The Day of New Beginnings
New Covenant
Luke 22:
14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.
15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes."
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
Jer. 31:
31 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
35 ¶ Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:
36 "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever."
37 Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.
38 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 "The measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.
40 "And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever."
Heb. 9:
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 ¶ For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Everything of the new covenant points to one thing: An incorporating of God Himself into our very being. When He says He will put His law into our minds and write it upon our hearts (Heb. 8:10), He is promising a sharing of his life and nature with us. The new covenant in his blood is a lot more than just forgiveness for our sins. The book of Hebrews has much to say on this new covenant. It speaks of how the old covenant could never bring the believer into perfection. But perfection is realized in the new covenant of his blood. What is perfection? It’s partaking of His perfection, His life and nature within us.
God’s purpose is to have a people that are wholly His. “A people for His own possession” is how the Scriptures read (Deut. 7:6. Deut. 14:2, 1st Pet 2:9).
Israel never measured up to what God wanted in a people. They fell short. Christianity has fallen short as well. But as the Scriptures state, there yet remains a Sabbath Rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). We have not yet entered fully into the new covenant Jesus provided through His blood. Forgiveness for sins is only the first step. We have not fully experienced the incorporating of God’s life and nature in us. But He has promised! Verse 15 of Heb. 9 states: “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Jude exhorts us in verse 3 of his epistle to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. At the present time God is moving in an unprecedented way to create a people for Himself in whom the new covenant in Christ’s blood can be fully realized. It’s a new day. It’s a time of New Beginnings. The eyes of the Lord continually search for the ones in whom He can fulfill all His promises. "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…2nd Chron. 16:9).”