This Is The Covenant

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Hebrews 8:10

There are marked differences between the old covenant God made with Israel and the new one. The old covenant involved rites, ceremonies, rituals, and many outward manifestations. In the plan of God, they had their place and served their purpose. They were a means to an end but not the end itself. They were in place as physical instructions to point Israel, and anyone else who embraced them, to Christ, the Promised One. The elements of the old covenant were something in which people might engage without having any true transformation of soul. Many in ancient Israel went through the motions of devotion to God without having any real heart for Him or for the Messiah to Whom the rites, ceremonies, and rituals pointed. Thus, not all who were of physical Israel were spiritually Israelites. With the coming of Christ there came a doing away with the old covenant and the advent of a new, essentially spiritual covenant. The outward trappings of the old covenant ceased to be necessary. God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit now writes His laws on the hearts of His redeemed. They are the Israel of God. Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant.

Great God of Wonders,
we rejoice that You always have a plan.
We praise You that You carry out that plan
to its glorious end.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning