The Better Covenant

Hebrews 7:22

By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant.

The Bible is divided into two main sections. The Old Testament and the New Testament. Basically, a testament is a covenant. In other words then, the Bible is a record of an Old Covenant and a New Covenant. The Old Covenant is how God dealt with Israel before the ministry of Jesus was completed and the New Covenant is God’s dealing with mankind after Jesus’ ministry.

The Old Covenant was established by law, and that law was a tremendous burden on the people. The Old Law was so involved and burdensome that no one could fully keep it. In it, animal sacrifice was practiced in much ritual and symbolism. Essentially the shedding of animal blood represented the future shedding of the Lamb of God’s blood. The Old Law was not enough to complete man and give him the kind of relationship to God that man needed and God wanted.

We are told in the Bible that Jesus was made the mediator of a New Covenant. This is a better covenant and is established on better promises. (Heb. 8:6) In this covenant, man actually is born again and is a part of God’s forever family. We are totally forgiven of all of our sins and made the righteousness of God in Christ. We are children of God with all the privilege and promise of sonship. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. In the new, we literally become the temple of the Holy Spirit, God lives in us and has promised that He will never depart from us nor forsake us.

What a privilege it is to be a partaker of this New Covenant!