Abraham's Blessings
In my previous blog post Do We Share Abraham's Blessings?, I have shared that one of Abraham's blessings which we have all received as believers of Christ is that, the Lord will bless those who bless us, and curse those who curse us.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse. Genesis 12:3
Better Promises
However, the Bible tells us in the New Testament that, we have a Better Covenant which is established on Better Promises.
... the Covenant of which He (Jesus) is mediator is superior to the old one, since the New Covenant is established on better promises. Hebrews 8:6
First, let us take a look at what these Better Promises are. We can find plenty of them in the New Testament! These include salvation, forgiveness of sins, imputation of righteousness, healing, eternal life and many more which have not been mentioned in the Old Covenant. And one of these promises is the following:
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18
Why is This a Better Promise?
When God promised Abraham that He will bless those who bless him, and curse those who curse him, it was still God's decision to punish or reward in His purpose to protect Abraham. However, the Lord has released this authority to the followers of Christ in the New Covenant! It is now WE who will decide who to punish or reward, and the Heaven will support our decisions!
What Brought About This Better Promise?
One of the greatest differences between Man and God's other Creations is that, Mankind has been given a FREE WILL (to choose whether to do good or evil). After Adam has been cast out from the Garden of Eden, Satan made use of this given freedom, and kept tempting the Adamic race to do evil in order to lead them away from God.
However, during these 6,000 years in the Fallen World, some Man have learnt how to choose good from evil, and have decided to enter into the New Covenant with God by receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior. By doing so, they have made themselves ready to receive these Better Promises.
To give an analogy, a powerful businessman decided to let his young son work in his business empire. However, in order to protect his son who was inexperienced in the business world, he exercised reward and punishments according to how his son was treated.
When his son has grown up, become more mature and have learnt the rights and wrongs in the business world, the father is ready to give this authority to his son. The son can now make decisions and exercise judgments all by himself, and his father will back him up with his resources.
The Better Covenant
Let us now take a look at God's New Covenant with us.
For people who enter into this New Covenant, we can see that the Laws of God have already been written in their minds and hearts; and they have thus made themselves ready to receive the Better Promises of God.
I will put My Laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. Hebrews 8:10-11