“This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22:20b
You can’t really understand the Bible at all until you have an understanding of covenants. The Christian life is a life lived in covenant.
The word covenant is both an Old and a New Testament word. The Old Testament Hebrew word for covenant is bereeth (silent “h”). Bereeth means literally “cutting” or “the act of cutting.” It means to enter into a pact, an agreement, or a testament by passing between pieces of flesh. The New Testament Greek word is diatheke, and it means a disposition of property. It means one person making a deposit of valuable property to another person’s account.
What does this mean to us? God has made a divine disposition of property. He has said, “All that I have and all that I am is at your disposal.” Unfortunately, most of us live such spiritually poverty-stricken lives that we act as though we serve a God who is just barely getting by.
The Bible shows three different types of covenants recorded in Scripture. A two-sided covenant is a covenant between two people who are roughly equal to each other. A one-sided covenant is a covenant that is imposed by a superior party upon an inferior party. A self-imposed covenant is one initiated by God. He does not have to enter into it because there is no one higher. He just chooses to do it because of who He is.
God’s self-imposed covenant with you and me is remarkable because there is absolutely nothing in us that God needs. One of the reasons why “works” righteousness has such appeal to us is because we want to believe that there is something that we have that God needs. But, God just loves us. He has set His everlasting affection upon us, even when we fail Him.
All of us are guilty before God. We somehow must assuage the guilt in our lives either by bearing through the shedding of our own blood or by someone dying in our place. There must be a substitute; in the Old Testament, God allowed for an innocent animal’s blood to be poured out in our stead. This was a reminder to us that this should have been our lives. We are the guilty ones and the animal was innocent.
There was going to be a time when all the sins of the human race—past, present, and future—would be uncovered and laid on Jesus Christ. But, once they were, the New Covenant, through the blood of Jesus, provided redemption. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20b).
Have you actually entered into this covenant relationship by exchanging all that you are, or ever hope to be, for all that He is? Remember, God willfully and lovingly offers you an irrevocable agreement. He, as the superior Person with all the resources and wealth, has chosen to dispose of His property to you.
The enormity of such an offer almost stretches the mind beyond belief. But it’s true! “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).
So, boldly and confidently lay hold of this covenant from the Lord’s hand, offered to you right now. He who promised you will be faithful to fulfill it (Hebrews 10:23). Today is your day and now is your time.
