Thought for today - 07/28/2013

THE NEW COVENANT PROMISE
"The foundational promise God made through the prophets and recorded in the Old Testament is the promise of a new covenant, or new testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36-37). Central to this covenant would be a decisive activity on God's part to deal with the problem of human sinfulness. This happened in the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. In the horror and suffering on the cross, Jesus absorbed God's wrath against sin in his own body and in our place.

"Much of the New Testament describes the passion of Christ and reflects on its significance for us. When Jesus of Nazareth began his three-year public ministry, he announced that he had come in fulfillment of this new covenant promise. During the last supper as he distributed the bread and wine to his disciples, he remarked, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you' ( Luke 22:20). Jesus was truly 'the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29). The 27 books of the New Testament provide testimony of God's work in and through Jesus to fulfill this new covenant promise."
- Clinton E. Arnold in How We Got the Bible