Blood Covenant Fulfilled

by C.A. Gray

God is a covenant making, covenant keeping God. From the dawn of prehistory, God’s dealings with mankind can be understood through the lens of covenant: a binding agreement of unending loyalty and faithfulness. His early covenants with mankind were one-sided, requiring very little from men in return. All of that changed with the birth of the nation of Israel, and her deliverance from slavery in Egypt through Moses.

The Mosaic covenant, also known throughout the Bible as “the law,” encompassed the rest of the Old Testament books through the death and resurrection of Jesus. With the perspective of hindsight, we know now that God neither expected nor intended for Israel to keep the law perfectly. Instead, He wanted them to recognize that their best human attempts would inevitably fail. What they needed was a savior who could do it for them (Romans 7:13-25): one perfect kinsman of Adam, who could redeem all mankind from the predicament of the fall, and restore God’s family to Him. This was always the goal, from the very beginning.

This second volume of the Blood Covenant duology picks up with Moses, God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and His institution of the law. Israel’s early interactions with God can only be understood in the context of this covenant, set against the backdrop of a heavenly war. It carries through to Jesus’ initiation of the New Covenant of His blood, and finally to the prophecy of His return through the eyes of John. Each chapter begins with a fictionalized retelling, followed by an afterword discussion of commentaries and why I made the choices I did in the stories. Finally, they include the original scriptures. Blood Covenant Fulfilled is the story of how God united both His justice and His mercy in one staggering sacrifice that changed the world for all time.

354 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

C.A. Gray is the author of three YA Amazon bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I). She starts with some scientific concept that she’s interested in learning more about herself, and then creates lots of epic chaos and high-stakes action to go along with it. Her stories are free of gratuitous violence, language, and sexual content, and she abhors depressing endings… but they’re not all kittens and rainbows either! She also listens to and reviews audiobooks on her website, here on Goodreads, on Instagram, and on her podcast, Clean Audiobook Reviews, where she also occasionally interviews other authors. 

By day, C.A. Gray practices naturopathic medicine, podcasts, and writes medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Dr. Lauren Deville). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog (under her real name: Lauren Baden. Three names. Yes.) She’s kind of the queen of multitasking—so in her spare time, she creates whatever meals or crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee (Aeropress btw) and occasional wine (reds—and she saves the corks for craft projects), works out (while listening to audiobooks), and studies the Bible—about half of the podcasts on Christian Natural Health are scripture meditations.

She does sleep, too. Promise.

Join her newsletter for best-of-the-month reads, freebies and giveaway information, as well as new releases! http://eepurl.com/F3rof

Reviews

[Christie]

I'm constantly amazed by the author's knowledge of Bible passages. She truly has a gift for interpreting passages, putting them into context, and filling in the blanks based on extensive research. Reading her books has helped me better understand and appreciate the messages the authors of the Bible are conveying. For Christmas, I asked for paper copies of the other books in this series so I can reread them and highlight in them. I'm always trying to get rid of stuff, so it says a lot if I ask for physical copies of something I've already read.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Cate]

This conclusion to the Blood Covenant duology picks up where the first one left off and covers Moses, Balaam, and Joshua, then jumps to the temptations of Jesus and goes through John’s Revelation. The Blood Covenant books fit in with the other Biblical retellings that C.A. Gray wrote in Daughters of Zion and Messiah: Biblical Retellings. While you certainly can read this book as a stand-alone, there is much more to be gained if you read Blood Covenant Origins first, and I strongly recommend all four books.

We are designed to appreciate stories. Scripture gives us the skeleton of these stories, but does not always give us motives for choices or flesh out the characters. These stories do that in a way that never contradicts Scripture. I may not always agree with the direction Ms. Gray chooses to go in her retellings, but I respect her choices. They are always steeped in scholarship and prayer. She answers the “why did he/she say/do that” questions we all have. She doesn’t limit herself to the specific verses in the histories, but looks elsewhere in the Bible to see if there is more information about a character. For instance, Balaam’s story is told in Numbers 22-25, but he is also mentioned in Numbers 31, 2 Peter 2, Jude 11, and Revelation 2. The author lists all of Scriptures that were used in each retelling, along with her reasons for making certain choices.

All of these Biblical Retellings bring the Scriptures to life by making the characters relatable. It’s easy to read the Bible and think those people are completely foreign to us. But they really were just like us, and C.A. Gray helps us to see that.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kristen]

I have been very impressed with each of the books in this series. They all bring to life the stories of the Bible in new ways for me. This book focused on the covenant that God made with his people and how He made sure to bring about its fulfillment. The end was particularly riveting as it went through the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the perspectives of his disciples and finished with one of John’s visions from the book of Revelation. Even though those prophecies can be difficult to understand, C.A. Gray did her research and tried her best to make sense of it and explain it in the light of God’s covenant to us and to the Israelites. I found the stories moving and powerful as always and would recommend this book to any believers wanting to increase their desire to study Scripture. I know that’s what it did for me.

[Sam Lopau]

ran out of time on audible