“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” – Jeremiah 31:31
In the heart of a book full of bad news delivered by God to His profoundly sinful people is this promise of the best news imaginable! God was going to end the cycle of human sin and divine punishment Himself. Despite the repeated failures of mankind, God wasn’t going to destroy His people. Instead, He was going to make an entirely new covenant between Himself and His people. This new covenant wouldn’t be based on rules and laws because people always break rules and laws. Instead, God promised a covenant in which He graciously transforms sinful human hearts through a personal relationship with Him.
This is the covenant Jesus proclaimed at the Last Supper, when He said that the cup represented His blood that was about to be shed to establish the new covenant. The new covenant offers forgiveness for our sins not because God ignores them, but because God’s Son paid the penalty for them. Though He was eternally God the Son, Jesus entered our world to live the perfectly sinless life of submission to God’s will that we fail to live. Then Jesus voluntarily died on the cross as an innocent sacrifice to atone for our sins and He rose from the dead, His sacrifice accepted.
Every biblical covenant was sealed with blood and God sealed the new covenant with the blood of His Son. God’s perfect justice was fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s perfect love and grace are poured out on everyone who trusts in Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, His righteousness is credited to us. We are forgiven our sins, made new in Christ, adopted by God as His beloved children, and become citizens of Heaven. This is the new covenant of grace! It’s a covenant of grace because we can do nothing to earn or deserve this exalted status. It’s given entirely through the work and will of God the Father through Jesus the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The covenant of grace is yours if you’ve trusted in Jesus. If Jesus is your Lord, then rejoice in this new covenant that raises you from spiritual death to life! If Jesus isn’t your Lord, make Him your Lord right now! Believe in Jesus, the Son of God, Who died and rose from the dead so your sins could be forgiven. Repent of your sins and your rebellion and turn your heart to God through faith and obedience to Jesus. #FollowJesus