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Blood Covenant

What Jesus inaugurates is superior to anything that came before it. I can be confident that it is a perfect plan. It was executed flawlessly and stands forever. That is a fact Jack.

But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan — the old covenant — had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said:

Heads up! The days are coming when I’ll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah. | Hebrews 8:6-13 (The Message Bible)

God spoke though Jeremiah about the new agreement that God would initiate through Jesus. It is worth reading the whole thing as it is instructive of what God has in mind for us.

This is stunning. I need to get this in my heart and soul.

What does God have in mind?

  • 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.
  • I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

31 “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. 32 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. 33 “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. 34 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. |Jeremiah 31

The emphasis in the New Agreement is on God’s “I will.” The nation of Israel at Sinai said, “All the words which the Lord hath said will we do” (Ex. 24:3). But they did not obey God’s words. It is one thing to say, “We will!” and quite another thing to do it. But the New Agreement does not depend on man’s faithfulness to God but on God’s faithful promise to man. The writer of Hebrews affirms God’s “I will” on behalf of those who trust Jesus Christ (Heb. 8:10). In fact, God’s “I will” is stated three times in that one verse and six times in Hebrews 8:8–12.

The promise of internal change (v. 10). The Law of Moses could declare God’s holy standard, but it could never provide the power needed for obedience. Sinful people need a new heart and a new disposition within; and this is just what the New Covenant provides.

When a sinner trusts Jesus, he receives a divine nature within. This divine nature creates a desire to love and obey God. By nature, sinful people are hateful and disobedient; but the new nature gives each believer both the desire and the dynamic for a godly life.

The Law was external; God’s demands were written on tablets of stone. But the New Agreement makes it possible for God’s Word to be written on human minds and hearts. God’s grace makes possible an internal transformation that makes a surrendered believer more and more like Jesus the Messiah.

Source(s)

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Je 31:31–34). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 306–308). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.