And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’
Luke 22:20
Long before Jesus was born, God promised the New Covenant: “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, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD” (Jer. 31:31-32).
He also outlined its benefits: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD” (Jer. 31:33-34).
This includes our forgiveness: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” This is good news! The New Covenant is made with sinners—those who’ve rebelled against Him. With His blood, Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant and obtained all its benefits for His people. That’s why this covenant is sometimes referred to as the Covenant of Grace. It contains pure grace, justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying us. Let’s consider two major benefits.
First, it states that God will write His law on our hearts. The Old Covenant had the two tablets of stone, stating the Law. Man failed miserably to keep it. Now, God has promised He will write it on our hearts. He will do such a work within us that we’ll be conformed to His law: “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3). Only God can do so!
Second, we will have God as our God and, consequently, we’ll be His people. To have Him is the greatest treasure and joy we can have. We’ll know Him, which is the essence of eternal life: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). By His blood, Jesus obtained all these eternal blessings, reconciling us and making us the eternal beneficiaries of God’s amazing grace.
Jan Blonk
The Devotional Writer
www.amazon.com/author/janblonk
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