Jesus: God with Us

12/14/21-12/25/21

A New Covenant and a New People

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  12/22/21

Jesus is the founding father of the New Covenant. Again and again the Old Testament points to the Savior revealed in the New Testament. The Old Testament announced the coming Messiah, and in the New Testament we see that prophecy fulfilled and realized in the Everlasting Father.

In the New Covenant, we acknowledge that we deserve eternal damnation because of our sin but that Jesus Christ paid for our death sentence on the cross. We are assured eternal salvation if we receive His gift of forgiveness and walk with Him by faith. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

Jesus is also the founding father of a new people—a group comprised of every person living under the New Covenant. This new clan of people is the church, and it gathers people from every nation, every tribe, and every corner of the globe. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Prayer: Lord, thank You for being my Everlasting Father and for preparing a place for me in heaven. Thank You for bridging the gap between humanity and God and establishing the New Covenant. Thank You for Your Church and Your love for us. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children” (Psalm 103:17).