The Old Covenant is Obsolete (Heb 8:13)

I have been reading around several different areas of scripture this morning.  Finally I settled into the Letter to the Hebrews.  This is such a great book to study for it takes the Old Testament symbolism and explains how this all pointed to Christ.  The following verses are about the New Covenant - Hebrews 8:6-13 NIV:

[6] "But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. [7] For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

[8] But God found fault with the people and said : “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. [9] It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

[10] This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [11] No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. [12] For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. ”

[13] By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear."

It seems that recently there is much discussion in the church about Old Testament patterns and prophesies, judgements taken from the Old Covenant and applied to us, to America, to this day.  I find the last sentence of this section very interesting - by establishing a New Covenant, He (Jesus) made the first covenant (Old Covenant) obsolete!  In other words the Old Covenant is no longer in force!  So, if it is obsolete, why do we apply its judgments and its laws to us today?  Why do we prophesy judgment, based on the Old Testament law?

It is good and right to understand what is in the Old Testament, for it is truth and God's word, but it all points to a new and superior revelation found in Christ Jesus.  The whole of the Old Testament contained revelation about God, about His plans, about His character, and established patterns that were to be followed until the actual reality was revealed.  The author of the letter states, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming---not the realities themselves." (Heb 10:1)

The perfect revelation of God the Father is seen in Jesus Christ (Heb 1:3).  Jesus established a New Covenant, through His blood (Luke 22:20) and in doing so, made the previous covenant obsolete.  We are no longer under the rules and regulations, the judgments of the Old Covenant, and they do not apply any longer!  We have a New Covenant, a better Covenant, established by the very blood of Jesus!

Let us not worry about teachings and prophecies, harbingers of judgment that are based on patterns found in the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, for this is no longer in force, for it was made obsolete by the sacrifice of Jesus. Let us hold to His words, His commands and follow the pattern of life He gave us, for they are far superior to that which was previously revealed.