October 30 – Hebrews 8:7-13. The New Covenant.

October 30 – Hebrews 8:7-13. The New Covenant.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: 


         “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 
      It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 
      This is the covenant I will establish with the people 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. 
      No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 
      For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  


By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

There was such a difference between the Old and New Covenants.  The old Covenant was established with an entire nation.  God had taken the nation out of Egypt and established a covenant … the people had not been faithful.

A covenant and contract are two different types of entities.  A contract is finished if one or the other parties breaks it.  A covenant, however, remains in effect if just one of the parties stays honorable to it.  The Old Covenant was in effect until God said so, even though the people of Israel had broken it over and over.

The author of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 31 in speaking of the New Covenant, one which would be between individuals – ‘no longer would they teach their neighbor.’  In other words, there would no longer be a human intermediary (the Levitical priest) that stood between humanity and God.

In the New Covenant, God would establish a relationship with each person, putting the Law in our minds and writing it on our hearts. He would be our God and we would be His people.

The best thing about this covenant is that He will forgive us completely.  Once forgiveness has occurred, He will never remember our sins again.

This is the New Covenant.  It isn’t based on sacrifices or a relationship between God and the High Priest of the people, but upon one sacrifice which was made once, for all and the relationship between His Son, the Great High Priest and part of the Trinity … so, God Himself and His people.