Grace Bible Church

Peace under the old covenant could be destroyed by the sin of the people. Therefore, many times, third parties and rulers took steps to destroy the peace God made with His people Israel, by provoking or leading them into sin that violated the covenant. Ultimately, the whole nation was carried off into captivity, cursed by the covenant for their disobedience. But the New Covenant is a unilateral covenant, which does not depend upon our obedience at all! The whole covenant is fulfilled by God through Christ Himself! It is His unbreakable obedience, and not our own! It is His bloody sacrifice, and nothing we do, that brings eternal forgiveness for our sins against God, and imputes righteousness to us before Him. Because of the superior sacrifice of Jesus that takes away our sin, there is no means by which God's peace with us, under the New Covenant, can ever be broken! Meanwhile, the New Covenant produces obedience in the Lord's people, an obedience that could not be attained under the old covenant. Thus, wicked men, and the devil himself, are thwarted in their vain efforts to separate us from God's peace!

Consider the contrast between the Old Covenant, sealed with animal blood at Mount Sinai, with the New Covenant, established by the blood of Jesus Christ. While the Old Covenant required human obedience that Israel could not keep, resulting in judgment and curse, the New Covenant is unilateral, relying on God's power to produce obedience and forgive sin. The Old Covenant sacrifice served merely as a seal of obligation, whereas Christ's sacrifice actively executes the promise of redemption and eternal inheritance. Believers are no longer under the terrifying law of Mount Sinai, but have access to the heavenly Jerusalem, through the superior blood of sprinkling of Jesus. This theological distinction culminates in the celebration of the Lord's Table, where we remember the specific purpose of Christ's death for the remission of sins.

Jesus Christ is the incarnation of divine truth and grace, contrasting His unchanging gospel offer with the lies and self-righteousness of wicked men. While physical heritage or moral effort cannot save, only the truth embodied in Christ liberates sinners from the bondage of sin. Consider the tragic rejection of this truth by Israel, who preferred their own lies and the praise of men over the saving knowledge of God. This rejection is a spiritual inability to hear God's voice without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, a condition that persists in the world today in every lost sinner. Believers must embrace the peace and glory found in Christ's sacrifice, and view the Lord's Supper, not as a mere ritual, but as a tangible encounter with the truth that reconciles us to God.

We meditate on the significance of Christ's final day, contrasting the human tendency toward panic or practicality with Jesus' purposeful fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus' death was not merely an end, but the commencement of His ongoing intercession and shepherding of His people. In that last day, Christ instituted the Lord's Supper as a remembrance of the New Covenant, the satisfaction of divine wrath through Christ's sacrifice, and the assurance of resurrection. Christ encouraged His people and prayed for our faith, and promised to take us with Him one day to glory. We seek to speak in a pastoral and comforting way, encouraging believers to find joy in the certainty of Christ's finished work, and His continued presence with us from now through eternity. We must engage deeply with the elements of communion, recognizing them as profound signs of redemption rather than mere rituals.

Jesus Christ is the incarnate truth of God, embodying both divine justice and saving grace in a way that surpasses the law given through Moses. While God's promises are immutable and true, the natural man is spiritually blind and cannot receive this truth without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The condemnation of the law contrasts with the redemption found in Christ, because salvation is mediated solely through faith in Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Believers must view the Lord's Supper not merely as a ritual, but as a tangible encounter with the person of Christ, who fully reveals God's glory and offers peace to His people.