Bulletin Articles
“They will all know Me”
The first step to entering into a covenant relationship with Godis one that is often overlooked and underappreciated.
In Hebrews 8, the writer is in the middle of outlining for us the greatness of Jesus and His priesthood. The most critical component of Jesus priesthood is His unique ability to fully cleanse people so that they can enter into the presence of God. A new priesthood means that the old, Levitical priesthood has been retired for one that’s better. Yet, it’s not just the old, Levitical priesthood that has been done away with, but also the Old Covenant with it. God knew that we also needed a new and better covenant.
The Old Covenant that God made with His people during Moses’ day was good, but due to the limitations of the people God had made the covenant with (v. 8), He had been promising a new and better covenant for over 600 years going back to the days of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
So as the Hebrews writer is reinforcing the need for this New Covenant, he lists ways in which the New Covenant would differ from the Old in Hebrews 8:10-13. One of those ways in v. 11 was that all of those who entered into this New Covenant with God would know Him.
To be part of God’s Covenant under the Old Law really onlyrequired being born into it. Jews were born into the covenant God had made with His people- the Israelites- and Jewish boys were given a physical symbol of that covenant through circumcision 8 days into their lives. However, those Jewish babies didn’t know the Lord but were born into Judaism.
God’s intent was always that they be taught about the Lord as they grew up so that they would know the Lord and love Him with all their hearts; however, we know that didn’t always happen. Yet, under the New Law, in order to become a part of God’s covenant people one must first KNOW the Lord. After all, we will never believe in, love, obey, or serve the Lord without really knowing Him.
As we see throughout Scripture, many of the Jews thought they knew the Lord because they had grown up and lived under His Covenant as Israelites. Yet in reality, they had never really come to know God and so their relationship with God was superficial and mechanical.
Likewise, many of us who grew up “in the church” can relate to this phenomenon where it may have felt like we were born into a covenant relationship with God- going to church, being called Christians, and offering mechanical worship to Him. However, at some point, we grew from this superficial form of religion to a place where we came to know God and loved Him and determined we wanted to obey and serve Him at which point we entered into a covenant relationship with Him through baptism.
Thanks be to God that in His perfect wisdom, He has created a new and perfect covenant with us that allows us to know Him in all his infinite grandeur, and may we never stop pursuing a deeper knowledge of God!
