“If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT
Through the word “glory”, Paul compared the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant was given through Moses, and it was a Covenant of works based on external rules, animal sacrifices for atonement and human effort to obey all the requirements of this Covenant. It is a human trait that if a set of rules is necessary, then they will be resented and circumvented wherever possible. Take, for example, speed limits. Most people, I’m sure, will break them at one time or another, whether they intend to or not. And if a notice is placed on a door that says “Do Not Enter”, sooner or later someone will have a peek inside to find out why. Of course, some rules are there for life-saving reasons, and, generally speaking, if the reasons are understood, the rules will be obeyed. However, people take risks and break rules, leading to many injuries or deaths that could have been avoided if people had only obeyed the rules. The Old Covenant was only ever temporary in God’s Plan for humanity, because it pointed towards the time when the Saviour would come. By obeying the rules of the Covenant, Israel was established as a holy nation, set apart as God’s own people, and, in the process, Israelite society became cohesive and was greatly blessed by God when they kept their side of the Covenant. The Old Covenant was glorious through the radiant face of Moses, showing God’s presence, through the indwelling of God in the Tabernacle, and through the exposure of sin and its remedy with the blood sacrifices.
The New Covenant was prophesied in Jeremiah 31:21-32, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord”. The Old Covenant was impossible to keep, and the Israelites repeatedly broke it, but the next verse provided a tantalising glimpse of what was to come. ““But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people””. The New Covenant (through Jesus Christ) is an internal transformation by the Holy Spirit, offering eternal forgiveness and righteousness through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, with a law written on hearts, not stone, providing direct access to God. It’s a shift from a system of works to one of grace and faith. At the last Supper, we read, “After supper [Jesus] took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20). There will never need again to be a blood sacrifice, because Jesus provided that for all time. And that is the glory of the New Covenant, sealed with the Holy Spirit, who lives within us.
The Old had glory, when obeyed, but how much more the glory implicit within the New Covenant. We pilgrims are children of the New Covenant, blessed and forgiven. There is no more condemnation of the Old, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-3, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins”.
In our New Covenant freedom, we pilgrims can enjoy the benefits of communion with God forever, set free from the sin and death that marked those of the Old Covenant. But that does not mean that we can do what we want, breaking all the rules and regulations that come our way. We are a new people, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”. We are now, through our faith in God and His grace, experiencing the glory that God always intended. How does that make us feel? There has to be a feeling of excitement inside us, no matter what circumstances we face. Paul wrote, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18). Today, we enjoy a glimpse of the Heavenly glory, as though the clouds above momentarily part to give a glimpse of the blue sky beyond. One day, in God’s presence, His glory will be revealed in all its fullness.
Dear Heavenly Father in Glory. We praise and worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 