The New Covenant begins!

John 20

I know the title sounds very religious but let’s take a look at what it means. A covenant is a promise but also more than a promise. It is saying I am joining with you so that all that I have is yours and all that you have is mine. God made several covenantal relationships. The very creation of mankind was the first covenant God made with us. This passage reflects that covenant and welcomes in a new one through the resurrection.

Let’s talk about the resurrection for a moment. It is important to understand that there is a one to one ratio of the Body that was laid in the tomb and the resurrected body. Jesus was not a ghost, He resurrected in a physical body so that all could see and touch. However, his resurrected body went through the grave cloths, they were laying exactly as they had been placed on Him. He was able to go through closed doors yet was able to be touched and ate with his friends. His compassion and love were still there in great measure as He comforted and encouraged His friends. Still something had changed.

Under the old covenant man’s relationship with God was kind of held at arms length. There was no way to reach to God personally; the blood of animals could not wash away sin. The Holy Spirit was present but did not come to stay with mankind. Jesus death and resurrection changed all of that.

In the first covenant God begin in Genesis 2:7 by breathing the breath of life into man. In verse 22 of chapter 20 Jesus now breathes the breath of new life into the disciples, their hearts are transformed and prepared to receive God living in them and through them rather than simply for them. Intimacy was birthed in our relationship with God. The old covenant began with the breath that gave life to sustain Adam. The new covenant breath was given to have life abundantly for eternity.

How did this happen. Jesus sinless life was the perfect sacrifice that was needed to free mankind from the agreement we made with Satan when we rejected true covenant with God, in the garden. Everything from that point to Jesus was bound by a covenantal relationship that mankind enter into with Satan, when we rejected God’s plan. A wall of sin separated us from intimacy with God the Father. Goats, sheep, or the blood of any animal was not enough to cleanse the sin stain. Men and women who lived in obedience where not sent to hell but also could not enter into heaven because the sacrifice of animals could not break the covenant mankind had made with Satan. However their obedience did not warrant hell. When Jesus died on the cross He fulfilled the blood debt necessary to eliminate our sin and establishing a new covenant with mankind that God will not break. New life is poured into anyone who enters into this covenant. Freedom is the result.

God really loves you! He has already made a way for us to be free from the bondage of sin. Are you still in bondage to sin even though you are a believer? If so why, the price has been paid. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Choose today to believe it and live it. You can and will overcome the sin as you begin to believe what God has done for you!

Tomorrow we wrap up John by reading chapter 21