Have you asked yourself the question, what is the New Covenant? Many people believe the New Covenant is only a covenant between God and the followers of Jesus, but that interpretation is not what the Bible says. As explained below in the book of Jeremiah, it specifically says just the opposite. Much of the church teaches the New Covenant cancels the Torah and God’s covenant with the Jewish people. Many will argue that Jesus did away with the Old Covenant without thinking through all of the history and context of the scriptures, and possibly not knowing or understanding what the Old Covenant actually is. Many may not know there are terms and conditions to the New Covenant, and the New Covenant lays the foundation for the return of Jesus.
A good exercise to do every once in a while is ask yourself, why do I believe what I believe? Many times we find ourselves believing what someone else taught, and it was explained in a way that is not exactly according to the scriptures. Many times someone is only repeating what someone else said. It was not meant to be misrepresented, it was just not originally taught with the correct biblical perspective. If we do not take the time to question what is being taught, and search out the scriptures for ourself, we end up believing something that was communicated by another person who was just repeating bad information they heard. This bad information can become poison, drastically impact your spiritual life, and can become a huge barrier to you knowing God.
Can Previous Covenants Be Canceled
The Bible states in Jeremiah 33:19-22 that God said, “This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant — and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me — can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore”.
Each covenant in the bible was built upon the previous covenant. For example, a covenant could not have been made with Moses without the covenant first being made with Abraham. Prior to the covenant with Abraham there was a covenant made with Noah, and before that one there was a covenant made with Adam. If it were possible to cancel a single covenant from the list of covenants (referenced below), then logic suggests all the covenants prior to the one canceled are worthless. In fact as stated above in Jeremiah 33:19-22, the Lord said as long as there is day and night His covenant cannot be broken. God said He will not do away with His Covenant with David or the Levitical Priests, however, there are many teachers today who teach God did away with the Levitical priesthood and yet kept the covenant with David. These same teachers try to persuade others that Jesus is Messiah from the line of David, which is actually confirming David’s Covenant, and at the same time rejecting the Levitical Priest’s Covenant. That is a huge contradiction because that means David’s covenant stands, but yet the other covenant with Moses and Aaron (Levitical Priest) does not stand. How is that even possible? It is not possible to believe one sentence of a scripture and disregard the other parts of the same passage. This shows how people repeat bad information from what they have heard, nor think about the history and context of scripture, take the time to learn, or logically think through what the Bible actually says.
7 Foundational Covenants God Made In The Old Testament
There are several covenants in the Bible, but seven of these covenants (listed below) that God established are foundational to our faith and what we believe. These seven covenants are defined in the Old Testament. As a disciple of Jesus, it is our duty to know and understand them, live by them, and apply them in our life. It is especially important to take time to learn them if we want to share our faith with our friends and family. According to Paul a person can suffer loss for teaching something wrong as he says in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire”. It is important for us to learn as much as possible about the covenants before we make a simple statement that can be damaging to another person’s ability to know God.
In the beginning God made a covenant with Adam, and then with Noah, Abraham, Moses and the children of Israel, Aaron, and David. After those covenants the Bible states that God will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. This post is intended to bring awareness that the New Covenant is often misunderstood by people, and in no way gives a complete explanation of the New Covenant. It is to help motivate the reader to take time to learn more about all of the covenants described in the Bible.
Here are the seven foundational covenants referenced below:
- Edenic Covenant with Adam (Genesis 1:28-30)
- Noahic Covenant (7 Noahide Laws, Genesis 9:12–17)
- Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15:18-21, Genesis 17:2-9, Genesis 17:9-14)
- Mosaic Covenant (10 Commandments, Exodus 19–24, 613 commandments, Torah)
- Priestly Covenant with Arron (Exodus 29)
- Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7)
- New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-40, Ezekiel 36:24-28, Hebrews 9:15)
The New Testament Cannot Contradict The Old Testament
If for any reason you think the New Testament scriptures are contradicting the Old Testament scriptures, please keep searching. The scriptures cannot contradict each other, nor does one scripture overwrite another. As an example, when people state Jesus did away with God’s laws in the Old Testament most likely they are referring to Romans 10:4 where it says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. This misinterpretation of one scripture leads many to think they only need to believe in Jesus, and no longer need to study the Old Testament, or pay attention to the laws of God. This statement becomes a huge barrier to many people ever understanding there is much more to the Bible than just believing in Jesus. People sometimes fail to recognize the law Paul is referring to is the Law of Sin and Death, not God’s laws in the Torah. In a couple chapters prior in Romans 8:2 Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death”. The law of sin and death is a law that prevents you from knowing God, and gaining eternal life. James calls the Torah the law of Liberty to those who act on it (James 1:25, James 2:12). It is a law of Liberty because it gives you eternal life. A great resource to study more about this subject is in this audio series from Beth Immanuel on Romans.
Another contradiction example: the covenant God made with David is that David’s throne shall be established forever, and Jesus who is God’s chosen King, is a direct descendent of David. If you are applying the same thought process of Jesus doing away with the Old Covenant and Old Testament laws, as in the previous paragraph using Romans 10:4, then this means God also did away with the Davidic Covenant where the Messiah will come through the line of David. This thought process starts to become a theological issue. If your entire faith is built on sand and the idea that God canceled out any one of the covenants, and also Jesus did away with God’s laws, how can a person actually be a disciple of Jesus and follow His commandments? Jesus said if we do not apply God’s commandments in our life we will not have a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-27).
John tells us in 1 John 2:3, “and by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments”. Additionally, Jesus said in John 17:3 that knowing God is eternal life. Without the covenants, we would not understand the terms and conditions God defines in order for us to know Him. If the covenants and laws are done away with, then it would be impossible to know God and gain eternal life through them. Why would John say you know God by keeping His commandments? Why would Jesus do away with the commandments if they are used to know more about God and in turn gain eternal life through knowing Him? Paul says in Romans 2:6-11 that God will give us eternal life when we strive to know God, and how do we know God – by keeping His commandments.
God gave us the ability to search out the scriptures for ourselves. God told us in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. We should seek Him and His word every day, even if it takes a lifetime to find the truth.
Who Did God Make the New Covenant With
According to the Bible, the New Covenant is a covenant God made with the Jewish people (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and it has nothing to do with Jesus doing away with the Old Covenant. In fact the New Covenant is not a new set of laws, it is where God changes the people’s hearts to follow His laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27). It is first referenced in the book of Leviticus 26 where it says, “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them … I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you … then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land”. The New Covenant gives us the ability to obey God and follow his commandments.
As you study the scriptures about the New Covenant you will quickly realize it is built upon the Old Covenant and is an extension of it. The only difference is, God changes the hearts of the people so they want to serve and obey Him. God actually writes His laws on their hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-34 states, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 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, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The New Covenant is also about God gathering the Jewish people to their land as it says in Ezekiel 36:24-28, “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God”.
How Does One Become a Part Of the New Covenant Who Is Not Jewish
According to the Bible, if a person wants to be a part of the New Covenant, they must attach themselves to the Jewish people by faith as Paul states in Romans 11:19-21. The way a non-Jewish person can attach themself to Jewish people is by having faith in Jesus and being obedient to Him. The process of God changing our hearts starts the moment a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but to be a true disciple of Jesus, one must accept the teachings of Moses and be faithful to God’s instructions. As stated in Acts 3:22, “Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.” Also Jesus said in John 5:46, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me”. This does not mean that non-Jewish people need to become Jewish, just the opposite. Paul said if a person is Jewish to remain Jewish, and if a person is non-Jewish then remain non-Jewish. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 7:17-20, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches …each one should remain in the condition in which he was called”. Every person will have to stand and give an account to how they did in their commitment to Jesus as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil”. As you commit your life to Jesus, and begin to be obedient to God at the level you understand His instructions, then God will start the process of changing your desires. Your desires will become His desires as it says in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”.
The New Covenant Allows God To Dwell With Us
In Leviticus 26:1-13 God says that “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them … I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you”. In order for God to dwell with us, He changes our hearts and puts a new spirit in us so we will walk in His statutes and observe His commands. Jesus is the mediator of this process (Hebrews 9:15), but it is up to us to accept Him as Lord. This happens right now on an individual level for those who are seeking the Kingdom of God. One day it will happen on a world wide level when Jesus returns as King. According to the Bible in Revelation 20 Jesus will reign for 1000 years. He will be looking for those who have given their allegiance to Him and been faithful to His commandments as it states in Revelation 22:7, “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book”.
Paul summarizes what will happen after the 1000 year reign of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 when he says, “But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death … it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all“.
After this time all humanity will obey God and He will dwell with us.
To find out more about what the New Covenant is please read What About The New Covenant. Pastor D. Thomas Lancaster digs into the Bible’s prophecies to dispel many of the common myths and misunderstandings about the new covenant:
- What is the new covenant and what are its terms and conditions?
- Who is in the new covenant?
- What’s the difference between the new covenant and the New Testament?
- Learn about the “better promises” of the new covenant.
- Find out how the new covenant lays the prophetic foundation for the Messianic Era, while changing our lives today.