A few years ago, my children attended a revival. It was required by their school, and each kid who attended was rewarded with two points added to each grade on their report. By going, you could potentially change your B to an A before the end of the semester without doing any work. 

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Shouting and altar calls characterized the long week of late revival nights. One of those nights, the pastor was having trouble getting people up to the altar, so he changed his appeal to focus on the kids. He asked anyone who wanted to publicly make a covenant of purity to come forward. My oldest daughter was in 5th grade at the time, and was sitting across the church with her friends. Every single young person in that section started making their way to the front. 

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She caught my eye and mouthed, “What is purity?!” And then she did one of the boldest things I’ve ever seen a 5th grader do: She stayed put. By herself. Completely alone. 

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Everyone was watching her. Her friends were confused. The pastor kept directing His call towards her; and yet, she stayed. She sat right there on full display of the entire building, and she was unmoved. 

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She boldly did what no one else was willing to do, and she was 10 years old. Why? Because, at the time, she didn’t know what purity was, but she did have some knowledge about what "covenant" meant, and she wasn’t about to bind herself to a promise she didn’t understand. 

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I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of her. 

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In the Old Testament, we hear a lot about covenants. They were made for varying reasons, and often provided a way for God to set His people apart for Him. As part of covenant living, the Israelites maintained a right relationship with God by making animal sacrifices to atone for sin. They also needed a High Priest to be their mediator between God and man. The High Priest went to God on their behalf once a year when he would go into the Holy of Holies, an area of the Temple separated from the rest of the building by a thick veil. Both requirements fell under the Old Covenant, and were representative of what would come. 

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God promised to establish a New Covenant, one that would provide direct access to Him through His son. It would come through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Where once an animal was required, Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins, and His blood replaced the spilt blood of animal sacrifice. He also became our High Priest and mediator, who sits at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 8:1). 

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At the time of Jesus’ death, the veil to the Holy of Holies tore from top to bottom, symbolizing that the barrier separating sinful humanity from Holy God had been permanently removed. God had provided a way for all believers to have direct access to Him, thereby ending the old system of worship. His death ushered in the New Covenant. Hebrews 8:13 says, “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete.” Under the New Covenant, God forgives sin and restores fellowship with all who repent and turn their hearts to Him because Jesus paid it all. 

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This is the grace of God unto us. Sin still requires atonement. That’s non-negotiable. But the grace of God provided Jesus to do the atoning work for us. His work on the cross took away any boasting we could do of our own good works or merit and made salvation a gift of God – by His grace, though faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

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That's the heart of the New Covenant – a promise by God to transform us and write His law on the hearts of those who repent and turn to Him. It’s contingent on our repentance.If we repent, our sin is covered, and a new relationship with God based on grace, forgiveness of sins, and direct access to Him through Jesus is His gift to us.

Our modern world makes promises so easily and flippantly. We, like the pastor at the revival, shift the wording of “covenant” to make it fit our needs. In doing so, we minimize the true value of a binding covenant in which both parties are responsible for something. 

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I’m glad my daughter wasn’t pressured into going forward during an altar call she didn’t understand, but even more so, I’m thankful that it provided a way to talk through the meaning of a covenant. God isn’t slack concerning His promises. He says if we will repent, He will save. It’s so simple. Don’t overcomplicate the gift of entering into a covenant with God. 

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Have you chosen to repent of your sin and turn to God? If so, Jeremiah 31:33 says that His law is written on your heart and mind. He is there waiting to enter into an everlasting Covenant with you. It’s a gift of grace, and the best promise you could ever receive.