In the last few lessons that we’ve completed, we dealt with the question of How Jesus Came. We learned that he came to earth as fully human and as fully God. This week we are going to consider one aspect of Why Jesus Came, that is, Jesus came to bring a new covenant.
Before we look at the new covenant, we should first look at a history of the old covenant. The word covenant means a contract or league. It is the same word that is translated testament. We find the birth of the Old Testament or covenant in Gen 15:18 where God extended his promise to Abraham.
• Gen 17:7. The covenant which God made with Abraham was an _______________________ covenant. One aspect of this covenant is that He would be a _________ unto Abraham. God promised Abraham that this covenant would pass from him to his next generation and so on. It was an everlasting covenant.
Q. Who did God confirm this covenant to in • Gen 17:19, Gen 28:13-16?
1. ___________________ 2. ___________________
Jacob and his sons eventually settled in Egypt while Joseph was second in command. Sometime after Joseph’s death, a new Pharaoh assumed power who did not know Joseph (Ex 1:8), the children of Jacob began to be oppressed and enslaved. At this time it is quite possible that the number of descendants of Jacob had reached over two million. In • Exodus 2:24 we read about this oppression:
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his _______________ with _____________, with _____________, and with __________.
It was the covenant which God made with Joseph’s great-grandfather Abraham that caused God to bring the children of Israel (Jacob) out of Egypt. Three months after their exodus from Egypt God called Moses into Mount Sinai, not to reconfirm his Covenant to Moses, but to make this covenant with all the people of Israel. The children of Israel would become a nation governed by this covenant.
• Ex 19:5,6. Q. What were the Israelites required to do in order to benefit from God’s covenant?
Q. What were some of the benefits of this covenant?
In the chapters following we read of many judgments which God would require the Israelites to abide by, and then in Ex 24:12 we read of a Law which God gave to Moses for Israel. Moses wrote these laws on 2 tables of stone. According to Exodus 34:28, these Ten Commandments were also called the ____________ of the ______________________.
God’s promise to Israel, starting with Abraham is that he would be a God to them, and that they would be a peculiar treasure unto him….. above all people. As Israel would discover over the next one thousand years, fulfilling God’s requirements under this covenant was no easy task.
It was under this covenant that the Tabernacle was built. A veil was erected shutting out anyone other than the high priest from entering into the direct presence of God. A myriad of rules, regulations and rituals stood as roadblocks to an intimate relationship with a holy God.
The history of Israel attests to the grievous nature of this covenant. Throughout the entire Old Testament we see a people trying and failing to satisfy the righteousness required by the law. The fact remained that under this covenant, a sinful people and a holy God could never have full and complete fellowship.
So, how could a perfect God institute what appeared to an imperfect covenant with his people? For the answer to this look up • Heb 10:1.
For the _________ having a __________________ of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, ___________________ with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually ________________________________________________
The fact is, God’s original covenant was never intended to make his people righteous, or holy, but to show them that they could not attain righteousness or holiness by their own works. God’s first covenant was not imperfect or incomplete; it was simply a shadow of things to come. As we will see for the remainder of this study, the Old Covenant was made to cause God’s people to realize their need for a savior. They could never fulfill God’s requirements of righteousness by their own efforts (Ro 9:31,32). This is a hard lesson for mankind to learn. But the Old Testament legal system was the perfect teacher.
• Galatians 3:24,25. Q. What was the law? _______________________.
Q. Why did man need a schoolmaster? ______________________________________.
Speaking of the priesthood under the Old Covenant, Hebrews 8:5 says:
• Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the ____________________ and ____________________ of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
God was very particular about the design of the tabernacle, why? Because it was modeled after the heavenly tabernacle. The earthly system was an example and a picture of better things to come.
• Col 2:16, 17. Q. These verses mention some ordinances and laws. According to verse 17, what were these things?
The concept of one dying as a sacrifice in order to atone for sin would have made no sense had God not illustrated it through the Law. All of the Old Covenant was meant to teach and re-teach the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. It paved the way for the acceptance of a savior who could once and for all deliver man from his utter inability to please God. When the lesson of the Old Covenant was complete God sent his son made of a woman, made under the law (Gal 4:4), to usher in a new and better covenant for his people.
Many Jews understood the need for a savior and for a better covenant; they believed and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. On the other hand, many Jewish people did not grasp the lessons taught by the Old Covenant. They were determined that they could attain righteousness by their own works and the outward ceremony of the Law.
• Rom 9:31. Q. What could Israel not attain through the law?
• Rom 9:32. Q. Why could Israel not attain righteousness?
• Rom 9:33. Q. Who do you think is the stumblingstone spoken of here?
Jesus Brings a New Covenant
• Mat 5:17. Q. What did Jesus come to do? _______________________.
Jesus did not come to destroy the old covenant. He came to fulfill it. All the types and pictures of the old covenant pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament did not destroy the Old Testament, it was the Old Testament coming to fruition in the person of Jesus Christ.
• Mat 26:28 Q. At the last supper, what did Jesus call his blood?
• Heb 12:24 Q. What is Jesus the mediator of?
• Heb 10:29 Q. What is the blood of Christ called in this verse?
A New Covenant for All People
The concept of a new covenant should not have been entirely foreign to the Jews, since the Old Testament scripture prophesied of it (Jer 31:31-34). But still most Jews rejected Jesus Christ and this new covenant. As a result the covenant was opened to the Gentiles. Now all men everywhere are able to enter into this covenant with God by faith.
• Jer 31:31-34. Q. What would God make with Israel?________________
Q. v33. What 4 aspects of the new covenant are found in this verse?
Q. v34. Under this covenant, what would God do with sin and iniquity?
All the above aspects of the new covenant were made possible by the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled all the requirements of the law by living a sinless and perfect life. It was his death on the cross and the shedding of his perfect blood that sealed the new covenant for us. Man no longer has to attempt to keep the law, but rather to believe on Jesus Christ (the only one who could keep the law) for salvation.
The righteousness that God once demanded is now accomplished in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit when we come to Christ by faith.
• Rom 10:4. Q. What is Christ the end of? ________________ .
Q. What does Christ offer that the law could not?____________________.
Q. Who can have this righteousness?_____________________________.
• Rom 3:20-22. Q. What cannot happen by the deeds of the law?
Q. v 21 What type of righteousness is now manifest?__________________
Q. v 22 Who can have this righteousness? How?
• Rom 8:1-3. Q. What has made us free from the law?
Q. How did God overcome the weakness of the law?
Q. What is now fulfilled in those that walk in the spirit?
The New Covenant – By Grace Through Faith
• Galatians 2:16. Q. How is a man NOT justified?
Q. How IS a man justified?
• Galatians 3:13. Q. What has Christ redeemed us from?
As Christians we can be thankful that our relationship with God is not a legal relationship, but a love relationship. When Jesus died on the cross, the Bible says Mark 15:38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The veil, set up under the old covenant, which separated everyone except the high priest from the direct presence of God, was ripped in half. T•D. What does this event mean for believers in Christ?
God the Father now accepts us on his Sons behalf. Christ is acceptable in His sight. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour we are given his righteousness, and are thereby also accepted by the Father. The rules, regulations and rituals of the Old Testament are done away with.
1. Can you think of a denomination or religion that still seeks to keep the law?
2. Consider Gal 2:21. If we continue to try to keep the law in order to find favour with God, what are we saying about Christ?
What is the new covenant? Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God gave himself a sacrifice for our sin (1 Pet 2:24). He rose from the grave after three days and ascended into heaven where he presented his blood to the Father (Heb 9:24). God accepted this perfect sacrifice and his blood made way for a new covenant (Heb 12:24). Now, all those who come to Jesus Christ in faith, believing who he is and what he has done (Rom 10:9,10), will receive the righteousness of God in the form of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). God will claim all believers as his people (1 Pet 2:9), and he will be their God and Father (1 John 3:1, Gal 4:6). Through this new covenant God has fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:33-34 I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people…for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. All holiness and righteousness is now attained through a life surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ as he influences us through his word and spirit (Heb 13:20,21).