The Circle of Love

~ The Circle of Love ~


The circular path of the Blood began in Heaven "before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:18-20).

The blood of Jesus was not an afterthought of the Creator taken in surprise at the fall of man. God never plays catch-up to Satan. If He did, Satan could lead God.

No.

Before God created man He knew he would fall. Before God formed man He foreordained his redemption with "precious Blood." Divine plans originate in the Father. Somewhere in the divine council rooms of Heaven, the Father put forth His plan for man.

Man would be spirit. In God's image. On God's order and kind. Therefore, man would be able to fellowship God. Man would be able to love God. Man would be created to work with God; to have dominion over the works of God's hands. For such high eternal purpose man could not be a robot. Spirit man would be given a soul; a mind, a will, and emotions.

Fallen Lucifer would tempt man's will. Man would fall into the tempter's hand. But God would redeem man. God would design man for redemption in his creation. God would make man a creature of blood. (God was not restricted to create creatures of blood. Angels were not created with blood. Lucifer was not created with blood.)

God would call man Adam, connecting him in the wonderfully revealing Hebrew language to blood (dam) and to the ground (adamah). Both blood and ground are red (adom). God would put spirit man and his soul into a body of flesh made of the dust of the ground. (See 1 Thess. 5:23.)  The life of the flesh would be in the blood (Lev. 17:11,14).

Man's body; an earthen vessel; could be broken and the blood poured out, a life for a life. If the Divine One would go to earth Incarnate and live without sin in "a body prepared," His vessel could be broken and His perfect Life poured out in His Blood for the remission of all sin.

In some eternal moment, in some heavenly place, the One we call Savior agreed to fulfill the Father's great plan of redemption. First in Heaven, and eventually at Calvary, our Lord Jesus offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit, without spot to God (Heb. 9:14).

The Psalms records Jesus' words, in glorious contrast to the rebellious words of Lucifer, "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God..." (Ps. 40:7-8).  (See also Heb. 10:5-10)

In what is a great mystery, God the Son became, "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). "For asmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you"  (1 Peter 17:18-19).

The Blood line began in Heaven. It circled earthward first in revelation through types and shadows. For God had to reveal to fallen man the place and the power of the Blood of the Lamb to redeem him. God Himself shed the first blood in type when He made coats of animal skins to cover man.

Blood would cover man until he was again fit for glory. The blood of every animal on every legitimate altar of Old Testament times was to reveal the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul"  (Lev.17:11).

The precious Blood was manifested in the earth when Jesus came. John the Baptist looked upon Jesus and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The earthly part of the Blood's path was consummated when the manifested Lamb poured out His life in His Blood on Calvary's altar.

The circle of the Blood turned upward again on the third day. Our Lord Jesus Christ arose; triumphant over death, hell, and the grave; and carried His own precious Blood into the Heavenly Holy of Holies where it was accepted for man.

The resurrected Lamb closed the circle giving glory to God the Father. The powerful, redemptive Blood is returned to its Heavenly Terminal. There before the throne of the Living God, the Blood ever speaks "mercy" for man (Heb. 12:24).

The Family Of God