Shadows of the Savior: The Covenant of Blood
by Pastor Edwin Lehmann on March 6, 2025 in Exodus 24:4-11
Lenten Prophecies and Symbols
There is an intimate connection between the Old and the New Testaments. The New Testament lies hidden in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament lies open in the New Testament.
Through the use of prophecies and symbols, the Old Testament portrayed the events and the blessings of salvation that the Savior would bring at His birth, during His life, and through His suffering, death, and resurrection as He made atonement for our sin and opened the door for us to eternal life with God in heaven. Therefore, the study of such Old Testament prophecies and symbols is profitable for the strengthening of our faith and the assurance of our hope in what God promises and does for us.
At times such prophecies and symbols, pointing ahead to Christ, are called Shadows of the Savior. That is the theme that we will utilize for our Lenten Series this year.
It will include two parts. One part will be a brief Bible study included in our midweek bulletins on prophecies that were given by God through the Prophet Zechariah in the Old Testament. These will be offered for your own use at home as a short Bible study during the week to enhance your Lenten preparation.
The second part will utilize Old Testament symbols or Shadows of the Savior that represent important truths about life in Him and the blessings of deliverance from sin that He would bring. When such symbols in the Old Testament pointed specifically to the Savior who was yet to come, they are called “types of Christ” and foreshadow His person and work. Such prophecies and symbols from the Old Testament are intended to focus our minds on the suffering and death of our Lord for us.
May God bless our Lenten preparation at home and at church as we look at these:
Shadows of the Savior:
Prophecies And Symbols
The Order of Worship
(No offering will be taken in the service this evening. The offering plates will be on the table in the narthex where you may leave your offering after the service.)
Tonight’s Shadow: The Covenant of Blood
Service Introduction
Opening Hymn: “Jesus, I Will Ponder Now” st.1-4 420
Shadows of the Savior: The Covenant of Blood Exodus 24:4-11
The Hymn: “Not All the Blood of Beasts” 398
The Order of Corporate Confession and Absolution: page 278
The Psalm: Psalm 130
The Reading of the Passion History of our Lord:
Part 1: Jesus’ Readiness to Suffer and Die
The Confession and Absolution: Hymnal page 279
The Lord’s Prayer
The Institution and Distribution of the Lord’s Supper
The Closing Prayer and the Benediction: Hymnal page 281
The Closing Hymn: “Abide with Me” st.1 & 7 783
Silent Prayer
Bible Study: Searching the Prophets
1 Peter 1: 10-12: 10 The prophets, who prophesied about the grace that has come to you, searched and studied carefully concerning this salvation, 11 trying to find out what person and what time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they wrote about these things. These are the things that have now been announced to you by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to look carefully into these things.
Who searches the prophets?
- The prophets themselves searched their own prophecies?
a. You have times when you read the Bible and are not sure of its meaning. So did the prophets. They did not always understand their own visions and prophecies
They carefully studied their prophecies and those of others. Daniel 7:15-16; 9:2
b.What prophecies did they search? The writings of grace, times of fulfillment, sufferings of Christ, the glory to follow.
c.Why did they search? The Holy Spirit moved them.
2.The Apostles and preachers searched the prophets so that they could announce the good news was fulfilled.
Think of how the Apostles often quote passages from the Old Testament. Cf. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost in Acts 2;
or how Jesus pointed the Emmaus disciples to the Old Testament in Luke 24:25ff
3. Even the angels long to understand and look carefully into these things. How interesting is that!
Although angels have great wisdom, they are not omniscient and do not know everything.
- Believers, like you, listen to the prophets and apostles, for they were sent to serve you with the gospel.
Application: May we diligently search God’s Word given to the prophets in Old Testament times, especially during Lent,
that the grace and glory that should come to us in Christ in the New Testament may be more fully revealed and appreciated by us.
Midweek Lenten Suppers and Services Based On:
“These were a shadow of the things that were to come;
the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:17
March 6: The Covenant of Blood
Supper: tacos
March 13: Melchizedek
Supper
March 20: Joseph
Supper
March 27: The Sacrifice of the Lamb
Supper
April 3: The Water from the Rock
Supper
April 10: The Bronze Snake.
Supper
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
4717 S. Farm Road 135 (Golden)
Spingfield, Missouri 65810
417.887.0886
Midweek Lent 1 – Ash Wednesday/Thursday March 5&6, 2025
Lenten Theme: Shadows of the Savior: The Covenant of Blood
Text: Exodus 24:4-11 25:2487
What a scene this was at Mt. Sinai! Some might call it gruesome. Think of all that blood splashed around the altar and on the people. But blood was necessary for a covenant to be made, a covenant so serious and far reaching that it needed to be sealed with sacrificial blood.
In love God had given sinful mankind a promise of salvation in the Garden of Eden. He repeated it in a covenant with Abraham. Now He came to Israel with that which we call the Sinaitic Covenant made at Mt. Sinai. God detailed how the Israelites were to walk as His people and the blessings He promised to give them as they walked with Him. Those willing people appreciated the promise of salvation so much that they responded, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do. We will obey.” To seal this agreement, blood was used. “The blood of the covenant,” Moses called it.
As Christians observe the beginning of Lent like we do, with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, it’s not too difficult to see the connection this text places before us in this Shadow of the Savior. Moses spoke of “the blood of the covenant” among God’s Old Testament people. At the same time, we New Testament people ought to hear Jesus speaking in the Upper Room just before His crucifixion: “Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt.26:27,28).
The covenant made on Mt. Sinai ceased long ago. But the one the Savior gave remains and becomes its greater fulfillment. It’s a Shadow of the Savior – This Covenant of Blood. Consider it.
I. Forgiveness from God through Jesus’ precious blood.
For 3 days Israel was camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God appeared before them in a thick cloud over the mountain. Thunder and lightning crashed. The mountain trembled and the sound of a trumpet blast grew louder and louder. This was the holy, infinite God coming to His people to give them His commands and applications for their lives. Moses recorded all of it. What a solemn and awesome moment in Israel’s history this was!
At the foot of the mountain Moses built an altar to symbolize the presence of the Lord. Around the altar he set up 12 stone pillars to symbolize the tribes of Israel gathered before God. Since no priesthood had yet been established, young men were selected to prepare the sacrifices for the altar. The blood was collected in bowls. Moses sprinkled half of it on the altar, and the other half on the people. To us that sounds so undesirable. To them it meant something special. The blood tied the people of Israel, gathered around the altar, with God, binding a grateful people to a gracious God in a covenant relationship. It symbolized God, represented by the altar, united with His people.
There was also deeper meaning in that blood. Blood pointed ahead to the Savior who with His holy precious blood would cleanse man of his sin and unite him to God by removing the sin that separated them. As later the Apostle John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn.1:7). Or, as the Book of Hebrews says, “How much more (does) the blood of Christ…cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death” (Hb.9:14). Blood was necessary to cleanse and reestablish peace between God and man. To Israel this was a picture, A Shadow of the Savior and the forgiveness from God that would come through Jesus’ blood.
All that blood at Mt. Sinai and all the blood of the other sacrifices throughout the entire Old Testament time was only a shadow pointing ahead. In reality, the blood of an animal couldn’t do a thing; it can’t bring forgiveness. It represented a greater need than what animal blood could do. So it was that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness….” (But) it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins….For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant…now that He has died to set them free from the sins committed….” (Hb.9:22; 10:3; 9:15). Only Christ’s blood could meet the need. And the need was met when Jesus stepped between a holy God and sinful people on Calvary’s cross. There, on Calvary’s holy mountain the Savior’s blood flowed for us.
From Sinai and Calvary, we turn our attention to Holy Communion. Here we also see the Savior’s precious blood, along with His true body. And what did He say when He instituted this special meal the night before He died? He said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you” (Lk.22:20).
As you come here tonight to receive this assurance, come first as Israel did, trembling in the presence of a holy God. Sin separated us from Him. It is the reason that we say each time before receiving the Sacrament, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities…but I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them.” (Or “I am by nature sinful. I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions.”) Do those words come from a penitent heart? As they do the Savior comes in the Supper to say, “Take and eat my body; I gave it for you. Drink my blood; I shed it for you for your forgiveness. Washed clean in my blood, depart in peace.”
We New Testament believers are blessed indeed! Isn’t that a sweeter, more personal way for Jesus to grant forgiveness than if we stood like Old Testament believers before a trembling mountain? In either case forgiveness was granted. But what a special way it is given to us in this Holy Sacrament.
II. Fellowship with God through Jesus’ precious blood.
There is more. Forgiveness was not the only part of this covenant. It led to the next. And that is fellowship with God. Through forgiveness our fellowship, our friendship, our relationship to God is granted through Jesus’ precious blood. Such fellowship with God is pictured in striking detail here.
After the sacrifices were made and the blood was sprinkled on the altar and the people, Moses and a group of Israel’s leaders climbed Mt. Sinai to sit down for a meal in the presence of the Lord. That day the Lord graciously dimmed the fullness of His glory to a point where they could be with Him and see Him. Though we aren’t told exactly in what form He appeared to them, the mention of His feet on a sapphire-like pavement as clear as the sky seems to indicate some human type form. What it was, we don’t know. It’s enough to say that God came to be with and fellowship with His people. They ate in peace in His presence.
In that can’t you already hear the foreshadowing of the Savior and His institution of this Supper? Can’t you already feel the effect that this Supper has on those who receive it in faith? What more blessed way is there to assure us that God and we are at one again than to hear Him say in His presence: “Given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sin.” After seeing and hearing these things in His presence, for He is truly in this Sacrament, we get to sing with Simeon, “Lord, now let us depart in peace for our eyes have seen thy salvation.” Such fellowship with God through Jesus’ blood is a precious thing.
So, approach this table tonight in faith. Be assured of God’s forgiveness and His fellowship with you through Jesus’ blood, a Covenant of Blood which was Foreshadowed in the O.T. before it took place. After seeing and receiving, go in peace, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
