God reveals the importance of the Blood Covenant in Exodus 4:20-26.

....................Moses had ignored the circumcision of his first-born. He had been unfaithful to the Covenant.

..........While on his way from the wilderness to Egypt with the message God gave him about the Egyptians, Moses came face to face with death, "The Lord met him and sought to kill him."

Moses was called by God in the third and fourth chapters of Exodus.

........It includes the burning bush; God revealing Himself to Moses and His plans for delivering Israel.

............It tells of how Moses hesitated and God permitting Aaron to help him.

.................We see the power of Moses' rod where he performed miracles.

So God not only manifested Himself to Moses as the Covenant-keeping God; but also as the miracle-working God.

Hebrews 11:
"23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."

....................Both acts were based upon faith in God [the Covenant-keeping God].

Happy Birthday Jesus 2011

The second chapter of Exodus gives us the birth of Moses and his life until God calls him.

There are two facts:
.........the hiding of Moses as a baby at the river bank by his mother, and
.........later Moses' rejection of Egypt Neither were rash acts.

The persecution that Israel received is so great that they cried to the God of the Covenant for deliverance.

..........................He hears their cry and remembers His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

.................He comes down to deliver His people from their bondage.

Read Exodus 2:12-25 and Exodus 3:5-8

The treatment that the Israelites , as slaves, received from the Egyptians was sometimes horrible.

........................................The tortures inflicted on them and the commands to kill every boy or to throw the babies into the river was Satan's way to try and destroy them.

Israel's ability to increase in population was a part of God's plan for them and all the world couldn't do anything to stop it.

...........................................................The more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew.

Read Exodus 1:15-22

Then there followed oppression, enslavement and tyranny and cruelty:

...........................Exodus 1:11-14
"11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour."

Satan put fear into the heart of the leader of Egypt, a fear that the Israelites, who were so mighty in number, would join themselves to the enemies in time of war.

..........................Exodus 1:8-10
"8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land."

Satan tried to destroy 'the seed of the woman' [Eve] through whom Jesus was to come.

.................Now that the Savior/Redeemer has been picked as 'the seed of Abraham', Satan tries to destroy God's Covenant People, the Israelites.

So the calculating of this period seems to date from the promise to Abraham to the deliverance of the children, which makes 430 years that included 'and of their fathers'.

...................To the birth of Isaac was 25 years. From the birth of Isaac until the birth of Jacob was 60 years.

...............................Jacob was 130 years old when he entered Egypt. This amounts to about 220 years, add 210 to it and it make 430 years of sojourning from Abraham to the deliverance from Egypt.

In the 210 years the children of Israel; were on Egypt, they increased from seventy to over three million.

.........................The record shows that 210 years were spent in Egypt. This , on the surface, seems to be a difficulty with other passages such as Exodus 12:40
"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."

............The Old Testament translation of this reads:"The sojourning of the children and of their fathers which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt."

There are many statements in the Bible telling us of the miraculous growth of God's Covenant people, Israel.

............................Exodus 1:7
"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them."

The children of Israel thrived in the land of Egypt.

They were favored. The favor of God was on them.

The best of the land had been given to them.

......................God was keeping His Covenant with Abraham and the words that He spoke saying that his seed should be a multitude as the stars of heaven and as the sand upon the sea shore.

Genesis 45:8
"So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."

"For these two years hath the famine been in the land; and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing or harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance." Genesis 45:6,7

........God used Joseph to preserve His people.

................He overrules Satan and He brings good out of the evil throughout the ages.

God, the Covenant-keeper, remembered His promise to Abraham that He would make of him a great nation.

...............................To save His people, Israel, from destruction during the famine in Canaan, He brought them into Egypt so they could thrive and multiply.

After telling us about Abraham, the Book of Genesis gives us history of his immediate descendents.
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

All Genesis is centered around five names:
.....Adam, Chapters 1-5
.....Noah, Chapters 6-11
.....Abraham, Chapters 12-26
.....Jacob, Chapters 27-37
.....Joseph, Chapters 38_45

This Covenant people were also to be His testimony on the earth.

.................................The other civilization people had to pass through them to do their trading with each other.

..................God's people were to be a witness to them of the true and living God.

Through this Covenant people, God was going to send the Savior.

..................Genesis 22:17-18
"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

Genesis 17:7 "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

God entered into Covenant relationship with Abraham in order to preserve the Revelation of Himself on the earth which He had given to man.

.............Abraham and his descendants were to be God's Covenant people.

Israel was backed by this solemn covenant
.........that God had sealed on His side
.....by putting Himself in absolute bondage
to that Covenant.

Many times God said, "I am Jehovah, who keepeth covenants."

.............He is the Covenant-keeping God.

There was nothing that God could swear by except Himself.

.......................................They were bound together; all that God is and has belongs to Abraham, and all that Abraham is or ever will have belongs to God!

In Genesis 22:
15 "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:"

....Here was the foundation of that covenant.

Genesis 22:3-10 showed that Abraham was capable of the blood-covenant friendship with God.

................When God saw his spirit of devotion, the angel stopped his hand.

..........................Hebrews 11:
17 "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;......"

Abraham sacrifices Isaac

All over the world, men in blood-covenants were ready to give what was dearest to them [life itself] to their Blood-brothers or their gods.

..................Abraham proved he would do as much for his Divine Friend. Abraham surrendered to his God all that the worshippers of other gods were willing to surrender to prove their devotedness.

For Abraham to surrender his own old, worn-out life after having his promised son, Isaac,, born to him, would have been easy.

...........But for him to surrender his only son and to become a childless, old man again would be something much different.

......Only faith that wouldn't reason or question;
......only love that wouldn't waver or fail,
......could do what he was asked to do.

Genesis 22:1-2 "And it came to pass that God did prove Abraham and said unto him, Abraham; and he said Here am I. And He said, Take now thy son, thy only son whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I tell you of."

........................And Abraham rose early to respond to the call of his Friend.

After the covenant of blood had been cut between God and Abraham; there came a testing of Abraham's faithfulness to the Covenant.

................This test was proof to future generations that his cutting of the covenant with God hadn't been some empty ceremony.

He had pledged his very life to Jehovah.

Genesis 17:24 "And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised. . . . .
26 In the selfsame day. . . ."

...............He bore the evidence that he had entered into the Blood Covenant of friendship with God.

He is still known as the 'friend of God' in the East.

God gave Abraham the method of cutting the Covenant.
Read Genesis 17:10-14

....The seal of the Covenant was Circumcision.

Every male child was circumcised at the age of eight days and that circumcision was the entrance into the covenant.

The Covenant that God cut with Abraham was to bring the Israeli nation into being as a Covenant people.

.............................Genesis 17:7
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

We see that when God appeared to Abraham to make a covenant with him, that Abraham knew what it meant.

....................God was coming into a covenant of strong friendship with him.
[The Blood Covenant was called the Covenant of Strong Friendship.]

That is why Abraham was called the friend of God.
James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8 and 2 Chronicles 20:7

In Africa and a few other countries, if two men want to cut the blood covenant; they come together with friends and a priest.

.....................................First, they exchange gifts. Then they take the wine they brought and the priest makes an incision in the arm of each man. It is allowed to drip into the cup of wine.

........Then they stir the blood in the wine and drink it. This makes them blood brothers.

The method of cutting the blood covenant is almost the same all over the world.

In some places it has deteriorated into a very strange ritual, but it is the same blood covenant.

Happy

Thanksgiving 2011

There is nothing that is absolutely sacred with us.

........But in Africa the Covenant is sacred.

..................Mr Stanley and Dr Livingstone both testify that they never knew of the Covenant to be broken.

Mr Stanley and Dr Livingstone said that if two men in Africa cut a blood covenant and one of them should break the Covenant, his closest relatives would seek his death.

...................No man can live in Africa who breaks the Covenant; he curses the ground.

The blood covenant goes down through the generations; it is a permanent covenant that generations cannot erase.

...................If a man cuts this covenant with his friend, the children of the two families are bound to it.

Once the blood covenant is celebrated, every thing that a Blood Covenant man owns is at the disposal of this blood-brother.

......But this brother would never ask for anything unless he were in desparate need.

There are three reasons men cut blood covenants:

..........If a strong tribe lives by the side of a weaker tribe, and there is danger of the weaker tribe being destroyed, the weaker tribe will seek to cut the covenant with the stronger tribe so that they will not be destroyed.

Or, if two men went into business together, a matter of trust.

Or, if two men honored one another like David and Jonathan.

A covenant of blood;
.....a covenant made by mixing blood;
..........has been recognized as the closest,
..........the holiest and
..........the most permanent and
..........undo able agreement conceived.

Once made it cannot be undone.

The mixing of blood has been understood as the same as the mixing of natures.

...........Two natures, combined by the mixing of blood, has been considered as forming one nature, one life, one soul.

...............The union of natures by the mixing of blood has been considered possible between man and man, and Deity and man.

From the very beginning in every nation, Blood seems to have been looked upon in a pecular sense as life itself.

.....................The transference of blood from one to another has been counted as the transference of life with all that that life includes.

To understand the importance of this Covenant which God cut with Abraham, we must know the meaning of the Blood Covenant.

...............The existence of Blood Covnanting have been found among peoples of every corner of the globe.

...............................There are signs of it dating long before the days of Abraham.

Twenty-five years after Abraham had received his call from God, the greatest event in human history [except for the birth of Christ] took place.

It was the Blood Covenant which Abraham entered into with Jehovah God.

Abraham's father, family and neighbors were idolators.

..............................If God was to find a nation in Abraham to preserve His revelation to man and a knowledge of man's redeemer, so that He would be recognized when He came; God needed to remove him from these influences.

.................So following God, he set out in search of a land where a nation could be started free from idlolatry. (Genesis 12)

We can see why God revealed Himself to Abraham.

......The Revelation of God was practically lost.

..............If a righteous line were to be preserved so God could sent man a Savior, He had to choose a man who knew Him; and then make a nation of him that would preserve the knowledge of Himself on the earth.

367 years after the flood, Abraham appears.

Noah lived for 50 years after Abraham was born.

.........The world had slipped into idolatry. Abraham lived with pagans, and idolators until he was 75 years old. He had lived in Ur of the Chaldees until God called him to leave.

Many of the nations oldest and sacred books witness to the account in the bible Romans 1:18-32; that each nation originally had a revelation of God.

...................From these ancient writings we get a picture of the passing from the worship of one God into the worship of many gods and then into the worship of idols.

After the people of Babel had been scattered, their worship and knowledge of Jehovah God passed into the worship of the power of nature; then into idols.

Sense knowledge [that had been given to spiritually dead man] took the place of God's Revelation knowledge.

In Genesis 11:7-9.... Jehovah came down and confounded the languages of those living in Babel.

............It caused them to scatter all over the earth. From there the populations poured into all parts of the world.

..It took ages for the more distant lands to be settled.

Tower of Babel
These people decided upon the plain of Shinar as their permanent settlement so they could build a city and a tower, that they might not be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth
.....(Genesis 11:4).

In the ninth chapter of Genesis a command had been given to replenish the earth.

In the eleventh chapter of Genesis the whole earth was speaking one language.

...............As they began to multiply, where they were living no longer was sufficient. They either had to separate and fill the earth as God said or find a territory that would hold them together. So they moved into the rich, fertile plain of Shinar (Genesis 11:2).

From the time of the flood until the building of the tower of Babel, there was worship of God.

...............Not every one accepted it. Many wickedly rebelled but the knowledge and revelation of the true God was too fresh in their minds for them to set up other gods.

dancing skeleton

Satan, in his effort to make the coming of a Savior impossible, corrupted mankind to the point that the flood became necessary.

.....................................Noah, who knew God, was spared and his family. He preserved the true faith in Jehovah and handed it to his sons.

We traced the working of the God's grace
......from the time He gave man the promise of a Savior
......to the time of the flood, as He preserved a righteous line thru which the Redeemer could come.

We have seen that after man died spiritually,
..............his need for a Mediator,
....................................Righteousness and
....................................Eternal Life,
......could only be met by a Savior, God's Son.

We haven't understood God's working toward the coming Savior and the destruction of mankind by the flood has been hard for us to understand also.

.........................Seeing that man's need could only be met by a coming Savior, we can see why the flood was necessary.

If God was to keep a righteous line on the earth and
a knowledge of Himself;
He would have to destroy the human race and
continue the line that He would have the
Redeemer come....which would be through Moses.

It seemed as if Satan had won in his efforts to destroy the line of righteousness, but God's purpose was not going to be stopped.

..........It was a small matter for Him to bring an end to the human race in its corrupt condition.

..............................Genesis 6:11-13
"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

If man had been left in that evil condition, after Noah's death, the knowledge of God would have been completely lost.

.............................................The Righteous line would have been destroyed and the coming of a Savior would have been impossible.

Satan had destroyed the knowledge of God in the heart of man.

......The thought of every man's heart was evil continually.

............Only Noah knew and walked with the true God.

.............................Genesis 6:8-9
"8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."

In Genesis chapter 6, Satan is again working to prevent God's purpose.

.............He causes the line of Cain to marry into the righteous line.

.............................This corrupts the line in which the Redeemer will come to the extent that only Noah is left in the worship of the Covenant of God.

................................Genesis 6:5
"And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the heart was evil continually."

The seventh in line of Seth was Enoch, a man who had a testimony that he pleased God and was translated. Read Genesis 5:6-24

...................................Hebrews 11:5
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

The seventh in line from Adam through Cain was Lamech. He was a polygamist, murderer, and a worshipper of the god of forces.

Read Genesis 4:16-24

Genesis 4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

.....................'Lord' is in capital letters indicating that the original is Jehovah, the Covenant name of God.

...............................................Those who believed and had hope in His promise knew and loved that name!

There is a noticable distinction between the Cainites and the Sethites [the Righteous line].

..........The Cainites built cities, invented arts and devised amusements to justify the curse of sin.
Genesis 4:21-22

......The Sethites walked with God. ...Genesis 4:26

When we read chapter four of Genesis, we will notice two things.

..........................................After seeing Cain murdering his brother Abel, the result of his life is traced for just a little ways and ends in Lamech who was also a nurderer. Genesis 4:17-23

............................Then we are shown another man. The third son born to Adam and Eve, named Seth.
Genesis 4:24

.............In this line came Noah, Shem, Abraham, Jacob and then Jesus Himself.

.....This shows us God's working now with this line.

Jesus the coming Savior!

Genesis 5 gives us the genealogy of Noah.

..............God is preserving a line through which the Redeemer shall come.

.....He is working toward the coming Redeemer of man.

.........Satan works to destroy the righteous line.

The history of Israel shows the efforts Satan made directly toward
..........the seed of Abraham,
..........then to the seed of David and
..........then his bitter hatred and persecution of Jesus Christ, born of the Mary.

Isaiah 7:14 makes the coming of a Redeemer even more specific.

........."Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call His Name Immanuel."

.............................God said 'the virgin' just as though He had pointed her out. An individual is specified.

Psalm 89:3
"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah."

..........................Here he is called the "seed of David." He shall come from the family of David. ....A specific family.

In Genesis 12:7
" And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him."

.............Now God has gotten a little more specific. The promised Redeemer is said to be "the seed of Abraham".

In Genesis 3:15
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

........................Here the mention of a coming Redeemer or Savior called the seed of the woman is a very general term.

Later, God makes the promise of the Redeemer more specific.

..................................Then Satan's working of the destruction of the righteous line named by God becomes more specific.

The only promise given so far in reference to the coming Savior was very general.

..............So Satan's war against the seed of the woman was general.

1 John 4:11

As the generations go by, Spiritual Death is at work in man's life, causing him to be separated from God and his mind blinded. Ephesians 4:17-18

........................ Satan is trying to get man, the seed of the woman so far from God that He will never be able to send a Redeemer through mankind.

Seth was born to Adam and Eve.

....................Eve seemed to realize that through Abel a righteouse line had existed and had been destroyed.

She felt that Seth had been given to fulfill Abel's place.

..........She named him Seth, which means 'substitute' and said, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, for Cain slew him." Genesis 4:25

Abel had witness borne to him that he was righteous by offering a sacrifice in faith according to the revelation that God had given to him.

..........................Hebrews 11:4
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh"

Satan's first attempt to go after God's plan for man, was to get Cain to kill Abel.

....................Satan didn't know but what Abel would be man's Redeemer, so he destroyed his life. By doing this he did destroy the righteous line that existed.

Read Genesis 4:1-15

Satan worked to spoil the purpose of God by
trying to destroy the knowledge of God on the earth,
and destroy a Righteous line of mankind.

...............Doing this he will make it impossible for a Redeemer to ever come through man.

He wants to separate man from God permanently!

Satan thought that crucifixion would destroy Jesus Christ's life.

.........He didn't know that it was the way of man's Redemption.

..............But Satan must have realized that a Redeemer was coming who would break his dominion over man, because he tried to destroy the plan of God. He must of figured that if Jesus died that would end God's plan.

We don't know if Satan really realized God's plan for man's Redemption that man was given in the promised Redeemer.

..........We do know that Satan didn't fully understand it or he wouldn't have crucified Him.

....................1 Corinthians 2:8
"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

The coming of God in the flesh isn't any harder to believe than the creation of the first man.

...Adam was created by an act of Divine Power.

..........The rest of the human race was born through natural processes.

.................The Redeemer, Who is to be born of a woman, is also formed by Divine Power.

...He is God Almighty and His coming to earth in the flesh is possible for Him.

The gods of the Greeks and Romans were supposed to have been divine and human.

........It showed man's hunger for God.

Man's desire to have a God is proved by
......his drinking the blood of human sacrifices,
......his naming kings after names of gods,
and his making kings and emperors immortals.

After Adam and Eve fell and was driven out of the Garden, man has longed for a Savior.

...............His spirit desires to be with God because he was created in God's image with the ability to be a part of God's life.

In Genesis 3:20,
"The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living."

............The word 'Eve' in Hebrew is Havvah, which literally means the 'living one' or 'the life-giver'.

....................God was telling man that his wife shall be the mother of the life-giving one, Jesus!

Jesus has come and brought to nought [nothing, zero] him:

"....that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
Hebrews 2:14-15

"and thou shalt bruise his heel."

......"the heel" is the Church living on the earth.

......................The long ages of persecution of the Church by the seed of Satan will become history.

"And he shall bruise thy head"

........This is the head of Satan.

.........................The term 'bruise the head" means breaking the lordship of the ruler.

.............Man gave his dominion that God had given him to Satan. He will exercise that dominion until the Seed of the Woman comes then his lordship is going to be broken.

"The seed of the woman."

.........................Here is a prophecy that a woman shall give birth to a child not of natural birth.

......A child is always called the "seed of man."

Jesus was hunted from the time He was born by Satan's seed, until they finally nailed Him to the cross.

............................And from His Resurrection to today, the Church has been subject to bitter persecution and enmity of the world.

"I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed."

........Satan's seed is the unrepentant human race.

...............Woman's seed is Christ.

" will put enmity between thee and the woman."

..........There has been enmity between Satan and the woman.

................History has proven that she has be bought and sold like property.

.......................Only where Christianity has filled the hearts of the people has the woman ever received treatment that puts her above that.

In God's conversation with Satan, He gives him the first promise of sending His Son Jesus.

..........................Genesis 3:15
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Mercy and truth came together and God's love gave man a promise of a Redeemer!

God's love began to immediately work on man's side.

.................God knew that man's needs could only be met on legal grounds by sending His Son.

........God's love found no sacrifice too great that would bring man back to Him again.

When man committed the crime of High Treason, he died spiritually.

...........In spiritual death, he is described as "without hope and without God in the world."

Jesus,
the Incarnate One,
being equal with God,
united with man,
would be able to bring the two together.

To be a Mediator for man:

.....*He must be a man because he represents
.......mankind.
.....*He must be able to understand and sympathize
.......with man's temptations.
.....*He must possess a right standing
.......[righteousness] with God.
.....*He must be free from Satan's authority.

This mediation could only come by God and man coming together in one person.

Man's need of Eternal Life and righteousness could only be met by God sending His Son.

.......Jesus' coming was the only answer for man's need of a Mediator.

................No natural born human being could go to God on man's behalf because Spiritual Death covered all humanity.

10 Anniversary of 911

1 Samuel 6:19
The Ark of the Covenant was captured and taken by the Philistines. After some judgments had fallen on the heathen cities because of it, the Ark was put on a cart and sent back.

......The cattle pulled the cart off the road into a field. When some of the people saw the Ark the news spread. Thousands came curious to see it.

..........The cover was thrown off and the people saw it for the first time.

................Suddenly a plague struck them and fifty thousand fell dead.

It showed that no one can come to God except through a High Priest or sacrifice. Man cannot come into God's presence univited. He needs a Mediator.

The people of Israel ran away from the place where God showed Korah and the other leaders that Moses and Aaron were the most High Priests that He had chosen.

...............Israel was filled with awe and reverence for such a holy God!

Another attempt of man trying to come to God univited is in Numbers 16.

.........................Korah and a group of leaders of Israel were upset with Moses and Aaron. They insisted that they had just a much right to go to God as any of God's appointed High Priest's did.

..................So in the presence of everyone, Moses invited Korah and the others to come before God. As soon as they came, Moses warned the other people to get away.

.............When Moses stopped speaking, the earth opened up and Korah and the others with their families dropped into Sheol alive.

Aaron stood stunned when he saw his dead sons.

..........Moses cries out to Aaron to remind him what God had told them, so Aaron stayed silent.

...............Israel learned that man can't just come to Him [God] uninvited or just any way they wanted.

Leviticus 10:1-3 tells of an incident where Israel learned its spiritual condition.

..Aaron's, God's appointed high priest, sons were hanging near the tabernacle when they decided to take sencers with live coals, poured incense on them and went into the Holy of Holies, which wasn't God's appointed way.

......No one but the High Priest was allowed there and only once a year.

Suddenly the boys fell dead.

The life of the nation of Israel shows man trying to force himself into God's presence before Jesus Christ brought Eternal Life and justification on the cross.

From the time Adam sinned and separated mankind from God,
............to the time when Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father,
............no man has had a right to go to God except through His appointed
............priests, over a bleeding sacrifice, dreams, visions or angelic visits.

Israel's way to God was through tabernacles, priesthoods and offerings [animal sacrifices].

.................Other than God's ways, man has no way to get to Him.

God gave Adam and his children a way to come to Himself.

...............Genesis 3:21
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

..............Genesis 4:4
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Because God loved and desired fellowship with man, He immediately made a way for man to approach Himself.

Hopeless and Godless in a world where Satan holds the authority of death, man's condition was desperate.

...............He didn't have any grounds for prayer.

.........................God hears prayers only on the grounds of grace alone.

Man needed a mediator who could stand before God in righteousness.

...............Man needed someone who could represent the human race and go to God on his behalf.

Adam had once enjoyed his fellowship with his Father/God.

.........................But when spiritual death entered him, he immediately felt he couldn't stand before Him.

............................Genesis 3:8
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."

When God created man, man had righteousness which gave him legal right to come to Him.

...............Man gave up these rights when he gave them to Satan [sinned] and he was left without hope and without God.

"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:" Ephesians 2:12

This describes the condition of spiritually dead man. He had no covenant claims to God; he gave up every right God had given him.

God declared that there is none righteous.
[Romans 3:10].

.......And there is none that understands and seeks after God [Romans 3:11].

Romans 9-18 gives fourteen charges against the human race in its Spiritual Death condition.
..........9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
........10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
........11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
........12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
.......13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
.......14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
.......15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
.......16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
.......17 And the way of peace have they not known:
.......18 There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Man's mind and understanding became darkened by the god of this world.

..........2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,

Man became alienated from God,

Ephesians 4:18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Man's identity with Satan caused the judgment and unrighteousness of Satan to be his also.

..........John 16:11
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Man's sin had joined him to Satan.

..........Colossians 1:13
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness
..........Ephesians 2:2
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
..........1 John 3:10
.....the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Now he stands before God, not only politically as a subject of Satan, but as one in union with him.

Man's need of a Mediator is seen in India with its millions of priests trying to absolve hopelessness and leading their soul hungary people deeper and deeper into darkness.

Man in his condition of Spiritual Death, recognizes that he has no standing with his creator.

............The temples, altars and priesthoods of all nations confess man's consciousness of sin, his fear of death and judgment, and his not being able to approach God in his own righteousness.

Jesus pic

After Adam sinned:

*He was cast from the presence of God.

*He had lost his fellowship with the Father.

*He stood with Satan's unrighteousness.

*He had no standing with God and no right to go to Him.

After man had died spiritually, his first need was to receive Eternal LIfe, which is God's nature.

..........God couldn't give His own nature to man except on the grounds of righteousness, which is man's second need.

....................Man's third need was that he needed a Mediator, someone who could go to God for him.

Scriptures of Jesus' requirement for being the Redeemer.

...............John 8:29,
in His walk on earth,
For I do always the things that are pleasing to Him

...............2 Corinthians 5:21;
...............Isaiah 53:4-6; and
...............Romans 4:25,
As man's sin-substitue

...............Colossians 2:15;
...............Hebrews 2:14-15;
...............Pilippians 2:9-10; and
...............Revelation 1:18,
As the conqueror of Satan

Scriptures of how man cannot redeem himself.

...............Ephesians 2:12
Hope, and without God

...............Romans 3:20
by the works of the law shall no flesh be accounted righteous.

................1 John 3:10
Children of Satan

...............John 8:34
he that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin

...............Ephesians 2:2-3
walking accorning to Satan

...............Colossians 1:13
man in the authority of Satan

...............Hebrews 2:14-15
Satan holds the dominion of the realm of spiritual death, and man in bondage to him