Covenants Matter

When we read Old Testament reports of epic floods, burning sulfur, and complete annihilation, is easy to think that God was grumpier in the olden days.

In Malachi 3:6 God says that He does not change. James 1:17 tells us that there is no variation or shifting shadow with Him. If God did not change, then what did?

His covenant changed. The new covenant is no longer weakened by the inability of people to keep their end of the agreement. The new covenant is unilateral; only God has commitments to keep. Consequently, the new covenant can never be broken and can never be changed.

Don’t project your New Covenant self onto what the Bible reports about the way God dealt with people under the Old Covenant. The way He interacted with them is not the way He interacts with you.

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4, NASB 2020)

What was written before the cross was written to teach us exactly how things are going to go if we try to obtain righteousness apart from Christ. The shorthand form of this is found in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”

You are not under that old agreement. Now, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2, NASB 2020)