We hear so much about how we are under a New Covenant, and how that covenant is so much better than the old covenant; that I wonder do we know what the word new really means. The first time the Lord speaks of the New Covenant is in Jeremiah 31:31. We get very excited from the word New, because it makes us feel as though we are entering something that did not exist before. Biblically speaking; however, that is not what the word New means. The concordance definition for the word New can be found in definition 2318 and 2319, which is defined as, to rebuild, renew, and repair. For this to happen there must be something to rebuild, renew, and repair. In the bible the steps for cutting covenant are as follows,
1 Shedding blood/cutting covenant= Exodus 12:5-6 – His sacrifice
2. Deliverance= Exodus 12:31-42, 14:1-31 – From bondage and sin
3. Exchange Robes= Exodus 12:35-36 – Garment of salvation for the garment of sin
4. Make a scar/a sign= Exodus13:9,16 unleavened bread, firstborn 16:16-26, Sabbath and explained in Exodus 31:17
5. Exchange Names= Exodus 19:5 – We become His/ not our own
6. Terms of Covenant/Obedience/Agreement= Exodus 19:8-23:9
7. Memorial Meal= Exodus 23:14-19 – The Feast
8. Memorial Tree= Exodus 23:20-23/ explained in John 14:26 – The Spirit
​9. Final Agreement= Exodus 24:3-8
You can see from these scriptures the covenant is established between Exodus 12:5- 24:8. These 12 Chapters were for 12 tribes and all who would be grafted in among them, Romans 11:13-25. In Jeremiah 31:31 when He said He would make a New Covenant, He was saying He would rebuild, renew, and repair what He had established in the first place. The heart of the covenant relationship is inspired, motivated, and manifested by love, and the laws of the covenant gives proper direction as to how to express that love. This is the reason the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” After showing us love like no other; when He sacrificed His life for our sins; our heart of stone should then become a heart of flesh.

Only then can it receive the laws that He wrote on it. This is when we love Him because He first loved us. He says in John 14:1, “If you love Me keep My commandments.” The commandments are the covenant. It is the very foundation that our relationship is built on. We do not have something new as in not existing before or replacing what was, but as in rebuilding, renewing, and repairing what was there from the beginning. The covenant relationship has always been a beautiful relationship, and even more so now that it pours out from a heart of flesh. 

---

Covenant = “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My
covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the
earth is Mine. Exodus 19:5​