I have a good, deep-rooted, old habit of reading church signs while driving around. I recently read out one that hollered at me in large black letters:

“FIGHT TRUTH DECAY…READ THE BIBLE EVERYDAY.”

People these days would not find it hard to read God’s Word if they set their minds and hearts to it--because we are living in the New Covenant times. We need God and we do need Him desperately.

What exactly is a covenant? It is a formal agreement between two parties. It can be a promise, a pact or a bond. In the Biblical sense, this pact is established between two people; or between two tribes, between two kings, or between a conqueror and his subjects. Still, what makes a covenant of the greatest value is when a promise is enacted between God and man.

What do God’s covenants with man in the Old Testament tell us?

1.                          The covenant between God and His people in the Old Testament is of continued life and favor on condition of obedience between God and Man. Genesis 2: 16.

2.                          The covenant made between God and Noah so that there should not be another flood. Genesis 9:12-16.

3.                          The covenant with Abraham and his descendants as individuals and as a nation, frequently mentioned throughout the History. This was the Old Covenant, the Old Dispensation.

4.                          The New Covenant, which is the spiritual covenant of God in Christ with His followers, frequently mentioned in the New Testament.

At the Last Supper, when our Lord ate the Passover Lamb with His disciples, He referred to the cup as “The new covenant in my blood.” 1 Corinthians 11:25 (NIV).

By using this symbol, what did Jesus mean?

Jesus knew He was going to the cross to present His redemptive offering. So, at the supper, Christ was fully implanting in the disciples’ minds this awesome factual change that will benefit and remedy the future of the whole humanity.

Jesus the Messiah was uncovering His great secret to His loyal followers: Through His sacrificial death on the cross, God the Father was about to establish the New Covenant between Himself and man. Once for all, through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ, God was replacing the Old Testament agreement, which He made with Moses.

We marvel as we meditate on the Glory of the Covenant and the resulting Eternal Life in Jesus Christ! The greatness of God is the answer to our smallness. Every single time we recall His bond with us, He becomes greater.

Through the Covenant of Jesus the Lamb of God, we have an excellent cause for living; and a good hope in dying. He reassured us in Mathew 28:20 (KJV) “And, lo, I am with you always: even unto the end of the world.”

We are told this story about a missionary. Before her departure to the mission field, her Pastor gave her a sealed envelope. She was to open it and use its contents on the day that her needs could not be met.

Thirty years later, on retiring, that same missionary gave her testimony holding that same envelope, still unopened. “To God be the Glory for all those years,” she said. “Not one single day passed, where God had not met all of my needs.”