covenant- from the Greek word diatheke and diatithemi; dia meaning through, because of; tithemi meaning to place, set; a written agreement or promise. The Bible refers to covenants as law, statutes and commandments.
God originally created a covenant with Adam and Eve. The sign of the covenant being the tree of life. Although, the first appearance of the word 'covenant' in the Bible was established between Noah and God. Genesis 6:18-19 "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark- you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female;"
God established another covenant with Noah after the flood with the sign of the covenant being a rainbow. Genesis 9:15-16 "and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
Covenant is mentioned a few hundred times in the Bible as there are hundreds of old covenants. The combination of all of these laws,
covenants and commandments is known as the Old Covenant.
The term Old Covenant is most often associated with Moses and Ten
Commandments. Exodus 34:27-28 "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' So he was there with the Lord forty
days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."
Many other covenants are found in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy).
Jeremiah 31:31-34, prophesying the coming of a New Covenant, "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
There are 34 New Testament references to covenant in the NASB version.
Luke 22:20 captures the announcement of the New Covenant, "And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."
The shedding of Jesus' blood through the crucifixion is the beginning of the New Covenant. See video by Bob George below.
Jesus served as the bridge between the old way of the law and heaven's new way of grace and freedom. Jesus came to reveal the universal consciousness that transcends all religions and thoughts.
When Jesus proclaimed, "IT IS FINISHED!" "And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit" ( John 19:30), He declared the Old Covenant (Law) obsolete.
While Jesus was alive He expanded on the law, raising the standard thus making it impossible to comply with His teachings and the Law. Jesus' teachings actually instructed to "cut off your hand" (Matthew 5:30; 18:8; Mark 9:43), "pluck out your eye" (Matthew 5:29; 18:9, Mark 9:47), "sell everything you have" (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22) and "be perfect just like God" (Matthew 5:48).
In Hebrews 8, the writer describes a better ministry which fulfills the prophecy by Jeremiah. Hebrews 8:6-13 "But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been an occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, (Jeremiah 31-34 from above is repeated here almost word for word). When He said, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear."
John 1:16-17 "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."
Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
The New Covenant begins and we are now SEEing a difference in how GOd is being portrayed.
Jesus becomes the high priest. What used to be thought of as the only mediator between man and God.
Ministers of a New Covenant
2 Corinthians 3:2-18 "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared
for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new
covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.
Jesus becomes the high priest. What used to be thought of as the only mediator between man and God.
Ministers of a New Covenant
2 Corinthians 3:2-18 "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared
for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new
covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.
But if the ministry of death (the Ten Commandments), in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation (Old Covenant) has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness (New Covenant) abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Hebrews 4:14-16 "Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 10:10-18 "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering an offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart and on their mind I will write them," He then says, "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin."
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has commited to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
New things have come: a new High priest (Jesus), no more animal sacrifices, no requirement of confession for removal of sins, a new law of the Spirit of life and liberty replacing the law of the ministry of death and condemnation, we are now in Christ instead of in Adam, and so on....
Romans 8:1-10 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness."
Under the New Covenant, we are righteous as children of God; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. The truth is we always were children of God; all of creation. Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind; to REVEAL what always was.
Romans 8:15-17 "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with
unveiled face, beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the
Spirit."
AMEN!!!! :-)
Below is a video by Kevin Hinkle speaking on God's unconditional LOVE
ENJOY!
