The New Covenant is a Better Covenant
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Hebrews was written at about AD 65; Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. Jerusalem and the Levitical system were being done away with. The purpose of the book of Hebrews was to demonstrate that everything the Jews trusted in had passed away and that something better was in place; a better Covenant, better a better sacrifice, a better temple, and better promises. Show More
The keyword in the Book of Hebrews is faith, but the second keyword is the word, better. The New Testament (Grace) is better than the Old Testament (Law). The word better is more properly understood as stronger and is used 12 times in Hebrews: Heb 1:4, Heb 6:9, Heb 7:7, Heb 7:19, Heb 7:22, Heb 8:6, Heb 9:23, Heb 10:34, Heb 11:16, Heb 11:35, Heb 11:40, and Heb 12:24.
The Covenants of Life and Death
The Old Covenant of Law was important and significant, but it was a covenant that could result only in death and not life (Rom 8:2). Remember, the Old Covenant proved this, the Law was impossible for man to keep. While the commands of God are righteous and true (Matt 5:19; Gal 3:19-21), the Law did not give man the power to obey! Rather, it only revealed how desperately we needed a Savior (Gal 3:22-25). The Law, with its rituals, rules, and sacrifices for sin, was not sufficient to deal with the source of man’s problem – sin (Heb 10:1-10).
The New Covenant is a Better Covenant, it is a covenant of life! “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13, 14).
The Promises
The promises in the Old Covenant were primarily about the present life and material blessings. They were promises that included: long life; increase in numbers; seedtime and harvest; national privileges; and extraordinary peace, abundance, and prosperity.
In the New Covenant, however, the promise of spiritual blessings becomes the central benefit of our faith in Christ. Those spiritual blessings are available because of the free gift of the Holy Spirit living in us (1 Cor 6:19), who will teach us and lead us (John 16:13) in an overcoming life on earth (Rom 8:37).
In the New Covenant, our Lord does promise to provide for our needs (Matt 6:25-34), but our hearts are also directed toward Heaven. We are reminded of the temporary nature of this life, and that this is not our eternal home. Our souls are at peace with the assurance of eternal life, the favor (grace) of God and the anticipation of Heaven.
People are generally comfortable with the old.
People, in their natural way of thinking, often cling to old ways of doing things because those ways are familiar and comfortable. The same can be true of learned traditions or religious beliefs that are not rooted in the New Covenant. The old is familiar, so it can be difficult to change them to fit the requirements of the New Covenant. If we are not careful, we can develop strong convictions based on false or erroneous teachings!
The New Covenant requires a radical change in thinking about life in God and salvation; which is very different from the Law of the Old Covenant and the religious traditions of that day. Jesus often addressed this issue with the Pharisees. In one encounter, Jesus confronted the religious leaders, the Pharisees, regarding their love of rituals and traditions as opposed to the truth (Luke 5:33-39). Sadly, many of the practices and beliefs of the Pharisees were not based on the Law as given by God but were based on traditions developed over many years and considered equal to God’s laws (Mk 7:1-8).
Today, as in Jesus’ day, preferring the old rituals can keep people from embracing the New Covenant promises and the free salvation Jesus gives to us. Jesus understood that the old can often seem good enough because it is familiar: “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5:39). The familiar can make one reluctant to let go of old ideas, traditions or beliefs.
Free or in bondage?
Beliefs that are based on the traditions of men and not on the Word of God become like chains of bondage. Trying to serve the terms of the Old Covenant today can also be like chains of bondage, especially in light of the freedom Jesus purchased for us: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’” (John 8:31, 32). Jesus came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) to set His people free!
Grace is not an excuse to sin!
There are some who are suspicious of the message of grace. They see grace as a weakness, or as “permission” to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth! “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom 6:1, 2). Grace is not a license, or liberty, or an excuse to sin. As a matter of fact, Jesus makes clear that grace demands even more of us than did the Law (Matthew 5:20-48). For instance, the Law says to not murder; grace says to not even get angry at someone. The Law says to not commit adultery; grace says to not even look at another with lust in your heart.
Your Father in Heaven promised something better than the Law, in the Old Testament.
Grace requires more because Jesus seeks to transform our hearts, to change us from the inside out (Matt 15:1-20; 23:25-28). We are not to be “actors” who know how to go through outward religious motions or just follow rules. We are to be Christians, those who follow Christ and His ways, who from our hearts do what He would do and say what He would say!
As I said in my last message; Six hundred years before Jesus the prophet Jeremiah said in 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 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. 34 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.”
