God wants us to come to a place where we trust more in
His grace than we do in self-effort. Ask yourself if you really trust the way
of grace, or do you always fall back on self-effort? We must trust in the grace
of God all the way. When we understand the new covenant, we will see what grace
means to us and to God.
The Old Covenant was Jewish law that God gave to Israel.
The Law of Moses was not given to Gentiles and it did not consist of only Ten
Commandments, but 613 laws. Moses was known to be custodian of those laws to
the Jews alone. Romans 3:19 says “Now we know that
whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every
mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
The Bible tells us that this Jewish law never gave life
to anybody, or made anybody righteous (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; Galatians
3:21). With the best efforts that were made to keep the law by the best of them
none of them ever life from it. The stones did not impact life. The Law was
intended only as a shadow, or picture of the Christ to come (Colossians 2:16,
17; Hebrews 10:1).
The Law is still tutoring unsaved people to get them to a
point of understanding, through their guilt and shame, that they need a Savior.
The Law makes humans aware of our
problem (Romans 3:19, 20). The law shows our inadequacy and imperfections and
the devil uses it as a tool to bring guilt and condemnation on people. This
makes feel them feel that they can’t be loved by God because He is holy and
wants nothing with sinners.
Within ourselves we have no adequate response to heaven’s
perfect standard; the Law’s strict demands make it quite clear that we fall
short (Galatians 3:21, 22). The law demands righteousness and does not impart
it. The Law doesn’t encourage or praise us. If you break one aspect of it, you
break the whole thing (James 2:10). Living under the Law is like living under
the curse (Galatians 3:10). This is so because you have signed yourself to
blessings and curses depending on your performance.
Under the old covenant, man couldn’t be faithful to God.
But under the new covenant, God puts His faithfulness on display (Hebrews
6:13-18). Abraham did not get blessed because he was faithful; He got blessed
because He trusted God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness to covenant cannot be
shaken.
In the new covenant There are four areas God swore to us
as per its terms:
1. God
swore by Himself to make sure that we would always have a perfect Priest who
would be a guarantor of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:21, 22).
2. God
promised to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
3. God
promised to be faithful to Himself.
4. God
became a guarantor of a better covenant.
God will never again make a covenant like the old
covenant. The new covenant is completely based on His faithfulness (Hebrews
8:6-10). The new covenant is heaven’s solution to man’s faithlessness. This
covenant is not between man and God. It is between The Father and the Son. We
are now in the son as partakers of this new arrangement. All that is due to
Jesus is due to us. We are blessed not because we are faithful but because
Jesus is faithful. Scriptures call “The Faithful”. God’s commitment to be our
God is for all eternity under grace. There are only two ways to respond to the
new covenant: belief and thanksgiving. Now can have freedom because grace
imparts righteousness without demanding it from us. We are loved in the
Beloved, God is on your side.
