What is the "Old" and
"New" Testament?
by David J. Stewart
We often hear the terms "Old Testament" and "New Testament," but few people truly realize what it means. What is a "Testament?" Hebrews 9:17 gives us an idea of what this means when it declares "For a TESTAMENT is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." This Verse should clue you in as to the meaning of the word "testament"--it is a will, a covenant in writing. Please notice carefully that a will is different from a contract, or an agreement. VINE'S COMPLETE EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT WORDS says concerning the word "testament" (diatheke)...
"In contradistinction to the English word "covenant" (lit., "a coming together"), which signified a mutual undertaking between two parties or more, each binding himself to fulfill obligations it does not in itself contain the idea of joint obligation, it mostly signifies an obligation undertaken by a single person. For instance, in Gal. 3:17 is is used as an alternative to a "promise" (vv. 16-18). God enjoined upon Abraham the rite of circumcision, but His promise to Abraham, here called a "covenant," was not conditional upon the observance of circumcision, though a penalty attached to it nonobservance."
Jesus Christ is that single Person. Everything which God had promised in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah hinged upon the blood of Jesus Christ being applied to the Mercy Seat in Heaven. As Hebrews 9:22 proclaims, "...Without shedding of blood (Christ's blood) is no remission (of our sins)." All of the promises made in the Old Testament (will) could not take effect until Christ DIED upon the cross, and APPLIED His blood to the Mercy Seat. Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 26:28, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The Old Testament (covenant) required that the Israelite high priest enter into the Holy of Holies (within the tabernacle) once a year with the blood of a young male lamb, without spot nor blemish, and apply that blood to the mercy seat to ATONE for the sins of the people. This was a ceremonial law which applied only to Israel. The ceremony was symbolic of the coming Saviour Who would one day shed His blood and apply that blood to the Mercy Seat in Heaven's Holy Place (Hebrews 9:12). Those people in the Old testament who placed their faith in the Messiah, Who would one day shed His blood upon the cross, were saved. Romans 4:5 reads, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." People in the Old testament were saved by grace through faith, just as we are today. The difference is that their salvation was pending the coming of the Saviour; but, now that Christ has already come to Calvary, we need not hope for that day, as the Old testament saints did. We know that Christ came to Calvary. What a blessed peace of soul.
This was the Old Testament Covenant. But this was not a faultless covenant as we read in Hebrews 8:6-7,
"But now hath he (Christ) obtained a more excellent ministry (High Priest, Hebrews 4:15), by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." -Hebrews 8:6-7
The second (or "new") covenant was so much more excellent because it didn't just atone (cover) our sins as the Old Covenant; but, rather, it took them all away by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ ("The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which TAKETH AWAY the sin of the world" -John 1:29). Jesus' blood didn't just COVER (atone for) our sins; No, rather, Jesus' blood TOOK AWAY our sins (and their sins) forever. What a Wonderful Saviour!
M.R. DeHaan M.D. in his excellent book, THE CHEMISTRY OF THE BLOOD, says:
"The blood of the sacrificial animals of the Old testament was corruptible and decayed and was soon gone, but the blood shed on Calvary was imperishable blood. It is called incorruptible. Peter says:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe:1:19: But with the precious blood of Christ..."
The perfect blood of Jesus Christ made the New Testament possible. Matthew 26:28, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Many people read the Old and New Testaments, failing to realize that the blood of Jesus is the main theme of the Bible, from the blood sacrifice of Abel, to the blood of the Lamb in Revelation. Everything in the Old Testament, all their hopes, all their anticipations, all of their expectations, hinged upon the Messiah Who would one day come and shed His blood for their sins. As Hebrews 9:22 proclaims, "...Without shedding of blood is no remission."
Thank God for the New Testament, the New Covenant, which is God's promise to us that if we'll simply place our faith in Jesus Christ, as our Saviour to forgive our sins, we WILL have everlasting life (John 3:16).
In closing, Read the following precious passage of Scripture...
"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle (in Heaven), not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place (the Holy of Holies in heaven where the Mercy Seat is located), having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle (the Old Testament tabernacle on earth), and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (the death wasn't enough, the blood had to be applied). It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices (Jesus' blood) than these (animal sacrifices). For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:11-24)
What a Precious Saviour! Thank you Lord Jesus!
