The New Covenant
Glendol McClure
Concerning the new covenant that would be ratified by Christ’s blood, Jeremiah prophesied, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:31-34).
After reading Hebrews 7-10 and considering other New Testament passages (see chart below), it should be clear that Jeremiah’s prophecy referred exclusively to the new law to be fulfilled in Christ, the new covenant. The Hebrew writer wrote, “In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary” (Heb. 8:13-9:1).
The Hebrew writer, in chapters 7-10 consistently and repeatedly drew a contrast between the old covenant (the Law of Moses) and the new covenant (the law fulfilled in Christ). In this continuing contrast, he clearly set forth the new covenant’s superiority over the old. Observe the writer's use of the word “better” (cf. Heb. 1:4; 7:19, 22; 8:6; 9:23; 10:34; 12:24). By the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord proclaimed it was “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake.”
Of the new covenant, Jeremiah proclaimed, “After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The new covenant, unlike Moses law, which was written on tables of stone, is spiritual in nature and written in men’s hearts. The tabernacle and its worship under the old covenant “was a figure for the time then present” and “stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation” (Heb. 9:9, 10).
And last, of the new covenant, Jeremiah prophesied, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Of the first covenant, the Hebrew writer wrote, “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:3, 4, 9). Only the one-time sacrifice of the blood of the sinless Son of God that ratified the second covenant could purge the sinner’s conscience of dead works (Heb. 9:11-15).
Now, considering this Bible evidence, are you aware of any other covenant with a nature like unto the supreme and powerful nature of the new covenant, which was fulfilled in Christ?
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A Comparison of the Two Covenants |
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The First (Hebrews 10:9) |
The Second (Hebrews 10:9) |
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Old Testament (2 Corinthians 3:14) |
New Testament (Hebrews 9:15) |
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The first taken away (Hebrews 10:9) |
Established the second (Hebrews 10:9) |
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Moses was the mediator (Hebrews 9:19) |
Christ the Mediator (Hebrews 9:15) |
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Purified the flesh (Hebrews 9:13) |
Purifies the soul (1 Peter 1:22) |
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Written in stone (2 Corinthians 3:7) |
Written in the heart (2 Corinthians 3:3) |
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A figure of the true (Hebrews 9:24) |
The true (Hebrews 8:1, 2) |
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Required continual offerings (Hebrews 10:1) |
Christ offered once (Hebrews 7:27) |
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By blood of animals (Hebrews 10:1-4) |
By the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14) |
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Dead sacrifices (Hebrews 10:1) |
Living Sacrifice (Romans 12:1) |
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Yearly remembrance of sin (Hebrews 10:3) |
Sin remembered no more (Hebrews 8:12) |
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Did not make perfect (Hebrews 7:19) |
Made perfect in Christ (Colossians 1:28) |
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Priests had sins (Hebrews 10:7) |
A sinless Priest (Hebrews 7:26) |
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Priests died (Hebrews 7:23) |
Priest continues forever (Hebrews 7:24) |
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Ministration of death (2 Cor.3:9) |
Ministration of life (2 Cor.3:9) |
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Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:12) |
Royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) |
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Old priesthood and law (Hebrews 7:12) |
Priesthood and law changed (Hebrews 7:12) |
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Faulty law (Hebrews 8:7) |
Perfect law (James 1:25) |
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Blotted out (Colossians 2:14) |
Remains (2 Corinthians 3:11) |