The Old and New Covenants

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 18:18-24).

As you know, the Bible is divided into two books. The Old Testament tells us about how God created us, how our race turned its back on Him, and the covenant God established at Mount Sinai by which our sins can be forgiven. The New Testament tells us about God’s Son Jesus and the new covenant that He established on the cross, a covenant that supersedes the one given previously to the ancient Israelites.

A covenant is like a treaty—it establishes terms of peace between warring parties. Violating the terms of peace will cause hostilities to resume. When we were born, we entered life as enemies of God. We cannot see Him, we don’t want to spend time listening to Him, we hate living by His rules. We are sinners from birth, enemies of God because of what we think, what we say, and what we do.

God is almighty; no one can stand against Him. If we insist on opposing Him, all we have to look forward to is hell, a concentration camp much worse than Auschwitz or Abu Ghraib. Thankfully, God is merciful; He offers us terms of peace. The terms of peace are a covenant—if we submit to God and trust in His care, He will forgive our rebellion and care for us as His own dear children. But if we break the terms of the covenant, we go back to a state of war. If we reject God’s laws and refuse to ask Him for mercy, hell is all that we have to look forward to when death finally claims us.

In the Old Testament, the covenant of God was established at Mount Sinai. This was a mountain that you could touch—if you were willing to risk God’s anger. Sinai is where God brushed earth with His power and glory; because of this, the entire mountain was declared holy and anyone who touched it, even an animal, was to be immediately put to death. God appeared to Moses and the leaders of Israel on that mountain; His awesome glory was obscured by clouds so that sinful human beings might survive the encounter. His mighty voice sounded like thunder; the people were so terrified when they heard it that they asked Moses to listen to God as their representative.

During this time at Sinai, God laid out the terms of a covenant, a treaty of peace between heaven and earth. The terms of the treaty demanded many things from the people. Their first obligation was to show God proper respect. They had to worship Him alone; praying to anyone or anything else was strictly forbidden. They had to take time away from work each week so that they could focus on their relationship with Him. They were to speak His name respectfully, never casually. And anyone who became a part of their families had to live under the terms of God’s covenant as well.

The second obligation of the covenant required obedience. God had Moses write down all sorts of rules—rules for marriage, rules for raising children, rules for conducting business, rules for settling disputes between neighbors, even rules for diet and hygiene. Those who wanted the benefits of peace with God were obligated to obey these rules at all times and make sure that everyone they lived and worked with did the same.

The third obligation demanded personal responsibility from the people for their misdeeds. No one is capable of perfect behavior; God knew that and made allowances for it. So He put into place a system by which sins could be forgiven, a system that communicated how serious the problem of sin really is. Instead of demanding the sinner’s death, God allowed those who were sorry to offer the life of an animal in their place. But sinners may not approach the holy God; so the Lord appointed priests to serve as go-betweens. It was the priests who shed the blood of these sacrificial animals, showing that God’s anger at sin had been successfully diverted away from the sinner. If God’s people took responsibility for their mistakes and brought the appropriate sacrifices, God would forgive them.

The fourth obligation of the covenant was to firmly trust in God. The Israelites were forbidden from making treaties with other nations; such agreements were evidence that the children of God no longer trusted their heavenly Father to protect them. They were also warned against trying to see the future by consulting mediums, psychics, or astrologers; if the people trusted God as they should, they would have no worries about what tomorrow might bring.

The obligations of God’s covenant fill half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, half of Numbers and most of Deuteronomy. But in return, God promised His people some very impressive things. First, if the Israelites trusted in His care, God promised to protect them. He would give them military victories against impossible odds. He would provide them with land to work, herds to raise, and homes to live in. He would ensure that they had enough to eat, regardless of climate or weather. With God in charge, their future could be bright indeed.

Second, if the people repented of their wrongdoings and brought sacrifices to the priests, God promised to forgive their sins. And this was not the kind of limited mercy that human beings offer each other; God would not remember how they had failed and treat them coldly from that day forward, nor would He trade forgiveness for some kind of favor. No, when God forgave it was total and complete; He promised to remember their sins no more. With God in charge, the Israelites could be freed from the weight of accumulated guilt.

Third, if the people obeyed God’s laws, He promised to bless them. Their businesses would prosper. There would be peace in their land. Citizens of other nations would regard them with envy and respect. With God in charge, daily life could be enjoyable and fulfilling.

Fourth, if the people gave God the respect He deserved and honored Him as more important than anything else in their lives, God promised to make them His children forever. This meant that when they died, they would be welcomed into God’s heavenly palace. This meant that death would not separate loved ones forever, that a reunion was waiting to happen just the other side of the grave. This meant that suffering and old age were only temporary problems which could be endured because paradise waits for those who belong to the Lord.

These were the terms of the Sinai covenant. God ratified this treaty with blood; He had Moses sacrifice animals, sprinkle some of the blood on an altar and sprinkle the rest of the blood on the people. God and His children were thus united in a pact of blood, the kind of pact that takes place whenever kids cut their fingers and press them together, mixing their blood as a promise of eternal friendship.

Those days at Sinai, waiting as God ratified His covenant, were long and frightening. But God deliberately made it that way—He wanted to communicate how seriously the people should take this treaty, and be terrified of walking away from God’s terms of peace. But even though God made His expectations crystal clear, even though He was incredibly generous in what He offered, and even though He put the fear of God into the people with a demonstration of His might, the covenant was not nearly as successful as it should have been. Book after book of the Old Testament show us how casually people treated God’s covenant—bending some rules, breaking others, rewriting still more, and in many cases ignoring the terms of peace altogether.

A new covenant was needed. The blood of animals could not do the job demanded by the old covenant; such blood had no power when people turned away from God. A better blood was needed, a blood that would be powerful and effective whether people believed in God or not. That kind of blood would accomplish something incredible; that kind of blood would be a guarantee of God’s love and mercy regardless of how people felt about it. Such blood would have to be very special—it would have to be divine.

Of course, God does not have blood—He is spiritual, not physical. So God sent His Son to be born of a woman, Son of God and Son of Man united in one. His arteries pulsed with blood that was human in every respect; lose enough of it and He would die. But that blood had value that no earthly blood has ever held before or since. The blood of Jesus was and is the blood of God, unmatched in worth, unlimited in what it can accomplish. Jesus was born on earth so that He could die bleeding on the cross, sacrificing His blood in place of ours, diverting God’s anger at our sins to the dying Son of God. Jesus’ blood is the final sacrifice for all human sin, accomplishing salvation in one fell swoop for all people, whether they believe it or not.

In Christ we have been united with God by a pact of blood. Jesus is our high priest, the cross was His altar, and His life the sacrifice. On the cross, Jesus’ blood reconnected sinful mankind with holy God. This is why He offers us His blood in the wine of Holy Communion; through it, He sprinkles us with the blood that ratified the new covenant between God and us.

The terms of this new covenant are somewhat different than the terms of the old. God still wants us to respect Him, obey Him, seek mercy from Him and trust Him, but these are no longer conditions for winning His favor. Under the new covenant, there is only one requirement we are obliged to keep—we must trust in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior. That’s it. That’s the full extent of what we must do to be saved. Jesus said it clearly in John chapter six: The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent. Do this, and you will receive all the benefits of God’s wonderful love.

God’s new terms of peace are the result of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. His blood is God’s blood; it has the value and the power to ratify God’s new covenant forever, regardless of whether we believe in it or not. The offer of God’s mercy and acceptance is based solely on Christ, meaning that it is valid for all people at all times, because Christ died for all and rose to live forever.

The book of Hebrews says that this new covenant is a better one than what was given at Sinai amid thunder and lightning. This new covenant is based less on fear and more on love. It only requires trust in God’s promises. It invites obedience instead of demanding it. It is not sealed with earthly blood like that soaking the ground after Abel was murdered; that kind of blood speaks of sins committed. No, God’s treaty of peace is ratified with the blood of God’s Son; His blood speaks of sins mercifully forgiven. In every way imaginable, the covenant of the New Testament is superior to the covenant of the Old.