Welcome back to The Road2Wholeness Blog! Season’s Greetings! May the Spirit of the Lord be with you! Today we return to The JAWW; the blog series
we began in November before our 7-Day Life of LAB blog series.
This blog is going to be pointed towards the authority of
God or God’s Authority. If you haven’t
read the first blog in this series, I encourage you to begin at the
beginning. First, I’ll like to address
the fact that although these two words can at times be used in the same way,
here in The JAWW blog series, the judgment of God is His Resolution where His
authority is His Sovereign Right and Ability to Resolve.
Often times when we hear the word Jaw we think blood. This is due to the large success of the
movie, and it just so happens that today we’re going to take a look at the
matter of “Lifeblood” and from God’s perspective. To do this, we first go to Leviticus
17:10-14.
It reads, “I will set my face against any Israelite or any
foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the
people. For the life of a creature is in
the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the
altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of
you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.’
…because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites,
‘You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature
is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.’”
Now we take a look at Genesis 4:10-11. This is a conversation between God and
Cain. It reads, “The Lord said, ‘What
have you done? Listen! Your brother’s
blood cries out to me from the ground.
Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its
mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”
Here we have the distinct word of God. This understanding also provides the reason
why Jesus’ righteous blood becomes our atonement. Therefore, we are in the right place, as
God’s authority has now been assigned to the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But our purpose here is to pull
workable knowledge from the scripture and to examine God’s Authority. My second purpose for this blog is to help us
to see the power of the lifeblood that is within each of us.
In Genesis 4:13, after God tells Cain of his punishment,
Cain responds “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I
will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,
and whoever finds me will kill me.” In
response to this God says to Cain, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer
vengeance seven times over.” Then the
Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
I like this story. I
think it’s a great look at God’s intent to inform us; not just by command or
commandment, but with the knowledge of our lives. Here, God did two things. First He removed from Cain’s mind his fearful
imaginations, and He also informed Cain of His sovereign authority. Where Cain added or multiplied God’s words,
God made subtractions, and also left Cain with a promise. We then are able to see that God’s Authority
is to bring peace and understanding to our lives. We also see that God’s Authority is to
address our concerns. Here Cain is being
cursed for taking the blood of his brother, and yet God does not go against His
own wisdom and makes it so that Cain’s life cannot be taken. Yet, we don’t know that if Cain had not
brought this concern forward that he would have received God’s promise. I also like that God in His sovereign right
and ability to resolve pronounced a curse to anyone who might kill Cain. I believe that it is in this moment where
Cain is fearful for his own life and cries out for mercy that God had the
greatest ability to help him to understand the value of each life. Here we see that if God’s Authority is not
accompanied by His mercy that full understanding cannot be gained. I also like that God did all this before hiding
Cain from His presence; demonstrating His eternal love.
Like many of us, Cain was not aware that the blood of every
creature has a voice. Some of us may believe
that this is a characteristic only given to the blood of Christ, but Genesis 4
tells us differently. Though it is only
the blood of Christ that has the power of atonement for sins, each of us has
within us a lifeblood that speaks and speaks for us.
Think about that for a moment. Consider what it means that your blood speaks
for you. Not your name by blood, but
your actual blood. In Genesis 3:15, God
is speaking concerning the fact that Adam and Eve has gone against His
command. In this scripture God is
directing His judgment towards the serpent.
It reads, “I will put enmity (bad blood) between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you
will strike his heel.” So we know that
there are two offsprings. We also know
that there is set to be an ongoing battle, and that it is the woman who is
primarily under attack. But we see God’s
Authority spelled out. We see that where
the serpent can only cause the offspring of the woman to stumble, her offspring
is able to crush his head. Now think in
modern and actual times. Ask yourself a
few questions. First, “Whose offspring
am I?” Second, “How am I contributing to
the ongoing battle?” And lastly, “How is
my blood advocating for me?”
Do you believe that there are other ways to stumble than in
the physical sense of the word? If you do, can you see that the enemy is
trying to devalue the lifeblood of the offspring of the woman? Here on the eve of a New Year, I hope to
bring to you a fuller perspective on some of the spiritual stumbling blocks
that we have God’s Authority to overcome with the truth and the light of His
Word.
Remember to go within that you may never go without. The God within you awaits you. Until our paths collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Complete Wholeness in Christ.
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
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