What is the new covenant?

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Last Updated

Jul 27, 2021

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At the last supper, Jesus announced to the disciples that through His blood, a new covenant would be established.

Luke 22:20 (NKJV)

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

So what is this new covenant? And what was the old covenant?

In the old testament times, God had agreed to forgive the people’s sins if they would bring to the priest certain animals for sacrifice. During this sacrificial system, the blood of the animals sealed a covenant between God and His people.

Exodus 24:8 (NKJV)

And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

There are few things to note about this sacrificial process.

The animal blood itself was not able to remove sin (only God can forgive our sin).

The animal sacrifices had to be repeated day after day and year after year.

When Jesus instituted the “new covenant,” He Himself became a sacrifice for us by dying on the cross in place of our sins. Now unlike the blood of animals, His blood (because He is God) would remove the sins of all who put their faith in Him.

Moreover, Jesus’ final sacrifice on the cross would never have to be repeated; it would be sufficient for all of eternity (Hebrew 9 & 10).

Here are a few reasons why the new covenant is more superior to the old covenant:

it has a more reliable mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ

Hebrews 8:6 (NKJV)

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

it offers a greater hope, most notably the promise of complete forgiveness

Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV)

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

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Hebrews 10:4 (NKJV)

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

it grants all believers direct access to God without the need for priests;

it is gracious in that its blessings will never be forfeited by disobedience (though disobedience brings chastening

Hebrews 12:4-11 (NKJV)

4. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

6. For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

7. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

8. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

9. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

10. For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

11. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

it is internal, written not on tablets of stone (2 Cor. 3:7; Ex. 31:18), but on the heart

Jeremiah 31:33 (NKJV)

33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

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Hebrews 8:10 (NKJV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

it brings spiritual life, not spiritual death

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NKJV)

who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

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Romans 8:2-3 (NKJV)

2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

it results in righteousness, not condemnation

2 Corinthians 3:9 (NKJV)

For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

it is clear and straightforward, unlike the old covenant's types, pictures, symbols, and mysteries; and

it is energized by the Holy Spirit's liberating power

The prophets in the Old Testament also looked forward to this new covenant that would ultimately fulfill the old sacrificial agreement (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and John the Baptist called Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (john 1:29).

We must be grateful to be a generation that gets to live in the new covenant, where we can have direct access to God’s grace, forgiveness, and mercy through His Son Jesus Christ.