“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
“And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,
And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For all will know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them. “For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And I will remember their sins no more.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:8-13 (NASB)
The writer of Hebrews continues to plead with these early Jewish Believers not to return to the rituals of their old faith. He reminds them of the prophesies of Jeremiah that there would be a new covenant. Jesus Christ had come to be the final sacrifice. When He did, He made the first covenant to be obsolete.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come,[a] with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:11-14 NKJV
The new covenant has not become fully realized by the Israel nation yet! However, it will be one day when Christ returns. For the moment, the new covenant has been extended to all who accept Christ as their Savior. This means Jew and Gentile alike.
Continue reading “Can Anyone Really Escape If They Ignore Jesus?”