Most of you are probably aware that the New Covenant is not just a New Testament idea.  It is actually found in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah.  In Jeremiah 31:31-33 it says, “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.  “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people.”(NIV)

Did you notice who it was for?  The New Covenant is with Israel and Judah.  So if this covenant is to be for us we have to be a part of Israel.  Are we?  Paul tells us we are in Ephesians 2:11-13 & 19-20, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are
Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) — remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ…Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”(NIV)  The New Covenant is for us because we have been made a part of Israel by the blood of Jesus.  Therefore, the covenants are also for us, all the covenants of promise.

Is not the New Covenant a covenant of promise?  But what does the New Covenant do?  It puts the Law on our minds and our hearts.  Is it the same Law as the Law of Moses?  Yes, however, it is different in this respect, it is not just on tablets of stones as it was in the days of Moses, it is put on the hearts and in the minds of God’s people. 

Ezekiel gives us another glimpse of this.  Ezekiel 36:26-27 states, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”(NIV)  It is the job of the Spirit to help us be obedient to the Law of God. 

It is our faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross that allows the Holy Spirit to be given to us as a deposit guarenteeing what is to come.  That is why Jesus could say that the cup of redemption at His last Passover was the New Covenant in His blood. 

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak in terms of this making Him our God and us His people.  As for Ephesians we are part of Israel based on the APOSTLES and PROPHETS with CHRIST JESUS as the cornerstone of our faith.  Our faith is not just a New Testament faith.

Is it any wonder that John in 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”  Sin is the breaking of the Law.  We reject the moving of the Spirit when we disobey the very thing He wants us to obey, the Law.  There is power in obedience and it leads to righteousness and holiness according to Paul in Romans chapter 6.  Let us not be slaves to sin and death, but to obedience.  Let us live as citizens of Israel and members of the Covenant community.

Striving to obey the God I love through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Spirit,

Vicky