Old covenant vs new covenant-what are the differences?

It could hardly be said that the old covenant of law was established upon promises at all, though there were certain promises connected with it. It was established rather upon a bargain, in which Israel undertook in all things to obey, and God guaranteed certain blessings conditional upon their obedience. The bargain was hardly concluded before it was broken by Israel making the golden calf. The fact that the new covenant is established upon promises, that those promises are God's, and that they are better than anything proposed under the law, at once differentiates it sharply from the old. To gain some idea of these better promises you must read the latter part of our chapter, which is quoted from the passage in Jeremiah 31 — where the new covenant itself is promised — verses 31 to 34. God's "I will," is the characteristic feature of it. All is a question of what God is going to do, and of what consequently Israel is going to be and have.

Had the covenant made with Israel at Sinai been faultless there would not have been the need for another covenant; hence the new covenant is of an entirely different order from the first. This new covenant was intimated to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, and was to be made with both the houses of Israel. Israel had not kept the first covenant, hence God had set them aside; but the new covenant could not be broken by Israel, for it did not rest on their doing, but on what God would do. God's laws were not to be presented on tables of stone, as at Sinai, but He would give them in their minds and write them also upon their hearts, where, in the sovereign working of God they would be kept for the glory of God and the blessing of His redeemed people. Therefore would the knowledge of God be in the hearts and minds of His people, so that they would not require to be recalled to Him, as in the past; and having remembered their sins at the cross, He would remember them no more. The word NEW covenant involves the passing away of the old.

Although the new covenant will be made with Israel, as foretold in Jeremiah 31:31–34, the spirit of the new covenant is brought to believers now in the Gospel, as Paul clearly states in 2 Corinthians 3:6. In the new covenant we learn of God’s disposition towards His people, and it is in marked contrast to the demands made upon Israel by the old covenant. Under the old covenant the demands were “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not,” but under the new covenant God says “I will.” The old covenant had two parties to it, and blessing from God depended on Israel fulfilling the conditions to which they had bound themselves in a covenant of death, but the new covenant is the expression of the sovereign goodness of God.

Now let us look at the terms of the new covenant and see how they apply to us, since what Israel will have in the future, we have and enjoy now. First of all, it is "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers." It is of great importance to see the negative side, for God would impress us with the fact that the new covenant is quite unlike the old, and does not depend at all on what we are or do. It has been well said, that the old covenant was comprised in the words: "Thou shalt"; but the new covenant is: "I will," all from God's side. That is the difference, but, important as it is to be clear about it, many Christians are still on old covenant lines. Titus 3:4-5, was written not to the unconverted but to Christians: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us."

The old and new covenants are just, in this way, the contradiction one of another. The old calls on man to act for God, the new reveals God as acting for man. (See Heb. 8) If the soul instinctively apprehend death in the one, it instinctively apprehends life in the other. If the old demanded a veil, the new takes it away.

If we have learnt anything from all that has preceded, one thing worth remembering is that the new covenant is set in contrast with the old. It is set in contrast with the law. The law—the old covenant—was based on two words: “Thou shalt”. The new covenant is also based on two words: “I will”. Under the old covenant it was demand. Under the new it is supply. The cup given to the disciple by the Lord Jesus was a provision from His own hand (speaking of His blood shed fro them). Provided freely, provided in love. A wonderful picture indeed!

Please note the contrast between the Old and the New Covenant. The Old with its "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not," and the New with its "I will." Demand in the Old; gift or grace in the New. While it may be seen that the New Covenant will yet be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, in its literal terms, we would point out that God is acting today on the basis and in the spirit of it. So, in the institution of the Supper the Lord Jesus said, "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood."

Verse 6. The mediator of the legal covenant had constructed the earthly tabernacle by a Divine injunction, as a type of heavenly things. The ministry of Aaron is estimable according to the value of the covenant to which it was attached. But imperfection has been shown to be characteristic of that former covenant. The Law made nothing perfect. The excellency of the priestly ministry of Jesus is now asserted with reference to the quality of the covenant of which He is the Mediator. It is affirmed to be, first, a better covenant intrinsically; and, secondly, it excels the former in the stability of its endurance. It is founded on better promises. It is a better covenant by the superiority of grace to law, of promise to exaction, of righteousness to sin, of blessing to cursing, and of life to death. It was delivered upon better promises, inasmuch as it rests solely on the pledged assurance of the God of grace. The former covenant was established on the people's word. It could not be ordained without their free consent. It was a compact of agreement in which they were a contracting party. They made promise of obedience, and Jehovah's blessing was their assured possession upon their fulfilment of that word. Their breach of promise, by one act of disobedience, destroyed for ever all hope of reaching that conditional good of which the covenant was the security. It vacated all the blessing, and established hopelessly the curse. Jesus was not the Mediator of that covenant. There is no salvation in a bond of human works. Christ never was, and is not now, the Minister of sin (Gal. 2:17). Its mediator was worthy of itself as an imperfect thing. Both sin and death were in its mediator and its priest. It slew the very servant by whose hand it was ordained. It was a covenant of death, and not of life.

The law, of which the apostle has been speaking, does not govern in relation to the "new covenant." It but defined the terms of the old and the fact of a "new covenant" being promised showed that God was not satisfied with the old. Nay, the prophet himself, speaking in Jehovah's name, contrasts the two. The new covenant, even though contemplating Israel and Judah, is expressly "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt." Thus, though the heavenly portion of Christianity is not in it, yet on the other hand God's grace is — and all of grace. All is absolute promise of what God will do and be. He will give them a spirit of true obedience, writing His laws upon their minds and hearts, and thus He will be their God and they shall be His people. Nor will this be a partial blessing, leaving still the need of personal appeal from brother to brother to know the Lord; for all shall consciously know Him — the small and the great. And in that day, all their unrighteousness will be put away completely, and remembered against them never more.

Here you have the new covenant, and there are two characteristics. The old covenant was upon the condition of obedience. What is the new covenant upon condition of? No condition on their part whatever. Israel will have no glory in connection with the new covenant, but there are two features of it that go together. First, it is the writing of God's law in the heart, instead of writing it upon the tables of stone. That is new birth, as you have it in Ezekiel; as our Lord said to Nicodemus, "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" — the need of regeneration, of a new heart, which delights in the law of God, had been spoken of already.

The other feature of this new covenant is: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." What two delightful truths are here! Forgiveness of sins for the conscience, and a new heart, that may delight in God, and walk in His ways! Resulting from this, there will be no need to say, "Know the Lord." God will be known and loved by all His people. "My people shall be all righteous." "All thy children shall be taught of God." As a nation Israel will be regenerate, and not merely certain individuals in the nation.