None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. (Hebrews 8:11)

The Reason The New Covenant Is Better

Under the Law of Moses, a man became a child of God when he was circumcised at eight days old. This was in keeping with the covenant made with Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old, awaiting the promise of a son. Isaac would be the son of promise as Sarah gave birth at the age of ninety and Abraham one hundred. Through the seed of Isaac, Christ came into the world to establish a new and better covenant.

When God established the Law of Moses, the law was only given to the nation of Israel and not to the Gentiles. A Gentile did not have to be circumcised to be saved, as the covenant of circumcision was only given to the people of Abraham. When Christ came, He united the Jews and Gentiles under His covenant, removing the restraints of the Law of Moses and failures of the law of the Gentiles. The Hebrew writer argues that the covenant of Christ is better because of the process of knowledge.

Under the Law of Moses, a man becomes a child of God by birth. At eight days old, he is circumcised and becomes a part of the family of God, living under the covenant of Moses. However, at eight days old, the child knows nothing about God and His will. As the child grows, the knowledge of God is taught to him so that he can learn the will of the Father. The Law of Moses instructed the parents to teach their children the story of God’s redemptive grace. The prayer was that as the child grew, he would sustain a deep faith and trust in the word of God to live an obedient life of service to the Lord.

The covenant of Christ is opposite the Law of Moses regarding knowledge. When a man understands his need for God’s grace, he learns how to become a Christian. Through the word of God, his faith increases, showing him to be a sinner, destitute of hope, and an enemy of God. Being convicted in his heart of his need for redemption, the penitent heart turns the man to accept the will of the Lord and have his sins washed away in the waters of baptism. At the point of water baptism, the man becomes a child of God.

There is no need to teach a man to know God because that is the prerequisite for obedience. This does not suggest that man knows all he needs to know about the Lord, but only that his relationship with God to become His child begins with knowledge. Unlike an eight-year-old child who does not understand, the Christian began his journey with the faith to obey the gospel. Like a child, the individual starts a knowledge-seeking journey that will last all his life. The joy of being in the covenant of Christ is that knowledge is the first blessing of salvation. There is much to learn about God’s grace, mercy, and love; the devoted Christian will hunger and thirst for righteousness all his life.