

Paul saw that Christ was not only God’s Beloved Son, the Messiah, and the Savior of the world, but that Christ was the lid of the ark of the covenant, the propitiation place, the place where God meets with man. Wow!

God meets with us in Christ: Christ with His blood covers God’s law (so that we may not be condemned by it) and gives us the standing to meet with God. God is enthroned between the cherubim on the lid of the ark (Psa. 80:1), and it is there that He meets with us. The law is completely covered by Christ as the place of propitiation, and the glory of God shines on the lid covered by the blood.

The expiation cover on the Ark in the Holy of Holies equals the throne of grace, which is the very Christ who dwells in our spirit (Heb. 4:16)! The pure gold of which the cover was made signifies Christ’s pure divine nature, and the blood sprinkled on the ark signifies His humanity.

The fact that God met with His people and spoke to them from above the expiation cover and between the cherubim signifies that God meets with us and speaks to us in the propitiating Christ as His testimony (see Exo. 25:22; and 2 Cor. 3:8-11, 18).

We need to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace in our spirit to touch Christ and have His fresh speaking, since it is the blood of the covenant that qualifies us and ushers us into God’s presence.

Daily, with an unveiled face, we need to behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord. It is our privilege to have the highest profession on earth, that of spending time to be infused with God so that we may glow with God and shine forth God.

Hallelujah, we can meet with God in Christ – the redeeming Christ in His humanity (typified by the expiation cover with the blood of the sacrifices sprinkled on it) and the shining Christ in His divinity (signified by the place where sinners can meet the holy and glorious God) so that we may be infused with God and receive vision, revelation, and instruction for Him!

Thank You Lord for accomplishing redemption for us by shedding Your blood to qualify us to be brought into God’s presence and enjoy His speaking. Thank You for becoming the meeting place of God and man: You satisfied all of God’s requirements, we are redeemed by Your blood, and in You we and God can meet and have fellowship! Lord, we come forward with boldness in Your blood to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help! We want to behold You with an unveiled face to be infused with You as grace and receive vision, revelation, and instruction!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, pp. 918-919 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 8 / msg 8, The Blood of the Covenant.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # I hear Thy welcome voice, / That calls me, Lord, to Thee, / For cleansing in Thy precious blood / That flowed on Calvary. / I am coming, Lord, / Coming now to Thee: / Wash me, cleanse me in the blood / That flowed on Calvary. (Hymns #1051)
  # We come forward unto our God, / Who is sitting on the throne; / He has paved the way to glory / By His blood and cross alone. (Hymns #1217)
  # Dear Lord, how precious is Thy blood, / Of the New Testament! / By it God’s blessings we receive, / And we with Him are blent… / ’Tis by Thy blood we boldly come / Unto the throne of grace, / Unto our God, the cov’nant new, / And to the Holiest Place. (Hymns #1090)