Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Hebrews 8-9 and Psalm 14

¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.

With these words, quoted from Jeremiah 31:33, the author of the letter to the Hebrews starts to teach that Jesus Christ has instituted a new covenant between humanity and God. He explains that the old covenant (made with Israel in the wilderness and built on the Law) was not capable of ever truly liberating people from sin. It only ever provided for the forgiveness of sins through repeated animal sacrifices that brought about a superficial cleansing (9:13) but which needed to be repeated endlessly because God’s people never truly broke free from the power of sin.

Now, he continues, “¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

The self-sacrificial death of Jesus has inaugurated the new covenant by which people are truly and eternally set free, once and for all (9:12), to love and serve the Living God. When we receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord by faith, we become participants in His new covenant. We become His people and He becomes our God. And He, by His Spirit, changes our hearts to align with His heart and to desire to do His will. It is no longer an external covenant built on external rituals and obligations, but an internal covenant of the heart, built on faith and love and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Life application: Praise God for making you a member of His new covenant people. Bring your sins to Him today in gratitude that He has already made the sacrifice for their forgiveness, and receive from Him both the desire and the power to do His will and bring Him joy (Philippians 2:13).