My friend Alan wrote:
NKJ John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit”.
I was taught early in my spiritual journey that God ‘cut covenants’ with certain individuals, and that was the basis for much of the Bible; God ‘cut’ different covenants with certain men to achieve God’s goals. That never tasted very good to me, though I wasn’t able to say why I could not embrace that idea. As I began to study the verses in the O.T. which address the idea of ‘covenant’, I discovered the real error in that line of thinking; at least for me.
KJV Genesis 6:18 But with thee will I establish (Strong’s # H6965 is the root verb used here) my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
The verb ~wq, pronounced in English as ‘Qoom’ iis Strong’s #6965, and is used many times in the Hebrew scriptures. The first place it appears is in Gen. 4:8: “…Cainrose up (Strong’s #6965) against Abel his brother…”
The impact of ‘’qoom’ is the idea of embracing the thought, or instructions, of ascending to a higher position of authority, and/or of obedient action. The word is generally used to communicate the activity of one who takes instructions from another to do something they weren’t previously doing. Most often it represents when a superior motivates a subordinate to do something: i.e., ‘Arise’; ‘stand up’; ‘rose up’; ‘go forth’; etc. In that context, then, let’s consider this. “But with you I will establish (#6965) my covenant…” [Gen. 6:18]
This is also the first place in the scriptures that the word ‘covenant’ is used; in Hebrew and in English. The literal translation of these Hebrew words into English is as this: “I will cause to stand up (Strong’s #6965), in you and with you, my covenant”. The ‘covenant of God’ is the presence of God. And God is Spirit, on the authority of Yashua. That covenant declaration was not a promise to just Noah, and whatever ‘noah’ represents. This declaration was for all of mankind; humanity; ‘adam’, in all of ‘adam’s’ varied manifestations. For God is no respecter of persons. The idea being introduced here is that when man is obedient to the Spirit of God, the covenant of God stands up in man. And the covenant of God is the Spirit Presence of God.
Many times throughout the O.T. we find this language being used to say that if a certain individual is obedient to the Spiritual instructions he/she is receiving from God, that God will cause to ‘stand up’ in them his presence; His covenant in them. God doesn’t make external covenant conditions with man. When man is obedient to the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God ‘stands up’ in man. And all who embrace the instructions and corrections from the Spirit partake of the benefit of having the Spirit of God ‘stand up’ in them; in their experience and in their actions and in their lives. When one hears something from the Spirit of God that causes them to embrace what they heard, the Spirit of God is being elevated in that individual. And all who embrace and accept, for themselves, that same idea of what was ‘heard’, also accept and endorse the benefit that goes with that level of Spirit obedience. For God is no respecter of persons. This principle works whether or not you understand it.
Throughout the O.T. scriptures the Spirit of God elevates the ‘covenant of God’, in man, through the phases of Noah, Abram/Abraham, Jacob/Israel, Moses, the priests, prophets and kings. I like to refer to it as man on his journey from ‘adam’ to Christ. From the very beginning of the idea of ‘covenant’, beginning in Gen. 6:18, those seeking covenant with God did so by sacrificing animals on their behalf; the shedding of innocent animal blood to appease God for the sinfulness of man. Nowhere in scripture can I find where God introduced this idea, or condoned it or found it acceptable. We do find, however, where YHVH Elohim gives instructions to Moses and others on how this ritual should be performed. But we also find where God, speaking through certain prophets, ridiculed this concept, and told the people to stop this practice, for it was doing nothing to cause a ‘spiritual’ improvement of the people. Indeed, it was doing just the opposite. The more animal life they sacrificed in effort to please God the more corrupt and vulgar they became. We find that situation continuing all the way to the Cross of Calvary.
At the Cross of Calvary Yashua (salvation) is crucified. And the scriptures tell us that when the ‘side’ of Yashua was pierced, blood and water were seen to come forth immediately from the wound in his side. Religion has debated for two millennia what all that represented. Even the medical profession got involved to give their ‘medical explanation’ of what was happening, and why. But I had never heard anyone yet explain the Spirit implication of these explicit details. We are still debating, two thousand years after the fact, what Yashua meant when he cried out “It is finished”! All of this was confusing to me as well, until I realized that the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross was God’s way of shouting to us that there is no covenant life in the shedding of blood. Stop it with the blood sacrifices. They are an abomination to the Spirit of God. God never instituted blood sacrifices. Man ‘created’ that abomination. Yashua, however, showed that it has to stop. There is no covenant life with God acquired by shedding the blood of another. On the Cross Yashua was emptied of blood to illustrate to us that Life with Father has nothing to do with having blood, or not having blood. He gave up his blood to show that the covenant he had with God had nothing to do with blood. His Covenant Life was established by God’s Word to him, and his Covenant Life with Father relied on nothing else than the Word of God that he embraced.
As the blood of Yashua was flowing forth from the wound in his side, water also flowed forth. What does water represent? The Word of God is often represented as water. “Out of your belly shall flow rivers of Living Water”. The water and the Spirit and the Word are all used synonymously as representing the coming forth of the Spirit of God within. As believers, we are encouraged to embrace baptism in water, and baptism in the Spirit. Yashua breathed upon them and said, “Receive you the Holy Spirit”. The word ‘breath’ is most often associated with Spirit. The very breath that sustains us, in this physical dimension, is the gift of God. The Breath of God and the Spirit of God are one and the same. For God is Spirit, and does not need to breathe as man needs to breathe. And if you can breathe, you are a manifestation of Covenant Life with Father. God has elevated His Covenant in ‘adam’ to another level. And in this Third Day experience, the Aquarius sign (which astronomically we have entered into) of the man with the pitcher of water being poured out has taken on a new and higher spiritual importance. The Spirit Words of God flowing forth from us is synonymous with the water being poured out by the man with the pitcher of water. And we must expend breath to speak the Word. Yashua breathed upon them and said these Words: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. [John: 20:22] ‘Tis by the breath of God that we speak the Words of God.