An Unfailing Covenant
One of my favorite parts about reading Scripture is seeing the connection between the New Testament and the Old. Everything that happens in the New Testament comes alive and holds even greater meaning when you understand all the history and promises behind it. That is particularly true about Christ’s death and the last supper he has with his disciples. Jesus is reclining at the table with his apostles, breaks bread, and then gives them wine and says in Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Friends, this is the gospel story that started in the beginning of time, continued through Abraham and Moses and Jeremiah and finds its fulfillment in Jesus. What Jesus is claiming in this statement brings all of Scripture together.
In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham in which Abraham cuts animals in half, is put into a death-like sleep, and God’s presence passes through the divided animals, promising to give Abraham land and countless offspring. A few centuries later, God makes a covenant with Abraham’s offspring at Mount Sinai, as seen in Exodus 19-24. God tells the Israelites that if they keep the commands he lays out for them they will be God’s “own possession out of all the peoples…kingdom of priests and…holy nation.” The Israelites promise to obey all that God commands. Just like with Abraham, this covenant must be inaugurated with blood. Moses sacrifices bulls and splatters their blood on the people and says “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you.” Now, if the Israelites follow the laws of the Lord, they will be his people. The covenant has been put in place and ensured with blood.
What we see throughout the Old Testament, though, is God’s people turning away from him. They are disobedient and idolatrous. Not one generation follows fully. This covenant cannot save and cannot bring God’s people into right relationship with him. The Israelites need a new covenant. I daily turn away from God. I am disobedient and idolatrous. I am prideful and self-righteous. I yell too often at my children. I tell lies to make myself look better. I am selfish with my comfort and my time. I seek out accolades and relationships to give me value rather than looking to Jesus. A covenant requiring me to follow God’s laws cannot save me. I need a new covenant. And, friend, you also turn away from God. You are disobedient and idolatrous. The old covenant cannot save you. You, too, need a new covenant.
And God, in his kindness, promises his people a new covenant. In Jeremiah 31, God tells his people that “the days are coming…when I will make a new covenant…I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” God tells them that “they will all know me…For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.” God promises that this covenant will not be like the old covenant which Israel broke. Instead of knowing and trying to follow the law, this law will be written on their hearts. The actions of the people are not alone in what needs transforming, but their hearts need to be rewired. And the Lord promises to do just that. And more so, this covenant promise shows that God knows his people. He knows me and he knows you. We are sinful and we cannot stop on our own. Our lives are full of sin and yet God promises to forgive and never remember our sin. This is what we need: new hearts and forgiven sin.
And, friends, this is what Jesus is claiming to do at the first Lord’s Supper. He is the new covenant. His new covenant is for the forgiveness of sins, just as has been promised. Did you catch how Jesus states this new covenant will be inaugurated? Like with the covenants of old, this covenant is to be inaugurated with blood, but Jesus qualifies it by saying “my blood.” What makes this covenant different is that it is made with the blood of the Son of God and Son of Man. God made flesh will shed his blood so that a new covenant can be made between God and people. This first communion takes place at the Passover feast, where Israel remembers when their ancestors put the blood of lambs around their doorposts and the Lord passed over their houses and did not kill their firstborn males. At this meal, Jesus is claiming to be both the lamb who saves his people from death and the seal of the covenant that forgives sins and brings people into relationship with God.
So, as we look to Easter and remember Jesus on the cross, may we remember that his death was not a surprise, but something planned and promised since the beginning. Let us see that the Lord understands his people, he understands me, and he understands you. He knows we are helpless and overcome by our sin on our own. He understands and he intervenes. Jesus knew death was the plan for his life, for he knew when he left heaven that he was coming to bring in the new covenant. And he knew that blood was required to seal that covenant. His blood. Shed for the people he loved. The people he delighted in. His blood, shed for you and for me.
When you look to the cross this Easter, remember that God made a way for a relationship with you despite you turning away from him over and over again. When you look to the cross this Easter, have hope for God is incapable of breaking his covenant and that is what the cross is: a covenant. The cross is God’s promise to forgive your sins, to make you his own possession, part of his people and his nation. This is an unfailing covenant, so I have hope that my husband is now with Jesus for his sins were forgiven and his relationship with God righted at the cross. This is an unfailing covenant, so I have hope when I am confessing the same sin again and again that each and every one of those sins is never again remembered. This is an unfailing covenant, so I have hope for a life lived surrounded by God’s presence because I am now part of his people. This is an unfailing covenant, so I have hope when grief overwhelms and loss enters every crevice of my life that the Lord is near to me and one day every tear will be wiped from my eyes. This is an unfailing covenant, friend, so you, too, can have hope. Hope for your marred past, your struggling present, and your uncertain future. Look to the cross this Easter and remember Jesus, the blood of a new and perfect covenant.
Yours in Christ,