OPINION:
When you think of Jesus, what image comes to mind? Is He a baby in a manger, a man on a cross, the King of heaven? What if Jesus is greater than you imagined?
What if His birth carries more than sentiment and tradition? What if there’s more to His story and its connection to our lives than we ever dreamed?
These are the questions we explore in “Tracing His Promise,” a journey to uncover the bigger story of Jesus and what that means for us.
Below is the last in a series of excerpts from “Tracing His Promise,” which guides readers through the promise of Christ in the Old Testament, making it a meaningful addition to the Advent season. Read the first, second, third, and fourth installments.
Here’s what we must remember: God is a God of grace and forgiveness. He doesn’t desire distance but relationship and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).
We’ll see this in full view as we move into one of the most thrilling days of our study — the new covenant. For a nation and people in rebellion’s pit, God promised to do something new. Together, we’ll unearth two Old Testament prophecies about this new way God would interact with the world.
SEE ALSO: Tracing His Promise, a Christmas Advent: God is in the details
And as we unpack the Scriptures, we’ll also watch how Jesus brilliantly fulfilled these prophecies. It’s a stunning picture of our salvation and the confidence we can have through a grace-filled relationship with Jesus.
The Prophecy: A new heart
We begin with what God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah:
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. – Jeremiah 31:31, 33
Pause and think of the significance of this statement. For hundreds of years, God’s people had been under the old covenant or Mosaic law. As much as the Israelites intended to keep the law, they chased the lesser light of the world’s idols and allurements. As a result, God brought His hand of discipline.
But Jeremiah prophesied a message of hope. God would make a new covenant.
SEE ALSO: Tracing His Promise, a Christmas Advent: The Jesse Tree
Under the old covenant, the law had been a code of morals, external to man. Paul described it as a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7–9). But in the new covenant, God would shape people’s character from within. The laws would not be written on stone tablets but traced by God on the human heart.
Along with the law being on our hearts, the prophet Ezekiel spoke of another promise regarding the new covenant: “I will give you a new heart… . I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26–27).
A new heart. The Spirit within you. What did this all mean? With the new covenant, God would instill power in every believer — the Holy Spirit — enabling and empowering believers to follow God’s heart and plan.
No favorites or VIPs
Under the old covenant, a divide existed between everyday people and the priests, and between people and God. Only the high priest had access to the holy place and God’s presence.
But in the new covenant, this chasm would be bridged. The playing field of spirituality would be leveled. No favorites or VIPs. No distance.
Regarding the new covenant, Jeremiah prophesied, “For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).
They shall all know God. How? Forgiveness. What once required sacrifices, rituals, and the mediator of a priest, God would accomplish through Jesus in the new covenant. Like a child running into their father’s arms, forgiveness allows all to draw near to God. The priest, the poor, the college student, the empty nester, the mom, the dad, and the Amazon driver. All can draw near. Hallelujah!
The New Testament connection
When teaching the big picture of the Bible, I encourage people to think of Scripture like a two-act play: the Old Testament and the New Testament. As with any play or movie, understanding the foundation of the Old Testament (Act 1) makes familiar scenes of the New Testament (Act 2) breathe with fresh vibrancy.
Now that we’ve seen Old Testament promises of the new covenant, we’ll pull up to the table at Jesus’s final meal with his disciples — the Last Supper. Here, we’ll grasp the profound significance of Jesus’s familiar words before His crucifixion.
Toward the end of the meal, Jesus took the cup and told His disciples, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Isn’t this incredible? This wasn’t any cup — it was the cup of the new covenant.
Jesus said it similarly in Matthew: “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
In this moment Jesus announced He was the one through whom the new covenant would come. Jesus’s blood would inaugurate the prophecy Jeremiah and Ezekiel had spoken 600 years earlier.
It only gets better. Jesus’s sacrifice opened a new way for us to approach God. In the Old Testament, when the high priest went before God’s presence, he passed through a massive veil — symbolizing the barrier between man and God.
I always pictured this veil as a thin sheet or curtain, but the veil was unbelievably huge. It soared 60 feet high, stretched 30 feet wide, and may have been as thick as a person’s hand (about four inches thick).
At the precise moment of Christ’s death on the cross, something incredible happened to this veil: “The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51). Picture the moment. The massive curtain towering five stories high ripped from top to bottom.
Some people say the earthquake caused the splitting, but the order is noteworthy: the curtain was torn, the earth shook, and the rocks split. What if God tearing the curtain caused the earth to shake? What if His announcement for all to come into His presence rocked the world?
And did you notice the veil was torn from top to bottom? This was not a work of man but of the hand of God.
Using the stunning image of the torn veil, the author of Hebrews revealed how this image of the torn veil impacts you and me — how we can now enter God’s presence: “Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh … let us draw near” (Hebrews 10:19–20, 22).
The curtain. The flesh. Drawing near. They all come together.
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Donna Amidon is a speaker and author with a passion for engaging others in the rich truths of Scripture. A graduate of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Donna has served in diverse roles as a Bible teacher, worship leader, and small group director. Donna’s book, “Tracing His Promise,” guides readers through the promise of Christ in the Old Testament, making it a meaningful addition to the Advent season. In her role at Back to the Bible, Donna provides biblical teachings that inspire others to center their lives on Christ. Visit her at www.donnaamidon.com or on social media at https://www.instagram.com/donnaamidon_/ or https://www.facebook.com/ignitetheheart
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