ICS Daily Devotions
We Have a Better Covenant
Hebrews 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
In our Christian walk with God we tend to struggle with questioning whether God is a God who will change His mind with what He’s already promised to do or perhaps reconsider His love for us. We wonder if His intentions toward us are conditional. We begin questioning whether God really gives us something and then takes it away? Is God a fickle minded God coupled with a bad temper that is just waiting to make our lives miserable until we learn our lessons? There are certain truths that we need to establish when examining these questions when we are going through a difficult season.
We can look to the Old Testament first. In Joshua 7, we read how the Israelites experienced an unexpected defeat at the city of Ai. Many Israelites were killed in this battle leaving both the Israelites and Joshua shaken, confused and afraid. In Joshua’s suffering he cried out to the Lord and voiced out his defeat, realizing that his people were killed in battle. This is contrary to what God had promised him earlier. God had promised to never leave or forsake him and his people.
The covenant that the Israelites had with God was called “the Mosaic covenant”, and would be considered a conditional covenant. A conditional covenant means that it demanded complete obedience to the law and its commandments in order to fully experience God’s blessing. When the people sinned against God then His protection would be lifted from them and the curses would come upon them. As God is a holy, righteous and just God.
The people of Israel had violated the covenant agreement, because one of the Israelites, Achan, had stolen some possessions and unfortunately led God’s protection to be lifted from them. God was not fighting for them, protecting them and delivering them, because of the sin of the people. The remedy for the Israelites was to deal with the issue of sin at the camp. The Israelites later had victory over their enemies after they had dealt with the sin issue within their camp.
This reiterates the condition found in the Mosaic Covenant. If there is obedience then God will honor His covenant of protection and victory over the enemies. This is required, because God is a holy, righteous and just God. However, if the Israelites were to disobey the commandments and the agreements of the covenant, which happened on many occasions after this event, they were destroyed and overcome by their enemies.
We as Christians today are blessed to have a different and better covenant through Jesus Christ! There is a distinct difference between the Mosaic covenant which was enforced during the time the Israelites were led out of Egypt, to the covenant that we now have in Christ. God dealt with the sin issue on the cross of Calvary for mankind once and for all, thus established a better covenant build on better promises! All the punishment of sin, the penalty of sin and the curse that came with the law was placed upon Jesus and it stops at the body of Jesus! God does not and will not use the curses that was mentioned in the Old Testament to deal with us, because sin has already been dealt for us.
God knows that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God, neither is anyone able to fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic covenant. It is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Now that we have a right standing with God, because we are in Christ, we are able to face our enemies, challenges and adversities in life with a great level of faith and security in God’s love! This is the better covenant. We are made washed clean of sin and made free in Christ! Praise the Lord!
Sermon Series: Secured in God’s Love
