Day 16 – Covenant Fulfilled
- Reading: Hebrews 10:1-18, Romans 3:21-28
First off, I have an ESV (English Standard Version) bible and an NLT (New Living Translation). For this passage, I love reading the NLT. So if your translation is a little confusing to you, switch up this time to the NLT. If you don’t have one, use the YouVersion app.
Now to the passage, I love how Hebrews 10:1 explains right away how the Old Covenant couldn’t fulfill God’s plan...
“The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.”
Then, as if it were a “no-brainer” the author essentially states, “because if they did, they would have stopped doing them.” But because the old covenant never fully provided a perfect cleansing they had to keep going through the same ol’ rituals again, and again, and again, and again.... You get the point.
And why didn’t the old sacrifice system work. Hebrews 10:4 might as well have said, “Um, Duh!!! (Insert my 5 year old’s eye roll and headshake). How could blood of a goat or bull take away sin?”
So God sent us Jesus. Jesus knew he was the fulfillment of the New Covenant promised to us. He was the plan. He is our saving grace. He is the final sacrifice once and for all. He is God coming down to us to cancel the first covenant in order to put into effect the new covenant. He is our perfect, holy, without blemish, perfect lamb sacrifice to fully wipe clean all past, current and future sin. He is our atonement.
And because of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, we now have it placed upon our hearts and minds. We now have the deep, internal connection with God Almighty. We can enter into His holy presence because of the blood of Jesus.
And let us not forget Romans 3:21-28 Jesus did the work, we are made righteous before God by faith alone. What is righteousness? To be made right before God. To be made just. Following the Old Testament law used to make the people right with God but now it is by the New Covenant. Now it is through faith alone. Faith in Jesus Christ and his redemptive work. It is not by our own merit or works. Let me write that again. It is not by our own power. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. For it is by grace alone and what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. We just have to believe. It is by faith alone.