Hebrews 8: A New Covenant with God's Law

The superior church ministry of Jesus--which is based in heaven and totally free of anything man-made--is premised on a new covenant. If you don't have this covenant with God then you are not in the Jesus ministry and if you're not in the Jesus ministry which is heaven-based (not earth-based) you are not in covenant with God. It's as simple as that.

If you're not faithful to God's covenant, he "turns away" from you [Hebrews 8.9]. And many Christians, even those active in church, do not realize this. You have to be found faithful to God through his new covenant. And the new covenant has a lot to do with God's law. And here's the problem--many churches teach that because you have received salvation by grace and not by works of the law, you can relax on the law. Thus, you find many Christians weak in the Old Testament, especially on the Law. 

Worse, I even see Christians ignorant of the New Testament. They're just kept busy in church.

But the new covenant is heavy on the law. Watch this: "This is my new covenant...I will fix MY LAWS into their hearts and minds...then they will become my people...then all of them--least or great--will know me," [Heb.8.10-11]. This promise is given to the new Israel, which is part of the glorious church of Jesus Christ.

You see that? The new covenant is when God supernaturally fixes permanently into hearts and minds his law so that we become masters of it. It's only then that we become "God's people." We give flesh to it. Remember, Christ is the end of the law. If we want Jesus Christ fully manifested in our bodies and in our lives, 100 percent, we have to see Christ and his beauty in the Old Testament, especially in the law. 

Without effort, we should have and develop the love for the Word--both Old and New Testaments, deeply. And this is something the church terribly lacks today. Check your church members--adults and young people--if they love the law with all their hearts and all their minds. Chances are, you'd be frustrated to know they don't. Because many churches teach that our salvation is New Testament based. So they lax with the Old.

But my Jesus stressed that he didn't come to cancel out the law but to fulfill it. If you really have Jesus in you, your desire should be to fulfill the law in your life through Jesus by his grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, though you are saved by grace through faith. The terrible lack of mastery in the law by church members is a sign that man's church is going backwards, and may in fact be already in rebellion. 

The Old is Obsolete

Hebrews says when God called it the New Covenant, the Old became obsolete. Many people think God here was referring to the Old Testament. The "Old" here is man's ways, not God's law, because God's law will be placed permanently in the hearts and minds of newly covenanted people. What will soon disappear and is now rejected by God are human ways and efforts and achievements, though they all pretend to use God's words. 

For starters, the "old covenant" used "worship regulations" and an "earthly sanctuary" (Heb.9). Many churches today still use worship regulations (programs, denominational doctrines, policies, and manuals) and earthly sanctuaries (they magnify the importance of buildings they call "church" and spend millions for them). They're all still operating under the old covenant and they will soon be obsolete together with it (if they aren't already). Though they are weaklings when it comes to the Old testament and law knowledge, they're really still a part of the old covenant. 

If you're deep in the Word--the Old and New Testaments, and the law--giving them fulfillment in your lives through Jesus Christ in you, then you're part of the new covenant. Jesus said there are 2 keys to this:

1. Love God with your all.
2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

You do these two, you fulfill the law and the Old Testament (the prophets). That love should be based on the teachings of my Jesus, and his teachings are all based on the law and the Old Testament. You are saved by grace alone--but after that your life in Christ should fulfill the law. Or, the Jesus LIFE in you should be living out the principles of God's Kingdom found in the bible, through the power of the Holy Spirit without human effort.

Why without human effort? Because it is God putting the law into our hearts and minds supernaturally. When you meditate the Word, it is Jesus in you doing it, not you. 

Is your life this rich in God's spoken Word--New and Old Testament, including the law--giving them flesh in you? This has nothing to do with those who are good in arguing and debating the Word. It has to do with producing the Jesus LIFE, the Jesus DNA--being God's flesh on earth--and reproducing the same in others through the radical Jesus discipleship.

The new covenant is mastering the law supernaturally. All the work of God in you.