What does the co-mingling of blood signify in many ancient (and modern) cultures? (Click Note)
 

Two men have become...

Blood brothers

Now their...
Two lives are united

Two have become one

Two lives are intermingled

There is no better illustration of this intimate relationship then the marriage covenant where two become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)

Now there is...
Death to self-life in those areas of mutual concern

What does blood equate with in Scripture ( Lev 17:11)?

"life of the flesh is in the blood"
 

Blood ~ Life

Illustration: Life saving blood transfusions

Blood > Giving & Receiving of life

How was the co-mingling of blood carried out?
 

Cut, Clasp or Cup
 

Cut = on arm or wrist with blood intermingled
Clasp= striking of hands together (see below)
Cup = drinking literally or symbolically each other's blood ("I am drinking you"

Is this custom of cutting and co-mingling of blood in one's hand or wrist present in the OT?
 

The exact custom is not present (however see next column re slave's ear pierced with an awl) but what is present are several examples of  a symbolic clasping or giving of the hands that in the context indicate a solemn agreement has been reached between the parties clasping hands.

What is Job boldly requesting of God in (Job 17:3) and what is the meaning?
 

He is asking God to be the pledge ("pay his bail") for his innocence
(Click detailed discussion)

Why does Job say God
must be his "guarantor" (must "strike hands") and not another man?

Job's question "Who will be my guarantor ("strike hands with me")?" implies no man is willing or able (certainly not his 3 counselors!)

The only One who can fulfill this obligation (by striking hands) is God Himself.

In Summary:
Job appeals to
God his Judge to be God his Pledge
 

What did participants occasionally do when they made cuts in their flesh to help them remember their blood and lives were now "co-mingled"?
 

They would intentionally produce a scar

Scar = permanent reminder
These were "marks of covenant"

Let's see what Scripture says about "covenant cuts" and "covenant marks"

What was God's assurance to Zion (representative of the Israelite people) in Isaiah 49:15,16 when they complained that Jehovah had forsaken and forgotten them ( Isaiah 49:14)? 
 

1) Can a mother forget nursing child? Even if that occurred God would not forget Zion

2) God had inscribed (engraved) Zion on the palm of His hand (Click in depth note)

Who does the picture of "inscribed on His palm"  remind you of when compared with Ps 22:16?

They pierced my hands and my feet

What (Whom) does Ps 22:16 refer to?

Messiah's Crucifixion

 Piercing of hands and feet is an accurate description of crucifixion (see Acts 2:23)

Was a "covenant mark" made on the body of Jesus, the Messenger of the Covenant?
What do we learn from (John 20:24, 25, 26, 27)?
 

Thomas, would not believe Christ was risen unless he saw "in His hands the imprint of the nails" Jesus appeared telling Thomas "see My hands ...and be...believing."
 

What did Zechariah prophesy that relates to the Jesus' "covenant marks" (Zech 12:10)?

When Christ returns the Jews
"will look on (Him) Whom they have pierced"

They will see His marks of covenant and He will fulfill His covenant vows beginning with those given to Abraham.
 

What does John say about Jesus in (Re 5:6-note) that parallels the truth we have seen above regarding Jesus' covenant marks?
 

Lamb as if slain
In glory Jesus will forever be the Lamb
Who bears the marks of the New Covenant

Jesus has forever inscribed us on the palm of His hands! (cf Isaiah 49:16)

As Jesus' covenant partner do we bear any  covenant marks? (Click Dr Barber's explanation of "mark") In NT times what classes of society wore brand marks?

Slaves, soldiers, servants of temples

How would these truths apply to us today? Are those in covenant with Jesus in any way described as slaves, soldiers or temple servants?

Our "mark" is to no longer strive to please men but Christ for we are His bondservants

As Soldiers (2 Ti 2:3,4) (see notes)

We are called to choose to suffer hardship as good soldiers of Christ Jesus, not entangling ourselves in the affairs of everyday life, our goal being to please the one who enlisted us

As Servants of His temple (1Cor 6:18, 19, 20)

We recognize that because of the New Covenant, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in us and that we are not our own but that we have been  bought with a price of His precious blood and now have as our goal to glorify God in our body by fleeing immorality

How did Paul describe his covenant marks in (Gal 6:17)?

What does (Ex 21:5, 6 cf Dt 15:12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17) teach about brand marks in the Old Testament?

In Ex 21:1, 2, 3, 4  God specifies the ordinances dealing with Hebrew slaves (usually a result of selling oneself into slavery to pay a debt, Lev 25:39) indicating that every 7th year they were to be set free. But if the...

"But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,' then his master shall bring him to God (Ed note: as if God is a Witness of this "covenant"), then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; (Ed note: a cut in the skin) and he shall serve him permanently." (Ex 21:5, 6)

This "love slave" bore the mark of his covenant agreement to voluntarily identify with his master's house forever (Click pdf of Spurgeon's sermon The Ear Bored with an Awl).

Beloved, is this literal mark not a picture of the heart attitude every blood bought believer should have as bondservants of our loving Master the Lord Jesus Christ, Who Himself took "the form of a bondservant" and out of love humbled "Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-see notes), allowing Himself to be pierced with nails that we might be permanently bound to Him in the New Covenant!

I like Larry Richards' comment on the slave's pierced ear...

In a real sense, we Christians are to be a people of pierced ears. Our commitment to Jesus is not made simply that we might enjoy the benefits of salvation. Our commitment acknowledges Christ as Lord. It is because Jesus is Lord that our spiritual ears are to be always open to him. Our obedience is to be the lifelong mark (Ed note: our "covenant mark") of our choice of Jesus as Savior and Lord. (Expository Dictionary)

What was the symbolism when covenant partners cut their flesh and co-mingled their blood?

Oneness

Jesus’ piercing was the covenant mark in His flesh which made it possible for us to become one with Him and to receive His life.

What do we learn about about our oneness with Jesus from John 17:21-23?

What do we learn about about our oneness with Jesus from Col 1:27?
It is a mystery revealed
Christ is now in us
Our hope of glory

What do we learn about about our oneness with Jesus from Eph 5:30, 31, 32, 33?

Members of His body

Christ + church = One
 

The amazing truth of the union of Christ and His church is tied to the historical reality of the union of Adam and Eve (Ge 2:23). Just as Adam gave himself for Eve, so that she could be given life from his opened side, so "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph 5:25), His precious blood flowing from His pierced side cleansing us from all sin

The covenant relationship between believing husbands and wives also illustrates the oneness between Christ, the Bridegroom,  and the Church, His bride.

How do these truths about cutting of flesh & co-mingling of blood relate to exchange of robes?

The idea of "putting on" Christ also speaks of Oneness with Christ

What is in the blood?
What do believers now experience?

Life is in the blood and we now have real life, even abundant life, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

What might the truth about oneness of covenant do for those wrestling with eternal security?

There is no better illustration of this sharing of a common life then the marriage covenant where "a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife" (Ge 2:24). What the husband owns now belongs to the wife and vice versa (debts and all!)

What is the implication of sharing a common life in terms of responsibility?

Both responsible to share blessings with one another and to meet the other's need (Click note)

What did Paul explain in (2Cor 8:9) that can help us understand how and why blessings are to be shared?

Jesus became poor
that we might become rich

What do we learn about sharing a common life from (Ro 8:15, 16, 17-notes)?

Having entered into the New Covenant we are...

Adopted by God
Children of God
Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ

How? Suffer with Him, then glorified with Him

What does Paul teach us about sharing a common life with God in (Phil 4:18, 19-note)?

God will supply our needs  (As we like the church at Philippi give to others God will be sure to meet our needs)

What responsibility do believers have in sharing this common life with our brethren as exemplified by the early church? (Acts 2:44,45)

Believers in Acts would sell what they had to meet another’s needs. Not a common pooling of resources but a sharing to meet needs.

How effective was the sharing of possessions in the new church (Acts 4:33, 34, 35)?

There was not a needy person among them
 

How should believers share their common life according to the example of the churches in Macedonia (2Cor 8:12, 3, 4, 13,14)?

Give according to ability and beyond

Don't give so much that you suffer

Your abundance now meets their need and later they might meet yours - in this way everyone's needs are met

What is the application to the body of Christ and specifically as it relates to the government supplying the needs?

A New Covenant believer should not have to go outside the body of Christ (covenant partners) to have their needs met.

In covenant we are to share our blessings just as Jesus did by becoming poor that we might become rich.
 

Illustrated in the Marriage Covenant where the wife traditionally takes the name of her husband
 

What did the name change represent in the context of our study on the co-mingling of lives?

Participation in another person
(Click note)

What name change occurred in Genesis 17? (Ge17:5,15)

Abram to Abraham

Sarai to Sarah

How might one explain God's giving His name to Abraham and Sarah?

His name is YHWH
It could be reasoned that God took the letter H (Hebrew = Heth) sound from His name and He put it in their names

What Name change did Jesus take on in order to show His identification with men (cf John 6:53)?

Jesus called Himself the name
''Son of Man''
(Used 84 times - click)

What new name are believers known by in Acts? (Acts 11:26)

"the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch"

What do we learn about the overcomer's (believers) new name in (Rev 2:17-note)

Jesus promise to overcomers...

To him who overcomes I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it
 

Illustrated in the marriage covenant in which the two newlyweds feed each other wedding cake in celebration of their relationship.

What did we learn about the covenant meal?

Usually but not always after the name was changed there would be a covenant meal
(Click note)

What would they do during the covenant meal?

They would feed each other

What would they say as they fed each other?

You are eating me

What would they do after they fed each other? What would they drink from?

Drank from the same cup

What would they recite?

You are drinking me

What did some of the partner's actually drink in these covenant ceremonies?

One another’s blood

What did they do with the blood sometimes rather than drink it?

Sprinkled blood on parties making the covenant

They ate bread symbolic of the body
They drank symbolic of the other

Where do we see covenant meals in Genesis?

Isaac and Abimelech (Ge26:30,31)

Jacob and Laban (Ge 31:54)
 

When did a covenant meal occur in (Ex 24:11)?

After the Mosaic Covenant given

Moses and the elders after children of Israel agreed to the covenant terms at Mt. Sinai

What did Jesus teach in (Jn 6:53, 54) that parallels the truths brought out by sharing covenant meals?

Jesus said

"Truly, truly.. unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves"

Then He added...

"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day."

What did Jesus say about the relationship of eating and drinking Him and life?

Life belongs to the one who eats His body and drinks His blood

Why did some of the disciples find this to be a "difficult statement" (Jn 6:60) and many choose no longer to walk with Him (Jn 6:66)?

Not because they did not understand, but because they did understand

Jesus was speaking in covenant terms that were familiar 

They would understand the meaning of a covenant meal from the OT passages. They understood that the eating of the other’s flesh symbolically indicated you were taking on their identity 

Why did they walk away from?
They walked because Jesus was calling them to covenant commitment

They were unwilling to die in order to live... they were not willing to give up their life in exchange for His life

What did Jesus say to His disciples in (Mt 26:26, 27, 28, 29) as they celebrated the Passover together?

"Take eat this is My body"

"Drink... My blood of the covenant"

This explains what Jesus meant in John 6 - He was calling them to enter covenant with Him.

In the marriage covenant the ideal situation is that each partner now has "a friend who sticks closer than a brother"

 Aristotle wrote that a friend was 

"One soul in two bodies"

Deut 13:6 has the phrase... "your friend who is as your own soul" (LXX = "friend who is equal to your own soul")

What is a term by which covenant partners are sometimes known?
Friend
(Click note)

Friend is a term not used lightly in the Scriptures. Although not every use is in context of covenant relationship, several are as noted below.

What is the relationship between the Lord and those who fear Him and what will He do for them? (Ps 25:14-Spurgeon Note)?

Friendship (intimacy)
Will share secrets of His covenant

New Living Translation:

"Friendship with the LORD is reserved for those who fear him. With them he shares the secrets of his covenant."

Who was called the friend of God in the OT? (2Chr 20:7)
Abraham...
God let him know His secrets

The friend of God forever
The land was given to his descendents (2Chr 20:7)

Jacob is called descendent of Abraham My friend (Is 41:8)

What does (Ex 33:11) say about the relationship between Moses and God? (cf Ps 103:7)

The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.


Pr 27:6  Faithful are the wounds of a FRIEND, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

What did God do in Ge 18:17 that reflected His covenant friendship with Abraham? 

Informed Abraham beforehand

When did John 15  take place?

After new covenant meal was instituted by Jesus

How did Jesus define a friend (John 15:14)?

A friend is one who does what Jesus commands
 

What was Jesus' promise to His friends? (John 15:15)

No longer called slaves but friends

Jesus made known to His friends all things He heard from His Father

What was the supreme act of a covenant friend? (John 15:13)

Lay down his life for his friend.

Jesus is preparing to lay down His life for those with whom He is in covenant

Jesus called the disciples friends
 

How can we show our friendship to Jesus our Covenant Partner? (Mark 8:34, 35, 36, 37, James 4:4, 1Jn 2:15, 16, 17)

Deny our self daily

(Lay down our life for our Friend)

Not be friends with world
Not love the world