Covenant Rules Have Changed
Hebrews 8:13 (GNT)
By speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first one old; and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear.
If the government said: “We are going to make a new agreement with the people of the United States of America where they may qualify to become tax free”, would you want to read the new agreement to find out if you qualify so that you may no longer have to pay taxes? Of course, you would! If you hear God is making a New Covenant with you wouldn’t you want to know what the New Covenant said and what you now are qualified for?
The Old Covenant Is Practical
The Old Covenant would be the easy practical way. It tells you what to do and what not to do, what to wear, what to eat and how to conduct your life. Under the Old Covenant we know that if we touch fire we will get burned, and if we brake the law we go to jail. But under the New Covenant the rules are different. In the New Covenant, we found that we break the law but Jesus served our jail sentence for us. The fiery judgement we deserved will no longer burn us, in this we touched the fire and didn’t get burned. We have to find out many things about this New Covenant to understand what manner of love God has for us. This new agreement of God, giving us what we don’t deserve, is not practical like the old agreement was, where you earn what you don’t have and are rewarded according to your actions. This new agreement must be Spiritually Discerned and not earned by practical reasoning. (1 Corinthians 2:13-15)
New Covenant Is Lived by Resting in The Promises
The moment you are “Born Again” we are told all the blessings and fullness of God belongs to us. It is like starting to run the race from the finish line. We find out that we are blessed, not trying to be blessed, we already have all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3) We are told we have forgiveness of our sins, not according to the riches of our repentance, but according to the riches of His Grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
We have already received an inheritance in Jesus and by learning the New Contract purposes for our life, we learn there are prearranged blessings for us that are obtained through faith and not works. (Ephesians 1:11-14) We learn that we are not fighting to get a victory over our circumstances, we find in Him we have the victory and we must take a stand for the inherited blessings that are ours to have. We put on the whole armor of God to take this stand, not in struggle like a warrior fighting a battle, but knowing this is His Armor, and we being in Him see the battle won thru Jesus.
We are standing on the promised land of blessings of eternal life, healing, prosperity and protection and not trying to enter into the promised land like under the old covenant, we are already there. In this manner, you are standing against the forces that are telling you that you are not prospering, you are not healed, you are not protected. We stand on the New Contract promises, we are not trying to get these blessings, we already have them. The moment you try to get these blessings in the Old Covenant manner, you have fallen from grace into works. (Ephesians 6:10-18, Ephesians 2:8-9) Don’t put on this armor thinking you have to fight to obtain something you don’t have. This armor you are wearing is the Gospel which includes; righteousness, salvation, hope, protection, sword of truth of His word, and the gospel of peace which is grace. All these things are yours and you need to see yourself wearing them, God fought the battle and won, and already obtained what He won for you by Jesus.
Beloved, to be seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places means you must rest in what He has already done, not in what you can do. The more you rest in these promises, the more you will enjoy the benefits of this New Covenant. These are promises that you have already obtained thru Jesus. The labor we are told to do is enter into His rest. (Hebrews 4:11)
Additional Links:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+2:13-15&version=NIV
