"For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the

second."

"For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:"

Hebrews 8:7-8

The question of the covenants has been greatly distorted and misunderstood. Let’s begin by noticing
what the old covenant was not. It was not the Ten Commandments. Why? Because God’s eternal law
did not grow old and vanish away (verse 13). They did not have poor promises (v. 6), and they were not
faulty (v. 7).

Then what was the old covenant, and how was it ratified? It was an agreement between God and Israel.
When Moses shared the covenant with Israel, they replied, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do”
(Exodus 19:8). The people promised to keep the Ten Commandments. It was ratified by the sprinkled
blood of an ox (Exodus 24:7, 8). The promises of the people failed because they tried to obey in their
human strength alone.

In comparison, the new covenant was instituted and ratified by the blood of Jesus at His death (Hebrews
12:24; 13:20; Matthew 26:28). It went into effect when He died. “For a testament (covenant) is in force
after men are dead, since it had no power at all while the testator lives” (Hebrews 9:17).

In speaking of the new covenant, the apostle Paul writes: “Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is
confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it” (Galatians 3:15). This means that after the death of Christ,
nothing could be added to or taken away from the new covenant. Jesus introduced the Lord’s Supper on
Thursday night before He died, so it came under the new covenant (Matthew 26:28).

Here’s a question worth asking: “When did Sunday-keeping begin?” Everyone answers, “After the
resurrection.” If that is the case, then it cannot be part of the new covenant since it took place after the
death of Jesus. Can anything be “added” after the death of Jesus, the testator?

"Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not,
neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;"

"Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the
second."
Hebrews 10:8-9

Some Christians believe that the Ten Commandment law was only a part of the law of Moses, which
disappeared with the old covenant. These verses in Hebrews 10 are used to support this premise.

The “law” of verse 8 is undoubtedly associated with the “first” covenant, which is taken away in verse 9.
But did that law include the Ten Commandments? Those same sacrifices and sin offerings are described
in 2 Chronicles 8:12, 13, when Solomon offered burnt offerings “according to the commandment of
Moses.”

This makes it plain that the law concerning those burnt offerings—the one mentioned in Hebrews 10:8
—was called the commandment or law of Moses. It was part of the old covenant system that was taken
away by “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ” (verse 10). But note: The Ten Commandments were
not part of that. Christ is quoted in verse 9, saying, “ ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He
takes away the first that He may establish the second.”

The full text of what Christ said comes from Psalm 40:8, which says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God,
and Your law is within my heart.” This law is tied to the second (or new) covenant that was to be
established. This is reinforced a few verses later in Hebrews 10, where it says, “This is the covenant that
I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their
minds I will write them” (v. 16).

The law that was in the heart of Jesus and which did not end with the old covenant is the Ten
Commandment law. Magnified by Christ (Isaiah 42:21), it was transferred from the tables of stone to the
tables of the heart.

"And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten
commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

Deuteronomy 4:13

The Bible says, “If that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a
second” (Hebrews 8:7). So let me ask you: Has any man been able to find a flaw in the handwriting of
God? The psalmist declared, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:7).

Romans 7:12 adds, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Does that sound
like something weak and imperfect? No law could be perfect and faulty at the same time. It becomes
quite apparent that the old covenant could not have been the Ten Commandments themselves; instead,
the Commandments were the terms of the covenant, not the actual covenant.

The word “covenant” means agreement—at fault with this first agreement was the promise of the
people, “All the Lord has said we will do.” The new covenant is the same law, but written by the Lord on
the human heart. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says
the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God” (Jeremiah
31:33). Notice, it is the same law you find in the Ten Commandments, but now it’s written in the heart.
Indeed, the new covenant goes even deeper than the letter of the law—it goes to the spirit of the law.

Jesus illustrated this when He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not
murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21, 22).

Jesus taught us that the new covenant is not based on merely obeying the Ten Commandments, but also
the attitude behind our deeds. The change of heart will lead to the change of life.