Jesus the Light 22 Old Covenant New Covenant
Jesus has done what the Law could never do. No codes, ceremonies, holy days, fasting, tithing, or sacrifices could ever remove sin, cleanse the heart, or impart everlasting life. Thank God for Christ Jesus! Listen to Rom.8:2-4:
“What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The Scriptures cannot be rightly understood and we cannot live a godly life free from bondage, unless we see the distinction between the Old and New Covenants. Both are vitally related to one another. The Old is of the Law but the New is of Grace.
Jn.1:17: “The Law was given through Moses; but grace and truth came though Jesus Christ.” The Old Covenant foreshadows while the New fulfills. The Old demands but the New supplies. The Old sets standards while the New makes provision. The Old brings a curse; the New brings blessings. The Old condemns; the New forgives and restores.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament portrayed and prophesied. Jesus said: Jn.5:39: “Search the Scriptures; it is these that testify about Me.” Lk.24:27: “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
Yet the Old Testament is not our enemy. It is of greatest value in understanding Christ and His everlasting ways. What we need is to see the proper role of the Old Covenant in relation to Jesus. Great confusion results when we do not.
Jesus said: Mt.5:17: “Do not think that I came to overthrow completely the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Yes, to fulfill, not to throw away. The basic difference between these two covenants is summarized in this principle:
What is True of the Old Covenant Externally and Physically
Is Seen to be True in the New Covenant Internally and Spiritually
Let’s compare The Old and New Covenants by way of these illustrations. In the Old Covenant, the Law was written on tablets of stone by the finger of God. In the New Covenant, God’s law is written on our hearts by the Spirit of God. 2 Cor.3:3: “You are a letter of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” The Old is external; the New is internal.
In the OT, the temple was built of stones, wood, and gold in Jerusalem. In the NT, Jesus now builds His temple by His Spirit with people that He calls “living stones.” I Pet.2:5: “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” Eph.2:21,22: “In Christ the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Solomon’s temple was physical; Christ’s temple is spiritual.
The nation of Israel had special priests from among themselves, the sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. But in the New Covenant, there is no special class of priests, for every single believer is a spiritual priest. 1 Pet.2:5: “You are being built up for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The sacrifices those priests brought in the OT were different kinds of slain animals offered upon the altar in the temple. But in the NT, the sacrifices of believers are not external and physical, they are internal and spiritual. Rom.12:1 describes the great sacrifice the Lord desires from every believer: “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Worship in the OT consisted in various required ceremonies, holy days, diet restrictions, and things like these. But in the NT, worship is in Spirit and truth; not places, ceremonies, and external rites. Jesus said in Jn.4:23,24: “An hour is coming and now is when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. The true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
And so, the OT law of tithing as in Num.18:21-24, required every Israelite to bring food items to the priests of Levi. But this is no longer in effect in the NT. The tithes of the Jew’s food items to care for the Levites are not the same as Christians’ voluntary giving out of love to care for poor and needy and true gospel workers.
Christians give from the heart, not as required by a law, but freely and cheerfully, without compulsion or threat of curse. 2 Cor.9:7: “Let each one of you give as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
The battles of the OT were physical and literal with bloodshed by the sword against the wicked Canaanites as in the book of Joshua. But NT believers fight differently, not against people, but against spiritual forces and evil concepts and imaginations by the weapon of the Word of God. Eph.6:12,17: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, the rulers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
2 Cor.10:4,5: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal human weapons, but are made powerful by God. We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Blessings for Israel were material and physical in the land of Canaan as Deut.8:7-9 indicates. In contrast, blessings for Christians in the New Covenant are spiritual and internal: salvation, transformation, and the fruit of the Spirit. Eph.1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.”
These are just a few of the contrasts between the OT and the NT. Failure to understand the difference between the two Covenants will greatly confuse and hinder the Christian’s progress in the faith. Many mistakenly try to apply the codes and requirements of the Old Covenant to the believer under the New Covenant. But this cannot be done without spiritual ruin.
Jesus warns of the disaster of attempting to mix up the two. Lk.5:36: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn the new, and the new will not match the old.”
Col.2:16-23 warns: “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a Sabbath day—things which are a shadow of what is to come; but the reality is Christ!
“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to regulations, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ They are only human commands and teachings.
“These things indeed have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, false humility and harsh treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” Gal.5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of bondage.”
Copyright 2019 Steve Phillips