“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 their 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 neighbour, 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 I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Introduction
Our opening text promises that the “New Covenant” would be dramatically different from the covenant established on Mt. Sinai. We cannot obtain the “new” if we adhere to the old. Isaiah prophesied that the “New Covenant” would be an “everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 61:8), therefore it cannot coexist with the old. The “New Covenant” incorporates the old.
Afraid of the shadow
“But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 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 8:6-13).
The covenant of Sinai was a legalistic document to govern a people who constantly refused to obey God through love and faith. All they could do was to tremble at the foot of the mount, but this was not what the Lord intended as a response to His word.
The old covenant was a “pattern” of the “better covenant” that was to be brought in by Jesus Christ on Mt. Calvary (Hebrews 8:5-6). The Jews have always been satisfied with the ritualism and ceremony found in the Law of Moses even though it was impossible to be justified by God through it. It simply made the doer feel good rather than actually made good. While it remained on stone tablets it was like being happy with an estate agent’s description of a house without owning the property. Bible-believing Christians possess the “everlasting” and “better covenant” because they have it “written in their minds” and in their “hearts” (Hebrews 8:10).
Better and more effective
Why is the “New Covenant” better and more effective than the old? For one thing, the Law of Moses could not make anyone or anything perfect. It was the vehicle God used to prepare the way for the “better hope” found in the “New Covenant”, “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Hebrews 7:19).
The Law itself was not to blame, for in itself it was perfect, but mankind found it impossible to obey it, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:2-3). God used the Law to convince man of his sinfulness.
The old covenant began to decay the moment God spoke of a “New Covenant.” In light of this we can say that the Law was not annulled, instead it was expiring until the “New Covenant” was established in Christ. The Law’s expiry date was the exact moment Christ died on the cross for our sin. We are now partakers of the “everlasting covenant” and “receive the promise of eternal inheritance” … “And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15).
Established on unconditional promises
Notice that man has no part to play in bringing in the “New Covenant.” We see no Moses climbing a mountain to receive the covenant; instead God reaches down to man in the Person of Christ to write it upon our hearts. The supreme sacrifice of Christ was completely God’s plan, purpose and work, “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Observers of the old covenant obeyed God out of fear rather than from a willing heart of love. As a nation, Israel knew about God, but very few entered into a personal relationship with Him. Now, under the “New Covenant”, every believer may know the Lord personally. Our “Mediator” was the one who introduced Him to us, “He is the Mediator of the new testament” (Hebrews 9:15), “He is the Mediator of a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6), and He is the “Mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5).
The New Testament believer knows that his sins are forgiven, not because of personal merit or observance of the Law, but through the atoning blood of Christ alone. Whereas the old covenant constantly reminded the sinner of his past sins, “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3), the “New Covenant” assures us that God will never remember them, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16-17) … “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Also He satisfies us with the fact that we are His children the moment we accept the sufficiency of the blood of Christ, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
Resting on Jesus
The “New Covenant” rests entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood poured out for us on Calvary, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The old covenant, despite countless animal sacrifices, could not redeem a person from their sin. In fact everyone remained “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) after the sacrifice was made. Only the atoning blood of Christ can take away sin. “But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us … Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Hebrews 9:11-12, 25-26).
Under the old covenant the priest, though imperfect himself, had to offer the best animal possible as a sacrifice for the sins of the people, “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people” (Hebrews 9:7), but the Lord Jesus Christ, our perfect High Priest, was the perfect sacrifice for all.
Conclusion
Should we cast away the old covenant? No, for it teaches us why Christ needed to come to this earth to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and how God was preparing the hearts of man for His coming. Nevertheless, we should not attempt to be right with God by observing the old covenant with all its rituals and ceremonies, instead we must receive the imputed righteous that comes through faith in Christ, “But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:24). We do not have a fearful dread of appearing before God, for under the “New Covenant” we can come in faith and full assurance, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him … Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 11:6, 10:22).
Page created 11 March 2006