The New Covenant
Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
By coming to Jesus, I came into better things than any other generation before His death had ever known. I am convinced that what I have been given in Christ is far better than anything Moses or any prophets preceding Christ knew.
Now I realize that someone might look at what I just said as me boasting and think of it as being a bit pretentious on my part. But it is true, and yes, I am boasting, but my boasting is of what Jesus has done in establishing His new covenant.
You know, each time I upgraded my vehicle, I let go of my older one. My purpose in upgrading to a newer one was that the older was had become necessary to replace. The same holds true with regard to a covenant. The old covenant had served its purpose, but it was time to be replaced.
Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
It has vanished away. The old is now replaced with the new. We are invited to live in the new covenant Jesus established by His blood. It does not make sense thought o live with one foot in the new and one foot in the old. That breeds confusion and double-mindedness.
I do not desire to question His goodness or His intentions toward me. The old covenant was a conditional covenant that relied on my own faithfulness and ability to keep commandments in order to be in a relationship with Him and experience His blessing.
The new covenant grafts me into a relationship with Him on the basis of the obedience of Jesus. This new covenant functions by faith in Jesus as opposed to having faith in myself.
Matthew 26:28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
My sins, past, present, and future, are completely taken away by the blood of Jesus. If He failed to pay for even one of my sins, then I cannot have a relationship that offers free and open access before the throne of grace where I might find mercy to help me in my time of need.
If I must rely on my own performance to merit such access, I am doomed. I have never met a morally perfect human being, and I do not boast that I am such a person myself. I have no confidence in my flesh, and I know that in my flesh, there is nothing good as it is not yet redeemed. This is why I depend on what Jesus did at the cross and put the whole weight of my faith on Him and His completed work so that I might enjoy the benefits of the relationship through this new covenant He established.
It is most important that a person settle which covenant they will operate under and make sure they do not try to operate under two covenants as opposed to just one. There is only one that is recognized by God now, and that is the one Jesus established. The other is now obsolete. I encourage you to make sure you have let go of the old covenant and enjoy the new covenant Jesus established. There’s great possibility in the new covenant, while only death awaits those under the old. I choose life and relationship according to my faith in Jesus.
