If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. —Exodus 19:5
After four hundred years of bondage in a pagan nation, the Israelites did not understand God. Soon they returned to idol worship. From Mount Sinai, God gave them a set of laws (engraved on tablets of stone) to help them learn how to live holy lives. Yet, the first thing that Israel did was build a golden calf, breaking the first commandment. The Law reveals our sin but cannot empower us to be obedient or righteous.
Living under the old covenant clearly revealed the need for a new and improved covenant (Hebrews 8:7). The old covenant foreshadowed the greater one to come.
Jesus instituted a better and more perfect contract signed in His blood. God’s commandments no longer lie rigid and cold in stone, but now live and breathe inside us (2 Corinthians 3:3).
The new covenant fulfills the prophetic promise given in Jeremiah: “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (31:33). Is His new covenant written on your heart?
Lord Jesus, make my life a living letter written by
Your Spirit so that others may see You in me.
I desire to live a life empowered by Your
Spirit. May others always see You in
all that I say and do. Amen.
