Why do we need the new covenant through Jesus Christ (Part 2)

Hebrews 8:13 (MSG) “By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.” Today, let’s understand what the Old covenant means and why it failed, necessitating the new covenant through Jesus Christ. Firstly, the old covenant was an agreement of rules for worship given by God through Moses to the children of Israel. Paul tells us in Romans 7:5 that, “In the past we were ruled by our sinful selves. The law made us want to do sinful things. And those sinful desires controlled our bodies, so that what we did only brought us spiritual death.” There was no way people would become righteous with a covenant (laws) that made them want to sin hence need for a new covenant. Secondly, the first agreement could not wipe out man’s sin completely. Every time a person sinned in the Old Testament, a goat had to be sacrificed for the removal of that sin (Leviticus 16:4-28). Now imagine this person sins again and dies without having sacrificed another goat for his sins. That would be a gone case. Because of that limitation of the first covenant, a new one had to be instituted to take care of past, present and future sins. (Now some people may think that in the new covenant people are free to sin because all their sins are forgiven. That’s not the case at all. Once you embrace the new covenant in Christ, the urge to sin dies automatically because you serve God in a new way with the Spirit - Romans 7:6) Thirdly, Hebrews 7:28 tells us that the law produced imperfect priests who were overseers of imperfect people (What a combination!). Because of this limitation, a new covenant that produced a perfect High priest was necessary and Jesus is this perfect High Priest who represents us before God. That’s why access to God has been made easier than before. You don’t need to make a long queue just to hear from God. Anytime, anywhere, you have the liberty to approach God in this new covenant setting. Stay tuned as we explore more on this topic in the next dailies. God bless your day and fill you with a discerning Spirit to understand his word.