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Passover_lambThe sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has two meanings with regard to the law. Firstly, it abolished the old covenant. Secondly, it established the new covenant.

Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first [the old covenant] to establish the second [the new covenant]. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:9-10)

But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one [the old covenant] obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:8-13)

The old covenant nullified by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the Law of Moses. Then, what is the new covenant established by Jesus?

They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover… And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22:13-20)

Jesus established the new covenant with the Passover bread and the Passover wine in the order of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-20.) Since the new covenant, the Law of Christ, was made, the old covenant, the Law of Moses, became nullified (1 Corinthians 9:20-21.) Nonetheless, it would be against God to cling to the old covenant and set it up again. Paul warned that those who do such would be cursed.

by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations [the Law of Moses]. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:15-16)

“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law [the Law of Moses], but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. (Galatians 2:16-18)

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (Galatians 3:10)

Those who rebuild the law with its commandments and regulations, or the old covenant, are under a curse. On the contrary, what about people who nullify the new covenant established through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross?

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29)

The blood of the covenant that sanctified us is the new covenant Passover established through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)

People who stick to the old covenant abolished by Jesus make the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross in vain and will be cursed. Likewise, people who reject the new covenant made by Jesus also make the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross in vain. They cannot escape punishment as it’s written: “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

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