The New Covenant
"Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises. For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second. But God found fault with the people and said:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord.
I will put My laws in their minds,
and inscribe them on their hearts.
And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their iniquities
and will remember their sins no more.”
By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord.
I will put My laws in their minds,
and inscribe them on their hearts.
And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their iniquities
and will remember their sins no more.”
By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13
Old
All the previous covenants* we have already talked about were all done in the Old Testament.
And all those covenants, we can sum up as a whole and call as the first covenant or the Old Covenant.
New
In the New Testament, we have what we could call the second covenant or the New Covenant.
This is the final covenant -- the culmination and the fulfillment of all the previous covenants.
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh is the mediator of this new covenant. Everything that was written in the past about the Messiah and the fulfillment of God's Plan is completed by His birth, His life, His suffering, His death, His resurrection and His (soon) second coming.
New You
In much the same way, we who are old creations are made new -- living a new life as we look forward to Christ's return.
2nd Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
New Life
New is new.
Our new life in Christ is liked being "reborn"** -- a "metamorphosis". Like that of a butterfly from a caterpillar, as it emerges from a chrysalis (pupa).
Before we crawl, but now we fly.
Yes out with the old and in comes the new.
Matthew 19:26-30:
"Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Our (new) life is not a quick 100 meter dash and it is over, it is a marathon. And we all run our own race. But it is better to run together and see each other at the finish line.
*Covenants Series
-With Adam
-With Noah
-With Abraham
-With Moses
-With David
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