The Old Covenant

In Genesis 15, where God made the covenant with Abraham, there is some imagery from Abrahams vision/dream that needs to be explained. In covenants in those days, it was customary to take the animals mentioned, cut them in half and have both parties walk through their blood in the middle of them. This signified that if either side broke their commitment, that is what would be done to them. The Bible is clear throughout the Old Testament, that only blood can atone for sin. That is why there was always an animal sacrifice for a sin offering. In a covenant like this one, someone must die for breaking the contract. Since all of Israel broke the contract, all of Israel should die. That would be justice and completely fair.

However, it is important to note in this account that only God walked through the blood through the middle of the animal halves and he did it twice, once as a smoking fire pot and once as a burning torch. This signified God saying, if either one of us breaks the contract, here's what you can do to me. Here God is promising to take the punishment for the sins of Abraham's descendants when they break their covenant with them. As we know, Israel did end up killing God, in Jesus.
I have mentioned in previous posts that individuals from the Old Testament, as well as Israel as a whole are “type” for Jesus, but looking at it the other way, Jesus' life mimics the time of Israel. He came out of Egypt, out of the sea in baptism, like parting the red sea, 40 days/years in the wilderness. Jesus is also Israel, because Jesus is God’s son, just like God said that Israel was his son (Exodus 4:22). However, unlike Israel (and in the place of Israel), Jesus keeps the law perfectly. Jesus fulfills the Old Abrahamic Covenant. Jesus was a substitute for us and paid for our sins, but Jesus is also a substitute for Israel, taking the punishment for breaking the OT covenant, as promised when the covenant was first made.