Old Covenant, New Covenant

Moses presents the Book of the Covenant

to the house of Israel

"And Moses took half of the blood and put it

in basins, and the half of the blood he dashed

against the altar.

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and

read in the hearing of all the people and they said,

"All that the Lord has said we will do, and we will

be obedient.  And Moses took the remaining

half of the blood and sprinkled it on the people

and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant

which the Lord has made with you in

accordance with all these words."

Exodus 24:6-8

"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel and the house of Judah,

Not according to the covenant which I

made with their fathers in the day when

I took them by the hand to bring them out of

the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke,

although I was their Husband, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant which I will make with

the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord,

I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will

I write it; and I will be their God and they will be My People.

And they will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man

his brother, saying, "Know the Lord, for they will all know Me,

recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me,

from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will seriously 

remember their sins no more."

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which ratifies the

agreement and is being poured out for many

 for the forgiveness of sins."

Matthew 26:28

"And in a like manner, He took the cup after supper, saying,

 "This cup is the new testament or covenant, ratified by My blood,

 which is shed for you."

Luke 22:20

"Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, "This cup of the new covenant, ratified and established in My blood. Do this, as often  as you drink it, call to Me affectionately to remembrance. Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing, and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until He comes again."

1 Corinthians 11:25-26

"Now the main point of what we have to say is this: We have such a High Priest, One Who is seated at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. As officiating Priest, a Minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle which is erected not by man but by the Lord. For every high priest is appointed to offer up gifts and sacrifices; so it is essential for this High Priest to have some offering to make also.

If then He were still living on earth, He would not be a priest at all, for there are already priests who offer gifts in accordance with the Law. But these offer service merely as a pattern and  as a foreshadowing of what has its true existence and reality in the

heavenly sanctuary. For when Moses was about to erect the tabernacle, he was warned by God, saying, "See to it that you make it all exactly according to the copy, the model which was shown to you on the mountain.

But as it is now, He, Christ, has acquired a priestly ministry which is much superior and more excellent than the old as the covenant, the agreement of which He is the Mediator, the Arbiter, Agent, is superior and more excellent, because it has enacted and rests upon

more important, sublimer, higher, and nobler promises.

 For if that first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an attempt to institute another one.

However, He finds fault with them, showing its inadequacy when He says, Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant or agreement with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to help and relieve them  and to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide in My agreement with them, and so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them," says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understand, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And it will nevermore be necessary for each one to teach his neighbor and fellow citizen or each one his brother, saying,

 Know, perceive, have knowledge of, and get acquainted by

the experience with the Lord, for all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful and 

gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.

When God speaks of a new covenant or agreement, He makes the first one obsolete, out of use. And what is obsolete, out of use and annulled because of age, is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether."

Hebrews 8

The Triumph of Christianity

Gustave Dore