9/28/25
Rev. Clint Smith
Sermon Direct Link
A covenant is a solemn promise between parties to carry out certain commitments. In the Bible, covenants or testaments are oath bound, relationship-forming commitments that reveal God’s redemptive plan for restoring humanity. God covenants stretching from the Noahic to the New Covenant in Christ, each one demonstrates God’s unwavering faithfulness and desire for relationship with His people. Unlike modern contracts, which are easily broken, Biblical covenants were enduring and rooted in loyal love. Though human faithfulness may fail, God remains perfectly faithful to His covenant promises. 2 Timothy 2:8-13
God’s new and final covenant was established with a solemn oath. While Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, Jesus was appointed with one. For God declared: “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break His vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Psalm 110:4
Jesus came to establish a new and better covenant sealed by His own blood. As He declared, this covenant was “in My blood,” shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of the world. Through His sacrificial death, Jesus not only took away the sins of humanity but also ratified this new covenant between God and man. Because it is founded on God’s unchangeable oath and Christ’s eternal priesthood, Jesus has become the sure and eternal guarantee of this better covenant, never to be replaced or annulled. Matthew 26:27-28; John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 11:25
Under the old system, there were many priests because death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, His priesthood is permanent and unchanging. Therefore, He is able to save completely and forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede on their behalf.
Jesus is the kind of High Priest we need; holy, blameless, and unstained by sin.
Set apart from sinners, He has been exalted to the highest place of honor in Heaven. Unlike the former high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s. Jesus offered Himself once for all as the perfect sacrifice for sin. The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness, but after the law was given, God appointed His Son with an oath. Jesus has been made the perfect High Priest forever.