My wife Jessica noticed that my t-shirts were starting to look ratty because of holes and stains. She went to the store and bought me brand new t-shirts. When she returned home, she threw all my old shirts into the trash. To make room for the new, she threw out the old. The same thing happened when the New Covenant came along. Hebrews explains that the New Covenant makes the Old Covenant obsolete.

In Galatians and Romans, Paul writes to mostly Gentile believers. But, the writer of Hebrews writes primarily to Jewish believers and explains the concept of grace in Jewish terms. By talking about the tabernacle, the priesthood, the system of offering sacrifices, and the great heroes of the Jewish faith, he demonstrates how Jesus completely fulfilled every aspect of Jewish tradition. Let’s look at nine facts about the New Covenant from the book of Hebrews.

1. Christ is the guarantee of the New Covenant. Hebrews 7:22, 8:6 “…Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant”

2. The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant. Hebrews 8:7-8 “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…”

3. The Old Covenant is more than replaced, it is gone. Hebrews 8:13 “In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away”

4. The New Covenant is much better than the Old Covenant. In Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments say, “You shall not….you shall not…you shall not.” But, in Hebrews 8:8-12, God says, “I will…I will…I will.” In the Old Covenant, the emphasis is on what we have to do, but in the New Covenant, the emphasis is on what God does for us. We are now “ministers of the new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6).

5. Under the Old Covenant, the Law never made you perfect. Hebrews 7:19 “for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God”

6. Under the New Covenant, Jesus is our perfect High Priest who stands before God on our behalf. Hebrews 7:26-27 “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself”

7. Under the Old Covenant, we had inferior high priests, but under the New Covenant, our High Priest is perfect. Hebrews 7:28 “For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever”

8. Under the New Covenant, God’s law is written on our hearts. Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” God is not about a list of rules, He is after relationship.

9. Under the New Covenant, God no longer remembers your sin. Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” In Christ your sin is completely gone. Not only do you have a new future, you also have a new past. All our sins, past, present, and future, were taken away at the cross of Jesus.