And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. Luke 22: 19, 20, NKJV.
Lord, we stand in awe that the Great God of the universe, should honor us, the creatures of His hands, by entering into a covenant with us. Please help us to appreciate all that this entails. This we humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
There is so much difference of opinion pertaining to our understanding of the new, versus the old, covenant, in Scripture. And sometimes it seems as if we will never be united, as Christians, about what is the difference between these covenants. I tread very softly, and submit very humbly, what I have understood about the oldness and newness of the covenant. Please notice that I refer to the covenant in the singular. That is because I believe that the covenant of salvation, has always been one and the same. I sincerely believe that what needs to be renewed is our understanding of the covenant.
The Communion service that Jesus instituted, and partook of, on the night that He was betrayed and tried, was to replace the Passover supper that was instituted to commemorate Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. This celebration consisted of much more than the partaking of the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the salt water, and other symbolic emblems of their suffering while in Egypt. Notice that the name given to the celebration was not Exodus, but Passover. They were not just escaping physical bondage. Accepting the provisions provided, was the way to escape death!
“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12: 13). What was so significant about this, as it pertains to our understanding of the covenant, is that it was the blood applied to the door posts of the homes that made the difference. On that night when the destroying angel passed over, all he was looking for, was the blood! It did not matter if it was an Egyptian, or an Israelite, who had painted that blood upon the door post, it was the blood of that spotless, innocent, pure lamb, that represented salvation from death! By painting it upon their doors, they were accepting the protection it would provide!
That has always been the plan of salvation! Whoever will accept the blood that was shed by “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29), would be saved! In Genesis 3: 15 we read, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” The Seed of the woman is the Savior of the world. It was upon Him, represented by the sacrificial lamb, that the sins of the whole world were placed, and who provided salvation for the entire world.
When Jesus was getting ready to take His place as the Lamb that was provided from “before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1: 20), He made His disciples aware that they would no longer need the old symbols of the Passover, because Anti-type was about to meet type, and make it of no avail. It would seem that the sacrificial system that should have impressed upon the minds of the people, the enormity, and ugliness, of sin, had only made them insensitive to the suffering of these innocent animals. What was even more tragic, I believe, is that it made them believe, that they were actually saving themselves, by providing their own lambs!
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 7: 26, 27). He was, and will ever be, the only means of salvation! That is why,”in the beginning,” He presented Himself as the, “Seed” of the woman. John identified Him as, “the Lamb of God” who would take away the sins of the world. And the apostle describes Him as the One who, “offered up Himself,” for the sins of the whole world.
Therefore, the “Gospel in a Capsule,” puts it this way: ” ‘ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” ‘ ” (John 3: 16). Yes, dear friends, the covenant is, and always has been one, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). Every time an Israelite took his or her offering to the temple, it was his or her faith in that sacrifice, that had been made provided through grace, that made their salvation possible. And if you and I are to be saved, it will be our faith, in the sacrifice of Jesus, that has been granted to us through grace, that will save us!
The newness of the covenant is in allowing Jesus to save us – we have never been, nor ever will be, able, to save ourselves!
NOTE: Please accept my heartfelt regrets for the absence of our devotionals for the past five days. By God’s grace i will make an all out effort to fill in all empty spaces, and keep our website, God’s, yours, and mine, up to date! I appreciate, from the depths of my heart, your kind, Christian, understanding!