Important New Covenant Considerations - Part 1

             
    Christians have always been interested in God’s ancient promise of a “New Covenant.”  A covenant is an agreement between two parties.  These questions call attention to points that touch on the subject, and help disciples of Jesus understand New Testament teachings of it.

1.  Why did Jesus mention the new covenant as being “in” His blood when He requested the disciples to drink of the cup in remembrance of Him?

     The words of Jesus were:  “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you;”  “drink ye all of it;” “this do ye...in remembrance of me;” “and they all drank of it” (Luke 22:20, Matt. 26:27, 1 Cor. 11:26, Mark 14:23).  Our Master said the new covenant was “in” His blood.  That covenant was dependent upon His death.  The instruction that they drink of the cup meant they were to partake of the blessings and privileges which that covenant promised.  It was a ceremonial act to convey a truth.  Every observance is to be in remembrance of the gift of His life, upon which all our hopes of blessing depend.

     Jesus had a full understanding of all of God’s arrangements with Israel.  That understanding brought His teaching that “this cup is the new covenant in my blood.”  He knew that an old covenant had been put in force after animals had been slain, and that the blood of those animals was used in a prescribed manner (Ex. 24:5-11).  He also understood that God’s promise through Jeremiah of a new covenant (Jer. 31:34) made the former covenant old.  This fact was later plainly stated in the book of Hebrews.  “When He (God) says ‘new’ He has made old the first; and the thing being made old and growing aged is near vanishing” (Hebrews 8:13 Marshal Interlinear).

     But there was even more intended by our Master’s words following that eventful supper.  God had said that through the New Covenant He would “forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”  And Jesus knew that the words, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities--for He shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:5, 11) prophesied of Himself and were written for His instruction as well as for the instruction of all who have faith. He  was  to  be  the  victim  by  which the New Covenant would be firm; that covenant would be dedicated, inaugurated, ratified, put into effect as a result of His sacrifice (Heb. 9:16-18).  The blessing of sonship and fellowship with God was about to reach others.  Jesus would have all believers acknowledge and remember His sacrifice, its purpose, and the new arrangement through which their new life and spiritual relationship with God become a reality.

2.  Of whom did David prophesy in Psalm 110:4, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,” and when did He become that priest?

     Hebrews 6:20 answers the first part of the question:  “Jesus, made (“who has become” or “having become”) an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec.”  The quotations in Heb. 5:5, 6 and Acts 13:33 from Psalm 2:7 and 110:4 indicate that Christ Jesus became such a priest at His resurrection.  “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus; as it is also written in the 2nd Psalm, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.’”  “As he saith also in another place, ‘Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedec’” (Heb. 5:6).  “He became the author (the cause or the source) of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” (Heb. 5:9, 10).  He has been made so “after the power of an endless life” in fulfillment of God’s oath given centuries before. (See Heb. 7:16-21.)

3. What did Jesus provide which qualified Him to become the Melchizedec priest?

     Jesus is a priest forever because His sacrifice provided the blood which sealed the New Covenant.  The several lines of logic written regarding Melchizedec in Hebrews 7:5-21 prove that even before the law established the Levitical priesthood, God planned to terminate what He foresaw would be an ineffectual ministry.  The first reference in Hebrews to the New Covenant is made immediately following the last reference to Melchizedec in that epistle:  “But so much (“to that extent also” or “because of this oath”) was Jesus made a surety of (“Jesus has become the guarantee of” or “Jesus has become the one given in pledge of”) a better covenant” (Heb. 7:22).  That arrangement of the epistle, in which its last mention of Melchizedec was immediately followed by its first mention of the New Covenant, is as though the writer anticipated that a recognition of Jesus as priest in the higher order would lead them to discern the reality of the New Covenant and its blessings.

     Furthermore, this is suggested by a summary of the chief points in the first seven chapters of Hebrews.  The writer affirms that Jesus is “a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.”  In the type, the Levitical priest ministered on earth; in the antitype, Jesus ministers in heaven.  Regarding the ministry of Jesus, it is written:  “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as He is Mediator of a better covenant (the New Covenant), which has been enacted on better promises.” Hebrews 8:1-6 NAS

4. The blood of what covenant is referred to in Hebrews 10:29?

     The reference to blood in vs. 29 is to that of the New Covenant.  “...the blood of the covenant” expression in Heb. 9:20 refers back to the blood of beasts similarly mentioned in Ex. 24:8; “...the blood of the covenant” in Heb. 10:29 refers to the blood of Jesus.  Vs. 29 contrasts the punishment of transgressors in the Old Covenant with punishment of such in the New.  Both covenants were put in force by blood, but blood of such merit as to bring eternal redemption--the blood of Jesus--is identified only with the New Covenant.  The “sorer punishment” would come upon one who “was sanctified” by “the blood of the covenant” but who came to consider it as common or unholy as not alone the only blood efficacious to remit sins.  Note that there would have been no warning to the Hebrews (vss. 25-35) of punishment for disrespect of “the blood of the covenant” if the covenant ratified by His blood were not in operation.

     Preceding verses are very significant: “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.  And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.’  Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb. 10:14-18 RSV).  The Holy Spirit which communicated prophecy to Jeremiah also testifies to those who are having God’s law put on their hearts, and written in their minds.  It testifies that the entirely effective and sufficient, and by no means common or unholy offering for sins made by Jesus, who offered the “one sacrifice for sins,” is that   which   sanctifies.   The   Apostle’s   words-- “the  blood  of  the covenant”--relate to those of Jesus: “this cup is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).                                                       
                                                          G. Rice