Wednesday, February 16
We may be tempted to think that the new covenant has “better promises” in the sense that it has greater rewards than the old covenant had (a heavenly homeland, eternal life, etc.). The truth is that God offered the same rewards to Old Testament believers as He has offered us (read Hebrews 11:10, 13-16). In Hebrews 8:6, the “better promises” is talking about different kinds of promises.
The covenant between God and Israel was a formal exchange of promises between God and Israel. God took the initiative and delivered Israel from Egypt and promised to lead them into the Promised Land.
Compare Exodus 24:1-8 and Hebrews 10:5-10. What are the similarities and differences between these two promises?
The covenant between God and Israel was ratified with blood. This blood was sprinkled both over and beneath the altar. The people of Israel promised to obey all that the Lord had spoken.
“The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been, — just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents, — perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 62.
God satisfies the absolute demands of the new covenant for us because He gave His own Son to come and live a perfect life so that the promises of the covenant might be fulfilled in Him, and then offered to us, by faith in Jesus. Jesus’ obedience guarantees the covenant promises (Hebrews 7:22). It requires that God gives Him the blessings of the covenant, which are then given to us. Indeed, those who are “in Christ” will enjoy those promises with Him. Secondly, God gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us to fulfill His law.
Christ has satisfied the demands of the covenant; therefore, the fulfillment of God’s promises to us is not in doubt. How does this help you understand the meaning of 2 Corinthians 1:20-22? What wonderful hope is found here for us?
Thursday, February 17
The first covenant document was written by God on tablets of stone and was deposited in the ark of the covenant as an important witness of God’s covenant with His people (Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 10:1-4). Documents written in stone, however, could be broken; and scrolls, as Jeremiah had experienced, could be cut up and burned (Jeremiah 36:23).
But in the new covenant God now will write His law in the hearts of the people. The heart refers to the mind, the organ of memory and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15, Deuteronomy 29:4), and especially to where conscious decisions are made (Jeremiah 3:10, 29:13).
This promise did not simply secure access to and knowledge of the law by everyone. It also, and more importantly, was to bring about a change in the heart of the nation. The problem of Israel was that their sin was engraved “with a pen of iron,” “with the point of a diamond … upon the table of their heart” (Jeremiah 17:1). They had a stubborn heart (Jeremiah 13:10, 23:17); therefore, it was impossible for them to do the right thing (Jeremiah 13:23).
Jeremiah did not announce a change of the law, because the problem of Israel was not the law but the heart. God wanted Israel’s faithfulness to be a grateful response to what He had done for them; thus, He gave the Ten Commandments to them with an historical prologue expressing His love and care for them (Exodus 20:1, 2). God wanted Israel to obey His laws as an acknowledgment that He wanted the best for them, a truth revealed in their great deliverance from Egypt. Their obedience was to be an expression of gratitude, a manifestation of the reality of their relationship.
The same is true today for us. Jesus’ love and care in dying for us is the prologue of the new covenant (Luke 22:20). True obedience comes from the heart as an expression of love (Matthew 22:34-40). This love is the distinguishing mark of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. God pours His love on us through His Spirit (Romans 5:5), which is expressed in love (Galatians 5:22).
If ancient Israel was to love God, even without the understanding of Christ’s death, why shouldn’t we love God even more than they did? How does obedience make manifest the reality of that love?
