What's the difference between the new & old covenant?

^by  

 A lot of ppl try to make a distinction between the God of the old testament & the God of the new, as being 2 entirely different beings. But remember that verse in Mal 3:6 - He doesn't change (& neither did His plan 4 salvation); also in Heb 13:8 it says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.". A lot of ppl put a lot of focus on the "new covenant" & it is even written in those words in Jer 31:31 (quoted in Hebrews) - but in my opinion it is the same old covenant w/ new wrapping paper - A.K.A. a marketing gimmick (have you ever been to the store & grabbed somethihng off the shelf in a shiney new wrapper & it said "all new - all different" on there & when you opened it up, it was the same old thing w/ no change whatsoever?). Lets see if i can explain - my primary foundation is the 2 verses earlier about how God doesn't change but there is more. Because Jesus Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8) His blood saved the ppl in the old testament times the same way it saves us; by grace - through faith (Eph 2:8). The prooftext for this is back in Hab 2:4; "the just shall live by his faith" - this was one of Paul's keynotes as he quoted it twice (or 3x if he indeed wrote Hebrews) in Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11 & Heb 10:38. Do you remember how "Abraham believed {had faith in} God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (it was back in Genesis, but i am quoting Rom 4:3)? See the thought that Isaiah taught us in his 64:6 verse, that "our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" is a fact, there always was nothing that we could do to earn our way into heaven; but he was also given the answer in the 54:8 verse - "their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD". David had a pretty good handle on this, according to Paul in Rom 4:6-8. Jesus going to the cross was the vehicle that allowed us to see what God had already done; "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Co 5:21). So basically what i call a "juxtaposition" happened on the cross when Jesus took our sins upon himself & gave us His righteousness. Jn 17:3 says that our salvation is based on our relationship (how well we know) God. When Adam knew Eve, what were they doing? According to Gen 4:1 they were having sex! So when we get to know God, it will be an intimate deal, not a superfifial one. Jesus quoted "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" in Mt 12:7 & the end of the verse he quoted says "and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." (Ho 6:6), So this is all old hat. David knew this full well because in 70 Ps 4 he said "let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified" - think about it, when we magnify something what are we doing? We are taking a closer look - examining - so David was telling us - "Hey everybody, lets always talk about getting to know God better!". The very passage that i mentioned earlier in Jer 31 tells us in the 34 verse "they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest" - so basically in the old covenant one man (Moses) got the word & distributed it to all the ppl, & in the new covenant "the love of God is shed abroad in {all of} our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom 5:5). That's why i teach that if our relationship is where it should be, we don't need anyone else to teach us because the Holy Ghost will teach us all things (1 Jn 2:27, Jn 14:26). In the old covenant one man (the high preist) was able to go into the holy of holies once a year to have some face time w/ God during the day of atonement, this "signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing" (Heb 9:8); in the new covenant we all may "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Heb 4:16) because we "are the temple of the living God" (2 Cor 6:16).  In the old covenant there were multiple animal sacrifices; in the new covenant Jesus only had to do a sacrifice "once, when he offered up himself" (Heb 7:27) thereby making all animal sacrifice unnessisary because "Christ {is} our passover" (1 Cor 5:7) & it "is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb 10:4). Remember Jesus taught us that the old testament wasn't recieved in the spirit it was given or else he wouldn't have to say something about how you heard in old times it has been said... but now i tell you... & that's why i believe that the "new covenant" is the same old covenant in new clothes.