We shall continue on our teaching on unpacking the Old and New Covenants. So far we
have seen God’s objective for instituting the Old Covenant. We have also established
the fundamental principles and differences between the two Covenants. In this Episode
we shall trace some of God’s prophecies and promises in the Old Covenant to their
fulfillment in the new Covenant.
The most astounding prophesy of the OC is the prophesy of God’s plan to send a
Messaiah or Saviour who would deliver mankind from the devil.
Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 7:14-“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” And as
we know many prophets of the OT spoke about the coming of Jesus Christ to save the
world.
In order to appreciate the significance of God’s promise to send a savior to mankind and
the fulfillment of that promise, we need to understand the situation of mankind during
the OC era. Ephesians 2:12 describing the state of man states
“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from
citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope
and without God in the world.”
Under the OC, mankind was in bondage; their spirits were severed from God; they
could not reach God or have access to His presence; they could not pray to God as a
Father. The devil reigned in their hearts and they did not have the privilege of rejecting
him.
The coming of the savior and the institution of the NC brought a new and different kind
of relationship between God and His children. The men of the OT did not have access
to the free gifts of salvation that are available to believers under the NC.
The implication of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is that all men now have an
opportunity to re-establish a relationship with God. We need to understand that Jesus
did not die for only Christians. In His popular statement in John 3:16, Jesus said “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him, should not perish but have everlasting life”.
Unfortunately, many NC believers also do not have access to these free gifts of
salvation because they are living under the OC mentality.
New Hearts
Again describing spiritual death and the hearts of mankind under the OC. Ephesians
4:18 states: “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of
God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts”.

In Jeremiah 17:7-9, God describes the heart of man as most deceitful and desperately
wicked. The heart of any man that is separated from God, as it was in the OC era is
hardened and cannot please God.
Under the OT, God promised to give his people new hearts and to put new spirits within
them. He declared in Ezekiel 36:26-I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you. I will take the heart of stone out of you.
When we receive the gift of salvation in Christ under the NC, the Holy Spirit regenerates
our hearts and gives us new hearts. With our new hearts, we are declared righteous
before God. 2 Cor 5:21- For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that
in Him, we may become the righteousness of God. This scripture means that just as
Jesus Christ became a sinner by taking on our sins, so also we become righteous by
taking on His righteousness. There is a substitution when we give our lives to Jesus
Christ. We receive the gift of righteousness. We are declared to be in right standing with
God, not because we deserve it but because we have received Christ. Then as we walk
with the Holy Spirit, He slowly changes our hearts from being sin-conscious to God-
conscious. Then we can start taking the right steps in order to reflect that righteousness
status that we have been given freely. We do not become perfect and still have to
choose whether or not to obey the flesh. However when Jesus died for us on the Cross,
He broke the power of sin over us and gave us the power to reject sin. So the situation
now is that while before we were born again, we could not resist sin even if we tried;
now we have a choice. We have been given the power to resist sin, sickness and the
flesh.
During the OC era, mankind did not have the power to resist sin because they were
completely under the dominion of darkness. Again unfortunately many NC believers
refuse to take their authority over the devil, sin and sickness because they are living
under the OC mentality. Many NC believers out of ignorance do not take the dominion
over the devil that Jesus obtained at Calvary and gave to us freely.

Promise of the Spirit of God
God promised through several prophets of the Old Covenant like Jeremiah, Joel and
Ezekiel to send His Spirit to His people in the future.
While the Old Covenant was in operation, the Holy Spirit appeared from time to time to
equip and anoint men for specific assignments. The Holy Spirit appeared in several
ways to men like Joseph, Moses, Gideon and Joshua. He also passed on messages
from God to His people through the Prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah. And He
inspired the writers of the Old Covenant.
God declared in Joel 2: 28-28-"And it will come to pass after this, that I will pour out my
Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will
dream dreams; your young men will see visions.

In the New Covenant the Holy Spirit does not visit occasionally for special assignments.
He indwells all Believers.
Jesus Christ told His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to the world to take
His place; to comfort, to guide and to teach the new converts:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16-17.
After He resurrected, Jesus warned His disciples that they could not do anything without
the Holy Spirit. "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which
you have heard me speak about.” Acts 1:4-5. So the Holy Spirit gives us power to serve
God.
The present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit began on the day of Pentecost when God
poured out His Spirit to a room full of His disciples, powerfully enabling them to do His
work. From this day, the influence of the Holy Spirit moved from being for a particular
people for particular purposes to a pouring out on all flesh.
The prophesy of Joel and the other prophets that God would pour out His Spirit on all
flesh has been fulfilled today under the NC.
Today every child of God is a permanent home of the Holy Spirit. He empowers NC
Believers to serve God and live for Him the way the OC people could never do.
Again many NC believers are not experiencing the power, anointing, strength and joy of
the indwelling Spirit of God because they are living under the OC mentality.
Promises of physical Blessings
NC Believers are adopted children of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. As a result
of this, we have an inheritance in God. Ephesians 1:3 states that God has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. This statement is an all
encompassing statement indicating that every blessing we could possibly need has
been provided in Christ. This scripture refers to spiritual blessings but our physical
blessings flow from the realm of the Spirit because the bible says that the things that are
seen are controlled by the things that are not seen.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible makes promises of blessings for the Children
of God. He promises healing, Protection, peace and so forth in several scriptures of the
OT. And in the encompassing scriptures of Deuteronomy 28, He promises prosperity,
protection, fertility and progress.
Let me state here that the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 against anyone who
does not obey all the laws of the OC do not apply to NC believers. Surprisingly, I have
heard people preaching that these curses would befall a NC Believer who commits sin.
This is wrong teaching because Christ has taken the punishment for the OT curses for
us. He has taken the punishment for our sins. Galatians 3:13 states that-Christ

redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written,
cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree.
But guess what? While He redeemed us from the curses of the OC, he fulfilled the
conditions for us to receive and enjoy the blessings and promises of the OC. So by His
death on the Cross, Jesus Christ has opened the door for us to obtain the promises and
blessings of the OC without any more conditions. All of them with no exception. He met
all the conditions on our behalf. This means that you can claim the blessings of the OC
as well as those of the NC. Isn’t our God great to His adopted children?
The OC people could only receive blessings or anything from God if they met the
condition for receiving such. They were not adopted children of God so they had to
struggle to meet the conditions before they could receive from God. NC Believers are
not only adopted children of God; they are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. They have an
inheritance in God. So for NC Believers God’s blessings are no longer promises. They
have already been provided like a check written in your name. That’s why 2 Peter 2:24
says-By His stripes you have been healed. All the NC believer needs to do is to receive
what has been provided by faith.
Unfortunately many NC believers are not receiving and enjoying their blessings
because they are living under the OC mentality.