What is the New Testament?
The New Testament is commonly referred to as the twenty-seven books consisting of the book of Matthew, extending through to the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation.
The New Testament is the second major book (written in the Greek language) in the Holy Bible, and also commonly referred to as the Gospel ("The Good News") of Christ, as it primarily concerns the testimony of Jesus, His ministry and the testimony of His disciples who carried on His ministry work.
To many people, this is their understanding of the “New Testament”, but the truth is they are missing the full importance of the New Testament or the New Covenant.
A testament is simply another name for “covenant” and a covenant— such as the Hebrew Old Covenant— is an oath or an agreement between two parties, made, or more specifically, “cut” by the covenant makers.
Under the Old Covenant this meant the shedding of blood to “cut a covenant.”
Notice the Hebrew for the word "Covenant."
beriyth, Hebrew 1285, Strong’s
beriyth, ber-eeth'; from Hebrew 1262 (barah) (in the sense of cutting [like Hebrew 1254 (bara')]); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh) :- confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.
Genesis 17:9-11 (KJV)
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. [10] This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. [11] And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
The act of circumcision required cutting of skin and shedding blood. Later the children of Israel used blood to confirm the Covenant made between God (YHWH) and the people at Mt Sinai.
Exodus 24:7-8 (KJV)
And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that YHWH hath said will we do, and be obedient. [8] And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which YHWH hath made with you concerning all these words.
This was essentially the Old Testament, or the Old Covenant, which consisted of several covenant promises made between God and man, in particular with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his children, the children of Israel.
Genesis 9:17 (KJV)
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Genesis 15:18 (KJV)
In the same day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Genesis 17:1-14 (KJV)
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, YHWH appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. [2] And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. [3] And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, [4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. [5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. [6] And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. [7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. [8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. [9] And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. [10] This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. [11] And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. [12] And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. [13] He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. [14] And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Exodus 6:4-5 (KJV)
And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. [5] And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
This Covenant, and promise of God made to Abraham was to extend to the future generations of his kinsmen Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel. This is principally the First Covenant, or the Old Covenant, or the Old Testament.
Exodus 19:1-9 (KJV)
In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. [2] For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. [3] And Moses went up unto God, and YHWH called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; [4] Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. [5] Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: [6] And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. [7] And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which YHWH commanded him. [8] And all the people answered together, and said, All that YHWH hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto YHWH. [9] And YHWH said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto YHWH.
God made a covenant with the children of Israel, and their future generations, and all, or anyone, who would willingly take hold on the first covenant of YHWH and obey all that God commanded to enter under the covenant relationship.
The first covenant required obedience to God and His law, His ceremonial or ritual worship.
Violation of the laws and statutes under the Law of God, was known as “sin” or the transgression of the law.
Depending on the violation committed, this required a sin offering or ritualistic action of repentance to God for the sin committed against God.
This usually required the use of animal sacrifice offerings to God, whereby the blood of animals was used for atonement (reconciliation) of the sins.
Only after this sacrifice being completed according to the holy strict laws of God, the person or sinner would be forgiven by God of their trespasses and they could continue to remain living amongst God and His people, inside the camp of Israel.
The first 39 books of the Holy Bible correspond to this Old Covenant system, or relationship between God and man.
The fact that it is called the “Old Testament,” means that God somewhere made a “new” testament.
That which is “old” is aged or something formerly done and that which is “new” is something that comes after the former, usually bringing a change from its former state.
God truly made a New Covenant, or a “new testament.”
There is a direct relationship, a direct covenantal link, between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
Isaiah 59:21 (KJV)
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith YHWH; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith YHWH, from henceforth and for ever.
Those “words”, are the Hebrew holy text of the Old Testament writings.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 (KJV)
Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The covenants in the Holy Bible concerned primarily the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their kinsmen, or descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Covenants also apply to anyone who will obey and seek to bind themselves to the covenant of God.
Isaiah 56:4 (KJV)
For thus saith YHWH unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
Isaiah 56:6 (KJV)
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to YHWH,to serve him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
Understanding this, the main beneficiaries of the both covenants were the children of Israel/Jacob and their descendants.
Under the Old Covenant, the children of Israel had to maintain holiness and be free from sin in order to please God in the form of obedience to the law, and the practice of sacrifices of animals to atone for any sins against God’s holy Law.
In the Holy Bible, the Old Testament is the story of how the covenant peoples lived under this old system of God. The fact is the Old Covenant rituals and activities and system did not make those living under the covenant turn from committing further sin and thus breaking the covenant they had made with God.
The children of Israel and those under the first covenant walked not in God’s holy laws and thus were punished by God for their breaking His covenant. Many were punished by violence, war, death, famine, or cast or taken away by foreigners to other lands and lost into the nations, or biblically known as “the gentiles”
The twelve tribes of Israel had sinned and were cast away from God’s holiness and His presence for their sins and disobedience.
God would bring about a means to save those whom God promised He would save and have mercy upon.
God said He would one day have mercy on those who sinned. This concept was “new” compared to the older system whereby mercy was for the obedient and holy (or to whom God willed it), but judgment for any who sin.
Isaiah 42:9-10 (KJV)
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. [10] Sing unto YHWH a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isaiah 43:19 (KJV)
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Under the new system God will now bring about, He would show mercy on those covenant peoples who were formerly punished.
God would gather His people, and save them, and forgive them of their sins, and call to Himself a spiritually renewed people to serve Him now with the law of God written in their hearts and minds and spirit.
Ezekiel 39:25 (KJV)
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
Hosea 2:23 (KJV)
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
This was the new hope for those who had no hope, lost or cast away or punished under the wrath of God’s anger for their former breaking the laws and their disobedience.
This is the importance of the relationship between the Old Testament and that which is the New Testament, the new covenant.
Many churches or ministries today focus so much on the New Testament as a great hope, which it is, but they fail to see exactly who the New Covenant was first made with and why it was made.
Many today teach this was a universal God given gift, but the reality is the New Covenant was only given to those to whom the first covenant was first given and promised.
That means that those under the New Covenant (commonly known today as "Christians") are either spiritually and/or physically genetically linked or directly related to the very same Biblical ancestors of the holy lands under the first Covenant as recorded in truth of the Holy Bible’s Old Testament.
The Old Testament gives us both a historical and genealogical history of ancient peoples who today are largely only viewed as amusing ancient history.
The truth is, that we all are merely existing today as a surviving remnant of those former peoples and our ancestors. One living today under the New Testament (a Christian) living in one location, is highly possible to be the descendent of a people who lived far around the world and came up out the very ancient holy lands who lived under the Old Covenant.
Of course, God created all the peoples of this world, and gave them all a spirit, and a life, and He wishes to have a holy relationship with all His creation.
This New Covenant, much like the old (Isaiah 56), opens the door to anyone who wishes to enter into that covenant relationship with Almighty God.
Note that the Old Testament also is a foreshadowing of what was to come under the New Testament. Therefore, without understanding the first, or Old Testament, it is impossible to try appreciate or comprehend the New Testament.
As much as Christians focus on Jesus, many fail to realize that the same Almighty God of the old seeming punitive law is the same working grace and mercy in the New Testament just as He was in the Old Testament.
The difference is that the full true spirit and understanding of the old system is fully realized, and fully accomplished, under God's New Testament, whereas it could not be fulfilled under the first.
That goal is a holy honest loving relationship between God and man, and His covenant peoples.
The way God accomplished this goal was to become as man—God visiting man in the flesh to teach man and establish His righteous holy laws in the hearts of His people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 (KJV)
Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God in order to fulfill His promises —and in order to bind the former old covenant and bind the new superceding covenant— God would have to Himself die—His blood needed to be shed— for a Hebrew covenant cannot be established in full until the death of the covenant maker takes place.
Hebrews 9:16-18 (New Testament )
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. [17] For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. [18] Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
God had to die, and shed His own blood, to seal the first and second covenants.
The testimony of this amazing feat and plan of God, how He visited His children in the low form of a fleshly man to live to minister the law of God and die on the Cross, yet be raised three days later to Life, and fulfill all previous Hebrew prophesy, is the Testimony or the Gospel (good news) of YHWH’s Salvation —YESHUA/JESUS—as recorded in the books of the New Testament.
When the time ordained was fulfilled, God came in the flesh of man to fulfill the New Testament promise made by God through His prophets of the Old Testament.
Matthew 1:20-23 (KJV)
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. [21] And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. [22] Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, [23] Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
God was now visiting with man, to teach man the Spirit of the Law of the righteousness of God, and the Will of God for all men to follow living on earth.
Jesus came to bring this message which was the hope, the faith in promises of the glorious "Salvation of YHWH" so long awaited for by the people of Israel and spoken of by Israel's prophets.
1st Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Before Jesus—God manifest in the flesh—was to die on the Cross (on the day of the Hebrew Passover), He declared the New Testament and made a direct reference to the New Covenant as testified by prophet Jeremiah.
Matthew 26:26-28 (KJV)
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. [27] And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; [28] For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Jeremiah 31:31-37 (KJV)
Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH: [33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith YHWH; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
[35] Thus saith YHWH, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; YHWH of hosts is His name: [36] If those ordinances depart from before me, saith YHWH, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. [37] Thus saith YHWH; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith YHWH.
I pray, and hope, you now have a better idea, and a greater understanding of what the New Covenant truly is, and why the importance of knowing its relationship to the Old Covenant.