Let me tell you a story.
The King and the Beggar
Once there was a King. He owned the land, he ruled the people, he possessed and enjoyed all the privilege, prestige, pleasures and power of royalty.
A good man, he cared for his people. Loved them. Created opportunities for them to grow and learn and prosper at every turn. Gardens for their pleasure, orchards for their delight, rivers and farmland in abundance.
On the road one day, he came across a beggar. Ragged, destitute, frail, at the point of starvation, the man had clearly taken every wrong turn in life, abusing himself and all around him. Those wrong turns had finally become dead ends, and all hope for reclaiming even a reason to live was gone… and the very strength to live would soon be exhausted.
Compassion overwhelmed the King.
He clearly saw the harvest before him of seed sown wildly, carelessly, and in all the worst soil. A life ruined. Nothing escaped his clear vision and thorough understanding of the situation.
But sweeping all that away, the heart of the King overflowed with unconditional love for even this, the least of his kingdom, a man who had thrown his life away.
He understood that nothing simple would help the beggar. No amount of education, or forced discipline, or training in manners, or study of philosophy, or church attendance, or anything else would help. This man simply did not have the ability to meet any standard of behavior or achievement that would change the situation. Unless the King took the whole weight of the problem on his own shoulders, and paid the whole price that would be required, the man was finished.
The King made a radical decision. An unheard-of decision. A decision with no possible rationale except for love, except for his passion to be a source of healing and life to all in his domain.
A decision that would leave all who understood it with gaping mouths and eyes like saucers.
He offered to enter into a covenant with the beggar. A blood covenant. A covenant that would convey to the beggar full rights to all the King possessed, and – because a blood covenant is a mutual commitment – would convey to the King all the beggar possessed.
Do you know about this?
Blood Covenant
Throughout history, in every culture, men have practiced blood covenant.
It is the most binding, irreversible, and complete sharing of two lives that has been known to mankind.
If you and I were friends, I might say, “May I borrow $20?” If we were in blood covenant, I would say, “May I borrow your checkbook?”
Many of the things done through history, as people “cut blood covenant” with each other, are preserved in our wedding ceremonies today.
They would make a scar by cutting their hands, holding them together, and letting the mixed blood of their newly combined lives flow down their arms together. Then they rubbed something into the cut to make that scar large and visible.
Today, we exchange golden or silver rings.
Both serve to show the world that we are linked to another in a bond that is not to be taken lightly.
The tradition of feeding each other a covenant meal is echoed as the bride and groom feed each other pieces of wedding cake.
The drinking of wine, symbolizing each taking the other’s life into himself and herself, has become an exchanged goblet of wine or champagne.
And other practices survive, from the changing of names and the promises of blessings and curses (depending on whether the other is faithful to the promises made).
So the practice of two people making a mutual, total commitment of themselves to each other, is an ancient custom. It is historically a total, permanent, and essentially unbreakable commitment.
That’s “blood covenant.”
Now, back to our story.
An Incredible Offer
The King clearly offered the beggar an astounding array of benefits, along with some new responsibilities… after all, theKing had obligations to rule his domain well and shepherd the people.
But what could the beggar offer the King? What benefit did the King receive?
Some ragged clothes, some debt, a raging fever and … the broken pieces of a wasted life.
But now, in exchange for giving the King himself and what little he had, the beggar would enter into royalty, sharing in the pleasures and comforts of the castle life, and, of course, in its duties and obligations, for all that King had – assets and liabilities alike – were now his as well.
Clearly an unequal exchange, one to be marveled at through the ages.
Sound like an impossible story? A fairy tale that could never have happened?
You Are That Beggar
You, indeed, are the beggar. And God is the King who offers you … blood covenant.
With Him, personally. You and Him.
Incredible.
Yes, He knows you have made a mess of your life, and things are not going to get better. Knows your every thought and intention, in fact. Knows your history better than you do, and all the ways you justify and excuse your actions, and how you judge others who fail to meet your standards.
He knows you. Completely. Think about that.
And in spite of all that, He has come alongside to offer you everything He is, and everything He has.
Why? Because He loves you passionately. He made you for glory, to be his son or daughter, to rule with Him for eternity, to share in his great creation as a member of the royal family.
If you choose not to accept the offer, you have little future left, and not one to be envied… as your pride, selfishness, self-righteousness, and anger steadily grow to consume you, it will be a horrible end to a wasted life.
But He truly offers everything. Everything.
What about the mess? All you have done wrong, and the darkness lurking in your heart? (Come on, be honest.)
He has himself taken the punishment for the failures and mess of your life, and a horrible punishment it was.
But the way is now clear. The offer is on the table… for a little while. Will you accept it?
Think of it as a wedding. In fact, He has given us marriage as a shadow, a picture, of the loving intimate relationship He desires with us. And the King has promised to return for his Bride, the gathering of those who have entered into the Covenant he has offered.
He suffered torture and a brutal execution, pouring his blood out as the mingled blood of the new Covenant, the blood of God and the blood of man running together down his arms to stain the wood of a 1st century cross, paying the price to rescue you and bring home … his Bride.
What did you think the blood and bread of Christian communion was about? Now you know — it’s the meal that always follows blood covenant, each taking bread and wine that represents the life of the other.
On that cross, God “cut covenant” with man. Blood covenant. With you.
He bears the scars for eternity, and we share in the covenant meal when we “take communion.”
And He now invites you to accept his payment of the price for your life, and to accept him … as the one who knows you, loves you deeply, and wants you to spend eternity with him.
Eventually, the doors will close. Maybe tomorrow, for you. Maybe today.
Those who refuse to wear the wedding garments offered by the King will be turned away, going out into … well, you really don’t want to know.
When the story of Eternity moves into the next chapter, there will only be two places --- in the presence of the King, and … there’s not much left. It’s not a pretty sight.
Don’t go there, as the kids say.
That’s It.
Not very complicated, really.
The God who made you has paid the price for the mess and failure of your life, and wants to bring you home to live and rule all of creation with him forever (far beyond this physical life).
But it’s your choice, it really is. He loves you enough to respect your decision.
Be aware though… now that you know and understand the offer, to NOT accept it is to reject it. Leaving the offer “on the table” is a refusal. Preferring some other belief about who you are, who God is, how people “get to heaven”, etc etc etc, all boils down to a refusal of the offer.
We keep thinking we can somehow “fix it” ourselves. All those religions around the world just offer sets of rules, tell you what you should do, with the idea that if you keep the rules well enough … well, God will be OK with that.
Don’t believe it. You are the beggar. A dead man, waiting to be buried. Quit trying to be good, like an actor on the stage. God is not impressed, no matter who else you’re fooling. Nothing would be effective except him doing it for you. All of it. You can offer as much help as that beggar could offer the King. Forget it.
He did it all for you, and is offering you the whole package… righteousness, forgiveness, eternal life, intimate fellowship with him now and forever, and the role in the creation that he made you for.
And this is the offer. There’s only one. Good grief, what else would you expect him to do for you?!? Christianity is not a religion (religion is just men trying to satisfy God, to earn what cannot be earned). This offer sets all religions aside, makes them all irrelevant.
It is his offer to you of a personal, intimate, passionate relationship with the one who set the stars to dance across the universe, who created a level of complexity in all of life that we barely comprehend… and who waits for you to say, “Yes.”
For the details, go get a Bible, and do a little reading.
The book of John would be a good start … it’s the eyewitness account of when God put His seal on this invitation, written by one who was in the middle of the whole amazing thing.
And I’ll see you at the wedding! It’s going to be fun. The party is about to begin… a celebration of his glory, and his incredible love for us.
Come on in!
Brilliant! Gary has a gift for storytelling. And he he has a heart made for telling the most important stories. Thanks Gary for giving your insights to touch our very real soul. Love you brother!