Devotional Blog Tuesday, July 12

Daily Devotional for Tuesday, July 12

The New Covenant

The nation of Israel utterly failed to keep God’s covenant of obedience to the Law. God has high standards. If He lowered His standards, He would not be God. It was not the Law’s fault; it was not corrupt. It was the fault of sinful people who could not meet God’s holy standards set forth in the Law (Galatians 3:21, 22).

So, what did God do? He established a New Covenant in Jesus Christ, it is “a better covenant, which is established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). It is the better covenant because it is based on God’s mercy and grace.

This New Covenant was ushered in by Jesus Christ, and He gave clear instructions of it when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. “For this is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The Old Covenant was filled with human efforts and animal sacrifices that never once forgave sins (Hebrews 10:4). What the Old Covenant did was show the absolute sinful failure and guiltiness of humanity (Romans 3:19, 20). The Law never once pardoned anyone but only judged. But what Christ did, forgiving sinful believers by His own merit, is the New Covenant and a much better one. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross that will forgive sins.