Inauguration of the New Covenant

On this special Sunday, we celebrate the inauguration of the New Covenant (NC) between God and all who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ! On that first Resurrection Sunday, 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ walked out of that tomb, after being dead for three days, the one and only High Priest of the New Covenant. For 1400 years before Christ, God’s people lived under the covenant Yahweh made with them on Mt. Sinai (Exo 19:5). This covenant included the Ten Commandments but also much more than those Ten Commandments. Read all of Leviticus to get a flavor of what is in the Mosaic covenant. In those days, priests, after the order of Aaron of the tribe of Levi, offered animal sacrifices to atone for their sins and the people’s sins temporarily. But all this changed when Jesus the Christ offered His own sinless life on the cross to atone for the sins of all who would believe in Him as their Lord and Savior.

Christ, and He alone is the Priest of the New Covenant! According to Hebrews 7:16—an exceptionally excellent verse—Christ became the Priest of the New Covenant because His life is indestructible. Yes, that’s what it says. Christ became our Priest by the power of an indestructible life. Think about that. The priest mediating our covenant between God and man has a life that can’t be destroyed. Hebrews 7:23–24 states, “The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but He [Jesus] holds His priesthood permanently because He continues forever.”

Today, we praise and worship the High Priest of the NC, which includes the following promises first from Jeremiah 31:33-34,

1. The law of God will be written on the hearts of His people, not on stone tablets.
2. He will be our God, and we will be His people.
3. He will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no more.

Then, from Ezekiel 36:25-27,

4. He will cleanse us, believers in Christ, from all unrighteousness and idolatry.
5. He will give us a new heart and remove our heart of stone (See also Deu 30:6).
6. He will put his Holy Spirit inside of us! (See Eph 1:13—do you know what is here?)

Then, from Jesus,

7. He gives us, His sheep, eternal life (John 10:27-28).
8. He promises to come back for us and to take us with Him so that we may be together forever (John 14:3).
9. He promises to repay us with treasure in heaven for sacrificial acts done for others (Luke 14:14, 18:22).

And, from Hebrews,

10. Those in the NC are promised an eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15).

Are you in this New Covenant?

Finally, I would argue, Yahweh does not write the law of the old covenant on the hearts of those in the NC. Instead, the law of Christ is written in the hearts of those in the NC. Surely, the new commandment that Christ gives us, his disciples, in John 13:34, is what is written on our hearts, NOT the law of Moses. In 1 Corinthians 9:21, Paul makes it clear that he is under the law of Christ (Mark 12:29-30). Obviously, Paul is not under the law of Christ with the Ten Commandments written on his heart. Why does this matter? Some Christians insist that we are still under the Law of Moses, but I would insist that the change of priests and covenants requires a change from the Law of Moses to the Law of Christ for all believers.