What is a covenant

A covenant is where one party proposes to benefit another on certain conditions. The party proposing the benefits takes the initiative. The party to whom the benefits are proposed can accept or reject the conditions. It is not the same as a contract between equals like a marriage or housing contract. It is more like a will. Indeed the Greek word for 'covenant' and 'will' is the same. A person who proposes to benefit another through his will has the right to impose conditions on the beneficiary. The beneficiary can refuse those conditions. In those circumstances there is no entitlement to the benefits covenanted or willed.

It is worth looking at the old covenant God made with his people through Moses to see that this is the nature of a covenant.

In these words of Moses God agrees to bless the Israelites in the land they are entering to possess. He will give them many years in the land if they are obedient and keep his laws. However if the conditions are not met the Israelites will be destroyed, they will not live long in the land of promise. That is the old covenant.

(B) What is the new covenant

The new covenant is not clearly stated in the passage we are studying. It is stated in Heb9v15: Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those that 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. I think the clearest version of the new covenant is found in the well known and loved words of John3v16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God agrees to give eternal life to men and women. They do not deserve it! The only condition is that they believe in his son.

Moses in Deut30v19 urges the people to choose life, so that you.... may live.....love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life. Today we are urged to choose eternal life by loving Jesus, listening to his voice, holding fast to him. Jesus came to give life and to give it more abundantly. We should never forget the words of John3v36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. . The benefits promised in God's covenants are conditional.

(C) Why was a new covenant needed

We read in v13 By calling this covenant "new", he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and ageing will soon disappear. A refrigerator, TV or motor car becomes obsolete when an improved model comes onto the market, something which works better than the old. The old covenant had served its purpose. It had produced a distinctive people with a superior moral code who worshiped the one true God and who were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. By the time of John the Baptist's ministry there was a significant number of Jews longing for something better.

The old covenant had become distorted by the time of Christ. Only keeping both the law and elaborations on the law in minute detail would satisfy God . Over the years definitions and interpretations had multiplied and a religious Jew was expected to obey both the law as it is written in the Old Testament and also the traditions of men. So Judaism was marred by three tendencies: cynicism, formalism and legalism. This is ever the way with men. They take a good gift from God and somehow manage to pervert it.

It is easy to see why intelligent Jews, of whom the Sadducees were an example, had a cynical view of religion. It was impossible to keep God's laws. To make matters worse the legalists believed that God could only be pleased by keeping rules and regulations and so the more there were the better. The Pharisees had added thousands of minor regulations that made life a burden for the ordinary man and woman. Jesus said, "Woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them." If Jesus was operating in Britain today he would certainly make the same accusation against our politicians and civil servants.Hundreds of old people's homes are being closed because owners cannot afford the huge sums of money needed to comply with government regulations. Meanwhile the government is making no provision for frail and infirm old people who are having to find somewhere else to live. It makes my blood boil. So - many Jews ended up formalists. They went through the motions. They kept the Sabbath, washed their hands before meals, watched their diet, made sacrifices from time to time and observed the festivals. If they kept in with God he would do right by them. So prosperity was seen as a mark of God's favour. Poverty and ill health were signs of God's disfavour. The terms of the old covenant could readily lead to these misconceptions. It was easy to adopt a bargaining attitude to God, to put him under an obligation by keeping his rules. The old covenant did not, perhaps, emphasise God's grace. It had a purpose and it had fulfilled its purpose. Something better was needed.

It must be acknowledged that it was very difficult for the Jews to accept a change. They were being asked to change what they believed and how they worshipped. Only God had the authority to establish a new covenant. Moses says in Deut4v2. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you. Now the fact is that Jesus did effectively add and subtract from the law. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said many times, " You have heard that it was said........ but I tell you ....." See Mt5v38 Jesus is either blatantly disobeying God or he has been given authority by God to fulfil the law, to bring it to completion, thereby making some of the old commands obsolete. One of the reasons Jesus did so many miracles was to establish his authority. Even so it was hard for most Jews to abandon the religion that had served them for centuries and made them a distinctive people. Those that had broken free were returning to it. The writer to the Hebrews is trying to halt this tendency and he has a difficult task. His epistle is a valiant attempt to stem the flow. We know that he failed. The Jews did not become Christians. Judaism survived as an influential religion that has kept the Jews the way they are. However the epistle has been a great comfort and encouragement to beleaguered Christians through the centuries.

(D) How is the new covenant better

(a) It changes lives. v10 I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
When we believe in Jesus we enter a new relationship with God. He becomes our Father and we become his children - children who desire to please him. This is the theme of Eph5v1 Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. It is surely easier to love and obey God knowing, as we do, what he has done for us. It is easier to work hard for a schoolteacher that you love and admire than for one you hate. A young child adopted into a loving family, surrounded by people who love their father and love each other, should take on the values of that family.

(b) It involves a personal experience of God v11 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest.
This doesn't mean that we don't need teaching. We need lots - and we get lots! It does mean that we can know God, and his Son, for ourselves. We don't know Jesus by hearsay. If we put our faith in him he gives us his Spirit. This means we all know Jesus slightly differently. I taught four Harrison brothers - one after the other! I can remember speaking with their mother at a parent's evening when she said, "They all say something different about you..." The youngest one had heard a lot about me from his brothers. He was very apprehensive and cautious whilst he viewed me through his brother's eyes! It was many months before he smiled at his teacher. Eventually he did. He knew me for himself.

Sometimes when we get to know a person that we have heard so much about we are disappointed. During my student years I lived with my grandmother in Richmond, Surrey. So I attended my mother's old church, Salem, Richmond. My mother told me that I must go and visit the Miss Haddlers who still attended Salem. She spoke in glowing terms about these two ladies who had been so kind to her father and to herself. I was very disillusioned when I did visit them. They were obsessed with an obscenely fat and ugly cat and were highly critical of the current Pastor. It was clear to me that they had been in love with my grandfather - the former Pastor of the church - and that had influenced their behaviour towards him and his pretty daughter. My mother could never understand why I didn't like them very much. Now I do not believe anyone is disappointed with Jesus when they get to know him for themselves. I certainly am not. The better I know him the more I love him.

There are times when I am out walking that I pass by a fine stately home. I wonder what the people are like who live in these splendid houses. I don't know anyone who lives in such splendour and I don't suppose that I ever will. Jesus is knowable from the least to the greatest. He is as accessible to the lowest in the land as to the highest. The rich and powerful do not have a prior claim on Jesus. If anything their wealth is a hindrance. Mt 19v24 "I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God".

(c) It removes guilt and blame. v12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
I have heard many Christian's say, "I can forgive but not forget." I am not sure that this is possible. If we forgive someone a wrong we have to behave towards them as though that wrong had never occurred. We have to put aside that wrong, to "forget it", and treat the person as if it had never been. I think that by doing this the details of a wrong fade from the memory. This makes forgiveness easier and easier in the future. I can remember once getting quite an unkind letter from a member of my family. I destroyed the letter quickly and treated the sender as if I had not received it. Today I can remember receiving the letter but I have forgotten the contents. I no longer think about the letter when I have to do with that member of the family.

Now is this how God proceeds. Warren W.Wiersbee commenting upon this passage says that God cannot forget. He suggests that what the verse means is that God does not hold our wickedness against us. In other words God acts much as I have described above - but of course there is a lingering remembrance of wrongs committed just as I have that vague memory of receiving an unpleasant letter. In other words God is like a computer that has had a file deleted - somewhere on the computer there is still a record of that file.

I do not agree with Warren W.Wiersbee. I believe a day will come that God will erase from his memory all knowledge of our sins. He will remember them no more. Not only that but he will remove from our consciousness memories of our own and other people's failings. If God hates sin he could not bear to dwell upon it for ever and ever. It is possible to uninstall a programme on the computer. The hard disc is wiped free of it. God will choose eventually to expel all memory of our sin. See Acts3v19. I think, too, that he will choose to expel all memory of the unrepentant, unbelieving, sinner and that by that act they will finally be lost. However that is another story.

(d) It has a better mediator. v6 But the ministry Jesus received is as superior to theirs......
Moses mediated the old covenant. He represented the people to God and God to the people. That is why the Pharisees said, "We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses.." John9v28. The writer claims that Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses. Heb3v3. Moses was God's servant Jesus was God's son.

Jesus was a better mediator, too, because he was the ultimate sacrifice. He made the final, complete, and perfect, token payment for sin on behalf of us all and God in his goodness accepted it. We are freed from the consequences of sin by Jesus' redeeming work. Moses was prepared to die for the sake of his people. He wanted to save them from God's wrath - incurred by worshipping the Golden Calf during his absence up the mountain. Moses was not permitted to do this. He was not the perfect lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus introduced the new covenant to his disciples during the last supper. He dramatically held up the cup of wine from which they all drank and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you". Like many of Jesus' briefer statements it is rather enigmatic. I found the 'Living Bible' paraphrase helpful, "This wine is the token of God's new agreement to save you - an agreement sealed with the blood I shall pour out as a sacrifice for you". The wine represents the new deal for sinners - promising forgiveness and eternal life to those who believe in Jesus. It is guaranteed by his signature, a signature in Jesus' own precious outpoured blood.

(E) Conclusion

The Hebrews had been offered a better inheritance. They had received the promise of eternal life conditional upon belief in and commitment to Jesus. It is amazing that God gave the members of the Sanhedrin the opportunity to repent and receive eternal life. Peter and John witnessed to them after healing the crippled beggar. In Acts4v12 they boldly proclaim to the ruling elite, "Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." However ruling elites hate admitting that they have been wrong. This tendency has also bedevilled Christianity. Denominations exist because Christians have differing beliefs about subjects like baptism and the Lord's supper. We cannot all be right! It is almost impossible to get a ruling elite to admit that a mistake has been made and change its Articles of Faith? It is particularly hard for an individual to achieve a revaluation of a long held doctrine. Why is it that the Roman Catholic Church will not change its position on purgatory or the Grace Baptist Association its statement that the wicked endure everlasting torment in hell? Judaism had been corrupted through the centuries as God's law was distorted. It is always Satan's strategy to corrupt the good. If this is the case we should be willing to test long-standing beliefs against Scripture and if necessary revise our position. It is right to resist change if it leads to error. However there is a partisan attitude of mind that precludes a ruling group from saying, "We have been mistaken". How we hate to admit that even in small things. We will admit that we are sinners but rarely acknowledge that we have made a mistake. Why is that? It is just pride.

The ordinary Jew had more excuse for not changing. If their leaders did not accept that Jesus was God's Son and Saviour of the World why should they? It was hard for them to break from the familiar. They had been brought up to believe in the law, the festivals, the temple and the sacrifices by parents and grandparents that they loved and respected. They are comfortable with the religion they have. Many rank and file Christians are exactly the same. We are influenced by our leaders, our upbringing and our Christian associates. It is difficult to change. Some are frightened to change in case they are wrong. They say to themselves - surely all those Godly men in the past: our grandparents, parents, dear old Uncle Bill, those saintly ministers of the gospel who have been a blessing to me, surely they have not all been wrong. Well they may have been. Once an error has been established it is remarkably persistent. None should exist - because everything worth believing should be capable of resolution by recourse to the Bible. Yet even someone like Dr.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, an expositor of consummate skill, could not bring himself to accept that baptism was for believers. He allowed his judgement to be clouded by factors that had nothing to do with Scripture. Baptism is one of those things it is important to be right about! Most of us our comfortable with the religion we have.

Some Jews did change. The reason Jesus and his disciples did signs and wonders was to help Jews to change. I believe that the Holy Spirit was given in such a dramatic fashion and had the effect he did on believers emotional life in order to strongly reinforce decisions to follow Jesus. The church needed kick starting. Later some of those Jews who had repented and accepted Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant began to return to their old ways. Paul writing to them in his epistle to the Galations says, You, my brothers, were called to be free. They found it hard to be free - from circumcision, the dietary laws, mixing with non-Jews.... Perhaps Paul would say the same to Christians today who are unwilling to abandon certain bad old ways- you are called to be free.

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