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Old and New Covenant
Old and New Covenant
The Old Covenant
A physical covenant with physical rewards.
Circumcision of the flesh, with rewards of
financial prosperity, long life and peace.
Obey The Law
A physical covenant with physical rewards.
Circumcision of the flesh, with rewards of
financial prosperity, long life and peace.
Obey The Law
The New Covenant
A spiritual covenant with spiritual rewards.
Circumcision of the heart, with rewards of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and restored communion with God.
Commands: Love God, Love Neighbor
A spiritual covenant with spiritual rewards.
Circumcision of the heart, with rewards of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and restored communion with God.
Commands: Love God, Love Neighbor
Old and New Covenant
The Old Covenant
A physical covenant with physical rewards.
Circumcision of the flesh, with rewards of
financial prosperity, long life and peace.
Obey The Law
A physical covenant with physical rewards.
Circumcision of the flesh, with rewards of
financial prosperity, long life and peace.
Obey The Law
The New Covenant
A spiritual covenant with spiritual rewards.
Circumcision of the heart, with rewards of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and restored communion with God.
Commands: Love God, Love Neighbor
A spiritual covenant with spiritual rewards.
Circumcision of the heart, with rewards of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and restored communion with God.
Commands: Love God, Love Neighbor
Old Covenant
When Adam and Eve brought sin into the world the original purpose of man, to fellowship with God, was temporarily thwarted.
The friendship that existed was no longer possible between a Holy God and sinful man.
Early on, we see Adam's sons sacrificing to God, one in the right way, that was accepted by God and the other in their own way, that was unacceptable to God. Presumably, this tradition carried through to Noah, his sacrifice of "clean" animals, (those acceptable to God), and from Noah's descendants, to Abraham.
The first Covenant is made with Abraham in Genesis 15
This is a 2 part covenant.
- First, God tells Abraham that he will have a son with countless descendants.
- Second, he makes a solemn promise that they will be given the land of Canaan, after they have spent 400 years as slaves in a foreign land.
Abraham cuts in two a three year old heifer, goat, ram and sacrificing a dove and pigeon.
At dusk God walks between the 2 halves of the sacrifices in the form of a smoking firepot and a blazing torch.
The significance of this in ancient times was, when you entered a contract you cut an animal in half. Then both parties walked in between the 2 pieces and made a vow that basically stated, "may the same thing happen to the person who breaks this vow as has happened to these animals". It was an ancient curse to bind the contract in a supernatural way.
God himself enters into a contract with Abraham and walks through the animals, signifying that should he not fulfill his word, he should be cut in two like the animals he passes through.
-As a side note: For those currently trying to give away the land in Israel, I would not want to be one of those people who think it is a good idea to go against the most solemn oath that the Creator of this universe swore to keep.
Circumcision - the first requirement of the Old Covenant
God returns over 14 years later, 1 year before Isaac is born, to stipulate Abraham's part of the agreement. That he and and his descendants and all males of his household should be circumcised.
This is in relation to the first promise he gives about Abraham's son and descendants.
The Hebrew word "zareka", used for descendants in Genesis 15, also means seed, which has the same double meaning in English as it does Hebrew.
So God requires a sacrifice from the very origin of the seed of the Israelite Nation as a seal of the Covenant.
The Law - the second requirement of the Old Covenant
After 400 years as slaves in a foreign land, the Israelites are returning to the land promised them. God appears to Moses and gives the Law as part of the Covenant that he is requiring of them to fulfill to inherit the land.
The people are asked by God, before Moses is given the Law, if they will obey him fully and keep his commandments. They reply, "We will do everything the LORD has said".
God gives Moses the Law and then sacrifices are made to seal the Covenant. Exodus 24
The significance of the sacrifice in the Law, is that, a promise is made by both parties that if they do not fulfill their part of the agreement may the same thing happen to them as happened to the animals that they split in two.
The animal sacrifices, from that time forward, are made as a substitution for what should happen to the people who have broken the Covenant.
Heifers and Bulls - For sins of High Priest and nation.
Goats - For a person who sins unintentionally.
Lambs - For a person who sins knowingly. Doves or pigeons could be substituted if person couldn't afford lamb.
Every year, the animal that died and was cut up, was taking the place of the people and their descendants who had sworn the oath to keep the law and then had broken it.
Until, the time came when the perfect sacrifice would be offered, the one that would forever pay the contractual debt of death.
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:14
New Covenant
The New Covenant begins when Jesus sacrifice is complete, we no longer owe the death requirement of the sworn oath of our spiritual ancestors.
"having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
Colossians 2:14
"This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts." Hebrews 8:10 NIV
The perfect sacrifice was made to end all sacrifices. Only the perfection of God himself, in the form of his Son, could pay the price required for the complete redemption from the curse of breaking the laws of the first covenant. Since it was God who had entered the original covenant with Abraham, no one else could negate the curse that would fall on those who broke the laws of the first Covenant. No animal, human, angel or any created being could take the place of the original parties of the agreement and stand in the place of the guilty party to permanently undue the death required by the oath.
The lamb, the sacrifice for intentional sin, was raised in Bethlehem. They were raised by shepherd/priests who would take the newborn sheep and put them in swaddling clothes and lay them in a manger lined with soft hay until they had calmed down enough to be put with their mothers. The reason for the special treatment was because they would be disqualified from the sacrifice if they had so much as a bruised bone.
When the news is proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds that there is a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes laying in a manger, they knew exactly what this meant, that this would be the Messiah.
The lamb was then raised with special treatment by the shepherds and when it was a year old it would be taken to the house of the family that it was to be sacrificed for.
For four days it stayed with the family inside the house were it was fed and taken care of by each family member in order that everyone in that family became attached to that lamb. Then, at Passover, the father would take the lamb to Jerusalem to the spot of sacrifice and the priest would ask the father if he loved the lamb. Only a lamb that was loved as one of the family could be offered as a substitution for their requirement of death, due to breaking the law.
This was a shadow of the pain that God would feel when his Son was sacrificed to fulfill the requirements of the first Covenant.
Jesus became that lamb for our personal intentional sins, born in Bethlehem, put in the manger in swaddling clothes and sacrificed in Jerusalem at Passover.
God himself reestablishes fellowship with man, through Jesus sacrifice we are no longer under the original curse of sin. The Holy Spirit, who is God, lives in those who follow Christ. The union of God and man now creates a much more complete fellowship than Adam and Eve had in the Garden before they had sinned.
A gentile that converted to Judaism would be immersed in water in a mikvah(baptized). This would signify their entering into the Covenant of Abraham. They would then be required to obey the Jewish Laws and be circumcised.
We, as Christians, enter into the Covenant in the same way, through baptism. But, because the law has been fulfilled and there is no longer the requirement of death for breaking the Old Commandments, we enter into the New Covenant. We follow the teachings of Christ and we have a circumcision of the heart.
For a Jew the significanse of baptism is for cleansing. Various things made a person unclean and required them to bathe themselves in a mikvah to be purified. Some uncleanness required flowing water or "living water" as some bibles translate it.
We see John baptizing in the Jordan River in flowing water, while preaching the soon coming of the Messiah. Crowds were coming to be baptized for ritual uncleanness requiring running water.
Jesus himself declares that "streams of living water will flow from those who believe in him"
Referring to the Holy Spirit that can cleanse even the worst of uncleanness.
The baptism in the New Covenant is different from that of the Old, in that, it is required only once to cleanse from all spiritual uncleanness and is no longer an ongoing process.
The plan is now revealed, it achieves a greater purpose than the original creation did, but only to those who choose it.
In the New Covenant the law is condensed into 2 commands; love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
Romans 10:4New International Version (NIV)
4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Hebrews 7:18, 8:6-9:10,10:1,10:16, New International Version (NIV)
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest forever.’”[b]
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
1 Cor. 9:19-23
2 Cor. 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Gal. 3:1-4:7, 4:21-31
Eph. 2:11-22
Colossians 2:14,16
Luke 16:16
Romans 3:20
Matt. 22:37
Romans 15:4
1 Cor. 10:11
1 Tim. 1:8
2 Tim. 3:16
Matt. 5:17-20, 13:52
When Adam and Eve brought sin into the world the original purpose of man, to fellowship with God, was temporarily thwarted.
The friendship that existed was no longer possible between a Holy God and sinful man.
Early on, we see Adam's sons sacrificing to God, one in the right way, that was accepted by God and the other in their own way, that was unacceptable to God. Presumably, this tradition carried through to Noah, his sacrifice of "clean" animals, (those acceptable to God), and from Noah's descendants, to Abraham.
The first Covenant is made with Abraham in Genesis 15
This is a 2 part covenant.
- First, God tells Abraham that he will have a son with countless descendants.
- Second, he makes a solemn promise that they will be given the land of Canaan, after they have spent 400 years as slaves in a foreign land.
Abraham cuts in two a three year old heifer, goat, ram and sacrificing a dove and pigeon.
At dusk God walks between the 2 halves of the sacrifices in the form of a smoking firepot and a blazing torch.
The significance of this in ancient times was, when you entered a contract you cut an animal in half. Then both parties walked in between the 2 pieces and made a vow that basically stated, "may the same thing happen to the person who breaks this vow as has happened to these animals". It was an ancient curse to bind the contract in a supernatural way.
God himself enters into a contract with Abraham and walks through the animals, signifying that should he not fulfill his word, he should be cut in two like the animals he passes through.
-As a side note: For those currently trying to give away the land in Israel, I would not want to be one of those people who think it is a good idea to go against the most solemn oath that the Creator of this universe swore to keep.
Circumcision - the first requirement of the Old Covenant
God returns over 14 years later, 1 year before Isaac is born, to stipulate Abraham's part of the agreement. That he and and his descendants and all males of his household should be circumcised.
This is in relation to the first promise he gives about Abraham's son and descendants.
The Hebrew word "zareka", used for descendants in Genesis 15, also means seed, which has the same double meaning in English as it does Hebrew.
So God requires a sacrifice from the very origin of the seed of the Israelite Nation as a seal of the Covenant.
The Law - the second requirement of the Old Covenant
After 400 years as slaves in a foreign land, the Israelites are returning to the land promised them. God appears to Moses and gives the Law as part of the Covenant that he is requiring of them to fulfill to inherit the land.
The people are asked by God, before Moses is given the Law, if they will obey him fully and keep his commandments. They reply, "We will do everything the LORD has said".
God gives Moses the Law and then sacrifices are made to seal the Covenant. Exodus 24
The significance of the sacrifice in the Law, is that, a promise is made by both parties that if they do not fulfill their part of the agreement may the same thing happen to them as happened to the animals that they split in two.
The animal sacrifices, from that time forward, are made as a substitution for what should happen to the people who have broken the Covenant.
Heifers and Bulls - For sins of High Priest and nation.
Goats - For a person who sins unintentionally.
Lambs - For a person who sins knowingly. Doves or pigeons could be substituted if person couldn't afford lamb.
Every year, the animal that died and was cut up, was taking the place of the people and their descendants who had sworn the oath to keep the law and then had broken it.
Until, the time came when the perfect sacrifice would be offered, the one that would forever pay the contractual debt of death.
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:14
New Covenant
The New Covenant begins when Jesus sacrifice is complete, we no longer owe the death requirement of the sworn oath of our spiritual ancestors.
"having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
Colossians 2:14
"This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts." Hebrews 8:10 NIV
The perfect sacrifice was made to end all sacrifices. Only the perfection of God himself, in the form of his Son, could pay the price required for the complete redemption from the curse of breaking the laws of the first covenant. Since it was God who had entered the original covenant with Abraham, no one else could negate the curse that would fall on those who broke the laws of the first Covenant. No animal, human, angel or any created being could take the place of the original parties of the agreement and stand in the place of the guilty party to permanently undue the death required by the oath.
The lamb, the sacrifice for intentional sin, was raised in Bethlehem. They were raised by shepherd/priests who would take the newborn sheep and put them in swaddling clothes and lay them in a manger lined with soft hay until they had calmed down enough to be put with their mothers. The reason for the special treatment was because they would be disqualified from the sacrifice if they had so much as a bruised bone.
When the news is proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds that there is a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes laying in a manger, they knew exactly what this meant, that this would be the Messiah.
The lamb was then raised with special treatment by the shepherds and when it was a year old it would be taken to the house of the family that it was to be sacrificed for.
For four days it stayed with the family inside the house were it was fed and taken care of by each family member in order that everyone in that family became attached to that lamb. Then, at Passover, the father would take the lamb to Jerusalem to the spot of sacrifice and the priest would ask the father if he loved the lamb. Only a lamb that was loved as one of the family could be offered as a substitution for their requirement of death, due to breaking the law.
This was a shadow of the pain that God would feel when his Son was sacrificed to fulfill the requirements of the first Covenant.
Jesus became that lamb for our personal intentional sins, born in Bethlehem, put in the manger in swaddling clothes and sacrificed in Jerusalem at Passover.
God himself reestablishes fellowship with man, through Jesus sacrifice we are no longer under the original curse of sin. The Holy Spirit, who is God, lives in those who follow Christ. The union of God and man now creates a much more complete fellowship than Adam and Eve had in the Garden before they had sinned.
A gentile that converted to Judaism would be immersed in water in a mikvah(baptized). This would signify their entering into the Covenant of Abraham. They would then be required to obey the Jewish Laws and be circumcised.
We, as Christians, enter into the Covenant in the same way, through baptism. But, because the law has been fulfilled and there is no longer the requirement of death for breaking the Old Commandments, we enter into the New Covenant. We follow the teachings of Christ and we have a circumcision of the heart.
For a Jew the significanse of baptism is for cleansing. Various things made a person unclean and required them to bathe themselves in a mikvah to be purified. Some uncleanness required flowing water or "living water" as some bibles translate it.
We see John baptizing in the Jordan River in flowing water, while preaching the soon coming of the Messiah. Crowds were coming to be baptized for ritual uncleanness requiring running water.
Jesus himself declares that "streams of living water will flow from those who believe in him"
Referring to the Holy Spirit that can cleanse even the worst of uncleanness.
The baptism in the New Covenant is different from that of the Old, in that, it is required only once to cleanse from all spiritual uncleanness and is no longer an ongoing process.
The plan is now revealed, it achieves a greater purpose than the original creation did, but only to those who choose it.
In the New Covenant the law is condensed into 2 commands; love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
Romans 10:4New International Version (NIV)
4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Hebrews 7:18, 8:6-9:10,10:1,10:16, New International Version (NIV)
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest forever.’”[b]
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
1 Cor. 9:19-23
2 Cor. 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Gal. 3:1-4:7, 4:21-31
Eph. 2:11-22
Colossians 2:14,16
Luke 16:16
Romans 3:20
Matt. 22:37
Romans 15:4
1 Cor. 10:11
1 Tim. 1:8
2 Tim. 3:16
Matt. 5:17-20, 13:52