Why is the New Covenant such a Big Deal?
What is the big deal about the New Covenant? Why does it matter so much?
Because we are under a New Covenant, and if we try to live our lives according to the Old Covenant we will be met with frustration, failure, and fear. The Christian life will not work.
JESUS CAME TO ESTABLISH A NEW COVENANT
When Jesus was having his last supper with the disciples the night before his crucifixion, He said this in Luke 22:20…
20 …after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
What Jesus was saying is that his death on the cross would be the work that needed to be completed to establish a new covenant.
But why would there need to be a new covenant?
WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE OLD COVENANT?
The author of Hebrews tells us what was wrong with the Old Covenant in Hebrews 8:7-8…
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people…
The problem with the first or Old Covenant was that the people couldn’t keep it.
God had given them the law, but they kept failing in their ability to do what God had told them to do.
Their failure to keep the law was met with frustration and fear of how God would have to discipline them for not holding up their side of the covenant.
This was, however, the intent that God had in order to point them to their need for a Savior.
THE OLD COVENANT LAW WAS INTENDED TO REVEAL SIN
In Romans 3:20, this is what the apostle Paul says about the law…
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
The law was meant to show us sin in our lives. God knew that we could not keep the law and would need a Savior, but He had to reveal our sinful nature to us.
The apostle Paul even referred to the Old Covenant as the ministry of death and condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7-9).
The point of trying to live by the law is to fail, then recognize our spiritual death due to sin, and finally cry out to God for a Savior.
GOD FULFILLED THE OLD COVENANT FOR US
In Matthew 5:17, we are told that Jesus says…
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, he did not set aside the Old Covenant Law but rather fulfilled it. He never sinned, and He lived a perfect life of dependence on God the Father.
He did what no one under the Old Covenant had ever done.
And as a result of fulfilling the law and having no sin to pay for Himself, He took all of our sins and placed them on Himself to pay the penalty for them.
As He took His final breaths on the cross, He even cried out, “It is finished.” All of the work necessary to complete the mission He came for had been accomplished. It was done.
And now that the New Covenant was established, the Old was made obsolete.
THE OLD COVENANT WAS DONE AWAY WITH
The author of Hebrews, tells us this in Hebrews 8:13…
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete.
The Bible says that the Old Covenant is now obsolete, done away with, and no longer valid.
That doesn’t mean it’s not important. The Old Testament has much value. It shows the story of God. It reveals how the world was created, and what went wrong with the world, and points to the Savior who would come to fix humanity and the world.
But it does mean that we no longer live under the Old Covenant. We are not following the Old Testament law to receive a blessing if we succeed or to be cursed if we fail.
We now live in a new way.
THE NEW COVENANT PROVIDES A NEW WAY OF LIVING
In Romans 7, the apostle Paul says…
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
“Written code” in this verse is a reference to the Old Testament law. Paul could not be any clearer here about how we do not live the Christian life by trying to obey Old Testament law.
This includes the Ten Commandments. Just a few verses later in Romans 7, Paul gives a negative example of what happened in his life when trying to live by the law and the example was coveting, which is one of the Ten Commandments.
Paul says that instead of now living by trying to obey the law, we now “serve in the new way of the Spirit.”
The moment we put our faith in Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us (Ephesians 1:13).
The Spirit then comes to be our Guide. He fills us with power and enables us to go where He leads us to go and to carry out what He asks us to do.
In other words, we become a vessel for Him to work through.
MIXING THE OLD WITH THE NEW WILL NOT WORK
This new life is a life of dependence on the Spirit’s work through you. The old life was a life of self, work, and performing.
If you are a New Covenant believer and try to live your life by following Old Covenant ways then you will put yourself back under a system of self, work, and performance.
And just like all the others who failed, you will fail too. You will be met with frustration and fear of God’s discipline.
So, instead, trust in Christ’s finished work for you. Trust and depend on the Spirit to be at work in you and through you.
This will lead to an experience of the abundant life that Jesus said He came to provide for us.