The New Covenant: The Cross
We have finally arrived at the moment for which all of the Old Testament covenants have been preparing us–the fulfillment of the covenant of grace.
The new covenant is the culmination of the covenant of grace with all its various administrations. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel both reveal what this covenant entails.
“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.” (Jer. 31:31-34, emphasis mine)
“‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezek. 36: 24-28, emphasis mine)
Through these passages, we learn that God will put His teaching within our hearts, we will know Him, and He will forgive us all our sins. We will be washed clean, we will be given new hearts, and God will give us His Spirit so they we might obey Him.
Why? Why would God do this? Why would He initiate any sort of covenant with humans who fail over and over again? Both passages tell us why: “I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jer. 31:33) and “you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezek. 36:28). God wants to restore the relationship broken when Adam broke the covenant with God in the Garden of Eden. When this relationship is restored, we can love and obey God, love others, and image Him to reflect His glory to the world. We can be renewed.
How will God institute this new covenant? We have learned much about this as we have traced the development of the covenant of grace through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Israel, and finally David. With each covenant God instituted with humanity, He revealed ever more about His intended Savior and plan for the salvation of the world, made possible through the new covenant. Finally, the time was right for His Savior to make His appearance on the world’s stage. And He did, as a baby boy.
Jesus, the Word made flesh, was born of a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit. His mother was just a young Israelite girl, not remarkable in any worldly way, but remarkable for her faith and trust in God. She was engaged to a man named Joseph, chosen to be Jesus’s earthly father. Joseph, too, was a man of faith who was willing to take God at His word. They raised Jesus to adulthood, as we see in the gospel of Luke: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them…And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people” (Lk. 2:51-52). When Jesus was approximately 30 years old, He began His public ministry. The age of 30 was the commonly accepted age at which Israelite men could begin their ministry service; any younger and He would have been discounted as an authority.
Jesus’s period of public ministry lasted approximately three years and was intended to usher in God’s kingdom. He would reveal how God intended to fulfill His covenant promises to Israel and to the world. Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah when He described the nature of His ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” (61:1-2a)
This passage in Isaiah is from a section that talks about the Messiah and God’s restoration of Israel. It is noteworthy that Jesus chose this portion of Scripture, which has a connection to Messianic prophecy. He also clearly states that He has been “anointed” for this task; God specifically chose him.
The passage in Isaiah 61 continues with a further explanation of God’s restoration of Israel. Still, I find it curious that Jesus chooses to end the recitation where He does: “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (61:2a). When I dug into the Hebrew for the word “favor,” I discovered a connection with another messianic prophecy that Isaiah recorded. Keep in mind that the words “favor” and “pleasure” are synonymous here.
“Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.
When you make him a guilt offering,
he will see his seed, he will prolong his days,
and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.” (Isa. 53:10)
Found in “The Suffering Servant” passage of Scripture, Isaiah makes it clear just how the Lord’s favor/pleasure is accomplished. Jesus would have to be the sacrifice that cleared the guilt of the people before God. Even as Jesus publicly proclaimed His ministry, He also proclaimed His death.
Isaiah goes on to record just what the death of the Lord’s servant would accomplish:
“After his anguish,
he will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.” (53:11-12)
The Lord’s servant would justify many. He would carry their sins and the punishment for those sins. He would willingly submit to death because death is the punishment of sin (Rom. 6:23). Yet, He chose to be the “punishment for our peace” (Isa. 53:5), so that “we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
We cannot become righteous on our own. We could never do enough or be enough to earn God’s favor. We cannot earn life with God on our own. It is simply not possible for us. We need Jesus. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the Romans:
“So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (5:18-19)
Because Adam failed to keep the original covenant of works, the consequences of his disobedience stretched throughout all of humanity.
However, as the head of a new covenant, Jesus’s obedience and righteousness can also be applied to all of humanity. It is only through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection that we have access to God. The writer of Hebrews tells us why this is possible:
“Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant...” (9:15)
Christ’s death is necessary because “[a]ccording to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (9:22). The Mosaic covenant provided a sacrificial system for the people to use the blood of lambs and goats to atone for their sin, but the blood of animals was only ever a temporary substitution (10:4). It could never fully erase the sin-debt we owe to God.
Jesus’s sacrifice is the only thing that fully atones for our sins. He made one perfect sacrifice of Himself, and through that “one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). His sacrifice satisfies the debt eternally because He has “sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12). He is forever in God’s presence, so the atonement for our sins is perpetually before God. God will never again hold our sins against us because Christ has covered our sins and declared His atonement work “finished” (John 19:30).
So, what do we do now? First, we need to acknowledge that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We must recognize that we are not perfect and cannot save ourselves.
Next, we must understand that God offers us a way to salvation through the gift of Jesus Christ. His gift is His death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
Then, we confess and believe that Jesus is Lord. Paul tells us in the letter to Romans: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation” (10:9-10). We give our loyalty to God and seek to serve Him above all else. We acknowledge Him as our Savior and Lord of our lives (because we certainly make a mess of it on our own).
Finally, we live out our faith in God. Paul, in his letter to the church of Ephesus, told them how to do this:
“[I] urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).
If we want to go Old Testament, the prophet Micah recorded this direction:
“Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.” (6:8)
May God open your heart and mind to the truth of His word and the love He has for you.
Author’s Note:
Please realize that the resource list is a work in progress, and not all the sources listed are ones that I necessarily used or heavily considered in the development of this series. A variety of schools of thought may be represented. I am not intentionally promoting one theological system over another. I also recognize that there are multiple approaches to studying covenants, and I am not here to promote one over another. My goal is to present a basic understanding of the various covenants and how they progressively reveal God's overarching plan of salvation for humanity.
