Page 10 - Yahwehs Book

contrast with the ‘new covenant’ promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Over six hundred years after the
ratification of the covenant of Moses’ day at the foot of Mount Sinai, the prophet Jeremiah
announced that, in the days to come, the God of Israel would establish a new covenant with his
people to replace that which he had made with the Exodus generation when he ‘took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt’ (Jer. 31:31-34). That ancient covenant made the divine
will plain to them, but did not impart the power to carry it out; for lack of that power they broke the
covenant. Under the new covenant, however, not only the desire but the power to do the will of God
would be imparted to his people: his law would be put within them and written on their hearts. ‘In
speaking of a new covenant,’ says the writer to the Hebrews, ‘he treats the first as obsolete’
(Hebrews 8:13). And he leaves no doubt that the new covenant has already been established, ratified
not by the blood of sacrificed animals but by the blood of Christ, a sacrifice which effects not merely
external purification from ritual defilement but the inward cleansing of the conscience from guilt.

This interpretation of the promise of the new covenant is fully in line with Jesus’ own words. During
the evening before his death, sitting with his disciples round the supper-table, he gave them bread
and wine as memorials of himself. When he gave them the wine, according to Mark’s record, he said,
‘This is my blood of the covenant (my covenant blood), which is poured out for many’ (Mark 14:24).
The echo of Moses’ words, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant...,’ can scarcely be missed...

Each of these covenants - the ancient covenant of Sinai and the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus -
launched a great spiritual movement. Each of these movements gave rise to a special body of
literature, and these bodies of literature came to be known in the Christian church as ‘the books of
the ancient covenant’ and ‘the books of the new covenant.’ The former collection came into being
over a period of a thousand years or more; the latter collection has a more inaugural character. Its
various parts were written within a century from the establishment of the new covenant; they may
be regarded as the foundation documents of Christianity. It was not until the end of the second
century AD that the two collections began to be described, briefly, as the Old Covenant (or
Testament) and the New Covenant (or Testament).
[The Canon of Scripture, F.F. Bruce; Emphasis Added]

Many parallels can be observed between the covenant established by Moses and the covenant
established by Yahshua. Even as Moses took the blood of the sacrifice and threw it upon the people,
sealing the covenant in blood, we find a parallel event in the establishment of Christ’s covenant.

Matthew 27:24-25
And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took
water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see
to that yourselves." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our
children!"

Moses described the words that Yahweh has entrusted to him as “the book of the covenant.” Today,
we can aptly describe the Bible as “the book of the covenants.” The Bible is divided into two
sections of writings. It contains the books of the ancient covenant (The Old Testament), and the
books of the new covenant (The New Testament).