It Is Finished: Understanding The Covenant- Part 2

It Is Finished: Understanding The Covenant- Part 2

Hebrews 8:8-12, “Behold days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the House of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt. For they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days says the Lord; I will put My laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying ‘know the Lord.’ For all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.”

One of the biggest factors in covenant relationships is trust. We see this in marriage. When a man and a woman come together and make a covenant before God in marriage it is more than just saying vows before a group of people. It is literally a legal, binding agreement between two people to walk as one before God and mankind. When one of the two parties breaks that trust by infidelity or deceit it has the ability unravel the whole covenant, if the offended party does not walk in forgiveness. In the old covenant God made an agreement with the children of Israel through Moses, that if they would obey His Law, He would bless their lives. But they did not keep their part but continually found it impossible to stick to their part of the agreement. God kept His part and fulfilled every word of the agreement. 

The Apostle Paul captured well this problem of keeping the covenant in Romans 7:14-19, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin… For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; of the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” He would have not know sin but for the Law (Romans 7:7). It was the covenant of the Law that showed Paul his inability to keep covenant with God. He comes to the final conclusion of all this in Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

So here we see our problem. We have been given awesome, holy, just promises from God but we have no ability to keep our end of the old covenant with Him. As a matter of fact in 1st John, it tells us that if any man says that he has no sin He is a liar. James also told us that if we have broken one point of the Law we have broken it all. It is important that the old covenant is not something in the past but that you understand how each one of us has failed to live up to it. It is important to grasp, from a spiritual perspective, our failure and inability before God. We have unraveled the old covenant. Now we can begin to grasp, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” (John 3:16). 

There is a truth that I missed or did not notice for years that is pivotal in our understanding of the old and the new covenant. The old covenant was made with the children of Israel without the ability to cleanse the conscience. The new covenant was made with the man, Jesus Christ, God’s begotten Son. Matthew 13:35 says, “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” The plan of salvation for mankind and the new covenant was not made haphazardly but was made at the beginning of time between the Father and the Son. Matthew 25:34 says, “Then the King (Jesus) will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” 

You must grasp this, that the plan of salvation was made from the very beginning. The new covenant was not an after thought when the first one did not work out. It was not plan B. The old covenant was required to show us and act like a school master so that we could see our inability to meet God’s standards. If you are still striving to become good enough for God or if you think you are good enough for God because you have paid your tithe, you have given to the poor, you have gone to church every week and you even sing in the worship band, you are still seeking God in the flesh. I know that this is a hard reality but remember what the Apostle Paul told us in Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not on basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

We have much to search out in the scripture in this study and devotion. I would ask you to be patient as we daily seek to lay the foundational truths necessary to grasp the work of grace in our lives and understand and experience the laws of God being written on our hearts and minds. But as for today, meditate on where you are with God. Are you striving to become good enough for God, after all we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Or do you feel pretty smug that God has given you a gold star for your efforts, after all He is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love as the scripture tells us? Or maybe you find yourself very frustrated because you are still in bondage and slavery to sin? All of these are shallow and flesh centered views or perceptions. All three show us that we do not understand the covenant yet. 

More tomorrow...

Let’s worship and pray! Father, we so desperately need the Holy Spirit to teach us and show us the truths of the covenant that You have made with our Lord Jesus. You have told in Your word that all Your promises are yes in our Lord Jesus. You have told us to keep seeking first Your kingdom. You have promised us a new heart and mind. We believe, trust, rely on Your promises. Forgive us, we ask, when we fail or seek to please You in the flesh. In Jesus our Lord’s name we pray. Amen.

Dr. Alan Wiggins

Associate Pastor

www.nbcornerstone.com