Saturday, August 23, 2008

The old covenant and the new

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:18-24).

The 66 books of the Bible are collected under two titles: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some people refer to them as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. A covenant is like a treaty; it lays out terms of peace between two parties that had been at war.

Ever since Adam and Eve ignored God’s rules so they could do as they pleased, mankind has been at war with God. God is the king of the universe, and we all are subjects under His rule. When people ignore the king’s rules, they become rebels; lately, the news media labels such people as "insurgents". As you know from the news reports from overseas, insurgents are always at war with the government. This aptly describes the sinner’s rebellious relationship with God.

God will not tolerate rebellion; Adam and Eve brought a death penalty upon themselves and all of humanity. Because of human rebellion against God, we have lost His intended gift of living on this earth forever. Because of sin, everyone dies—some sooner, some later, but everybody eventually dies. Not only that, but our entire lives are made miserable by the things that lead to death—destructive weather, disease, crippling accidents and the onslaught of old age.

But our God is also a merciful God. Even though our lives are cursed with suffering because of sin, the Lord holds out twin offerings: an offer to help us through the difficulties of life, and an offer to find eternal relief from suffering by joining Him in heaven after our death. However, there are strings attached to this double offer. God expects something from us in return for His help and mercy.

And so we speak of covenants. A covenant is like a peace treaty, where God offers to stop punishing us for our sins in exchange for a pledge from us. The Bible can be said to offer two covenants with God—the covenant of Moses in the Old Testament, and the covenant of Jesus in the New Testament. Today’s reading from Hebrews contrasts these two covenants for us.

Hebrews describes the covenant of Moses this way: a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire…darkness, gloom and storm…a trumpet blast or…such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." This imagery takes us back to Mount Sinai in the wilderness. This was a mountain that could be touched, but only at the risk of one’s life; Sinai is where the Lord visited the earth, making it holy ground. If an animal touched the mountain, it had to be put to death; to touch holy things carelessly or unworthily was to invite instant death from the Lord. When the Lord spoke from Sinai’s heights, the mountain burned; dark clouds, thunder and lightning hid the Lord’s face from the people, lest they be struck dead by seeing God directly in all His glory. When the Lord spoke to the people, His voice was so powerful and terrifying that all of Israel begged Moses to speak to God on their behalf, because they believed that they would die of fright if God spoke directly to them again. The Bible tells us that God spoke to face to face with Moses as one would with a friend, but even Moses was terrified.

The old covenant emphasized fear. God revealed Himself as holy and untouchable. He demanded respect; you were not to misuse God’s name in conversation, nor could you touch holy things without permission. You had to give ten percent of your income to the upkeep of the temple and the priesthood. If you broke the Ten Commandments or any of God’s rules, you had to bring a sacrifice to the priests so that your sins could be forgiven. People who refused to accept God’s authority could be forced to leave or even be put to death. Moses summarized the covenant this way: the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes (Deuteronomy 13:17-18). The covenant of God given through Moses was peace in exchange for obedience to the Law of God.

How successful were the Israelites in keeping this covenant? They did very poorly. God sent prophet after prophet to the children of Israel, warning them that they were angering God by how they mistreated His covenant of peace with them—looking for legal loopholes, offering sacrifices for sins without sincere repentance in their hearts, and ignoring God’s rules when they caused inconvenience. God sent hardship after hardship to show the people that He was serious—famine, drought, foreign invasion—but the people never treated God’s laws seriously for long. Eventually the nation was destroyed, its people taken captive in Babylon for 70 years; yet even after this major lesson in humility, those who were allowed to return angered God by making the rebuilding of His temple a lower priority than the rebuilding of their homes and businesses. Over and over again, the threat of punishment failed to produce righteousness in the people.

Moses had said, if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness (Deuteronomy 6:25). But it never worked. Time and again, the people failed to keep God’s law; they loved their sin more than they feared God. They could not make themselves righteous. If it were not for the fact that God had allowed them to offer sacrifices to pay for their sins, every Israelite of the old covenant would have died under God’s wrath; Moses himself was not permitted to enter the Promised Land because by his sins he had angered God. Even the man who brought God’s terms of peace could not live up to them.

But Jesus brought us a different covenant when He came to live and die among us. Hebrews describes it this way: you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. In the new covenant, Mount Sinai has been replaced with Mount Zion. Sinai was a physical mountain where God showed Himself; Zion and its capital of Jerusalem are a picture of the heights of heaven where the Lord rules in all His splendor. Thousands upon thousands of angels live there in perfect joy; the reason for their happiness is that they are privileged to serve God and live in His divine presence.

The covenant of Jesus allows us to enter His church, the church of He who is the first born. Jesus is the first born of the Almighty, the Son of God. Jesus is the first born of Mary, the Son of Man. He is uniquely man and God in one. And He is the first born of the dead. Jesus was a man so that He could die; Jesus was God so that the blood He offered on the cross would have the power to atone for every human sin. And Jesus rose from the grave alive to prove His mastery over sin and death; He became the first born of the dead, so that we can be assured that just as He has risen, we too may expect to rise again to eternal life with Him.

Because of the covenant of Jesus, our names are written in heaven; eternal happiness is promised to those whose names are written in God’s Book of Life. It is because of this that we do not fear God as the judge of all men; through Jesus we have been made righteous. Here is a difference between the old covenant and the new: our relationship with God is not based on fear. It is true, we must still respect God, and if we choose to ignore Him we should be very afraid. But in the new covenant, the Lord does not reveal Himself as frightening and untouchable; instead He reveals Himself to us in the person of His Son Jesus, in whom all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3), yet it is safe to look upon Him, listen to Him, approach close to Him. Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them (Mark 10:16). Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Jesus promised, whoever comes to me I will never drive away (John 6:37).

In the new covenant, the emphasis is not on what we do, but on what God has done through Jesus. The entire Old Testament proves that we cannot make ourselves righteous, no matter how afraid of God we are. Instead, the old covenant teaches us how important Jesus is for our salvation, because we can only become righteous through His blood. 1st Corinthians chapter one says, Christ Jesus…has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. And Romans chapter three tells us: now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Theologians call this an alien righteousness—our righteousness, our acceptability to God, does not come from within us, nor is it a result of what we do; our righteousness is alien to us, it comes from outside of us—it comes from God as a gift through faith in Jesus. Our obligation under this new covenant is simply this—believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).

The comparison of the two covenants concludes with these words: the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. You remember Abel—he was killed by his brother Cain, the first shedding of human blood in history. When the Lord confronted Cain over this death, He said Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground (Genesis 4:10). Abel had committed no crime, yet he had been put to death; his blood cried out for God to avenge him. This is the old covenant—God’s fearful wrath on lawbreakers.

Hebrews 9:22 says, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The old covenant between God and man was sealed when Moses took the life of a sacrificial animal and sprinkled the people with its blood; this was the blood of the covenant. Notice the word sprinkled; Hebrews tells us that this is what Jesus has done to us with His holy blood, poured out on the cross—He has sprinkled us with His blood, the blood of the perfect final sacrifice that seals the new covenant between us and God, the new holy blood of the covenant. Jesus was innocent, yet He was put to death; but His blood is not like Abel’s blood. Abel’s blood called out to God for vengeance, but Jesus’ blood calls to God for mercy. This is the new covenant—God’s mercy on repentant sinners.

Many people in our world prefer to live under the old covenant—they teach a fearsome God who is swift to punish; they believe that if they just try hard enough, they can lead good lives that please God. Such people live lives of fear and uncertainty and self-loathing for their failures. But we live under the new covenant—we adore a loving God who is slow to anger and abounding in love (Joel 2:13); we know that we can never be good enough to please God, so instead we trust in His promise of mercy offered through Jesus’ blood. We can lead our lives in humble confidence, knowing that because Jesus loves us in spite of our sins, we can love ourselves in spite of our sins; and that when He forgives us, we can forgive ourselves as well.

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