A Better Word than Abel
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24)
In case you didn’t know, Pentecost is fast approaching. It is held to be the actual formation of the church. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as they were praying and gave them utterance in other tongues, power to live a godly life, and courage to proclaim the gospel Though many people understand the basic difference between the Old and New Testaments, there is often confusion about why a new covenant was needed. Wasn’t the old one good enough? In the next several blog posts we’re going to look closely at that question.
What is a Covenant?
Before we get started, it’s a good idea to get a basic grasp of what that word covenant means. Some people think it’s a simple contract, like one my sign a contract to do work or buy a car. A covenant, however, is more than that.
The word for covenant in the Old Testament is the Hebrew berît. When referring to a covenant between God and man, the word is always said to be God’s covenant (note the phrase “my covenant” in such verses as Gen. 6:18; 9:9-15; 17:2-21; Exod. 6:4-5). It is not a contract made by equal parties. In a contract, if one party refuses to honor the terms (breaks the contract), the other party is free from the obligations. Not so in a covenant. The covenant binds all parties, and one party’s failure to honor the terms of the covenant does not free the other. Not even deceit would cancel the covenant, as Joshua found out.
But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?” They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?” They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’ Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them. (Joshua 9:3-21)
Even though the Gibeonites lied to Joshua, the covenant still stood. In fact, in David’s years, Saul had tried to wipe out the Gibeonites, and thus God’s wrath was against Israel–there was a famine in the land for 3 years (see 2 Sam. 21:1-14). God takes covenant very seriously. This is also why God kept calling Israel back to Himself when they would seek after other gods. The covenant contained blessings and curses, and in judging the sin of the nation, He was honoring the terms of the covenant.
The New Testament word for covenant is the Greek diathekes, which often means “covenant, testament, or will [specifically a last will]. It’s most often used when talking about the New Covenant. This was prophesied in the Old Testament (see Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-29). As we know, Israel continually broke the covenant that God made with them, so He promised a new covenant, one that wiould enable His people to obey the covenant and love Him with all their hearts.
Jesus, on the night He was to be betrayed, said that His death would inaugurate the New Covenant.
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)
With that cup being poured out came a better covenant.
The Better Covenant
The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “the mediator of a new covenant [whose] sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Abel, as you’ll remember, was the second son of Adam and Eve. He was killed in a jealous rage by his older brother Cain. Abel has always been declared righteous in Scripture and held up as an example of faith. Hebrews tell us that, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). Yet, what Jesus speaks is a “better” word, and the New Covenant is a “better” covenant.
In this series, we’ll see why the New Covenant is a far better covenant than the Old Covenant. It’s not the Old Covenant was bad. Paul calls it holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12). What we’ll see, however is that the law was “weak.” Not because of God, mind you, but because of sinful humanity. In fact, Paul says that God, by sending Jesus, did what the law could not do. He writes,
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4).
What could the law not do? According to Paul, the law could not “condemn sin in the flesh.” The law could not do away with sin. It can only pass judgment on sin. As we’ll see, this is the reason that the OT sacrifices had to continue day after day, year after year. Sin was never put away, but “in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3).
Not only is there a reminder of sin, the truth is that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). One might wonder, then, why the Old Covenant was given at all then, if that’s the case. This is an importnat question, and we’ll address it later.
In this series, we will learn what better word the blood of Christ speaks to us. It tells of:
A better high priest and mediator. Moses, though called by God as the mediator of the Old Covenant, was no less a fallen man than the Israelites he led out of Egypt. He had his own sins to reckon with, and in the end died before reaching the Promised Land because of disobedience. As we’ll see, Jesus is the fulfillment of everything that Moses and Aaron could not be.
A better sacrifice. As we mentioned, the Israelites continually offered the same sacrifices, day in and day out. They did so as an act of faith, and God was faithful to honor their faith, in that their sins were not counted against them. Yet, instead of doing away with sin, the sacrifices served only to remind people of their sin. As we’ll see, the New Covenant promises to forgive and cleanse those who trust in Christ.
A better promise. The promises of the Old Covenant were about earthly blessings. Further they were restricted to Israel and any who would enter the covenant through the prescribed way. There was, as Paul calls it, a wall of hostility between the covenant people of God and the rest of the world. The New Covenant breaks down that wall and invites the Gentiles into the blessings of God, which are far more eternal than the earthly blessings of this life (Ephesians 2:14).
The question still persists, though. Why did God do it this way? Why even establish an Old Covenant? If there had never been an Old Covenant, well, this blog would never have been written for one! Seriously, though, God established the Old Covenant to move the world toward His plan of showing all creation His attributes of wisdom, justice, holiness, love, grace, and mercy. Without the Old Covenant, man would have no sense of just how depraved he is apart from God. Man would have limited knowledge of God’s redeeming grace. Man would have no real understanding of just how holy God is.
In the end, all history is about God, not man. Though God is reconciling sinful man to Himself, He is doing it for Himself. For His glory. He alone is the one worthy of glory. Salvation is about God showing His greatness. Redemption is about God showing His love and power to redeem fallen and broken people to Himself. He invites all who will to come to Him and drink freely of the water of life.
Stay tuned….
Posts in This Series:
Jesus, the Highest Priest
Jesus, the Spotless Sacrifice
Better Promises, Better Covenant
