Our covenant with God is one of grace and faith. God, by His grace and goodness, knew man could never pay the price that must be paid for salvation. The blood of bulls and goats could cover man's sin for awhile, but it couldn't remove the sin. Man must have blood that wasn't tainted with sin and blood that held eternal life (unlike the blood of animals). There was only one way of establishing this new covenant of blood and that was for God's Own Blood be given in Jesus' body for man.
Jesus, Who had always been in God's presence, must leave heaven, come to earth as a man, subject Himself to death and take man's place. Man could not do this because sin and death were already in every man since the fall of Adam. Restoring man back to right standing with God, would be something only God Himself could achieve. This covenant wouldn't depend on man for anything except putting faith in God's grace given on man's behalf.
Because this whole covenant was to be one of God and by God, it would be perfect just like He is perfect. Man need only believe what God had done for him, to enter into this covenant. We don't enter into covenant with God, but by God.
When we entered into the old covenant of the Law of Moses, we entered into covenant with God. Man had a place and part to play in this covenant. Man was required to do his part and then God would do His part. As long as man would uphold his end of the covenant, God could bless, heal, prosper and protect him. If man let his end of things fall (as he always did), then God could no longer bless man the way He wanted to.
God has now presented a new covenant that is foolproof. He made covenant by Himself and with Himself. God, in the person of the Father, made a covenant with God in the person of Christ Jesus. Jesus would carry God's Own Blood in His body and this Blood was without sin or death. Leviticus 17 declares that, "The life is in the blood." This life would carry eternal life to man and not temporary like the sacrifice of animals brought. This sacrifice would be the final sacrifice for sin and death.
Because God had made this sacrifice Himself, it is unbreakable. God couldn't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it. This covenant has been cut by God, through God and with God. Now comes the part that we have entered into. Our part is faith. Galatians 3:16 (Amplified) says, "Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his offspring, his Heir)." God doesn't say that the covenant is to Abraham and his seeds, as if referring to many persons. But, God says it is to Abraham and your Seed, referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ the Messiah.
Notice how the promise was made to Abraham because of his faith and his Seed. The promise was made to Jesus, through Abraham. Abraham was allowed to enjoy the promise by faith, but the promise was made for Jesus. Man is excluded from this new covenant altogether, according to Galatians 3:20 (Amplified) which tells of a go between, an intermediary. This implies more than one party because there cannot be mediation between just one person. Yet, God is only One person and He is the Sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But, the Law was a contract between two parties, God and Israel, and it's validity was dependent on both.
God made the covenant and promise to and through Jesus. Like Abraham, we can enter into this covenant of God's by faith in the One He made covenant with. God didn't make covenant with me, He made it with Jesus. My part is to simply trust in His covenant with Jesus, by my faith. No good works, good deeds, giving or anything else I can do, make my blessing flow. The covenant wasn't made with me. All I need do to allow the blessings flow, is to trust the One the blessing was made to.
We've always believed that if we mess up, then all things would stop, but the truth is that the blessings and promises were made to Jesus and He doesn't mess up. The problem with the first covenant was it depended upon two parties one of which always failed (man). If man failed to keep up his end, then God couldn't fulfill His end of the covenant.
Our new covenant was made to Jesus, Who is God, by God and there are no mistakes. This is why our covenant is one of pure grace. Nothing we could do can nullify this covenant or make it void or useless. It's not our covenant. It's His.
All God requires of us is to simply trust, rest, believe, have faith in and rely on His promise to Jesus. If God made His covenant with Jesus, then it's already done and we simply need to enter in by faith in His grace. This is why we have been called joint heirs with Jesus. By faith in His covenant, we inherit His portion and not our own.
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