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www.seeking-his-face.com   The
first covenant between God and man was made to Noah. It was an unending
promise that God would never flood the earth again, and to remind Himself
about this promise, God made a sign - the rainbow...Gen 9.11-17.
Then when God made the second covenant with Abram, it was a two-way agreement - God would give him plenty of descendants if he trusted and obeyed God. And as a sign of this convenant, Abram gave God a physical one -  circumcision...
See Gen 17:10-14.
In the book of Deuteronomy when God and man made another agreement, it has a ten-fold promise on man's side - the ten commandments - and if God's chosen kept these God promised to love and bless them.........see Deut. 4:13,23,31; and chpt 7:9,12-15. In Deut 29:19-28 we find that a covenant can be a curse as God promised to curse those who turned from Him by drying up their land and sending them into exile.
The New Convenant Foretold and Fulfilled
In Jeremiah the convenant changes again.."Listen to my voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God."...Jer 11:4. Jeremiah is told about a new convenant that the Lord is going to make with the people. It becomes something spiritual and does away with the old one that needed physical reminders for the people, and the old one will be forgotten and won't be needed..Jer 3:15-16; Heb 8:13. God will give us a new one where... everyone will die for his own sin, .....and the Law will be within us and written on our hearts, ... and everyone will know the Lord....Jer 31:29-34; Heb 8:10-12; 10:16 It is an internal convenant, not external, and is everlasting..John 3:16....For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that all who believe in Him will never die but have everlasting life... It is based on Christ's blood, not our righteousness. Nothing  we
can do by ourselves can earn the right to have our sins forgiven and enter
heaven - it is only by the blood that Christ
shed for us when He died on the cross. If you want to know more on this click here. The covenant given to Abram (Abraham) could not be changed by the Law, but God kept this promise with Christ. God promised Abraham that He would bless all nations through his seed and that God would give land to his seed. This is the convenant Jesus arranged between God and his people.......Heb 8:6 and sealed with his blood, so that it would become effective....Heb 9:15,18,22; 12:24 ..."This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect".... Through Christ's blood all who believe in Him are made acceptable and through Him we may enter heaven....John 14:6 ..."I am the way the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me."    |