Living Under the New Covenant

"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the Lord: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, not from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the Lord, "from now and forever." Isaiah 59:21

Here is a description of the New Covenant that was given to us through Jesus Christ. It's foretelling of the passing of the Old Covenant with all the regulations to be kept. And knowing that no one could maintain a sinless life God provided a way to give that sin over to Him and become clean again through sacrificing animals. How difficult it must have been to try to keep those regulations. I read about them and am overwhelmed by all they had to remember in order not to sin. But here we see that a New Covenant is in the works and will one day come about through Jesus.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be there God, and they shall be My people. THey will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jer. 31:31-34

We, who live under the New Covenant know that Jesus was sent to us to be our ultimate sacrifice. That through Him our sins were forgiven once and for all. All we need to do is believe in Him and give our lives into His hands. We also know that Jesus did come, died on the cross for us and rose again. And afterwards was taken back up to Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Throne of God. But He didn't leave us alone. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." John 16:13

We now know that the "Spirit" being talked about is the Holy Spirit that guides and leads us from God our Father. We know our responsibility with the Word is to hide it in our hearts (Psalm 119:11). And by doing so we will know what God is calling us to do and how He wants us to conduct ourselves. With this knowledge we are to pass it on. Pass it on to those we know as well as within our families. Deut. 6:7 says, "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Ps. 78:5b says the same thing, "That they should teach them to their children."

We are fortunate to live under the New Covenant and therefore need to spread the Good News about it to all who are around us. That is God's ultimate plan and we are here to be His servants in bringing that plan about. He loves and cares for us and others need to know what it feels like to be loved just like we are.

Krista Jones
8.10.08


Bible Reading Guide:

Beginning to End: Proverbs 13-15
Old and New Testaments Together: Psalm 18-19 & Acts 20:17-38
Historical: Psalm 106-107
Chronological: Isaiah 18-22
Blended: Psalm 18-19 & Acts 13:1-25

The Bible reading guides will be taken from Back to the Bible