The New Covenant (Part 2 of 2)
Jeremiah recorded a great promise of God in prophetic form: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in the inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The very fact that God promised a new covenant implied that the present covenant (at the time these words were penned, Israel was living under the law of Moses) was to pass away, and was to be replaced by a superior one. “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). A new covenant was necessary because of the inherent flaws of the law of Moses. Understand, the old testament was not flawed in the sense that God was unable to make it flawless. These shortcomings were designed by God and were necessary for the salvation of man’s soul. The law of Moses served a two-fold purpose. First, the old covenant was intended to point all who lived under it to the coming of Jesus. Paul points out that the law was a tutor (“schoolmaster”) to bring us unto the teacher, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24). Second, the law of Moses was given to confront man with the atrocity of sin. Paul paints a very vivid picture of the nature of the law and the realization of sin that the law brought to his attention: “Was then that which is good (the law of Moses, PM) made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13). The sound of sheep and goats, the sight of them being sacrificed, the smell of the burning of flesh upon the altar of burnt offering, the rivers of blood which flowed, these were all constant reminders about the awful consequences of sin. The daily, weekly, and yearly sacrifices continually reminded those under the old law that a terrible price had to be paid for sin, the innocent being made to suffer for the guilty (Hebrews 10:2-3). And yet, with all of the sacrifices they made for their sins, there was a sense in which they could not find the deliverance for which they longed (Hebrews 10:4). This is not to say that those under the old covenant could not obtain forgiveness for their sins. God granted forgiveness to those who served Him faithfully (see Luke 1:6 about Zacharias and Elisabeth), for God was able to see beyond that time to the time when He would offer His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sin once and for all (Acts 17:30; John 3:16; Hebrews 9:28). The old law served its purpose in impressing upon man how desperately he needed a Savior, and by pointing him to that Savior. No longer are we to hear Moses or the prophets, but instead we are to hear the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 17:1-5; Hebrews 1:1-2).
One striking contrast of the new covenant versus the old is the nature in which man comes to know God and is brought into covenant relationship with Him. Under the old law, the people of God came into covenant with God by means of physical birth. As they matured, their parents and grandparents then taught them about God. They were in covenant with God before they ever knew God. The new law would be a complete reversal of this process. Instead of being born into covenant with God, and then being taught about Him, the new testament demands that we first be taught (John 6:44-45), and then by obedience to the message of the gospel we are born into covenant relationship with the Father (John 3:3-5). Jeremiah is in no way saying that we are not to go teach our neighbors to know the Lord, for Christianity is certainly a taught religion. We have an obligation to go everywhere teaching the word of God (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:4). Men and women today do not come into covenant relationship with God by means of physical birth or lineage. The family of God today (the church, 1 Timothy 3:15) is determined by regeneration (Titus 3:5), not by generation (Matthew 3:9). We are blessed indeed to live under the new testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a better covenant established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6). The death of Jesus brought the Old Testament to a close, having fulfilled its course (Matthew 5:17; Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:13-15). We live today under the glorious New Testament, ratified and purchased with the blood of God’s Lamb (Hebrews 9:13-26).
Patrick Morrison
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