The Blessings of the New Covenant
In Part 3 we saw that our God is a God of covenants.
A covenant is a formal binding agreement between two parties.
A blood covenant is the most binding form of covenant.
God entered a covenant with Abram as a way of convincing Abram that he would keep his promises to him, promises to give him a multitude of descendants, to give him the promised land and to bless him in it.
God promised that he would bless those that blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him.
We considered the actual covenant cut between Abram and God and then looked a typical covenant type ceremony performed by the ancient Hebrews.
Finally we saw that the new covenant through the blood of the Lamb of God was eternally binding and forms the basis for us knowing that God will keep all his promises to us.
The Blessings of the New Covenant
We are now going to focus in on certain passages in the book of Hebrews, which pertain to the new covenant.
The emphasis is on Jesus, the perfect High Priest, providing a new and better covenant which is not based on the peoples’ behaviour.
Hebrews 7:20 and it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,
21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever.'"
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23 Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office.
24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26 Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Jesus as the mediator of the new covenant represented the fulfilment of the new covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:31 “The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Hebrews 10:15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
When we enter the new covenant with God, he puts the fulfilled law [1] into our hearts. Jesus exchanged his life for ours and died for us on the cross. Because of this we ought to live holy lives and not use the grace of God to behave sinfully. Because Jesus completely fulfilled the Law, he swapped robes with us, we became righteous, and he dealt with our filthy rags. Because the fulfilled law is inside us, all the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 apply to us; here is what Jesus left for us in his will!
28:1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands, I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.
11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Jesus was the perfect Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15), providing an eternal inheritance in a way the old covenant could not (compare with Hebrews 12:24).
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Furthermore none of the curses apply to us because we have already been judged in Christ on the cross.
The New Covenant is Everlasting
Christ's blood established an everlasting covenant in Hebrews 12:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Conclusion
As born-again believers we have been given a new spirit and God has written his law in our hearts. Even better is the fact that the law in our hearts is the fulfilled law, the Old Testament law that was completely fulfilled (all 613 parts) by Jesus Christ.
We have an everlasting covenant with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our eternal life has already begun. Our sins have been completely forgiven, eternal judgement avoided, and we have been admitted into the royal family of God. We will rise from the dead and live with him forever. In this life all the blessings of Abraham are ours through Jesus Christ. Study the word of God day by day to see all that you have been freely given through the blood covenant of Jesus Christ. We need to apply it into every situation, God wants and expects you to know the terms of the covenant. This will bring greater victory in your life and consequently more glory to God. David knew the old covenant and took on Goliath. How much more should we conquer the giants in our lives by knowing our covenant relationship with the living God.
Let us always remember that we have been purchased by the blood of our Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
Footnotes
[1] Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
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