When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.

Hebrews 8 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, not man. ³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. ⁴ Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; ⁵ who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things by the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

⁷ For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. ⁸ For in finding fault with the people, He says,

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will bring about a new covenant With the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ⁹ Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care about them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. ¹¹ And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen, And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For they will all know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. ¹² For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings, And their sins I will no longer remember.”

¹³ When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is about to disappear.

In John 3:16 it says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Matthew 26:26-28 says: Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” Today’s text says: If that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. For in finding fault with the people, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will bring about a new covenant With the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care about them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen, And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For they will all know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings, And their sins I will no longer remember.”

There are many people today who claim that being under the new covenant exempts them from the rules and commandments of the old covenant. The text says: When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. The thing is, what is obsolete does not mean that it is not valid. It only means that there is something better. A rotary phone is surely obsolete, but if it is plugged into a phone line, it can still function as it was intended. If a person chooses not to use what is new, they are left with what is old. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says: “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The new covenant in Christ’s blood did not abolish the old covenant. It fulfilled it, not making sin acceptable to God, but rather making us acceptable to Him by cleansing us from sin. For the one who chooses not to believe in Christ and receive what He did on the cross, they are left with what is obsolete, with keeping the commandments or suffering the consequences of disobedience. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, the righteousness that allows us to enter the kingdom of heaven, is the righteousness that was purchased for us on the cross, through Christ’s blood. To partake of the new covenant, we must believe, repent of our sin, and walk in His righteousness. Ephesians 2:8-10 says: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.   

Revelation 21:5-8 says: He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost. The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 

Knowing that even to the end there are two covenants for us to choose between, may we be guided by what 1 John 1:5-9 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen. Thank You for the new covenant in the blood of Christ. I believe. By the power of the Holy Spirit may I walk in the righteousness that the blood has purchased for me. Amen.