Better Covenant, Better Promises

During the ministry of Jesus on earth as the Son of Man, His dealings with humanity at that time was  exclusively with the Jews. Though they had a covenant with God, yet He was surrounded by people who were not born again. They had not received eternal life. On one particular encounter that Jesus had with the Jews, He revealed this stark reality to them, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do..." (John 8:44) Though they contended that they were Abraham's children and even the children of God. However, due to the fall of Adam, they were all spiritually dead, and had the satanic nature within like every other person on earth. (Romans 3:23) How hard it must have been for Jesus, whose heart was filled with love, to tell them this unhappy truth. He was able to speak this truth to them, because He was not conformed to the world, His surroundings or to the opinions of man. He always spoke the things that He heard from His Father.(John 12:49)

It is not what people do or have done that separates them from God, it is what they are by nature that
separates them from God. By reason of Adam's rebellion and he being the federal representative of all humanity, all like him, were spiritually dead. As Jesus revealed, they all had the nature of the devil. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle John tells us, "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest." (1 John 3:10) There are only to categories, one of two families, in which every person on earth is connected to. Unless one is born again through faith in Jesus Christ and becomes a child of God (John 1:12-13), they are a spiritually dead child of the devil. 

Due to this, as Jesus walked the earth, He was limited very largely to the physical realm in His contact with people. He healed them of disease, He raised some from the dead, He fed the multitudes, but He could not redeem them or make even one of them a new creation and give them eternal life. Although the Jews had a priesthood and the high priest made a yearly atonement for their sins, Jesus had not yet satisfied justice by paying the penalty of sin through His own sinless life and becoming the ultimate sacrifice for all. (Hebrews 9:11-12) We get a beautiful picture of this revealed in Hebrews.

"For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." (Hebrews 10:1-4) "And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 10:11-14)

We get a perfect picture here of the people (Jews) under the Old Covenant whose sin was simply covered, not taken away. Then Jesus comes and puts away all the sin that had been covered under the Old Covenant so that the Jews who put their faith in the atoning blood of animals could be saved and given eternal life by His sacrifice. No more would sin be simply covered, but taken away, removed, blotted out. Before this, there was no High Priest at the right hand of the Father with blood to show that the sin problem was dealt with. Before this, no human being could approach God. Before this, there was no Mediator at the right hand of the Father making intercession. However, Jesus has made these things available to all mankind. To do this, He became sin with our sin. He went to hell for three days and nights. In hell He satisfied the claims of justice and conquered Satan. He was raised from the dead by God's mighty power. He then carried His blood into heaven where it was accepted and then sat down at the Father's right hand making man's redemption a completed thing.

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "For as many as are the promises of God, in Christ they are [all answered] “Yes.” So through Him we say our “Amen” to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 1:20 AMP) "He who did not spare [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32 AMP) "Blessed and worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3 AMP) The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter tells us, "For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that by them you may escape from the immoral freedom that is in the world because of disreputable desire, and become sharers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:3-4 AMP) 

Finally, the Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews tells us, "But now He (Jesus) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6) What a wonderful thing. For all those who confess Jesus as Lord and take Him as Savior, redemption has been made eternal and available. Hallelujah! We are now new creations created in Christ Jesus and through faith in Jesus Christ, heaven is open and the promises of God are available to all who, "...believe [with confident trust] that you have received them, and they will be given to you." (Mark 11:24)  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you...