Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

condition of obedience: "If you will indeed obey My voice and keep
My covenant ... you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation" (Exodus 19:5, 6). The people did not realize the sinfulness
of their own hearts and that without Christ it was impossible for
them to keep God's law. Feeling able to establish their own
righteousness, they declared, "All that the Lord has said we will do,
and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7). They eagerly entered into covenant
with God, yet only a few weeks went by before they broke their
covenant and bowed down to worship the image of a calf. Now,
seeing their sinfulness and their need of forgiveness, they felt their
need of the Savior revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and
symbolized in the sacrificial offerings. Now they were prepared to
appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.
The New Covenant and Justification by Faith
The terms of the "old covenant" were, Obey and live: "If a man
does, he shall live by them" (Ezekiel 20:11). But "'cursed is the one
who does not confirm all the words of this law'" to do them.
(Deuteronomy 27:26). The "new covenant" was established upon
"better promises," the promise of forgiveness and the grace of God
to change the heart and bring it into harmony with God's law. "This
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on
their hearts. ... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will
remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33, 34).
The same law that was engraved on tablets of stone is written
321