Friday: Further Thought ~ The New Covenant

Further Thought:

“In partaking with His disciples of the bread and wine, Christ pledged Himself to them as their Redeemer. He committed to them the new covenant, by which all who receive Him become children of God, and joint heirs with Christ. By this covenant every blessing that heaven could bestow for this life and the life to come was theirs.

Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

This covenant deed was to be ratified with the blood of Christ. And the administration of the Sacrament was to keep before the disciples the infinite sacrifice made for each of them individually as a part of the great whole of fallen humanity.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 659.

“The most striking feature of this covenant of peace is the exceeding richness of the pardoning mercy expressed to the sinner if he repents and turns from his sin. The Holy Spirit describes the gospel as salvation through the tender mercies of our God. ‘I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,’ the Lord declares of those who repent, ‘and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more’ (Hebrews 8:12). Does God turn from justice in showing mercy to the sinner? No; God cannot dishonor His law by suffering it to be transgressed with impunity. Under the new covenant, perfect obedience is the condition of life. If the sinner repents and confesses his sins, he will find pardon. By Christ’s sacrifice in his behalf, forgiveness is secured for him. Christ has satisfied the demands of the law for every repentant, believing sinner.” — Ellen G. White, God’s Amazing Grace, p. 138.

Discussion Questions:

What is the advantage of having the law written in the heart as opposed to only on tablets of stone? Which is easier to forget, the law written on stones or the law written in the heart?
Ever since the fall of humanity, salvation has been found only through Jesus, even if the revelation of that truth varied in different epochs of history. Do not the covenants work the same way?
Look at the second Ellen G. White in today’s study. What does she mean by “perfect obedience” as the requirement for a covenant relationship? Who is the only One who has rendered “perfect obedience”? How does that obedience answer the demands of the law for us?

Summary:

The new covenant is a greater, more complete, and better revelation of the plan of Redemption. We who partake of it partake of it by faith, a faith that will manifest itself in obedience to a law written in our hearts.

<–Thursday

Amen!