The blessed New Covenant of grace
The writer of Hebrews continues – “And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.’” (Hebrews 10: 15-18)
The New Covenant was prophesied about in the Old Testament.
Hear God’s compassion in these verses from Isaiah – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant…” (Isaiah 55: 1-3)
“For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” (Isaiah 61: 8)
…and from Jeremiah – “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
From Pastor John MacArthur – “Just as the high priest under the Old Covenant passed through three areas (the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place) to make the atoning sacrifice, Jesus passed through three heavens (the atmospheric heaven, the stellar heaven, and God’s abode; after making the perfect, final sacrifice. Once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest of Israel would enter the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the people. That tabernacle was only a limited copy of the heavenly reality. When Jesus entered into the heavenly Most Holy Place, having accomplished redemption, the earthly facsimile was replaced by the reality of heaven itself. Freed from that which is earthly, the Christian faith is characterized by the heavenly.” (MacArthur 1854)
From the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary – “The new covenant provides an unconditional, grace relationship between God and ‘the house of Israel and the house of Judah.’ The frequency of the use of the phrase ‘I will’ in Jeremiah 31: 31-34 is striking. It provides regeneration in the impartation of a renewed mind and heart (Ezekiel 36: 26). It provides for restoration to the favor and blessing of God (Hosea 2: 19-20). It includes forgiveness of sin (Jeremiah 31: 34b). The indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of its provisions (Jeremiah 31: 33; Ezekiel 36: 27). This also includes the teaching ministry of the Spirit. It provides for the exaltation of Israel as head of the nations (Jeremiah 31: 38-40; Deuteronomy 28: 13).” (Pfeiffer 391)
Have you become a partaker of the New Covenant of grace through faith in Jesus Christ?
REFERENCES:
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible ESV. Crossway: Wheaton, 2010.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., Howard Vos and John Rea, eds. Wycliffe Bible Dictionary. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1975.
