Old and New: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistryNäide

Now your covenant is eternal

Hollywood never just releases a movie. Studios invest millions in advance publicity. One of their tried-and-true techniques is to issue a “trailer.” In real life, trailers come after something. In Hollywood, trailers go ahead, showing snippets and fragments of the movie to lay out the basic plot premise and tease and gain interest from moviegoers.

Throughout the Old Testament, God issued little trailers, glimpses of the glory of the Savior Jesus. Every one of the ceremonial laws of Israel’s “childhood” pointed to the thrilling battle of good and evil that the Son of God would win. “These [i.e., provisions of the ceremonial laws] are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:17). “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory . . . will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?” (2 Corinthians 3:7,8).

The Ten Commandments are a symbol of the Old Covenant. God’s laws, holy and perfect as they are, demand a holiness in us that we could never achieve. In and of themselves they produce only death and damnation for us. Only through faith in Christ can we find forgiveness and life. The New Covenant is based on freedom in our forgiveness. It will last beyond the grave; it is everlasting.