God Has Spoken By His Son, #18

“…Speaking of a New Covenant…”

Hebrews 8:8-13

⁸ For he finds fault with them when he says:^[a]

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
⁹ not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹¹ And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

It isn’t unusual to find a quotation from the Old Testament in a New Testament passage. Often, it is one or two sentences. And usually, to make a point regarding Christ fulfilling a prophecy.

But here, in this quotation from Jeremiah 31, there is a lengthy quotation, and very specific to the New Covenant.

See, God knew He would enact a better covenant on better promises through Christ. He said what He was planning to do, back in the time of Jeremiah, long before Christ came.

Not only is this an instance of prophecy and fulfillment – this highlights some of the differences between the old and new covenants.

The take away for us today is, we have this better covenant, better High Priest, better promises – and remember, it is through the activity of our faith that we are able to access God through Jesus Christ.