It had been nearly four hundred years since the Hebrew scriptures had been written. Israel was experiencing the oppression of Rome and was still awaiting the coming of the promise king who would usher in a new kingdom and fulfil all the promises given to Abraham and people of Israel. We will now move from the Old Testament scriptures to what the Christians refer to as the New Testament. But what is a testament and why is the Bible divided by Old and New? Webster’s defines testament as a “an act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death.” Today we typically call this a will. The book of Hebrew’s explains this concept as follows…

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

(Hebrews 9:16-17 ESV)

The children of Israel did not completely understand why under the law of Moses blood was the involved in almost every ritual. Blood represented the life of an innocent victim who would take the place of the guilty.

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

(Hebrews 9:22 ESV)

The animal used in the sacrifice, like the Passover lamb, was completely innocent of guilt. When Jesus arrived on the scene John the Baptist said “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” The prophet Jeremiah put it like this in the Old Testament…

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(Jeremiah 31:31-33 ESV)

Jesus came to live the innocent life that represented the spotless lamb of the animal sacrifice set up under the law instituted through Moses and the Passover. His death would inaugurate a new covenant between God and humans. This new covenant was instituted upon the death of the rightful heir to the throne. Jesus came to Earth as God’s Messiah, who was to be the true King of all humanity and on his last night with His Disciples He…

“…took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

(Matthew 26:27-28 ESV)

This New Covenant was unlike any agreement God had ever made with humanity. He personally sent His own Son to offer this new relationship between God and us. The New Testament is the written account of how this new relationship was established and how we can now walk in it.