The Better Covenant

King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: The Better Covenant
Date: Tuesday December 13, 2011
Chapters: Hebrews 5-7
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All Scripture quoted comes from the King James Version, words in red are quoted by Jesus.

Hello My Friend,

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” -Genesis 14:18-24.

Once again we are taken back in time, a time when we learn about the first battle between kings recorded in the Old Testament. A time before there was a king of Israel, even before Abraham was blessed with his miracle son, Isaac. Abraham, heard that his nephew Lot was captured along with others and their possessions, he armed his men, pursued after them, and they won the battle. Abraham was met by kings of Sodom and Salem, who congratulated him on his victory, the king of Sodom offered a deal, give me the people and I will give you their goods. Abraham refused, not willing to give up one soul. However, he gladly received the bread and wine offered by Melchizedek, a high priest, not willing to see one soul perish. Sound familiar? “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” - Mark 14:22-25.

Christ gave His life, His flesh and blood, as a sacrifice, to be an atonement for every sinner, not willing to let one soul perish. All who believe and accept Him receive forgiveness of sins, salvation, and everlasting life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” - John 3:16,17.

Before Jesus became the sinless sacrifice, if a person wanted to be redeemed for their sins they had to visit a priest, the sinner voluntarily brought a sacrifice, an animal, a male, without blemish, he laid it on a table outside of the Tabernacle, the sinner placed their hand on the head of the animal, killed the animal, and as the blood poured out the priest would take the blood to the altar, offer it up to God as a replacement, sprinkle the blood on the altar, and the person would be redeemed. They had to do this constantly. Today, the only person we need to go to is Jesus Christ, who offers Himself to God for the atonement, permanently. In Paul's letter to the converted Jews, he reminds them that the high priest Melchizedek, known to Abraham, represented Christ even back then.

“And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” - Hebrews 5:4-9.

Because the high priest was born with the same sin nature as everyone else he too had to offer sacrifices to cleanse himself before he was able to receive sacrifices for others, no one was exempt from hell unless they were cleansed from their sins. Jesus was not born into sin, nor did He ever sin, which qualified Him to be the sinless, blemish free male sacrifice for redemption to all who receive Him.

Many people die and end up in hell because they were taught the wrong doctrine, trust me, after seeing the research I have been doing about religion it is no wonder people reject what they have been taught and fall into false religion. However, ignorance and being taught the wrong thing does not exempt us from hell, we must accept Christ to be saved. Paul stresses the importance of living by the true Gospel.

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” - Hebrews 6:1-6.

Dead works is serving God in hopes that they will be saved, a person that has accepted Christ as their Savior is not trusting in what they do for God to save them, they are trusting in Christ. Every time a person does something thinking that it is what is keeping them saved they are crucifying Christ all over again. Why? Because they are not believing that only He can save them. No amount to serving God saves us, only trusting in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection are we saved. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” - Galatians 2:16.

When God came up with the Mosaic law, He knew that this would only be a means for temporary redemption. However, it was all a foreshadow of Christ. The law provided the hope of a better testament, which was replaced when Jesus died for us. “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” - Hebrews 7:19-22.

A testament is a solemn authentic instrument in writing, the Bible is a covenant instituted between God and man. The Bible is divided up into two testaments, the old and new, both testaments declare a covenant or agreement between God and man. The Old Testament, the Mosaic covenant, declares that the Jews are God's people. The New Testament, the Christian covenant, declares that whether Jew or Gentile anyone who believes in the Son of God, are God's people. The difference between the Old and New Testament is that the we are no longer bound to keep the law of Moses for our salvation, we are simply saved by looking to Jesus by God's grace, same Jesus, better covenant. Now, we follow a new, better covenant, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” -Hebrews 12:2. By faith we are saved, the works we do after show God how much you appreciate and love Him for giving His only begotten Son, who endured the cross that we deserve. Praise God!

Today's Prayer:
Dear God,
There is a large majority of people building their hopes and dreams on that which will pass away, but we who are trusting only in Your Son, build our lives on the better covenant, which will be completely fulfilled as we cross over to the Promised Land. How wonderful that You save to the uttermost, that You deny no one the opportunity to come to You in humility, repentance, and faith. It is in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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