The new way today is not a term that we have invented. It is mentioned specifically in the New Testament. Hebrews 10:20 says, “By a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil.” Through His crucifixion the Lord has opened up this new way for us. His flesh was crucified on the cross that the veil of the old creation might be removed. Through His blood, He has brought us before God that we might become a new creation to take the new way.
Furthermore, this new way which the Bible speaks of is not new in method but in nature. The old way, which is in opposition to the new way, is the way of the law in the Old Testament. It is a way taken according to the old creation. The new way is in the New Testament and is taken according to the new creation. It is not a change in method but a change in inward nature. For example, when we preach the gospel now, we encourage the saints to visit people by knocking on doors. This, however, is not a change from an old method to a new method. Because the light from the Lord has become stronger recently and because we have seen that gospel preaching in which one speaks and all listen is contrary to the nature of the new creation in the New Testament, we are reluctant to return to the old way. We want to have a change in nature to preach the gospel and serve God according to God’s desire and the pattern set forth in the Bible.
We see from the Bible that the turn from the Old Testament to the New Testament occurred with John the Baptist. His father was a chief priest at that time. Hence, John was born a priest. But as far as God is concerned, he was the last priest of the Old Testament.
When John grew up, he waxed strong in his spirit and lived in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). He did not live in the temple nor did he live in a priest’s home. Rather, he lived in the wilderness. This shows that the age had changed. When he came to fulfill his ministry, he did not eat the priestly food nor did he wear the priestly garments. Matthew 3:4 says, “Now John himself had his garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” This shows that John had forsaken human culture and religion. He preached in the wilderness, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (v. 2). If a man repented and was willing to confess his sins, John would baptize him in the Jordan River (v. 6). All of this shows that John fulfilled his ministry in a “wild” way. He did not abide by the old regulations. This means that the old way of worshipping God according to the Old Testament was annulled. A new way was to be introduced.
The Old Testament priests offered up bulls and goats as sacrifices to God. In the New Testament, the first sacrifice that the priests must offer is the saved sinners. Paul said in Romans 15:16 that he was “ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable.” This is the first and basic offering in the New Testament. Other than this, there is the offering of our praises, the offering of good works, and the offering of material goods (Heb. 13:15-16). This is like the heave offering and the drink offering in the Old Testament, which are in addition to the five basic offerings.
The offerings in the Old Testament are a type of Christ. In the New Testament, we save the sinners who were in Adam, put them into Christ, and offer them up to God. After this, we have to help them get into Romans 12, beseeching them to present themselves a living sacrifice to God (v. 1). That is not all. Paul said that we should be “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ” (Col. 1:28).