A Contract

Have you ever entered into a contract? Did you thoroughly read the contract before you signed it? Did you understand all the conditions, terms, and provisions of the contract? Did you read through all the fine print of the contract? It seems that everything you try to do involves some type of contract. Whether it is verbal and written, you enter daily into some type of contract. There is a contract every time you make a purchase or a trade of any kind. There is a contract whenever you have something built or repaired. Almost any time there is money involved; there is a contract that is attached.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, a contract is defined as a formal or legally binding agreement, e.g. one for the sale of property, or one setting out terms of employment; a document that records a formal or legally binding agreement; to make a formal or legally binding agreement with somebody to do something, especially work; an agreement or arrangement, either written or verbal and sometimes enforceable by law; and a situation in which everyone accepts the same terms or has the same opinion.

A contract consists of specific words that spell out the conditions, terms, and provisions of the agreement for all parties involved. When you agree to the conditions, terms, and provisions of the contract, you agree to adhere to your part of the contract and you expect the other party to do the same. As long as things are going well you probably never revisit the contract at all. But there be another contract that we would like to talk about. This particular contract has been in existence a very long time, but very few know of the conditions, terms, or provisions involved with it.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

According to the above passage, the Lord says there will come a day when he will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. In this prophecy, Jeremiah foresees the new covenant that God will make with mankind by extending his grace to the Gentiles.

But now hath he (Jesus) obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:6-13).

This new and unconditional covenant is better than the old covenant because it rests on the efficacy of Christ’s atonement for the sins of mankind. Are you aware of this new covenant with God? It is called a new testament.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth (Hebrews 9:14-17).

Were you aware that there was a new covenant signed by your brother, Jesus Christ? Yes, it is true. We now have a new covenant because of the completed redemption by Christ on Calvary. Since his life was given in atonement for the offenses committed under the first covenant, he became the negotiator of the second covenant. Christ passes on this new agreement from God, this new contract, to us. Had the first contract worked, there would have been no need for another to replace it. This new contract is far better than the first one and it has better promises. If you do not know about the new contract with the better promises, then it might be time for you to find out about it. It might be time for you to find out the conditions, terms, and provisions of the new contract so that you can get all of the benefits.

Enjoy all of your blessings and remember to be a blessing to others – KW