The New Covenant is more amazing and wonderful than most dare to imagine. It is so completely different from the Old Covenant of Law given to Moses that we usually find it difficult to grasp. As a result, we sometimes are tempted to mix in concepts taken from the Old Covenant with which we may be more comfortable or familiar, which is called syncretism. When we do this we create an unbiblical hybrid that contradicts and falsifies the gospel and negates what God provided for us in Christ.
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! Galatians 1:6–8 (NASB95)
Our failure to grasp and believe what the Bible says about the nature and beauty of the amazing New Covenant keeps many of us in bondage to some form of legalism.
My hope is that this series of teachings will awaken us to the wonder and glory of who Christ is and what he accomplished on our behalf.
A Brief Review of the Covenants
A covenant is a formal promise of loyalty between a sovereign and his people or between equals.
- Some covenants are unilateral or unconditional, the performance of which rests entirely upon the one making the covenant. God made this sort of covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15.
- Conditional covenants require both parties to keep the conditions of the covenant. These can be between two equals, such as in marriage, or between unequals, such as between David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 18). These are called bilateral covenants. Multilateral conditional covenants, such as between a king and his people, are between an individual and a group. An example of this kind of covenant was when God instituted the Law at Mt. Sinai. It is also possible to have two groups of people pledge covenant loyalty to one another, as existed between the Israelites and Gibeonites (Joshua 9).
Biblical covenants are often sealed with blood and have some sort of sign or token attached to them. Blood was shed in the covenant God made with Abraham and circumcision was the token or sign. Jonathan gave David his robe, weapons, and armor as a token of their pledge of mutual allegiance. In marriage the giving of rings is a token or sign of the covenant vow to remain faithful until death. Blood was shed at the institution of the New Covenant. Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are its tokens.
God has always related to his creatures via covenants from Genesis through the New Covenant.
This is in stark contrasts to the idea of God’s instituting various “dispensations” of grace throughout human history. All of the covenants are Christ-centered; whereas, Dispensationalism tends to be Israel-centered. When our Lord Jesus appeared as Savior and Lord, Israel’s role as preserver of the scriptures and provider of the biological pedigree for the Messiah came to an end. The focus from this time forward is Jesus. Just as John the Baptist understood that he must decrease in order for Jesus to have the ascendancy (John 3:30), Israel was meant to step back from the spotlight and not move to the front and center as Dispensationalists claim.
The main covenants that relate to the gospel are as follows: Edenic, Abrahamic, Mosaic – the Law, Davidic, and the New Covenant. Each of these covenants points to Christ, who is the focus and theme of the entire Bible.
Following Christ’s death and resurrection, two disciples, who did not understand the significance of what had just taken place, had arrived at the false conclusion that their messianic hopes had been dashed at the crucifixion. Seeing their despondency, Jesus appeared in a disguised form and joined them on their journey to Emmaus. He entered into conversation with them, which gave him the opportunity to correct their wrong interpretation of things.
And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. Luke 24:25–27 (NASB95)
Unless we understand the foundational truth that everything in the Bible points to Christ, we can lose ourselves in the weeds and fail to properly understand the covenants.
The following chart refers to the covenants that most clearly pertain to the gospel.
| Covenant |
Promise |
OT Fulfillment |
NT Fulfillment |
Personal or Future Fulfillment |
|
Edenic
Unilateral or Unconditional. Here God promised to send a savior, Jesus.
|
(Spoken to the serpent in the garden)
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NASB95)
|
None |
Jesus’ death upon the cross fulfilled the promise that Satan would bruise our Lord’s heel. His resurrection crushed Satan’s head.
In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:15 (NLT)
|
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20 (NASB95)
|
|
Abrahamic – One Seed
Bilateral and Conditional on Abraham’s obedience.
Jesus was the promised “seed” who became a blessing to the entire world.
|
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:18 (NASB95)
|
Isaac and all following children |
Jesus –
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NASB95)
|
The gospel allows us to become partakers of that blessing…
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13–14 (NASB95)
|
|
Abrahamic -Descendants
Unilateral and Unconditional .
This shows how important it is for us to respond in faith to God’s unconditional promises. Such faith please God and benefits us. We partner with God as we become part of the means whereby he accomplishes his desired end. |
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5–6 (NASB95)
|
Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. Hebrews 11:12 (NASB95)
|
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:26–29 (NASB95)
|
Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 (NASB95)
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 1 Corinthians 15:41–42 (NASB95)
|
|
Abrahamic -Land
Unilateral and Unconditional – Genesis 15
|
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: Genesis 15:18 (NASB95)
|
Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 1 Kings 4:21 (NASB95)
|
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 (NKJV)
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13 (NASB95)
|
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13 (NASB95)
|
|
Davidic
Bilateral and Conditional upon the obedience of the descendant.
Jesus was the only son of David who fulfilled the covenant conditions.
|
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12–13 (NASB95)
|
Solomon – unfaithful to the Lord…
And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 1 Kings 8:20 (NLT)
|
Jesus – fulfilled covenant obligations…
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. Luke 1:31–33 (NASB95)
|
And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:16 (NASB95)
|
|
Mosaic
Multilateral and Conditional upon obedience of Israel.
Only Jesus was able to keep the Law. He both fulfilled its conditions and paid the penalty for our non-performance.
|
But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Galatians 3:22–23 (NASB95)
|
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; Hebrews 8:7–8 (NASB95)
|
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, Philippians 2:8–9 (NASB95)
|
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:2–4 (NASB95)
|
|
New
Bilateral between the Father and Son and Conditional upon obedience of Jesus.
For us it is unilateral or unconditional since Christ fulfilled its conditions for us.
|
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:33–34 (NASB95)
|
When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:13 (NASB95)
|
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:6 (NASB95)
|
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. Romans 7:4 (NASB95)
|
Some biblical covenants have attached blessings and curses. The blessings accompany keeping the stipulations of the covenant, and curses (judgments) fall on those who violate it. The covenant of Law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai required the Israelites to keep God’s commandments in order to obtain and maintain his blessings, favor, and protection. Violating those laws brings judgment or curses upon the people.
Christ Fulfilled the Law and Removed Us from Its Jurisdiction
Joshua told the Israelites that they would be unable to keep the Law (Joshua 24:19). This is because it is impossible for any human to measure up to God’s standard of righteousness.
as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; Romans 3:10 (NASB95)
Later Paul the apostle informed us that the Law was never meant to gain or maintain for us a right relationship with God. Its purpose was to point out our shortcomings and sin.
God’s purpose for the Law was to make us realize how desperately we need a Savior.
Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. Galatians 3:21–24 (NASB95)
The reason we cannot keep the Law is because we are fatally flawed through sin inherited from Adam and practiced by us. Therefore, God had to introduce a totally different way to be reconciled to him.
For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; Hebrews 8:8 (NASB95)
The prophet Jeremiah promised that God would introduce a new covenant of an altogether different kind.
"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NASB)
The only possible way for God to introduce such a new way of relating to his people was for the demands of the Law to be fulfilled and the punishment for its violation to be paid. This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He lived in perfect obedience to his Father in heaven and afterward died for our sins.
Therefore, Jesus completely fulfilled the Law of the Old Covenant in order to make it possible for the establishment of a new way to relate to God.
By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. Hebrews 10:20 (NLT)
The law of Moses illustrated God’s holiness to Israel, but its purpose was to lead us to Christ.
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Galatians 3:24–25 (NASB95)
Once it accomplishes that role, its usefulness and importance to believers in Jesus fades away since Christ has already fulfilled the Law’s purpose or end.
For Christ has already accomplished the purpose [Greek: telos = fulfillment or end goal] for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. Romans 10:4 (NLT)
Therefore, not only did Christ fulfill the Law, but he also abolished its jurisdiction over God’s born-again children, too.
Since its purpose was to point to Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, who offered himself to God on our behalf, once Jesus came, died, and rose again, the Law had to recede in importance to the extent that God abolished the temple and its sacrifices. He also abolished its power to condemn us for our sins after we are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus.
This is the only covenant that was rendered obsolete after its fulfillment.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Ephesians 2:14–15 (NLT)
When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:13 (NASB95)
The New Covenant Fulfills All Previous Covenants
Although the New Covenant fulfills and leaves behind the Old Covenant of Law, it simply fulfills the earlier covenants made in the Garden of Eden, to Abraham, and to King David.
In each of these prior covenants, God promised to send a Savior who would crush the power of Satan, bless the entire earth, and rule forever on God’s throne.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NASB95)
“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ 26 “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” Acts 3:25–26 (NASB95)
“He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:13 (NASB95)
All these covenants pointed to Jesus who is both Savior and Lord.
Therefore, the New Covenant is the fulfillment of every covenant that came before, including the covenant of Law given to Moses.
The Uniqueness of the New Covenant
One thing that makes the New Covenant so dramatically different is that it is a bilateral covenant between God and Jesus, in which we are included because we are “in” Christ.
We died with our Lord on the cross as a just payment for our sins, and we rose with him from the dead to cross over into life and God’s kingdom. All the blessings attached to obeying God’s Law are ours in Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 (NASB95)
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11 (NASB95)
The keeping of the covenant provisions of the Law fell upon our Lord because we could not possibly keep them ourselves. In addition, Jesus paid the penalty for our covenant violations by dying in our place. He thereby put us into a right relationship with God the Father. On top of that, he has sent his Holy Spirit to indwell and live God’s life in and through us. He promised that one day he will raise us from the dead at which time we will receive brand new glorified bodies! The New Covenant is a work of grace from start to finish!
Therefore, the New Covenant, from our perspective, is a unilateral covenant in which God takes sole responsibility for our salvation!
Sadly, many cannot or will not believe that the New Covenant can possibly be so wonderful. Surely Jesus did not do it all for us! Surely our performance must have something critical to do with it! We do participate in the process from start to finish, but when it is all said and done, God alone will receive the glory.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36 (NASB95)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8–9 (NASB95)
At the last judgment, it will be apparent that we could not possibly save ourselves. If we now believe otherwise, it means the Law has not completed its work in our lives. We have not yet understood how hopelessly lost we are without Christ!
Those of us who still labor under the deception that we can somehow save ourselves will adopt or add some form of legalism to the gospel, thus making it no gospel at all.
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6–7 (NASB95)
I have heard well-meaning people teach that we who believe in Christ are still under the Law of Moses. They sometimes use Deuteronomy Chapter 11 as their text, explaining that we earn either a blessing or a curse, depending on our obedience to God’s commandments. The gospel is not present in that message. It fails because it does not recognize that blessings come to us only through Christ, not because of our own performance. It is sad to see how readily people believe this false gospel of works.
The Good News is that Jesus took upon himself the condemnation and punishment that our sin deserved. He substituted for us by taking the brunt of God’s just wrath against our sin; even though he was completely innocent, having been perfectly obedient to his heavenly Father all the way to the cross.
When Jesus died, he removed condemnation once and for all from all those who would afterward put their faith and allegiance in him.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24 (NASB)
By taking our punishment, Jesus also removed the Law’s power to rule us, which it does through condemnation.
The Law’s power comes from its ability to identify and condemn us for our sin.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 (NASB)
Through Christ the Law lost its power to condemn and rule us. By taking away our condemnation, Jesus set the stage for us to live in a radical new way – in the freedom and power of the Spirit.
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7:6 (NASB95)
This is done by believing the truth (the Word of God), denying ourselves (repenting from directing our own lives), and walking in the Spirit (actively cooperating with the Spirit of God, who lives in and through us). Paul summarized this life in the following verses.
"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:19-20 (NASB)
Satan has built an intricate web of lies in the realm of thought called “science” that has so thoroughly captured the minds of most people that we seem to be incapable or even unwilling to free ourselves. Even we Christians have become so mesmerized with the unproven claims of modern astrophysics and evolution that many of us have given our allegiance to the words of men over the clear words of Scripture without realizing what we have done. 
The war of such false science against the Word of God began in earnest at the advent of what is called the Scientific Revolution when Copernicus published his now revered heliocentric theory, which denied the truthfulness of the Genesis account of creation and other biblical descriptions of the world in which we live and the heavens above. Sir Isaac Newton provided the necessary framework for upholding the heliocentric system when he introduced his theory of gravity. By reputedly observing an apple fall to the ground, he made a speculative jump and reasoned that all masses attract all other masses. This theory is now accepted as a fact, even though we cannot demonstrate it in a lab. Over time the theory of gravity, like the theory of evolution, has come to be accepted as true – without proof! This is the essence of pseudoscience, or what Paul called “knowledge falsely so-called.” (1 Timothy 6:20)
Below is a quote by Martin Luther, who faced enormous levels of deception and contradiction in his day from the Roman Catholic Church and the embryonic stage of the heliocentric deception. Writing about deception in general, he said:
Consider that heliocentrism requires us to contradict the input from our senses which tell us that the earth does not move. We are told to believe that we are rotating at an astounding 1040 mph at the equator, or about 750 mph at the latitude where I live. In addition, we are told that we revolve around the sun at in incredible speed of 66,600 mph. The combination of these two speeds and corresponding force vectors would require us to experience a continual change of acceleration, since the spin of the earth both adds to and subtracts from the speed of our revolution each 24 hours.
The existence of this dome precludes the earth’s being a sphere, which is an anti-biblical lie thrust upon us by sun worshipers going back to ancient Egypt, who regarded spheres as the perfect shape. I have written about the 
The presence of the firmament with God enthroned above it teaches us that God is very near and watches over us continually. This is one major reason Satan works so hard to hide the true nature of our world. A turtle on a fence post did not get there by himself. A solid dome over the earth did not somehow randomly evolve out of the chaos of an explosion.
Michelson physically demonstrated that the earth is motionless, but Einstein countered by saying that it is impossible to observe or prove the earth’s motion or lack thereof. For a theory to be proved, it must be observable, testable, repeatable, and falsifiable. Einstein’s theory falls short in every area.
