Three preliminary thoughts from John Murray:
The language Zacharias uses in Luke 1:72 runs parallel with the language God used when preparing the Israelites for deliverance from Egypt.
Paul mentions covenants as plural in Romans 9:4, so the New Testament writers did not think of God’s covenants with Israel as simply Abrahamic. Also, in Ephesians 2:12, Paul speaks of the covenants as covenants of promise.
Murray stresses this last one the most, that in Galatians 3:15, 17, Paul stresses the immutable nature of covenants. Thus follows security.
New and Old Covenants
The fact that there is a new and an old covenant, does not mean that one is a covenant and the other is not. Instead, they should carry the same similar characteristics, and they do-namely its monergistic bestowment, divine establishment and fulfillment. The new covenant is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant (Lk. 1:72; Gal. 3:15).
Christ said that his blood was the blood of the covenant, shed for the forgiveness of sins. The covenant is the epitome of grace, truth and relationship, and this fullness of grace is purchased by Christ’s blood. In Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians, he clearly shows that he views the new covenant as the climax of redemptive history and the ultimate union of relationship.
In Hebrews, the author describes reasons why the new covenant is better than the Mosaic covenant. The previous description of covenant is applied directly here. The new covenant is a wonderfully closer spiritual relationship, that was established in the Abrahamic covenant, but reaches its fruition here. The new covenant has better promises. However, the new covenant does not nullify the law, but instead is more fulfilled in us (Heb. 8:10). Also, the new covenant covers sins (Heb. 8:12). Finally, the new covenant is one of growing in knowledge of God available to all (Heb. 8:11). The new covenant is a true manifestation of all the descriptors we have seen applied to covenants, being divinely initiated, confirmed and fulfilled.
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