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kill it by cutting it in two, from the tip of its nose all the way down. Of course, there would be blood everywhere. Then, you and I would pass each other as we walk between the two pieces of the animal.
    This all sounds very bloodthirsty! But there is a significant reason for the use of animal pieces in a covenant. You see, if you break the covenant, that is, if you fail to keep your part of the covenant, the implication is may God do to you what has been done to the animal! Now, you can see why a covenant is so much more binding than a contract! Death is the consequence of breaking the covenant!
    Now, let’s look at what theologians call the “Abrahamic covenant”. Why is God’s covenant with Abraham based on His grace? Well, when God was about to cut the covenant with Abraham, Abraham fell asleep. In actual fact, God put Abraham to sleep and cut the covenant with Jesus instead. Jesus appeared as the pillar of fire and cut the covenant with God the Father who appeared as the pillar of cloud. (Genesis 15:17)
    If God the Son cut the covenant with God the Father, then the blessings are guaranteed because the covenant does not depend on man’s performance!
    In other words, Jesus took Abraham’s place in this covenant. Jesus was representing man when He crossed the animal pieces with His Father. If Abraham had crossed those animal pieces with God, he would have been held liable if he ever broke the covenant. And we know that no man — other than Jesus — is perfect. So Abraham’s chances of breaking the covenant were very high. And the result of eventually breaking the covenant was certain death! But while man will fail, God cannot fail. And because Jesus cannot fail, God had Jesus stand in Abraham’s place. That’s why the Son of Man cut the covenant with God Almighty.
    So if God the Son cut the covenant with God the Father, then the blessings are guaranteed because the covenant does not depend on man’s performance! That’s why it is not a covenant based on works, but an unconditional covenant based on God’s grace.
    Today, you and I don’t die despite our complaints against God. Instead of death, we experience spiritual refreshment and blessings flowing towards us! Do you know why? The first reason is that God remembers His unconditional covenant of grace with Abraham. We are sons of Abraham through faith and those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham. (Galatians 3:7–9)
    The second reason is that Jesus was smitten at the cross. The new covenant of grace cut at Calvary was also between God the Father and God the Son, who was representing man. So like Abraham, we have no part to play in this covenant. If there is anything for us to do, it is simply to believe and receive the blessings of the covenant! That’s the way God wants it. And the blessings are always flowing for us because the covenant was cut between two persons who can never fail!
    Our Mistakes Cannot Stop God’s Grace
    Both the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant are based on God’s grace. This means that we receive all the promises and blessings of the covenants by grace through faith. We don’t receive them based on our works, obedience or performance.
    That is really great news, especially because it means that our mistakes cannot stop God from blessing us! For instance, if you attend a church service and the preacher says something wrong or does the wrong thing, God can still bless the congregation because the preacher’s mistakes cannot quench God’s grace.
    People who don’t understand this truth tend to attend or skip church depending on who is preaching. They try to find out who is preaching the next Sunday, and if they don’t like the preacher or they don’t think he is “anointed” enough, they’ll give him a miss.
    Now, I am not against people wanting to sit under an anointed ministry. But if God can use Balaam’s donkey, He can use any preacher! Even if the preacher messes up and preaches wrong doctrines, God can