This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (Hebrews 8:10-12).
Four promises that will change your life. This is an astonishing claim. But it’s true. I am talking of the four promises, or provisions, of the New Covenant.
The writer of Hebrews described these promises as better than the promises of the Old. And indeed they are.
They are laid out for us in Hebrews 8:10-12. I've numbered them for ease of reading.
- I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
- I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
- For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
These are better promises because they hit us at our deepest points of need. We need power and the internal motivation to live out the Christian life. We need to have assurance that we belong and that God does indeed love us. We cry out for a relationship with God, to genuinely know Him. We desperately need to know that our sins have been forgiven once and for all.
On all of these points, the New Covenant provides. Jesus' finished work guarantees all of these promises. I’ve juiced each one down to one word. In this New Covenant we have
- Power
- Assurance
- Relationship
- Forgiveness.
The world, religion and even the flesh make outlandish promises, but they never deliver. Not Jesus. In Him, you have everything you need.
Take hold of these four promises and your life will never be the same.
In Him,
Bob Christopher