“…This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

-Luke 22:20

The blood of Jesus is the basis of the new covenant that God has made with His people. It was at the cross where a new relationship was established with God. We are ‘new covenant’ believers who are reconciled to God in Christ.

A covenant is an agreement, a promise, a commitment. An example we see all around us is marriage – a covenant between a man and a woman to love each other and be faithful to each other. Churches often have a ‘church covenant’ that defines the relationship a church family has to one another and to God. It is a wonderful truth that God would stoop to make a covenant with us; that he is willing to limit his freedom in the making of promises to us.

This new covenant was foretold in the OT, in Jeremiah 31:31-34: “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…” In the new covenant God says He will, “put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people…”

This new covenant was also described in Ezekiel 36:24-28 where God says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you…”

Both these prophecies come during the time of Exile when Israel’s hopes were shattered, and then cast into the future. The story of the Old Testament (read - Old Covenant) is essentially one of failure.

The Old Covenant was based on Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. After saving Israel from bondage God gave His law, summarized in the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 19-20) He then laid out blessings or curses based on their keeping of these stipulations. (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28-29) But Israel failed, and it was the curses that they finally experienced.

The New Covenant is based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – the new exodus. Jesus died for our sins once and for all. We are given a new heart so that the ‘righteous requirements of the law’ are met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4) We also have a new relationship with God as our Father – Abba. (Romans 8:15) Nothing can ever change that relationship; we are God’s children. We can and will be disciplined, but we remain His children.

We are ‘New Covenant’ believers, those in which the Spirit of God dwells. May we live by the Spirit, and experience, “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26-27)

-Pastor Tim, July 29, 2007