If we misunderstand the covenant that we are under with God, we are going to feel like He is pleased with some days and mad at us on other days. Some days we will feel qualified for His favor and some days we will feel like we need to earn it because we have not lived up to His standards.
That type of reasoning reveals a mindset that does not understand what has changed when Jesus stood in our place before God and took the entire curse that we deserved so that we could receive all of the blessing that He deserves. Understanding the change in covenants unveils the relationship God wants us to enjoy and the means by which we are qualified to receive His favor.
God’s grace does not have a beginning and it does not have an end. The covenant of grace is an eternal covenant that God cut even before time began and it was cut between the Father and the Son. The Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Son, is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. [simple_tooltip content=’All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’](Revelation 13:8[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you’]1 Peter 1:19-20)[/simple_tooltip]
If Christ is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, it means that God never intended for us to relate to Him through our own righteousness, but His. That is why even before he created us He had already planned a way for us to receive that righteousness through Christ’s sacrifice, where He would take our unrighteousness and give us His righteousness. Not through anything we would ever do. Not through works, or keeping the law. Not through trying to please God or by obedience.
“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me His prisoner but join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life. Not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus.”
– 2 TIMOTHY 1:8-9 (NIV)
God’s plan was always for us to relate to Him by his own grace through Christ and not our own self-righteousness. God purposed before time began to save us and bring us into a relationship with Him (a holy life) by grace and never because of anything we would do.
The Making Of The New Covenant Had Nothing To Do With You
The New Covenant is better because it was made differently – it was made outside of you and the terms of the agreement had nothing to do with you. God made the covenant with His Son, Jesus. And then He brought you into it when He brought you into Christ. When you are placed and positioned ‘in Christ’, you become a co-heir with Christ, and He gives you the full rights of spiritual Sonship. [simple_tooltip content=’But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:’](John 1:12[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.’]Romans 8:17[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.’]Galatians 4:5)[/simple_tooltip]
Paul teaches that ultimately the promises to Abraham were made to one (singular) Offspring, not to many (plural) offsprings [simple_tooltip content=’Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.’](Galatians 3:16)[/simple_tooltip]. Therefore, since Jesus is the rightful heir of Abraham’s blessings, those who are placed in Him are now automatically considered co-heirs with Christ of the same promises! The moment you have faith in Jesus, you are placed into Him. You are permanently placed and positioned in the One who is ‘the Seed’ and rightful heir of Abraham. You are baptized into, clothed and covered with, the One Who has the perfect pedigree. [simple_tooltip content=’that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.’](Galatians 3:14[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’]26-29)[/simple_tooltip]
Because Jesus perfectly qualifies for Abraham’s blessings, so do those who are found in Him! The promise of greatness, fruitfulness, influence and significance; the promise of great reward, and a blessing that is contagious and world-reaching; the promise of protection, vindication and abundant provision; the promise of a great personal legacy, land-possession, and the privilege of walking blameless in His Presence, all belong to those who believe in Jesus. [simple_tooltip content=’2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”’](Genesis 12:2-3[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”’]15:1[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”’]17:4-8[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.’]Romans 4:13)[/simple_tooltip]
Because God made the covenant with Jesus that also means that your relationship with God now is not based on your fluctuating righteousness and performance in keeping or breaking laws but on Christ’s righteousness and his perfect performance on your behalf.
As the spotless and faultless Lamb of God, Jesus also has the perfect performance. Although tempted in every way as we are, He was without sin. Peter says; ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ (1 Peter 2:22). In His life, the man Christ Jesus perfectly performed obedience to the Law. In His death, He also perfectly performed as a payment for every disobedience to the Law.
So Jesus, by His perfect performance, has been counted worthy of inheriting all of God’s blessings as promised in the Mosaic Law Covenant, and never again inheriting or experiencing the curse, wrath, anger and judgment the Law demanded for disobedience. His once-for-all complete payment for sin at Calvary means that He will never taste of that punishment ever again.
The same is true for those who are found in Him, who have been declared forever ‘holy’ by His sacrifice [simple_tooltip content=’10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.’](Hebrews 10:10-14)[/simple_tooltip]. We too, because of our position ‘in Christ’, are rightful heirs of the blessings of God as described in the Mosaic Law, and never of the curses or judgments! [simple_tooltip content=’13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.’](Galatians 3:13-14[/simple_tooltip]. See Deuteronomy 7:11-15 and 28:1-68 for some specific examples of the blessings promised for obedience to the Law Covenant, and the subsequent curses promised for disobedience.)
What God promised Israel as reward for their obedience, is now the right and inheritance of the New Covenant believer because of Christ’s obedience on our behalf. The promise of a long and prosperous life; the promise of His special blessing and favor upon our families, economics, investments, possessions and health; the promise of ‘abundant prosperity’ upon all the work of our hands, making us ‘the head, not the tail’, ‘at the top, never at the bottom’; and the promise of God delighting in us―His people, His portion, and His most treasured possession [simple_tooltip content=’You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.’](Deuteronomy 5:33[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’18 Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments,
19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”’]26:18-19[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’11 And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.’]28:11-13[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,’]30:9[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.’]32:9)[/simple_tooltip]. Because of Jesus’ perfect performance, these wonderful Old Covenant promises are “Yes” to those in Christ. If you are in Christ, you qualify for these blessings!
Also, the New Covenant a whole new set of promises become ours as well!
Through the Gospel of Jesus, God promises to forgive our wickedness and never recall or remember our sins again. In fact, not only are all debts forgiven and wiped completely clean, but our heavenly account is also credited with the perfect righteousness of Christ, meaning that we share the same right standing before the Father as does Jesus Himself! [simple_tooltip content=’31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”’](Jeremiah 31:31-34)[/simple_tooltip]
As a result of His ‘everlasting kindness’, expressed in the suffering and sacrifice of His Son, God promises to never be angry with His people again, to never remove His unfailing love or this ‘covenant of peace’ from those who stand justified before Him because of their knowledge of Christ. Unlike the now ‘obsolete’ Law Covenant, this is an ‘everlasting covenant’ where God promises to ‘never stop’ doing good to His people. [simple_tooltip content=’He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.’](Isaiah 53:11[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’7 “For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.’]54:7-10[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.’]Hebrews 8:13)[/simple_tooltip]
The Security Of The New Covenant
Jesus can never break His end of the covenant. In fact He has already fulfilled it perfectly on your behalf, emphasized by the fact that He now sits in heaven [simple_tooltip content=’12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.’](Hebrews 10:12-13)[/simple_tooltip]. It is also complete in us because He has made us perfect [simple_tooltip content=’For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.’](Hebrews 10:14)[/simple_tooltip] and we are seated with Him in heaven [simple_tooltip content=’and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,’](Ephesians 2:6)[/simple_tooltip].
From that finished place, Jesus now mediates this new covenant relationship between God and man. Under the old, the priests were inferior because they died and could only offer temporary sacrifices. So the people could never enter into a perfect relationship with God in time and especially not in eternity.
Christ is superior because He offered a perfect sacrifice that once and for all removes all sins for all time and is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek meaning He has an indestructible life and can mediate the covenant between God and man. This gives us absolute security and confidence in our relationship with God. That He’s not relating to us according to our performance-based righteousness but rather according to the righteousness of Christ that we have become [simple_tooltip content=’20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath
21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:
“The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
‘You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek’”),
22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.’](Hebrews 7:20-22)[/simple_tooltip].
The way the New Covenant works is that God the Father binds Himself to the covenant by an oath saying, “I promise that I will never relate to those in Christ through their righteousness but I swear by a covenant oath to always relate to them through the finished work of Jesus.” [simple_tooltip content=’16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”
17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,’](Hebrews 10:16-19)[/simple_tooltip]
Under the old covenant, the focus is on you — Thou shall not… Thou shall not… Thou shall not… It is all about your performance, your obedience, your works. But under the new covenant, God says, “I will put My laws in their mind… I will be their God… I will be merciful to their unrighteousness… their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” It is no longer you working for God, but God working for you, in you, through you!
The new covenant works because of one thing only, and it is the last clause of the new covenant—Hebrews 8:12. To the measure that you have a revelation of this clause and all its blessings, to that measure you will walk in it.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (Hebrews 8:12)
- The new covenant works because God says that He will be merciful to our unrighteousness, and our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more!
“No more” means that there was a time God remembered our sins, even to punish them to the third and fourth generations [simple_tooltip content=’you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,’](Exodus 20:5)[/simple_tooltip].
However, today, God says emphatically, “No more!” (double negative in the Greek). “No more” means that God will never again remember our sins against us because He remembered (to punish) all our sins in the body of His Son. Jesus bore God’s punishment of our sins on the cross. Now, we can walk in the new covenant and hear God say, “Your sins and lawless deeds I remember no more.” We can therefore boldly relate to God and continually live in His presence.
- Jesus also, ever lives to intercede for us. His blood speaks on our behalf that our sins are removed and we have been made the righteousness of God in Him.
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
– ROMANS 8:31-35
- Then, furthermore, the Holy Spirit is also our Advocate – meaning our legal defense. So when Satan, or the law, or other people or even you accuse yourself saying; “God, they broke this law or that law, how can you love them? How can You relate to them?” the Holy Spirit says, “Father remember, You swore an oath and promised to not relate to them through their performance, their righteousness or their shortcomings. You swore to relate to them through Christ’s righteousness.” Case dismissed!
14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”
– HEBREWS 10:14–16A
In the New Covenant, God’s empowering and intoxicating Presence becomes our privileged portion, both now and for all eternity, and serves as the distinguishing mark of those who belong to Him. [simple_tooltip content=’26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
28 The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.’](Ezekiel 37:26-28)[/simple_tooltip]
And it’s not because we were born right or we behave right – it’s simply because we believe right. As Jesus Himself once said, we fulfill the work that God requires of us when we ‘believe in the one He has sent’. [simple_tooltip content=’Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”’](John 6:29)[/simple_tooltip]
As a result of placing our trust in the One ‘who had no sin (but became) sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God’, we can now ‘approach God with freedom and confidence’. [simple_tooltip content=’For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’](2 Corinthians 5:21[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.’]Ephesians 3:12)[/simple_tooltip]
The privilege of free and uninhibited access to the supernatural Presence and Provision of God is ours, purely because we are placed and permanently positioned ‘in Christ’. In this everlasting and vastly superior covenant, God Himself has unmistakably and irreversibly ‘qualified you’ to share in the eternal riches of His promised blessings. [simple_tooltip content=’giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.’](Colossians 1:12)[/simple_tooltip]
When you are established in the new covenant of grace, you will experience a tremendous sense of confidence and security in Christ. When your confidence is in His unmerited favor and not your performance, you will not feel as if you are constantly jumping in and out of His favor and acceptance.
It is unfortunate that some believers have put themselves back under the old covenant without realizing it. Sometimes, they feel that God is on their side, but at other times, they feel that God is far away from them. Sometimes, they feel that God is satisfied with them, but at other times, they feel that God is angry with them. All these feelings are based predominantly on their own evaluation of how they have performed, how they feel about themselves, and not how God sees them. Because there is no new covenant scriptural basis for such evaluations, they end up arbitrarily deciding if they are deserving of God’s blessings and favor in their lives or not, when in fact, they actually have access to His blessings all the time, simply because of Jesus and His finished work at the cross.
The question to ask today is not if God is satisfied with you. The question that we need to ask is this: Is God satisfied with the cross of Jesus? And the answer is this: He is completely satisfied! At the cross, our acceptance is found. There, Jesus cried out with His last breath “It is finished!” [simple_tooltip content=’So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.’](Ioan 19:30)[/simple_tooltip]. The work is complete. The full punishment for all our sins was exacted on Jesus at the cross. God will not punish the believer again, not because He has gone soft on sin, but because all our sins have already been punished in the body of Jesus. God’s holiness and His justice are now on your side! Today, God is not assessing you based on what you have or have not done. He is assessing you based on what Jesus has done. Is God satisfied with Jesus today? Yes, of course He is! Then, to the same extent that God is satisfied with Jesus, He is satisfied with you.
Sounds too good to be true? This good news gets you to the point where you realize that this new covenant reality came at a heavy price. God’s own Son had to be crushed at Calvary for this blessing to become a reality in your life. The gift of His unmerited favor and His righteousness is only a free gift for you today because the full payment for this gift was exacted upon Jesus’ body.
So, don’t let anyone hoodwink you into thinking that you need to pay for your own sins. Don’t let anyone deceive you with the lie that your eternal salvation in Christ is uncertain and shakable!
