The New Covenant

A lot of Christians believe that the New Covenant replaces the old one (Mosaic Covenant) but that is not so. All the covenants are linked together, each one building upon the previous ones. With the new covenant, God has done something remarkable. He forgives our sins, He has given us the ability to obey through the work of Yeshua Jesus. Jesus has broken the bonds to our sin nature. He gives us the Holy Spirit (Living Water - our Helper), and He teaches us Truths.

There are Old Testament scriptures that foretell what the new covenant would look like. They are found in Jeremiah chapter 31.

As Gentile Christians, believers in Yeshua Jesus, we have been grafted into Israel, God's chosen peoples. (Ephesians chapter 2)

Jeremiah 31:31-40Common English Bible (CEB)

31 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the Lord!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.

35 The Lord proclaims:
The one who established the sun to light up the day
    and ordered[a] the moon and stars to light up the night,
        who stirs up the sea into crashing waves,
        whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces:
36     If the created order should vanish from my sight,
        declares the Lord,
    only then would Israel’s descendants ever stop being a nation
    before me.
37 The Lord proclaims:
If the heavens above could be measured
    and the foundation of the earth below could be fathomed,
    only then would I reject Israel’s descendants
        for what they have done,
            declares the Lord.

38 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 Its boundaries will extend to the Gareb Hill and around to Goah. 40 The entire valley defiled by corpses and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley and the Horse Gate on the east, all this will be set apart for theLord. And the city will never again be dug up or overthrown.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other is in Ezekiel the 36th chapter.

Ezekiel 36:24-38Common English Bible (CEB)

24 I will take you from the nations, I will gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your own fertile land.25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed of all your pollution. I will cleanse you of all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stony heart from your body and replace it with a living one, 27 and I will give you my spirit so that you may walk according to my regulations and carefully observe my case laws. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it grow abundantly so that you won’t endure famine. 30 I will make abundant the orchards’ fruit and the fields’ produce so that you will never again endure the shame of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and no-good deeds, and you will feel disgust for yourselves because of your sinful and detestable practices. 32 Not for your sake do I act. This is what the Lord God proclaims. Let that be known to you! Be ashamed and be humiliated because of all your ways, house of Israel.

33 The Lord God proclaims: On the day that I cleanse you of all your guilt, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land will be farmed, and it won’t be like it was when it seemed a wasteland to all who passed by. 35 They will say, “This land, which was a desolation, has become like the garden of Eden.” And the cities that were ruined, ravaged, and razed are now fortified and inhabited. 36 The surviving nations around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was torn down and have planted what was made desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

37 The Lord God proclaims: I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: that I increase them like a human flock. 38 Like the holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem at its festivals, the ruined cities will be filled with a human flock. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are New Testament scriptures that corroborate the fact that we are not left off the hook, so to speak, in obedience.

If we don't produce good fruit, we are cut off and thrown into the fire.

John 15:1-8Common English Bible (CEB)

I am the true vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. 2 He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already trimmed because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything.6 If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.

In the way we judge others will be the way the Lord will judge us.

Matthew 7:1-2Common English Bible (CEB)

Judging

7 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you deal out will be dealt out to you.

If we can't forgive others, God will not forgive us.

Matthew 6:15Common English Bible (CEB)

15 But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

If we go on sinning, there is no more atonement for sins.

Hebrews 10:26-27Common English Bible (CEB)

Judgment for intentional sin

26 If we make the decision to sin after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there isn’t a sacrifice for sins left any longer. 27 There’s only a scary expectation of judgment and of a burning fire that’s going to devour God’s opponents.

And then we have James:

James 1:22-27Common English Bible (CEB)

22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. 23 Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror.24 They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. 25 But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

26 If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless.27 True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

James 2:26Common English Bible (CEB)

26 As the lifeless body is dead, so faith without actions is dead.

There are other scriptures but I will just end this in this way. The scriptures say that in the new covenant we are baptized by the Holy Spirit (Living Water) and by fire. Baptism by the Holy Spirit is initiated by us but baptism by fire is initiated by God.