A NEW COVENANT

A NEW COVENANT
Heb 8:7-13
"The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant …." (v.8).

A COVENANT IS BASICALLY AN agreement between two parties. It could be a business contract or a treaty between two nations. Yet the New Testament chooses, not the usual word suntheke to denote it, but the word diatheke. The latter means a will, a last will and testament. The difference between an agreement and a will is this: while the first is formulated by two persons together, the second is formulated by one person for the other. We could say one is bilateral and the other is unilateral.

When God makes a covenant with man, the covenant is never one made on equal footing. God is not our equal partner. Neither is it made in consultation with us, as if God needs our input. In a covenant, God out of His own initiative and grace makes man an offer. We are in no position to question, debate or alter the terms. We can only accept or reject the offer.

In the Bible we read of the old covenant (or testament) and the new. The old is based on obedience to the Law, without which no one can be accepted by God. There is nothing wrong with the Law but man could not meet its requirements. Hence, out of His grace, God promises a new covenant (see Eze 11.19-20; Jer 31.31-34).

He promises to write the Law on the hearts of man (v.10). Obeying it is no longer a condition for acceptance, but an expression of acceptance. God offers to forgive our sins, and give us a new heart and relationship (v.12). With this new heart and personal relationship with the Lord, obedience arises from within us, and is no longer imposed on us from the outside.

The new covenant renders the old obsolete (v.13). Those who seek to win God's favour by keeping the laws and rituals of the old order are not only doing the impossible, they are also doing the unnecessary. The author warns his readers not to regress into the old legalistic way. It is like a man who is trapped in a blazing building. An extendable ladder has been stretched towards him. But he insists on climbing down the wall by himself. It is neither heroic, nor necessary. He should accept the offer and make his way down on the ladder.

Have I received God's offer of a new heart?