Old covenant, new covenant

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24:8)

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  (Matthew 26:28)

Those words strike me somehow. 

These are the first times we see the words “blood of the covenant” in the Old Testament and New Testament. 

Both covenants were sealed in blood. 

Both were the start of a covenant relationship between God and his people. 

But other than that, the differences are very marked. 

I’ve mentioned some of this before, but it doesn’t hurt to go over them again, since the Bible does.

First, in the old covenant, the relationship was marked by distance. 

God told Moses to tell the priests and the elders of Israel,

You are to worship at a distance,  but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. 

And the people may not come up with him.  (Exodus 24:1-2)

But in the new covenant, all of us are able to draw near to God, and are encouraged to do so.  (Hebrews 10:19-22)

The old covenant was conditioned on the actions of the people. 

Moses read the covenant to them, and the people said,

We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.  (7) 

But of course, it wasn’t long before they disobeyed. And they would continue to disobey throughout their history. 

As a result, the covenant was broken many times.

The new covenant, however, is based on the grace of God through Jesus’ death on the cross. 

Paul wrote,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The blood of the old covenant was the blood of bulls which could never take away sin.  (Hebrews 10:4)

The blood of the new covenant was the blood of Jesus, which purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7)

In the old covenant, the laws were written on tablets of stone. Obedience to the laws came through our own efforts alone.

In the new covenant, the laws are written on our hearts. (Hebrews 8:10)

Obedience comes as God works in our hearts and transforms us from the inside.

I leave the final words of comparison to the writer of Hebrews who said:

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm;  to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,  because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel…

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,  for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:18-24, 28-29)