The New Covenant.


The Old Testament prophets ..Jeremiah ... Ezekiel... and Isaiah prophesied about the coming of a future New Covenant God would make with mankind, and this would be mediated by the Messiah. (Jesus)


It is an unconditional covenant and eternal in nature. As we see in the Mosaic Covenant which laid down the law by which mankind was to abide by.. Yet mankind proved they could not live to the conditions set in the covenant. So these laws were fulfilled in Christ Jesus.


Firstly.. By the change of nature.. The internalisation of the Law of God.

Israel didn't have the heart or nature to obey God... And the old covenant contained no provision for internal motivation to obey God. In the new covenant God promises to put His laws into the mind and write them on the hearts of mankind.



David wrote in Psalms..
"I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is in my heart" (Psalm 40:8). The new covenant promises the power to obey God. Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit which is a unique feature of the new covenant.
The fundamental basis of the new covenant is simply the conversion process. "Writing" God's laws in the mind and on the heart poetically describes how God, through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, helps us "internalise" His laws. That Gods law should become an intrinsic part of our being.
Through understanding Jesus and what He taught in our nature we become as He.... And by this nature we are promised to share in the same intimate relationship with God that Jesus Himself enjoyed.


Secondly... Forgiveness of Sins.
Forgiveness of sins, is also necessary for a relationship with God.. All sin is an anathema to a Holy God we can only stand in the presence of God if we are made pure.. This forgiveness is another unique benefit of the new covenant. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins, as it was shown in the Old Testament.. It was only ever a temporary covering. Therefore.. forgiveness of sins was unique to the new covenant. The old covenant was made at Sinai when Israel accepted its terms. The new covenant is made at baptism when we accept Christ's sacrifice and commit ourselves completely to God and His will. Both Covenants were ratified by blood.


Thirdly.. Eternal Inheritance..
Eternal inheritance is a third unique and better promise offered in the new covenant. Eternal life is more than a chronological event and change of composition. Most importantly.. it is a never ending relationship with God. What meaning would eternal life have apart from God? We are heirs of God through Christ. The change of composition is only a means to that end. And the chronological aspect of eternity is simply part of that process.


We see the New Covenant is mediated through Jesus in the New Testament.. This fulfilled all the covenants of the Old Testament.. As all the previous Covenants were concerned at some level with the redeeming work of the Messiah. Some people wrongly assume that all Old Testament laws are obsolete unless repeated in the New Testament. The New Testament is a record of members living by the terms of the new covenant. But nowhere does the Bible say all new covenant laws are recorded in the New Testament. Rather, the laws of the new covenant are written in the minds and hearts of God's people.


The new covenant renders the old covenant obsolete. The old covenant is not the same as the Ten Commandments. A covenant is an agreement... commandments are laws or terms of the agreement. The Ten Commandments are the "words" of the covenant not the covenant itself. The covenant or agreement became obsolete, but not the laws within it.


Jesus Christ's sacrifice made animal sacrifices obsolete. But the old covenant was not suddenly discarded or forbidden in the New Testament Church. It simply faded into disuse as people became aware of the superiority of the new covenant and came under it. But the law of God will never become obsolete..


The new covenant is really quite simple. God wants us to have a relationship with Him. Obeying His laws is fundamental to that relationship. The way God has communicated His laws has varied, but the laws remain the same. He related His laws verbally to the Prophets...
Abraham obeyed Gods voice..
To Israel... Through Moses God wrote them on stones and in the "book of the law." In the new covenant, He "writes" them in the mind and on the heart. The new covenant provides the motivation to obey His laws, extends forgiveness when we fail, and results in an intimate relationship with God for all eternity.

A gift freely given given through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

Peace.