The Covenants in Plain English

Edenic Covenant - Don't eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden and you'll enjoy its wonderful attributes forever. Adam and Eve broke this covenant.

Adamic Covenant - Since you ate the fruit, Adam, you will have to work for your sustenance  and Eve, you will have to suffer pain in childbirth.

Noahic Covenant - The rainbow. God will never again destroy the earth with floods ("global warming" or not).

Abrahamic Covenant - You will have more descendants than there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beach.

Mosaic Covenant - Keep the Law perfectly and you will remain in God's will and His presence. Israel led the way in breaking this covenant.

Palestinian (Land) Covenant - As my chosen people, you WILL have a land of your own (notwithstanding the events in the Middle East today).

Davidic Covenant - From your descendants will come the Person of my New Covenant, the savior of the world, the Messiah (Christ).

THEN CAME GOD'S NEW COVENANT - The blood of Christ shed for the remission of sin. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

What Shall We then Preach?

Far too many pastors have no idea about the significance of the New Covenant. Preaching from the New Covenant perspective is absolutely foreign to them. It is so much easier to just read Bible verses that match their legalistic mind set. Even though they DENY that they are legalistic, they preach sermons that are legalistic in nature.

Interestingly, every time they lead in the Lord's Supper (Communion), when the cup is passed, they read from Matthew 14:24. "This is my blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many." Maybe they read from 1 Corinthians 11:25, "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

Once the Lord's Supper is over, they do not mention or preach from the perspective of the New Covenant again until the next Lord's Supper service.

That is sad and borders on heretical. Jesus IS the New Covenant. That's what He came to be.

The Jews were in covenant relationships with God. There were 7 covenants in the Old Testament: the Edenic Covenant; the Adamic Covenant; the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant; the Mosaic Covenant; the Palestinian (Land) Covenant and the David Covenant. Every practicing Jew would be aware of these covenants. They revered them. They memorized them. They felt bound by them.

In the Old Testament, following the Davidic Covenant, Jeremiah said that God was going to establish a "new covenant" with Israel, one that would find its place in the heart, not in rules and regulations. This New Covenant was established in Jesus, Christ (Messiah). And He ABSOLUTELY DID AWAY with the Old Covenants. More accurately, He FULFILLED all of the requirements of all of the Old Covenants. We do not have to fulfill them, He has already done that for us. (Hebrews 8:13)

Every Pharisee, Sadducee and Levite would have understood EXACTLY what the implications of this New Covenant were. That understanding is what made them so furious about Jesus' ministry that they wanted Him dead. They did not want their covenant(s) made obsolete. That is because under the New Covenant, there would no longer be a need for the office of priesthood because EVERY believer would be a priest in his/her own right.

This is not about the so-called "New Covenant Theology," which is fraught with error. It is about coming to grips with and learning to live as New Covenant people.

We need to be steeped in the New Covenant (but not New Covenant Theology). We need to hear it from the pulpit, not on special occasions, but every Sunday. The New Covenant is Jesus. "Obedience to God" is not our message. Our message is following Christ. If we immerse ourselves in following Him, there is no need to ever be concerned about knowing how to be obedient. He will have written His New Covenant on our hearts. If he hasn't, we are not His.

So, should we preach about obedience here and obedience there? NO. We should preach that in our natural state we are totally and irrevocably depraved and cannot be good enough to even be in God's presence, let alone to please God. We should preach that the wages of sin is eternal death. We should preach that God offers a gift called "salvation." We should preach that the gift is freely given to those who accept it by trusting in, and only in, Christ, who shed His blood at the cross of Calvary.

So many Christians and pastors are so staunch in their legalistic upbringing and what they were taught in Bible study, Bible college or seminary that they COMPLETELY MISS the real message. They seem to believe that if every sermon is about, and only about, the salvation available through the Christ of the New Covenant that they will be seen as irrelevant and out of date.

There is NOTHING irrelevant or out of date about the message of salvation in Christ. That is the ONLY relevant message. It is a message NOT TO BE TACKED ON TO A SERMON TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO BECOME CHRISTIANS, it is to be the MAIN FOCUS of the message from the first word to the last.

If the message of salvation in Christ is boring to you, you probably are not saved. If you are a preacher and you are struggling to come up with a "relevant" sermon message, QUIT STRUGGLING! God has provided you with the message. The only thing you should be "struggling" with is how to present THAT message more clearly and fervently. If you think God has led you to some message that is about social injustices, moral issues or how bad the world, country and/or church is, you are dead WRONG. HE HAS NOT LED YOU TO PREACH THAT MESSAGE. He only leads you to preach the message of Christ.

If you are preaching from one of the great Old Testament passages, learn to contrast it and compare it with the New Covenant message of the New Testament! If you are preaching from the New Testament, learn to present its New Covenant message with enthusiasm, accuracy and power.

Christians and pastors, learn to resolve to know NOTHING except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). That's all you need to know. What you need to learn is how to preach HIM.

Stop treating the Bible as though it is a list of things that displease God and things that please Him. Faith in Christ (not some generic faith in faith or even faith in some generic God concept) is the only thing that pleases Him.

ARE YOU A COMPETENT MINISTER OF THE NEW COVENANT?

“He (God) has made us competent as ministers of a NEW COVENANT – not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” ( 2 Corinthians 3:6)

To what is Paul referring when he uses the term “letter?”

To some it makes no difference. They just keep on sanctimoniously continuing in doctrines that belong to the Old Covenant and are too steeped in religiosity to trust in or commit to a New Covenant. They stubbornly cling to teachings they received as children or as babes in Christ and would never trust themselves with a New Covenant. They lack faith in Christ to be the New Covenant.

When using the term "letter," Paul is speaking about the Law of Moses, the essence of the Old Covenant. You can test that with the context of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Hebrews) 

The passage that follows (2 Corinthians 3:7-18 and all through 2 Corinthians, chapter 4), considered in the context of the words used, the verses they are in, the book they are in, the Testament they are in, the Covenant they refer to and the Bible as a whole, is a call to be STEEPED in the New Covenant.

Why do some pastors just throw these parts out? Is it because they do not conform to their distorted habit of walking with one foot in the Old Covenant and one foot in the New Covenant?

Consider Hebrews 8:13. Following a magnificent discourse on the New Covenant and its High Priest, Jesus, we read, “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one OBSOLETE and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.”

Does this mean that the Old Covenant is obsolete? Exactly! That is exactly what it means. But those who hate people who pick and choose Scripture, elect to ignore this passage, again because it does not conform with what they have heard all of their lives.

In many cases, preachers preach as though Scripture is a series of behavioristic rules and regulations designed to help us be good in God’s eyes. News flash! You cannot be good in God’s eyes by doing the things Scripture “requires” of Christians. You can only be good in God’s eyes if He sees you through the advocacy of Jesus Christ.

If that’s the case, what does one do with books like James, which has always been preached by most as a “guide for Christian living?” The answer is: YOU STOP PREACHING JAMES LIKE IT IS A “GUIDE FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING” AND START TEACHING IT AS A BOOK THAT DESCRIBES THE HEART-CHANGE THAT RESULTS FROM A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THROUGH CHRIST, THE ONE WHO IS THE NEW COVENANT!

Most preachers are MUCH too LAZY to do that. They just take the book one verse at a time as if each verse is just a New Testament proverb about being a wise Christian. That it is not. By its own testimony, it is a book about Godly wisdom coming from above, not from the techniques of the world. It is consistent with the concept of the New Covenant being written on our hearts.

If you are saved, you are a creature of and must be committed to the New Covenant. If you are not committed to the New Covenant, you are not saved. You might think you are saved. You might even “feel” saved. Maybe you had an experience that you think was a saving experience. But if you are not aware of and committed to the New Covenant, you are not saved.

You would be well served to admit your stubbornness, repent of bad preaching (preaching a lot of Bible verses and calling it Bible preaching), and receive the blessing of the New Covenant (Christ), whose gift is eternal life and whose Law (love God and others) is written on our hearts.

New Covenant Theology?

Jesus is the New Covenant personified. About that there can be no doubt. He is so identified in Scripture, especially in Hebrews (a book written to Jews to help them understand that Jesus is the Messiah fulfilled).

So, what is New Covenant Theology?

New Covenant Theology is a technical term referring to a theological view of redemptive history. It is often contrasted with Covenant theology and Dispensationalism.

Proponents of New Covenant Theology maintain that the primary thrust of the New Covenant is the recognition of a promise-fulfillment understanding of Scripture. The Mosaic economy is viewed as a temporal, conditional covenant that has been forever replaced by the glory of the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3).

New Covenant Theology dates back to just after the so-called “reformation.” The last twenty-five years have seen a great resurgence of Reformed theology in Baptist circles. As a result, many within this camp have sought to develop a more clarified system of the covenants that relate back to older thought. John Reisinger, Jon Zens, Peter Ditzel, Fred Zaspel, Tom Wells, Gary Long, Geoff Volker and Steve Lehrer are parts of this camp. The writings of Douglas Moo,Tom Schreiner, andD.A. Carson on the relation of the Christian to the law reveal their sympathies with NCT. However they have not wanted themselves to be so labeled. John Piper also has many points of contact with this movement, but an article at Desiring God carefully distinguishes his position from the Covenant, New Covenant and Dispensational theological systems.

Frankly, I have some issues with some of the teachings of New Covenant Theology. I do not believe that the church is “spiritual Israel.” Nor do I consider myself “Calvanistic,” as many New Covenant theologians do. (Neither am I Armenian, by the way). Like NCT, I do believe that the Mosaic Law is fulfilled with the advent of Christ and the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 9:21). New Covenant believers consider themselves to be under the Law of Christ, which is a law written on the heart, not on tablets of stone. I agree with that.

The traditional Reformed hermeneutic of the law argues that whatever is not abolished in Christ continues. New Covenant Theology says that the entire Law of Moses has passed away and only remains in so far as it passes through the hands of Christ.

Personally, I would think of  it differently. I believe that the Law is as pure and holy as ever, that I am totally incapable of keeping any aspect of it and that Christ has fulfilled the Law on my behalf through his grace and mercy. Therefore, I am no longer accountable to the Law.

That is not license to sin. As Paul wrote, “God forbid!” It is license to follow what Christ has written on my heart in all areas of my life. It is total followship of Him. It is the recognition that it is not about me, it is not about you, it is ALL about Him.

You might disagree with me, and that’s alright. This is America. You have the right to be wrong.

A Little about the Law

If we are Christians, we are in the age of grace. If we are Christians, we are under a New Covenant with God.

Does that mean that for Christians the Law means nothing?

It does not mean that at all.

So what does it mean?

Let’s find out.

The first of the Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  There has never been a person (other than Jesus) who has kept that Law…never.

Under grace, has that Law been abolished?

The answer is, “No, it has been fulfilled in Christ.”

Does that mean we can have other gods before God?

No!

If we are Christians, we have recognized that Christ is Lord (Romans 10:9 & 10), and we have turned to Him in faith, trusting in, and only in, His finished work at the cross of Calvary. If we are Christians, we know Him. If we truly know Him, why would we want to put ANYTHING or ANYBODY ahead of Him? After what He has done for us, why would we want to give him second place or lower in our lives?

We wouldn’t.

If we want to give anything or anybody else first place in our lives, we need to reevaluate our relationship to God through Jesus.

Do you remember the song that went, “To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him and I do”? Well, that’s the way it must be with Christ. To know Him is to love Him. Conversely, NOT to love Him is not to know Him.

If you don’t know Him (and therefore love Him), you aren’t saved.

Meanwhile, back at the Law, Jesus proclaimed that He had fulfilled the Law. That means He has paid the price for our inability to keep the Law in-and-of ourselves. Our response to His fulfilling the Law, if we really realize what He has done for us, is to keep it in our hearts, just as Scripture tells us to.

EIGHT COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE-Under Which Covenant Are You? Part 3

THE NEW COVENANT

The most important thing to know about the NEW COVENANT is that it is not a legal document, it is a PERSON and His name is Jesus.

The second most important thing to know about the NEW COVENANT is that it supersedes and fulfills all aspects of all of the previous covenants.

While there were, indeed, Unconditional Covenants that will never pass away, they are all fulfilled in Christ. He is their completion. Through Him Israel will get their land, the Law of Moses will be satisfied, the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled and the sin of Adam will be atoned for.

In the New Covenant, there is not one iota of the Old Covenant(s) left to deal with. The New Covenant is a NEW DEAL that is instituted by God. It is the completion of God’s character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption. There is nothing you can add to it and there is nothing you can take from it.

The New Covenant was predicted in Jeremiah 31:31ff, and referenced many times by the writers of the Old Testament. It was provided directly for Israel and extended to Gentiles.

Galatians is all about those who corrupt the New Covenant by trying to add to it things like circumcision, tithing, rules and regulation. Galatians builds on the principles laid out in Romans. It sets the stage for the book written to the Jews to show them how their hope of a Messiah had been realized in Jesus…the book of Hebrews; specifically chapters 4-10.

Through the New Covenant, sin is more than atoned for, it is forgiven. The forgiveness is not through the shedding of the blood of animals, but of the Son of God. The New Covenant does everything the Mosaic Covenant could not do. The Mosaic Covenant could do no more than cover (atone) for sin. The New Covenant takes sin away.

The New Covenant is not written in stone, on tablets or on paper, it is written in the hearts of believers. It is made manifest by indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It provides a new temple; a temple of believers. Our bodies are now God’s temple.

The New Covenant contains the Law of Moses and fulfills it perfectly.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, needs to be added to it to make it better. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can be taken from it to make it less inclusive.

When Jesus said, “This cup is the New Covenant of my blood,” He was not speaking insignificantly. His shed blood was the very purpose for His coming.

The Bride of Christ, His church, personifies the New Covenant. The church has not replaced Israel, it is a partaker with Israel.

There are those who insist that the Law of Moses, or at least some aspects of it,  must be kept by Christians in order to please God. They are referred to as “Judaizers.” They are people who call themselves Christians, but find it necessary to apply some of the attributes of Old Covenant Judaism to their Christian walk. They call themselves “Bible believers,” but mean by that that they follow the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. That is untenable under the New Covenant.

Far too many “Christians” try to live with one foot in the Old Covenant and one foot in the New Covenant. That is patently impossible. Not one single part of the Old Covenant is relevant to Christians. They have a NEW DEAL in Christ. In Him ALL things have become new, not just select things.

The New Covenant is the basis of the “Dispensation of Grace.” It is an Unconditional Covenant, eternally in effect, between God and anybody who puts his trust in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.

CHRISTIANS!  LET GO OF THE OLD COVENANT! ENJOY THE BLESSINGS, FREEDOM AND REWARDS OF THE NEW COVENANT! LET THE HOLY SPIRIT WRITE GOD’S WILL IN YOUR HEARTS AND DON’T BE BOUND BY ANY ASPECT OF THE OLD COVENANT! YOUR SALVATION IS COMPLETE IN CHRIST!

EIGHT COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE-Under Which Covenant Are You? Part 2

This is the second of a three part series on the covenants of the Bible. People who call themselves Bible believing Christians need to know these things about the covenants in order to realize what they have in Christ.

The Mosaic Covenant contains very extensive detailed information and the Scriptural account of the covenant extends from Exodus 20:1 through Deuteronomy 28:68. The parties of this covenant were God and Israel. The covenant was not made with the Gentiles or the Church, but with Israel only, a point made in Deuteronomy 4:7-8; Psalm 147:10-20 and Malachi 4:4.

The main provision of the Mosaic Covenant was the Law of Moses; 613 commandments of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. 365 of these were things that were forbidden, 248 were things that should be done.

This is a Conditional Covenant. If featured if-then items. If Israel did so-and-so, God would do sucn-and-such.

The key element of the entire Mosaic Law centered around the sacrifice of blood. It is exemplified in Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to your upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”

This is a VERY important issue, for Israel was to supply the blood from animals, but some day, God would supply the blood once and for all in His Son, Jesus.

The Mosaic Covenant required five different offerings. You can see them in Leviticus chapters 1-7. There were also diet restrictions, death penalties, signs (such as circumcision) and tokens (such as the Sabbath).

The Law of Moses was not a means of salvation. Salvation always has been, is now and always will be by grace through faith in Christ. The purpose of the Law of Moses is to reveal God’s holiness, to keep Israel a distinct people, to provide a rule of life for Jews, to serve as a wall of partition between Israel and Gentile nations, to reveal and show what sin is and to drive one to faith.

The Mosaic Covenant, being conditional, is no longer in effect. It was fulfilled and came to an end with the death of Messiah. The Law, in its totality no longe has authority over any individual, as noted in Romans 7:5; 10:4 and Galatians 3:19.

In Matthew 5:17-18, we read: “Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law; till all things be accomplished.” Most who use this passage do not accept their own thesis, since they must believe in doing away in some form of many of the commandments of the Law of Moses, but reserve some, arbitrarily, to remain in effect.

The Land Covenant (often referred to as the Palestinian Covenant) is found in Deuteronomy 29:1 through Deuteronomy 30:20. This covenant is often considered part of the Mosaic Covenant, but the Deuteronomy 29:1 passage clearly indicates that it is distinct. It is between God and Israel. It reaffirms the title deed to the Land (now referred to as Palestine) belongs to Israel.  It is still very much in effect.

The Davidic Covenant, was made between God and David. It is important to note that the promise from God was that the THRONE of David would be established forever (not Solomon or his progeny).  This is most important to understand: the Messiah was to come from the Seed of David (I Chronicles 17:11 and many others).  Messiah’s throne, house and kingdom would be forever. In I Chronicles 17:12-15 we see that it is the Messiah who will be established on David’s throne, not the throne itself.

The importance of the Davidic Covenant is that it gives significance to the Seed aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant. Messiah was to come from the Seed of Abraham.

The Davidic Covenant is an Unconditional Covenant. It is God’s plan for the salvation of the creation He loves.

NEXT WE WILL SEE HOW THESE SEVEN COVENANTS ARE FULFILLED IN AND SUPERSEDED BY THE PERSON OF THE NEW COVENANT, SOMETHING SO RADICAL THAT ONLY GOD COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF IT.

EIGHT COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE-Under Which Covenant Are You? Part 1

This begins a three part series on the covenants of the Bible. People who call themselves Bible believing Christians need to know these things about the covenants in order to realize what they have in Christ.

There are two types of covenants in the Bible: Conditional Covenants and Unconditional Covenants. There are two Conditional Covenants and six Unconditional Covenants.

A Conditional Covenant is one that is characterized by an “if-then” relationship. God says, “If you’ll do this, I will do this.” Both the Edenic Covenant and Mosaic Covenant are Conditional Covenants. Israel did not keep their part of the bargain, breaking both covenants.

An Unconditional Covenant is a covenant in which God simply says, “This is what I am going to do, irrespective of what you do.” The Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Palestinian Covenant (also called the land Covenant), and the Davidic Covenants are Unconditional Covenants.

Five of these eight covenants were made exclusively with Israel while the others were made with mankind in general. Only one of the five covenants made with Israel is conditional: the Mosaic Covenant. The other four covenants with Israel are all unconditional: the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.

Four things should be noted concerning the nature of the unconditional covenants made with Israel.

First: they are literal covenants and their contents must be interpreted literally as well.

Second: the covenants that God has made with Israel are ETERNAL and are not in any way restricted or altered by time.

Third: it is necessary to re-emphasize that these are UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS that were not abrogated because of Israel's disobedience; because the covenants are unconditional and totally dependent upon God for fulfillment, their ultimate fulfillment can be expected.

Fourth: these covenants were MADE WITH A SPECIFIC PEOPLE: ISRAEL. This point is brought out by Paul in Romans 9:4: who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
This passage clearly points out that these covenants were made with the covenanted people and are Israel's possession.

The Edenic Covenant, made between God and Adam, is summed up in Genesis 2:17, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.” This covenant was conditional; if you eat, you will die. Adam ate and Adam died, introducing sin into the world.

The Adamic Covenant, made between God and Adam, is summed up in Genesis 3:17-19, “…to Adam he said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.” It is an Unconditional Covenant and is very much in effect today.

The Noahic Covenant, made between God and Noah, is summed up in Genesis 9:13-17, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” The Noahic Covenant is very much in effect today.

The Abrahamic Covenant, made between God and Abraham, is summed up in Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and be you a blessing: and I will bless them that bless you, and him that curses you will I curse: and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” The Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, it is still very much in effect even though it has remained largely unfulfilled.

Written on the Heart

To which does the Bible point?

You might be old enough to remember when every Vacation Bible School recited Psalm 119:11 in every opening assembly. It says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” That verse was used to try to get kids interested in memorizing Scripture.

Memorizing Scripture is a good thing, but that verse is not about Scripture memorization. It is about having God’s word in our hearts. The Psalmist was anticipating a time when the word of God was to be written in our hearts as prophesied in Jeremiah 31. It is a precursor to the New Covenant that God would establish with those who would receive Christ as their savior. It is about a time when God’s people would have a new attitude about their relationship with Him; an attitude of the heart.

Except at the “Lord’s Supper” or “Communion,” it is rare for a preacher to even mention the New Covenant, let alone expound on what it is and what it means. Most certainly don’t emphasize it. Yet it is the very cornerstone of who we are as Christians. Jesus proclaimed His blood to be the New Covenant. Paul preached its importance. The book of Hebrews spends FIVE CHAPTERS developing its concept. (Does God spend five chapters on something that we should take or leave as we see fit?)

The old covenant that God had established with His people required obedience to the Old Testament Mosaic law. Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), the law required that people perform rituals and sacrifices. The prophet Jeremiah predicted that there would be a time when God would make a New Covenant with His people.

"'The day will come,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. . . . But THIS IS THE NEW COVENANT I WILL MAKE WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ON THAT DAY,' SAYS THE LORD. 'I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. I will be their God, and they will be my people'" (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law of Moses (Matthew 5:17) and create a new covenant between God and His people. The old covenant was written in stone, but the new covenant is written on our hearts, made possible only by faith in Christ, who shed His own blood to atone for the sins of the world. Luke 22:20 says, "After supper, [Jesus] took another cup of wine and said, 'This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you – an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.'"

Now that we are under the New Covenant, we are not under the penalty of the law. We are now given the opportunity to receive salvation as a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Holy Spirit who lives in all believers (Romans 8:9-11), we can now share in the INHERITANCE OF CHRIST and enjoy a permanent, unbroken relationship with God.

Hebrews 9:15 declares, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a New Covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them FREE FROM THE SINS COMMITTED UNDER THE FIRST COVENANT.”