In researching for this year's Advent season, I was surprised to learn that the word "Testament" is just another word for "Covenant."
So we have an Old Testament, and now, with the birth of Jesus, a New Testament.
We have an Old Covenant and a New Covenant.
Before the coming of Jesus, God initially worked through Moses to deliver something called the Law to the people. And the Law functioned as a covenant between God and His people Israel. They were instructed to live by the Law.
To deal with sin, God established a sacrificial system. It was bloody and gruesome-- requiring the people to make constant sacrifices for their sins. He appointed priests to represent the people before Him. There was a wholeeeee system. And even with all the bells and whistles, the people couldn't keep it together. They were uncontrollable sin machines.
This should have been the point in the story where God gave up on them. But instead, he makes a new plan. A once-and-for-all plan that would blot out the sins of His people for good. And that plan started with a baby.
Jesus coming to earth as a baby is God rewriting the covenant. It's literally a New Testament. The Law still exists, but the terms have changed completely. What was once a rigid law-based covenant that only led to condemnation becomes something different: a covenant built on grace.
God uses Jesus to establish a covenant with us, His people. He's the middleman. He's the missing piece from the Old Testament.
It's important to note that covenants don't function like contracts. A covenant is a promise made by one party, and it still stands no matter how the other party manages to mess it up. It does not expire.
God binds himself into this agreement, and there are no contingency plans. By saying yes to Jesus (and yes, that's all it takes), we thrust ourselves into a right relationship with God. Nothing we can do or say can ever break that convenant.
Growing up and grappling with my faith, I found this concept hard to believe. Because we are so used to human contracts over eternal covenants, it's understandable why we might think we could fall out of right-standing with God. That we could do something to mess it up or make it all go south. That our choices could make God walk away from us. But this is why the angel calls it "good news" for everyone. Because it's different from what anyone had ever known, it meant to fill people with hope, peace, and the promise of something infinitely better.
Jesus is not a rigid contract that we need to follow line by line. He is a grace-filled promise-- one that guarantees we will mess up the terms and still find ourselves wanted.
This is the very essence of Christmas.
Christmas symbolizes the beginning of a better story-- a chance to be in a constant right relationship with God for the first time since Eden, all because of a baby.
It seems too simple.
I'm tempted to add my own rules and regulations.
But I know that's not the proper reaction to this foreign kind of grace.
Instead, I need to grab and hold tight to the thing God is trying to say to me:
You cannot lose my love.
You cannot fall away from me and make me want you less.
You cannot do anything that will make me turn my back on you.
I am after you.
I am searching for you always.
If you ever want to know where I am, just look at the prodigal son's story. I am the father rejoicing over your homecoming. I am the one preparing the enormous feast for your arrival. I am the one sprinting towards you with my arms open wide.
When you try to list a series of reasons why you've messed up, I am the one saying over every tired fear and weary bone in your body, "Just come home. Come home, child."
You are not an accident, sweet thing. I am so pleased with you, and there's not a single thing you could ever do to change that. I'll never turn away from you. You can never lose my love.
