Monday, January 26, 2026

The Old Covenant

Now therefore, if you will faithfully obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is Mine.
- 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" (Jeremiah 31:33). Is his new covenant written on your heart?

Further Reading

• Hebrews 8:7
• 2 Corinthians 3:3
• Jeremiah 31:33