Greater Covenant

The coming of a New Covenant, announced by the Prophet Jeremiah, is one of the high points of his prophecies to a nation taken into captivity. Not only was their God going to rescue them from captivity in Babylon, but a new and greater covenant was going to be made with them. The Promised Messiah Himself is the bearer of this New Covenant. His own shed blood on the cross will seal this New Covenant. And, to their vast surprise, it will automatically include all the peoples of the Earth, not just physical Israel! This is because, as will be more fully explained later in this article, the New Covenant is made with those of the FAITH of Abraham, not merely a physical descendant.

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

    “when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

    and with the people of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant

    I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

    to lead them out of Egypt,

because they broke my covenant,

    though I was a husband to them,”

declares the Lord.

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel

    after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds

    and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

    and they will be my people.

34 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,”

declares the Lord.

“For I will forgive their wickedness

    and will remember their sins no more.” Jer. 31:31-34, NIV

This New Covenant was announced by Jesus on the night of the Passover just before he was taken captive and crucified on the cross.

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  I Cor. 11:23-26, NIV