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The Bible makes reference to both the old and new covenant.
This video will define the two, and how they relate to one another.
The phrase 'old covenant' only shows up one time in scripture:
Notice here it says how "the old covenant is read", and the following verse says:
God gave Moses the following message for the nation of Israel:
This covenant promised blessings if the saints fully obeyed Yahweh.
And regarding Moses it says:
Here this covenant is read before the saints, and put into effect with blood.
The phrase 'new covenant' is first mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.
At the time of Jeremiah this covenant had not been put into effect.
An error often taught here is that the new covenant is only with Israel and Judah as the Jewish nation.
The fact is that other nationalities were also able to join God's assembly and make up his children.
Who put the new covenant into effect?
Before Jesus put this covenant into effect he said:
When was the new covenant made?
A covenant can be made, or put into effect while the promises are still far off.
Such as the promises God promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15.
Now before I commentate on what this covenant is, lets hear out Jeremiah:
I think it's important, as much as is possible to let the context define what the previous things are.
Jeremiah 31:33 reads:
The immediate context does not seem to reveal much, so I searched all of Jeremiah and came across this:
This verse connects the saints having a new heart with obedience, and thus being God's people.
Continuing in Jeremiah 31:34 it says:
Notice the connection between teaching people to know Yahweh and actually knowing him.
Here's what Jeremiah has to say about knowing God:
Again there is a connection between knowing God and walking in obedience to his instruction.
The final part of the covenant reads:
Earlier I read how Jesus was the mediator of the new covenant.
He obtained forgiveness through his blood.
The phrase about God 'no longer remembering their sins' does not mean he fails to remember the sins of his saints but that he will not punish them for their sins.
This is shown earlier in Jeremiah 14:10:
When Jeremiah spoke this covenant some of the southern kingdom of Judah had already been taken into captivity because of their sin.
God wanted to let his people know that he had not forsaken them, and that they would walk with their God at a later time.
How is the new covenant related to the old covenant?
The new covenant is superior to the old, because instead of depending on mans faithfulness, it depends on God.
A few verses later we read:
Here the old covenant is said to soon disappear.
Hebrews was written sometime around 65 AD.
This was around 36 years after Jesus put the new covenant into effect.
Why did the old covenant exist along with the new covenant?
Prior to the new covenant people had entered into the old covenant, and God would honor their opportunity to perfectly keep his instructions.
Once the new covenant was established there was no reason to continue to let people enter the old.
Today the old covenant has disappeared, but was soon to disappear when Hebrews was written.
Once the last person to enter the old covenant had died, the old covenant disappeared.
Some may believe that the old covenant will not disappear until the future.
But I think the following passage clears this up:
So we see the new covenant is not of the letter written on stone, but rather serving the Spirit of God's law.
We also see that the old covenant in the 1st century was acknowledged as transitory.
And lastly we see that the saints are servants of the new covenant.
Obviously we cannot serve a covenant that has not yet been made.
To sum all this up the old covenant left the saints guilty because of their unfaithfulness.
The new covenant brings righteousness to the saints because of God's faithfulness.
The old covenant contains instructions to show the saints their sin.
The new covenant contains the Spirit of such instructions which existed long before the law recorded by Moses.