The New Covenant

Hebrews 8:10-12 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. 
 
HEBREWS quotes directly from Jeremiah 31:31-34. God spoke to his people dispersed into exile. They had broken the old covenant relationship God had established in Exodus. God is gracious to replace a broken covenant with the new, eternal promise.
    There are four ways the new covenant is better than the old. First, the new covenant provides internal transformation. God has sent the Holy Spirit to put his commands into our hearts, minds and souls. Consider the power of God’s knowledge to come to you. Your understanding of God is rooted in God’s purpose to reveal himself to  you. It is a wonderful gift to know God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12)
    The new covenant brings us closer to God. In the old covenant, God repeatedly said, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” But Israel did not obey, and God could not be their God. Today, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit are our intimate connection to God. Jesus is Lord, Savior and brother. The Spirit is life, and he indwells the believer. The new covenant is a new relationship based on the Son bleeding on a cross, so the Spirit can resurrect your soul into eternal life. This is a much deeper, enduring relationship than that of the first covenant established in animals’ blood. Saved in your faith in Jesus, you belong to the Lord forever.
    Third, the new covenant will increase the knowledge of the Lord. There need be no priests between you and God. In fact, you become a priest (1 Peter 2:5) who offers the spiritual sacrifices mentioned in the previous lesson. Each person from the least of them to the greatest can know God’s Word today through the preaching, teaching and study. We all have access to God through prayer, communion and the forgiveness of sins.
    Forgiveness is the fourth blessing of the new covenant. God’s forgiveness now is complete. God’s extraordinary mercy, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” is the promise and sufficiency of the cross. To remember our sins no more means our past sins are done, out of God’s mind. Once we repent, he no longer counts them against us. Cleansed once of our sin, we no longer require additional cleansing.
    And we add a fifth: wondrously, the new covenant is eternal. God will never call it old. This is his ultimate commitment to you that leads to eternal life. Join in the covenant. Confess your sins, so the Lord will cleanse them from your heart forever. Joyfully live in God’s eternal promise.