“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.” (Heb. 9:15 NIV 1984 Edition).
The Old Covenant which gave us the Law of God (revealed in the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20) was weak in that it could not make anyone righteous in the sight of God (Heb. 7:19). It is not that the Law is bad. No, it is very good. The Law reveals the Holy, just, and righteous nature of God. The problem was the weakness of our humanity. Because of our sinful nature, we were unable to keep the Law consistently and continually. In other words, the Law was unable to deliver us from the power of sin. No matter how hard one tries, everyone inevitably fails in their effort to keep the Law. (Rom. 3:23). Thus, the weakness of the Old Covenant was not in the Law itself but in us.
In Christ, God gave us a “better covenant”. In this Covenant, the Law was not done away with, but was fully kept by Christ (Heb. 10:10). He was sinless in every possible way. When He became our substitute on the cross, our sin was vicariously placed upon Him! At that moment He became our substitute and was subject unto death because death is the result of sin (Rom. 6:23). It is not that He sinned, but the fact that He took our sin upon Himself. And there God the Father judged Him just as if He were judging us! (Col. 2:13).
After His resurrection, His blood that was offered once and for all for our sin was placed upon the Mercy Seat before the Throne of God (Heb. 10: 16-18). And now all who put their trust in that Blood and personally accept the sacrifice that He made by surrendering their life to Jesus are made absolutely holy and righteous in the sight of God (2 Cor. 5:21)! It is no longer the keeping of the Law that makes one acceptable in the sight of God. It is the surrender to the finished work of Christ and receiving from Him what was impossible for us to do ourselves! (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8-9).
Our life afterward is simply a daily acknowledgment and surrendering to the Power of the cross (Gal. 2:20). What follows is a heart full of gratitude and love which motivates us to follow Him. Our service for Him is now born out of love and gratitude rather than obligation! And the best part of this New Covenant is that He gives us the Holy Spirit to live within us Who empowers us to do what we could never do on our own (John 14:20, 25; John 15:26; John 16:13)! This New Covenant is truly better than the old!
James W. Black
