It seems that I’m writing in retrospect. I am writing the last thing first and the first last. God always wanted us to do what is right, righteousness. For God knew that the only way man could survive was to do so. Moral boundaries aren’t a cage or prison. They are there to keep man free from the cages. When man rebels against God, he knows he is deceived. Man believes the lie that God is limiting him so he will not become powerful like God. This is why God established a Blood Covenant with man. Abraham was chosen. The ceremony took place and God told Abraham that his part was to sacrifice his son. Abraham did as God instructed. Isaac was placed on the altar to be sacrificed. God stopped Abraham and accepted his willingness to sacrifice Isaac as part of the covenant. God’s part was to sacrifice His son. God said the whole world can enter into the covenant by sacrifice. And what is that sacrifice, you and me.

Many times there are external or internal signs of the covenant. Some signs are the rainbows for Noah (Gen.9:12-15), the Sabbath day for Moses (Ex.16:25, 26), circumcision for Abraham (Gen.17:9-11) and the circumcision of the heart for the believer in the New Covenant (Rom.2:25-29). Covenants are always structured. In Exodus and Deuteronomy, they are divided into four parts. The first part is the history of each participant, a record of what each person has done until the present. The second part is the laws, showing what is required of each person to do in the covenant. The third part is the mutual obligations. This is where each person agrees to the covenant and show what will happen if they break the covenant. The fourth part is the conclusion of the covenant. This part is to seal the covenant with oaths, a solemn meal, sacrifices, exchanging clothes and passing between a cut up animal. When a covenant is broken, it can be rewritten between the two parties. In rewriting the covenant, it doesn’t change the covenant, but it renews it and is still considered a new covenant.

A covenant is a general obligation between two parties. A covenant was and is confirmed by an oath, be a solemn meal, by sacrifices, exchanging clothes and passing between cut up parts of animals. The Hebrew word for covenant is berit, the sense of binding or berit-alah, the idea of a binding oath (Gen.26:28). For concluding a covenant the bible uses the expression, karat, to cut a covenant, referring to cutting up an animal. Covenants are established between individuals, between countries and their peoples and between husbands and wives. Covenants aren’t always a mutual agreement. Sometimes they represent relationships between a powerful party and a weak one. This covenant or agreement is freely given and out of good will toward the weaker party. This is God’s covenant with man.

400 years later, God remembered His covenant with Abraham and delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. God wanted them to become a kingdom of Priests (Ex.19). When Moses and the children of Israel came to Mt. Sinai, they broke the covenant with God (Ex.32, 33). God and Moses wrote a new covenant, the 613 laws. With the 613 laws came man’s accountability for sin. The laws didn’t give the power of God to man to keep the commandments. God gave the covenants to man to help him live the way God wants them to live. What are these covenants that God made with man?

God started a Theocracy (Rom.1:19-21). A theocracy is form of government, where God is king and man can rule himself thought the Laws of God. Man is subject to God, but does have some autonomy. So God created Adam and Eve and gave them a Covenant (Gen.1:26-28). When it was broken, God made a new covenant with Adam, out of the original covenant by adding a Savior for man (Gen.3). Then when man broke the covenant again, God made a new covenant with Noah (Gen.6). This covenant was the same as the one with Adam, but He wrote the Laws down and established a government to enforce the laws. When the Noahic covenant was broken, God decided to choose a people to represent Him on this earth. Abraham entered into a covenant with God. God took the covenants of Adam, the promise of a Savior, the covenant of Noah, the rule of government and added a land to live in, the Promised Land (Gen.15). God chose the center of the earth, Israel, the land flowing with milk and honey, to be their home.

I have been studying the bible for more than 35 years and have come to this conclusion. I hardly know anything about God. The knowledge of God has been my heart’s pursuit, since the day I met Him. I wanted more than just to have my sins forgiven, but to know the person, who forgave my sins, in a real way. I began reading the King James Version. I like the flowery English. At first, God would speak to me quoting scriptures in King James English. Later God would speak to me in American English. I ask Him why He did that. He said so I would become familiar with His voice. My pursuit of God is on all levels, mentally, spiritually and physically. God doesn’t want my mind. He wants my heart and soul.

Where do you start writing about Jesus? The best place to start a story is at the beginning. Most people believe that the Old and New Testaments are two different books, but actually are a collection of 66 books, written by 50 different authors, at different times over a period of some 4000 years. It was to my surprise, when I found out that it is one book written by one person, God. The bible is full of stories of God, angels and men. There are adventures, tragedies, battles and love stories. It sounds like a best-selling novel. In all actuality, it is the best-selling book in all history. The bible contains knowledge accumulated over more than 4000 years and finding a starting point isn’t easy.