A New Covenant Needed

Still, in order to receive the complete fulfillment of God's promise, God's special nation had to be faithful. It was not. True, there were Israelites of outstanding faith.  (Hebrews 11:32-12:1) Nevertheless, on many occasions the nation  turned to pagan  gods, hoping for material benefits.  (Jeremiah 34:8-16; 44:15-18)  Individuals misapplied the Law or just ignored it. (Nehemiah 5:1-5; Isaiah  59:2-8; Malachi 1:12-14)  After Solomon's death, Israel became divided into a northern and southern  kingdom.  When the northern kingdom p;roved utterly rebellious, Jehovah announced:  "Because the knowledge is what you yourself have rejected, I shall also reject you from serving as priest to me."  (Hosea 4:6) The southern kingdom was also severely punished because of its proving false to the covenant.  (Jeremiah 5:29-31) When the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, Jehovah likewise rejected them.  (Acts 3:13-15; Romans (:31-10:4)   Finally, Jehovah made a new arrangement to administer the complete fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. -Romans 3:20. 

That new arrangement was the new covenant. Jehovah had foretold this when he said:  'And I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant' . . .'This is the covenant that I shall conclude with the  house of Israel after those days,' is the utterance of Jehovah. 'I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.' " -Jeremiah 31:31-33. 

This is the new covenant that Jesus referred to on Nisan 14,  33 C.E. On that occasion, he revealed that the promised  covenant was about to be concluded between his disciples and Jehovah, with Jesus as mediator.  (1 Corinthians 11:25; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 12:24)  Through this new covenant, Jehovah's promise to Abraham was to have a more glorious and lasting fulfillment, as we see in the following article.

Next time: GREAT BLESSINGS THROUGH THE NEW COVENANT

From the Watchtower magazine, 1998