Who is the Blood Avenger?
The Blood Avenger is inextricably tied to the messianic secret. Understanding one without the other is impossible (at least for me). Understanding either without realizing the New Covenant and Old Covenant operate in parallel is equally elusive. We must recognize creation is timeless in many regards. This is because of the elasticity of all things created, including mankind and its relationship with the sons of God.
The mysterious world of the blood oath reaching back ages corrects and recorrects over time. I call these corrections trials in my upcoming books, but the idea is refinement (Isaiah 48:10-11). This is the result of the order of things that allows anyone who kills someone else to be swept away to a city of refuge until the time comes when a trial may happen (Nu 35:6, 32). The order of events explains the reason for the messianic secret, hiding, and waiting.
Things change when a new high priest comes, and a jubilee may happen. There are specific rules for how this works, and Jesus illustrated it with the adulterous woman. The idea of waking someone up is the idea of death. It is the death of the unconscious. One becomes conscious as the human element dies and the spiritual side comes alive. This is a spiritual flip that is switched.
Avenging another person’s blood is deeply engrained from the story of Cain being marked for protection to the law of the cities of refuge brought forth by Moses through then to Jesus’ piercing on the cross and drunk Babylon in Revelation. The blood avenger seeks to retaliate against someone for murder. It solves the problem as an eye for an eye comes into play.
Continuation of the Old Covenant
Blood Avengers come into the New Testament just like the Old Testament. The difference is the covenant seems to have changed. That change happened when Jesus flipped the script and made the blood avenger come from another direction, as the original is exonerated. One example of this playing out is the trial of the adulterous woman. The change occurs when Jesus teaches his disciples in parables and requires them to be silent. The reason is the disciples are the key to releasing the curse of the Blood Avenger. The ones wronged in the Old Covenant are those who died and were left in creation, longing for something greater. These are the children. The children, therefore, must be the Avengers this time around. Jesus promised they would not be left as orphans or widows, which is fulfilled through this process.
Remember, the creation account has mankind as the entity that rules the world (Gen 1:26, 1:28). These are not the sons of God, as depicted in Genesis 6. The sons of God, therefore, are the ones to be ruled in the sixth cycle, day, chapter, book, etc. The Word prevails as the flaming sword of separation.
The accused is Judas Iscariot, who must remain hidden after betraying Jesus as the Son of Man. Man, therefore, becomes the blood avenger. It is man’s glory through Christ that was betrayed. The process, however, rectifies all kinds of things from the Old Covenant. That said, the process requires two sides to be in tension, according to Ezekiel 37:16. That verse describes the person of Christ quite well. It is one person in one hand representing the elder Judah with the sons of Israel and the younger Ephraim with the house of Israel. That hand shatters on the cross as things get mixed up.
Betrayal
The betrayal comes from Judas’ line against the Son of Man, hence Manasseh’s warranted revenge carried out by Gamaliel and Saul before Saul’s conversion. Saul is awakened to the fact that he was persecuting Christ himself as it is not well understood that Judas is and was Christ. Persecuting Judas when he came out from the city of refuge was indeed persecuting Christ. The solution is to speak in code or parables. The persecutor would not understand what is happening as the right hand does not tell the left hand what it is doing.
Protection
The messianic secret and the parabolic language turn into a form of protection. Speaking in tongues allows communication while the opposing side is unaware. It enables the spiritual elders to be aware of everything while the spiritual younger, or human souls, are unaware. If they were aware, they would turn and be saved (Isaiah 6:9-11). The reason why is none of the spiritual younger want to be away from spiritual growth. Perhaps, the spiritual younger also wishes to have mercy, as God would. After all, we are created in God’s image, and God represents mercy (Matt 9:13, Gen 6:3, 6). Interestingly, however, human nature keeps us from forgiving. Simply put, our pride blinds us.
Forgiveness is the key to repentance, but we miss it nearly universally. The human condition puts this unforgiveness on display in the most painful way. While we want to think God forgives, we cannot forgive if our salvation depends on it. We simply don’t understand. That is the point of the reversal Christ represents. What was inflicted on the created is now inflicted on the ‘ruler of this world.’ It is a perfect judgment of self.
The New Way
The Law tells us how to treat this situation. Things shift when there is a new high priest. That is when the manslayer, who was protected by the congregation in the city of refuge, may return to his own land (Numbers 35:28). There remains no blood avenger who can avenge for Jesus’ blood because man, who is to rule, can now see the sons of God as Judas and the other disciples who are trapped in their cities of refuge. Each can now return to his possession. None can testify against the Holy Spirit because that is a lie. Either they know the law and know this is true, or they do not know what happened and cannot correctly testify. It is the perfect setup.
The messianic secret can be undone because the need for the secrecy is also removed. Nobody left in creation has not sinned. That is why it takes one unrighteous steward to speak up and forgive. It takes two to condemn, so even if the accused wants to condemn himself, his self-condemnation fails. That is the state of the created world.
More Details
There is so much more to add about the way the rules unravel, but this is a reasonably concise overview. You can also find more details about the blood avenger here. The linked article goes into academic details in a way lay people can understand it.
