The new covenant in our hearts
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. But finding fault with his people, he says:
See, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah— Hebrews 8:7-8 CSB
Verse 7, from the text, calls to mind the failure of the first covenant at Mount Sinai. Because of this failure, a second covenant had to be established. Now, the Law was not at fault, for again, it is just a tool to show where man has faulted. The Law revealed the sins within mankind, but it did not have the power to change them. Paul states this in Romans 7:7a, “What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.” Therefore, a new covenant was necessary. God establishes this in Jeremiah 31:31, ““Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” These words were declared when God was restoring the Jewish people from their captivity after they had sinned and disobeyed against Him. As God charged them to rebuild the nation physically, spiritually, they were in need of a new covenant to build them up. In the same manner, as Paul pointed out how there was a need after the first covenant, Paul praises the Lord Jesus Christ for establishing the new covenant in Romans 8:1-3a, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did.” For us, we can be thankful that we do not have to earn our salvation through our works. Christ had completed the work already. All we need to do is accept and believe in Him. And once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the capacity to abide by His commands is great for our obedience will be an expression of our gratefulness to the salvation we obtained. “‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin’” (Jeremiah 31:34).
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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