The Covenant of the Israelites and the Covenant of Jesus

“And because of all this we are cutting a sure covenant, and write it, and our princes, Levites, and priests are sealing it.” (Nehemiah 9:38)

Some background is needed. The broken wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt. Ezra gathered the people and read the Law to them on the first day of the seventh month. They celebrated the Feast of Booths. Then on the twenty-fourth day, they fasted and confessed their sins. (Nehemiah 7-9:3) “And they stood up in their place and read in the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day. And another fourth part they confessed and worshiped Jehovah their God.” (Nehemiah 9:3) They recognized that they were servants in the land God had given them because of their sin. “Behold, we are servants today. And the land that You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit, and its good, behold, we are servants in it. And it yields much increase to the kings whom You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.” (Nehemiah 9:36-37) So they make a covenant, (verse 38) ending with the words, “... And we will not forsake the house of our God.” (Nehemiah 10: 39) But the priests defiled the temple by sinning. These were the priests who had sealed the covenant. “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.” (Nehemiah 13:29)

We may shake our heads at their sin and inability to keep the covenant. In those days, the covenant was based on their deeds. If they were righteous, they kept the covenant. If they sinned, they broke the covenant. The covenant was conditional and based on their obedience to the conditions of the covenant. Such is human nature, temporal, earthly and sinful because it’s ruled by the flesh which is of the world controlled by the devil. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1John 2:15-17)

We would not be able to have kept the covenant either. The nature of the soul in the kingdom of sin and death will disobey God and sin. The sinner will sin. There has to be a change in the nature of man. And that can only happen when the old man dies at the cross when a person repents of his sin, believes on Jesus, the Savior and Messiah, and surrenders his life to the Lord. The soul is then immediately changed because the old man has died at the cross. “For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:5-6) We are then immediately translated into the kingdom of the Lord, life and light. “For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son;” (Colossians 1:13). We are born again of God, a new creation, one who has God’s nature. “So that if anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17)

We see a difference in the covenants. The covenant the Israelites made depended on them. It was a sure thing they would break it because of the unregenerated sinful nature. Their hearts were not born of God. In the covenant of Jesus, it doesn’t depend on sinful man but on the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus never sinned and always obeyed. He is righteous and holy. It cannot be broken. When we believe on Him and receive Him as our Lord, we come into this eternal covenant that will never be broken. Jesus sealed this covenant for us. It doesn’t depend on us. “...by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant.” (Hebrews 7:22)

Does that mean we don’t sin? The answer is yes and no. Our born-again spirit is pure and holy because it’s born of God. It listens and obeys the Holy Spirit. But we are still in this flesh. There is a constant battle in the soul if whether it will obey the flesh or the spirit. (Please see the lesson titled “Vicious Circle or Virtuous Circle” for understanding on this.) When the flesh rears up and we fall into sin, we are forgiven. But we must repent of the sin in our flesh that is revealed. That means surrendering it to the Lord to deal with it so He can purge it out of us. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)

In a nutshell, we should not shake our heads in disbelief at the Israelites’ tendency to sin. Until we are born again, we will sin. After being born again, we may fall into sin if we give into the temptation of the flesh, but there is forgiveness for us because our spirits have been born of God, because we have believed on Jesus Who paid the price for our sin and because we have accepted the gift of salvation from the wrath of God for our sins by believing in Jesus and making Him the Lord of our lives.