Superiority of the New Covenant
It has been a hot minute since Jesus physically walked the earth. Speaking truth into hearts and revealing the love of the Father in a way that had never been shown before. Showing us the greatness of God’s character and His burning desire for relationship and intimacy with us.
It has been such a long time that we don’t have much of a context for society back then. We have stories passed down and of course scripture, but as for understanding what the Israelites were experiencing in their day to day and what their anticipation looked like for their savior, that is very hard for us to grasp. And I think this is where we lose understanding of the absolute goodness and beauty of the new covenant that we walk in everyday!
Just imagine, you wake up, and you are not forgiven of your sin from yesterday. You cannot go to your prayer closet and ask for forgiveness and repent (truly change your ways) and then carry on. There is no mediator between you and God the Father. No sacrifice that can cover your sin yet. You must find a clean and worthwhile animal to take for sacrifice. And you don’t have the Holy Spirit with you to help you in your repentance. To help you change your ways and walk closer to holiness. To convict you of wrong and guide you towards righteousness.
I wish I had a greater revelation of the beauty of the new covenant, the opportunity we have before us that never existed for people before Jesus came to earth. But I sit back and think of this often. Trying to imagine what life would have been like, and it is nearly impossible to understand the gravity of the situation. But I think it is important to stop and recognize the age we are living in. Recognize the opportunity we have living in the church age!
Church has gotten such a bad rep over the past couple decades. I believe it is because we tried to take things into our own hands and turned our back on intimacy with Jesus and surrender to the Holy Spirit (at large, of course there are some that never did this!). And now people think church is something hypocrites do on Sunday mornings to make themselves feel better but it is so incredibly boring they can’t understand why anyone would walk through the doors in the first place.
But God’s truth is not boring. Being with fellow saints is not boring. Welcoming the Holy Spirit to the gathering and surrendering to His desires for that day is not boring. Recognizing God’s presence and being with Him is not boring! In fact that is the greatest place to be. The more I grow in being able to recognize His presence and shove distractions aside, the more I crave His presence. I pursue it everyday. I can’t imagine life without it. And there is something about corporate worship that brings His presence so strongly, it is so important to find a church welcoming to the Holy Spirit and to your family! His presence, overwhelming you and filling you with joy, speaking to your heart, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is because of the new covenant through Jesus! We should be so thankful to be living during the church age.
Ladies, today I encourage you to try to view the new covenant with fresh eyes. Try to imagine life before Jesus and the reality of people before Him. And contrast that to your everyday life. Contrast that to your intimacy with Jesus and Him being with you all the time. To the voice of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. And come to a greater thankfulness for this! I encourage you to worship and praise God for His vast love shown to us in the new covenant. Because it truly is greater than we can imagine, God’s love for us!
