God has been dealing with humanity since Adam, whose weakness and failure in the Garden of Eden led him to succumb to the predicament of human degradation. God gives sinful humanity the option to repent, allowing each person to choose between obedience and rebellion. Adam was instructed to avoid the forbidden tree; the consequence of disobeying was death, thereby setting the pattern of sinfulness that would encompass humanity. God revealed His mercy by promising to redeem humanity from the condition of sinfulness (Genesis 3:15).
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil suggests the blending of good and evil now found in every human, who can either succumb to it or overcome it to become God’s child. In His dealings with humanity, God provides promises after setting the conditions of good and evil. The first promise of life was set before Adam when he was told to choose between the tree of life and the forbidden tree. The division that characterizes humanity results from the blending of good and evil, even leading to failed marriages.
By choosing the forbidden tree, humanity sought comfort without God, but with ultimate death as the consequence. Humanity would then be living temporarily on Earth, like animals, whose destiny is the soil of the Earth. Adam’s sin was the first violation of the covenant between God and humanity. God did not abandon humanity even in that sinful condition. Toiling like the other species for survival, Adam experienced the toughest form of survival through hard work, having to till the land for food production.
The first two brothers, Cain and Abel, could not coexist, suggesting that they had two distinct natures, which led Cain to murder his brother Abel. God still showed patience with Cain even after noticing evil in his heart. “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6–7 NIV). Cain continued to pursue his evil lifestyle, leading to the murder of his brother Abel.
After Cain was banished to wander, Eve continued to bear more children, beginning with Seth, whose emergence was not of God but of Adam. Adam may have had more children, including daughters, but they are not recorded in Scripture. Genesis 5:9–18 lists the offspring of Seth, one of whom was Enoch, who is said to have walked with God. The fact that Enoch is said to have walked with God suggests that, like Abel, he was a son of God.
Genesis 6:1–8 shows that among the people living at that time were sons of God who became corrupted through intermarriage with daughters of men. This mixture of the sons of God with the daughters of men caused God to be displeased with humanity. This suggests that God would not have been displeased enough to destroy humanity had there been no intermarriage between the sons of God and the daughters of men. This is the condition Jesus prophesied would exist before His second coming (Matthew 24:37–38).
In the Book of Revelation, the same condition is highlighted, warning the church of Laodicea against being neither hot nor cold. This suggests a mixing of the condition of being children of God with being sons of men (Revelation 3:16–20). God prefers a clear distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men. The most important thing about the written Word of God is that God prophetically reveals the future condition of humanity. This enables wise people to be warned and take precautions before the calamity strikes.
Noah is another son of God who was warned before God destroyed humanity through the flood because of sinfulness. From Noah’s three sons, the foundation of the nations that exist today can be inferred. Abraham is the next faithful son of God mentioned in the Bible; his obedience is shown, and he was accorded the title Father of many nations. Abraham’s biological children were not necessarily his true offspring; only those who share his faithfulness are (Galatians 3:26–29).
Through Isaac, Abraham’s son of promise, God established the nation of Israel, through which He would reveal the conditions of ethical living so that other nations could learn from them. Although their forefather Abraham remained faithful unto death and pleased God, the Israelites failed to do so; this failure suggests the inability to obey God as a group. Abraham managed to please God as an individual, but his descendants failed to do so as a group. God had promised the Israelites abundant blessings just before issuing the Ten Commandments.
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites” (Exodus 19:5–6 NIV).
As is well known, the Israelites failed to keep the Lord’s commandments accurately and could not receive the promised blessing described in the Scripture above. As a nation, the Israelites could not maintain the strict standard of being God’s children. They ended up back in captivity. But God remained patient with them through the prophets, who highlighted the future promise of the Messiah’s arrival to redeem humanity from the captivity of sinfulness.
The last of the noted prophets of that time was John the Baptist, born just before the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Although they had violated the covenant, the Jews, a section of the Israelites, remained faithful through an artificial maintenance of the Law. They also preserved the writings of the Law and the Prophets intact. But they could not recognize the Messiah’s arrival because of their compromises with the written laws and their inability to interpret prophecies accurately.
The first coming of Jesus necessitated the establishment of the New Covenant, sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ, through which spiritual descendants of Abraham would emerge from all nations of the earth. This suggests that understanding the significance of the New Covenant is of utmost importance.
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:20 NIV).
The sacrament was to be regarded as most important and observed by His followers across the world in remembrance of Him. The Israelites failed to keep their part of the covenant and thus did not receive the promised blessings. Through Jesus, a New Covenant sealed in His blood was issued to a new people from different nationalities, replacing the Israelites. 1 Peter 2:9 describes believers as a “holy nation” and a “royal priesthood,” emphasizing their chosen status, spiritual calling, and responsibility to proclaim God’s virtues. This status had originally been promised to the Israelites, as stated in Exodus 19:5–6. That previous covenant is replaced by the New, sealed in the blood of Jesus.
What, then, is the significance of Jesus saying, “Do this in remembrance of me”? By this, Jesus transformed the traditional Passover observance in the Old Covenant into a new covenant memorial, pointing back to His death on the cross and forward to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s kingdom. For His disciples, this also included a willingness to share in His suffering and death so that they might be united with Him in His coming kingdom. In the New Covenant, there is an aspect of grace, but also the willingness to sacrifice one’s life to be united with Jesus.
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:5–6 NIV).
Throughout His teachings, Jesus emphasized that anyone who accepted discipleship must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24–25), insisting that whoever sought to save their life would lose it, but whoever lost it for His sake would find it. Therefore, the New Covenant implies being like Jesus for His followers. There is no difference between Jesus and a true Christian.
The Israelites failed to remain committed to the Old Covenant that the Lord had established with them. Therefore, except for historical records, the Old Covenant is now extinct, and the New Covenant has come. To assume that one can keep the Old Covenant better than the Jews is not only to fail to accept the significance of the blood of Jesus but also to desire failure, just as the Israelites failed. The New Testament symbols remind us of Jesus’ sacrifice, transferred into our lives as those who have been adopted as God’s children.
The most significant aspect of the New Covenant is that it does not require worrying about how other people behave in their Christian conduct. Christians are called as individuals, while the Israelites were called as a nation. Under the Old Covenant, there was judgment of one another, and violators of God’s laws were to be stoned to death. The opposite is true for the New Covenant. The instruction is not to judge one another (Matthew 7:1–5) and also to love one’s enemies, which was not the case with the Israelites.
Rather than being linked with the Israelites of the Old Covenant, Christians are linked with the faith of Abraham, drawn to obey God as individuals without involving other people. Similarly, Jesus obeyed His Father without looking at how others around Him were faring. While groups do exist in Christianity, none of those groups will be considered in determining who will make it into God’s kingdom. God looks at the heart of each individual, and each Christian will stand on their own before the Lord on the Day of Judgment.
The highlights of the New Covenant include the fulfillment of promises in Jesus, the Messiah to whom the Old Covenant pointed. The New Covenant also has promises pointing to being resurrected to be with Christ at His second coming. Moral laws are part of the package, but what is most important is to understand the significance of the New Covenant, which requires surrendering this physical life for the service of humanity. Most people assume that Christianity is about living a good life on earth, but Jesus was unambiguous: one must deny oneself, just as He denied His own physical life in order to be exalted.
The process of deliverance continues until a new dispensation comes during the millennium, when Jesus takes over the throne of David to reign on earth with His saints. Those of this world judge humanity according to what prevails, but God judges the heart of each individual based on their ability to keep the New Covenant according to Jesus’ instructions. The millennium is anticipated to bring more believers into the fold after Satan has been banished.
It will only be after Satan’s release from prison that sinful humanity will manifest once more. But why would God allow Satan to be released again to those existing at that time? This will be necessary to present an alternative to God’s principles. God’s love allows people to choose without being coerced into God’s kingdom. The idea of throwing those people into the lake of fire will not be because God is pleased to see people join hands with the devil, but because those people will have chosen that path, whose destiny is unmistakable.
We may envy those who enjoy a luxurious life on earth, but we must not forget how brief life is. As Christians, our duty is to help warn people of the impending kingdom of God, which does not tolerate any shade of untruthfulness. There is no time to spend on other things except submitting to God, who uses us to do His work. Not for personal glory, but for the glory of God working through our lives, never forgetting how short our lives on earth are.
The New Covenant promises deliverance into eternity, while the Old Covenant promised prosperity and good living in the physical life. The physical life, sustained by flesh and blood, must be sacrificed so that the new person may emerge and qualify to be God’s child. The real issue that should occupy the minds of those aspiring to be disciples of Jesus is sacrifice, following His example. This suggests that the New Covenant should never be treated as a casual matter, but as a matter of renouncing the physical body to become a son of God.
Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilisation, which lays out standards for lifting Zimbabwe out of its current economic depression and into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, offering relief to those who have witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions leading to the current economic and social decay. Most Zimbabweans should find the book to be a long-awaited providential oasis of hope, in a simple conversational tone.
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