LEGAL PROMISE / Draw Near Bible App

 LEGAL PROMISE

Attitudes toward marriage are undergoing a decided change in the Western world. Many young people do not want to commit themselves to a legal document of marriage and therefore live together in a loose structure of their own whims. Needless to say, this arrangement causes deep personal pain and inevitably destroys the participants since they go against God's moral law. Although modern man hedges getting involved in legal contracts, God never has. Since creation, God has made two contracts with man; and He has always kept His end of the bargain.

The word testament actually means a "covenant or legal document in which two or more persons make certain promises to each other." A testament is sealed with something held sacred by both parties. God's two agreements with man are the Old and New Testaments in our Bible. In the Old Testament, sealed with the blood of animals used in sacrifices, God revealed how He would redeem man unto Himself. In the New Testament, sealed with Christ's blood, the perfect plan of redemption is worked out on Calvary and through the resurrection. In these legal agreements with man, God shows us that He wills that none should perish, but that they should have eternal life.

Although God has made His testament with man, a covenant is in effect only if both parties are in agreement. This is why man is called to make a decision. He must bind himself to his Lord through a commitment to serve Him. When we accept this agreement, we have full assurance of not only temporal blessings but also eternal life. It thrilled Paul that he was made a minister of this New Testament. It is indeed our greatest joy to call men to Christ and thus lead them to eternal life.

“He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬