'Covenant' in the Bible

for this is my blood which is to be poured out for many for the remission of sins--the blood which ratifies the Covenant.

"This is my blood," He said, "which is to be poured out on behalf of many--the blood which makes the Covenant sure.

He dealt pitifully with our forefathers, And remembered His holy covenant,

He gave them the cup in like manner, when the meal was over. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant ratified by my blood which is to be poured out on your behalf.

and I covenant to give you, as my Father has covenanted to give me, a Kingdom--

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

"Then He gave him the Covenant of circumcision, and under this Covenant he became the father of Isaac--whom he circumcised on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve Patriarchs.

and this shall be My Covenant with them; when I have taken away their sins."

In the same way, when the meal was over, He also took the cup. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant of which my blood is the pledge. Do this, every time that you drink it, in memory of me."

It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.

Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day during the reading of the book of the ancient Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is only in Christ that it is to be abolished.

Brethren, even a covenant made by a man--to borrow an illustration from daily life--when once formally sanctioned is not liable to be set aside or added to.

I mean that the Covenant which God had already formally made is not abrogated by the Law which was given four hundred and thirty years later--so as to annul the promise.

so much the more also is the Covenant of which Jesus has become the guarantor, a better covenant.

But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant, based upon sublimer promises.

For if that first Covenant had been free from imperfection, there would have been no attempt to introduce another.

For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "'There are days coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant--

a Covenant unlike the one which I made with their forefathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to that.' 'So I turned from them,' says the Lord.

But this is the Covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts. And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My People.

By using the words, "a new Covenant," He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.

Now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship, and had also its sanctuary--a sanctuary belonging to this world.

This had a censer of gold, and the ark of the Covenant lined with gold and completely covered with gold, and in it were a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the Covenant.

And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.

Accordingly we find that the first Covenant was not inaugurated without blood.

saying, "This is the blood which confirms the Covenant that God has made binding upon you."

"'This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says the Lord: 'I will put My laws upon their hearts and will write them on their minds;'"

and to Jesus the negotiator of a new Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks in more gracious tones than that of Abel.

Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead--even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep--

Then the doors of God's sanctuary in Heaven were opened, and the Ark, in which His Covenant was, was seen in His sanctuary; and there came flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and heavy hail.