The Old Covenant

If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. —Exodus 19:5

After four hundred years of bondage in a pagan nation, the Israelites did not understand God. Soon they returned to idol worship. From Mount Sinai, God gave them a set of laws (engraved on tablets of stone) to help them learn how to live holy lives. Yet, the first thing that Israel did was build a golden calf, breaking the first commandment. The Law reveals our sin but cannot empower us to be obedient or righteous.

Living under the old covenant clearly revealed the need for a new and improved covenant (Hebrews 8:7). The old covenant foreshadowed the greater one to come.

Jesus instituted a better and more perfect contract signed in His blood. God’s commandments no longer lie rigid and cold in stone, but now live and breathe inside us (2 Corinthians 3:3).