The Two Covenants by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 2, 1909

The Two Covenants

By W. A. S.

The Difference

How simple and direct are the Lord’s definitions! For instance, when he defines for us the essential difference between the old covenant and the new, he states it clearly in few words as follows:—

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers . . . but this shall be the covenant, . . . I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” Jeremiah 31.

A second time Inspiration repeats the distinction:—

“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. . . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” Hebrews 8.

This is the Lord’s way of stating the difference. And it makes a vast difference to us, too, whether we have God’s law written only in the Bible or on tables of stone, or whether we have it written in the heart. Only the power of God can write it there. And only as the heart is surrendered in repentance and faith can the accompanying provision be realized: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

W. A. S.