A covenant is an agreement. A contract.

This is how the new covenant is perfected:

1. God draws a person to Jesus (John 6:44);

2. When a person is so drawn, his attention is on Jesus; Jesus’ words convict him;
3. Jesus then makes an offer to the person with “follow me”;
4. When the person “accepts” the offer by following Jesus, a covenant is perfected.

The conversion of Israelites Simon, Andrew and the Zebedee sons illustrates this covenant perfection.

Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

The perfection of the covenant is when the “meeting of the minds” happen which is the acceptance of the “offer”. The period of testing is past the covenant perfection. This period is already performance of both parties in order to fulfill the terms and conditions of the covenant.

I will add another distinction between the covenant with Israel (CWI) and that covenant with Christians (CWC). In the CWI, the Israelites were left on their own to obey the 10 Cs. In the CWC, Christians are aided, led, and empowered by God through the Holy Spirit in order to do those which are incumbent upon them. It could even be said that it is already Jesus who is performing the obligations of the Christians to assure fulfillment of what Christians are supposed to do.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…