Passover: A Key to Understanding the New Covenant
by David Brickner, Executive Director | February 24 2024
Many Christians know that Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples in what is often described as the Last Supper. But did you know that during that celebration, Jesus announced that He was fulfilling an amazing prophecy from the book of Jeremiah?
The words “This is the New Covenant in My blood,” so often quoted when churches serve communion, have a rich context. I’m excited to announce that the New Covenant is one of 12 Messianic prophecies you’ll see unpacked in my new book, Does the Jewish Bible Point to Jesus?, to be released by Moody Publishers later this year. The following will give you a sneak peek at what’s in store!
A Biblical Understanding of Covenant
The Hebrew word that translates to “covenant” is brit and is often seen in the expression karat brit which means “to cut a covenant.” Cutting was the basis of ancient Near Eastern agreements; animals were literally cut open to illustrate that the covenant was so binding that the life of one who broke it would be forfeited. In the Bible we see God initiating covenants to create important and enduring relationships.
God made these covenants a matter of permanent and public record. Among them … is the Abrahamic Covenant from Genesis 12, which is repeated and passed down to Isaac and Jacob. Later, God gave the Mosaic Covenant, often called the Torah, or the Sinai Covenant (Exodus 19–24), and the Davidic Covenant found in 2 Samuel 7.
God’s Promise of a New Covenant
Each covenant that God established and implemented in Israel’s history was built on previous covenants—but only one covenant was presented in contrast to another: the New Covenant.
This promise of a New Covenant was made in some of the darkest days of Israel’s monarchy. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel had been conquered and carried off into captivity by the Assyrians. Judah and especially Jerusalem, her capital, were now facing a similar fate at the hands of the Babylonians. God had appointed the prophet Jeremiah to describe even darker days that lay ahead. But, in the midst of these dire predictions, God gave Jeremiah some glorious news to share.
Jeremiah 31 is the only place in all the Hebrew Scriptures that mentions the New Covenant (in Hebrew, Brit Chadashah).
Why a New Covenant?
Despite intermittent times of obedience and blessings, Israel was not able to keep (the Mosaic) covenant; it was broken because of unbelief, because of disobedience. God made that brokenness very clear: “my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:32).
If the Mosaic Covenant was the only hope for Israel to be blessed, and to be God’s special representatives, then hope would have been lost when the covenant was broken. How then would God keep those earlier promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David? We needed a New Covenant!
And we were promised one, in Jeremiah 31.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31–34)
How Was the New Covenant Different?
Most remarkably, look at where it is written: on the hearts of the people of Israel! That is so important. No longer would God’s people express their relationship to Him through laborious observance of hundreds of external commandments. Rather, our lives would conform to an inner reality of what it means to know God and to be His people.
The result of the New Covenant is a relationship restored through forgiveness.
What are the conditions of the New Covenant? None are mentioned in Jeremiah. Keep in mind that the covenant had not yet been made, and Jeremiah’s description is not giving all the details.
Finally, what is the result of the New Covenant? A restored relationship, made possible through forgiveness.
The next mention of the New Covenant is from Yeshua in the New Testament.
Yeshua’s Passover Announcement
Yeshua had gathered His closest followers to celebrate Passover, the Festival of Redemption.
After the meal, Jesus took a piece of matzah (unleavened bread), gave thanks for it, then broke it and passed it to His disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). After He had taken the bread, Yeshua picked up “the cup.” Luke 22:20 quotes the announcement Yeshua made at that point:
“Likewise [he took] the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’”
In other words, during the Passover celebration, Jesus announced that His blood was ratifying the New Covenant.
Yeshua’s disciples had already realized that their rabbi was the Messiah (Matthew 16:16). Now He’s chosen the Festival of Redemption to announce that the days that Jeremiah said “are coming” were finally here.
Now that the day of the New Covenant had come, it was time to reveal the requirement for receiving it. Covenants were most often confirmed in blood and that was true of the New Covenant as well.
He did what all the other sacrifices could only point to.
Yeshua was about to lay down His life and allow His blood to be shed as the ultimate condition upon which the New Covenant rested. And in His act of self-sacrifice, He put an end to the need for any other blood sacrifice … because He did what all the other sacrifices could only point to.
This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
No longer would daily offerings of animals in the Temple be needed to atone for sin. No longer would the Jewish people have to wait in suspense on Yom Kippur to see if the high priest would emerge from the holy of holies as a sign that God had forgiven the sins of the people. Once and for all, atonement would be made for all who will admit their need and trust in God’s provision.
When Yeshua died on the cross, the veil which separated everyone but the high priest from the holy of holies in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. He made it possible for us to have access to the Holy One of Israel. And that includes Gentiles.
And You?
How does that affect you? If you have a gnawing feeling that you really don’t want God to rule in your heart, then guess what? You are not alone! God understands that we struggle to accept His rightful place in our lives, and He built the solution right into this covenant. God patiently waits for people He created and loves, both Jewish and Gentile, to admit the truth and ask for His help. Are you willing to tell God that you simply can’t give Him what He deserves unless or until He changes your heart? If you are, you can ask to be part of His New Covenant. You can ask Him to change you from the inside out, based on Yeshua’s death and resurrection.
The above content was excerpted from David’s teaching on the all-important New Covenant, written with both believers and seekers in mind. Final edits of Does the Jewish Bible Point to Jesus? are still in process; the actual book may vary slightly from these excerpts. Please do not reproduce this copyrighted content.