Living the “Better” Life of the New Covenant!

Someone aptly said, “The understanding of covenant has been all but lost in today’s world of high business dealings, frail international treaties, and transient human relationships.” This is especially true in the lives of most Christians who live unsure of what kind, how much, and when, if ever the coverage of the New Covenant can be applied for. For this reason, many are plagued by doubt and defeat, and live unsure of the extent of the coverage they are under in the New Covenant. How much of the “then of the world to come” is available now? Is there adequate coverage in the New Covenant so that we can live with a God-big purpose, God-underwritten provisions, God-released power and the God-promised assurance of the permanence of our salvation?”

Kingdom and covenant are the two themes that make up the narrative, purpose, and provision of the Bible. The promise-plan of God, initiated in the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, continues to play out the metanarrative of God’s covenant establishment of His kingdom to encompass and bless all the nations of the world.

Pastor David Wilkerson said: “I can tell you that the unveiling of the New Covenant has been the most life-giving, sin-destroying, and liberating truth I have ever known or experienced.”

I. The New Covenant Fulfills the Promise-Plan of the Old and Climaxes in a Person!

Notice the word “promise-plan.” This is the “main river” fed by the “tributaries” of various covenants until it reaches the “ocean” of the New Covenant!

The tributaries of the covenant are:

1. Covenant with Adam – Promised Savior – Genesis 3:15

2. Covenant with Noah – Succession - Genesis 93b.

3. Covenant with Abraham – Seed - Genesis 12:1-3; Gals. 3:16

4. Covenant with Moses/Israel – Servant - Exodus-Deuteronomy

5. Covenant with David – Sovereign - 1 Samuel - 2 Chronicles

6. Then all these “covenant tributaries” find their ultimate fulfillment in the OCEAN - Jesus – The Successful Son - The Final True and Faithful Son. The True Israel, the True Temple. This covenant is made between the Father and the Son, not with sinners!

Covenant is the Promise-Plan of God Exhibiting His Kingdom’s Rule through His Covenant Relationship for the Blessings of all Nations!

What is the meaning of covenant? A Covenant is a bond (bond =a legal promise) in blood (this means death is the price for breaking the covenant) sovereignly administered (the king calls all the shots!).

The doctrine of the Promised Messiah is found throughout all the Scriptures and not just in isolated or selected passages as understood by the Promise-Fulfillment Scheme. Our Lord held the readers of the Old Testament accountable for knowing who he was and what would happen to him in Jerusalem. For example, the two disciples whom Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday were soundly rebuked by our Lord for their failure to understand the message of the Old Testament and to grasp the significance of what was said about the coming Messiah: He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Lk 24:44)

“How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk 24:25-27)

The Old Testament Messianic teaching was regarded as the development of a single promise (Gr. epangelia), repeated and unfolded through the centuries with numerous specifications and in multiple forms but always with the same essential core. So central is this article of faith that the apostle Paul, when he was on trial for his life, wrapped up his total life and ministry by saying:

“And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial here today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night … that God raises the dead.” (Ac 26:6-7a) Paul’s appeal to King Agrippa wasn’t based on a number of scattered predictions throughout the Scriptures, but on “the promise” (that is, the one definite promise - note the article) that God had made long ago to the nation’s ancestors (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David) and on “the promise” he had made to the “twelve tribes.” One scholar writes, “The thing he is speaking of he calls, not prediction, but promise; not promises, but promise; not a promise, but the promise. The word is singular and definite.” The whole essential messianic truth, as Paul knows it, is summed up in this one formula, “the promise made of God unto our fathers.”

There are more than forty New Testament passages that refer to this word “promise,” which has as its most central and prominent feature the revelation concerning the Messiah. Around this central motif all the teaching of the New Testament (as well as the Old Testament) can be grouped, according to the writers of the canon of Scripture.

The New Testament writers equate this single, definite promise as the one made to Abraham when God called him from Ur of the Chaldeans. Instead of treating this definite promise as one that was recently received in the New Testament era, the writer of the book of Hebrews linked it with the transaction God made with Abraham long ago: “When God made his promise to Abraham … he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and give you many descendants.” (Heb 6:13-14). Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. (Heb 6:17) “… Isaac and Jacob … were heirs with him of the same promise.” (Heb 11:9).

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised … that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Heb 11:39-40).

The apostle Paul makes the same argument in Romans: “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless…. Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” (Roms. 4:13-14, 20).

1. The New Covenant is “New” in Time, but was Forever in the Heart of God – Hebrews 13:20, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant…”

The Greek word for new is “kainos” which means fresh, or on new lines as opposed to the old. This covenant is not called "a new covenant" because it is newly made, or of a new origin. We know this because this covenant is elsewhere called "the everlasting covenant." It is a covenant made with Christ our covenant Surety (guarantee) before the foundation of the world (Heb. 13:20).

It is called a new covenant because it is newly revealed in this Gospel age. That which is revealed second was made first. It is called a new covenant because it is always new, and fresh. It will never grow old or give place to another. It is called a new covenant because it gives us a new record, a new heart, a new nature, a new spirit! It places us in a new covenant community as a part of the New Temple of the Lord, with coverage you can always count on!

2. The New Covenant is “Now” in Time Because it is Formed Between Christ and the Father!

Isaiah 42:1, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” Isa 42:6, "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations…”

Luke 22:19-20, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” 

The new covenant did not come into effect until, on the eve of his atoning death, the suffering servant of God broke bread, poured wine, and said: “This is the new covenant in my blood” (Lk. 22:20). Jesus confidently asserts that the Passover will be fulfilled in the kingdom of God on the other side of a new exodus brought about by his death. Mysteriously and marvelously, God's strategic plan comes to fruition in his servant-king who, by the blood of his sacrificial self-offering, inaugurates the new covenant agreement, initiates a new exodus, and insures the advent of God’s kingdom.

All of the various phases of the Old Covenant -Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, - fell short of their fulfillment? Why? We are told in Hebrews 8:7-8a that it was not due to the faultiness of the plan and promises, but due to the faultiness and infidelity of the majority of the people in Israel. So God made a final and forever covenant with the only truly faithful Jew that ever lived – Jesus, His Son!  Jesus kept the whole law’s precepts for us and then took the whole law’s penalty that we deserved, for us, so that we can get not just the promises and provisions of the New Covenant – but first and foremost the Person of the covenant living in us and empowering us to experience and express the coverage of the covenant!

1. At the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, Christ “WAS” the Mediator – Hebs. 8:6 - "He 'is' also Mediator" - present tense! It doesn't say he "will be" the Mediator in the Millennium, but He is NOW!
   
   
2. At the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, the Better Covenant "WAS" Established: Hebs. 8:6c, “…a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” At the time of the writing, it "was" established. Its coverage was put into effect then and it has all true believers adequately covered now and forever!
   
   
3. At the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, Christ “IS” the Mediator of the New Testament: Hebs. 9:15, “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. By virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the sins not only of us, but also the Old Testament believers have forever been put away. This verse negates any concept that there are two New Covenants - a theory made popular by dispensationalists.
   
   
4. In Hebrews 10, the writer is discussing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He Says in verse 15 that the Holy Spirit “Is” a Witness to "Us" i.e. first century Christians. Hebrews 10:15-17, “But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before…” Then in verses 16-17, he quotes Jeremiah 31 again and specifically applies it to believers in the first century. Hebrews 10:16-17 (NKJV) "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

Beloved, the New Covenant is operative NOW – in Christ! Its coverage has been in effect since its inauguration at Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension and the sending back of the Holy Spirit. Christ is its Mediator, the Holy Spirit is its Power-provider and Provision-giver, we are its ministers, baptism is its badge of identity marking us off as members of the covenant family, the Lord's Supper is its covenant renewing ordinance, and the turning of men into disciples from every nation on the earth is its terms!

Hebrews 8:5 says that the priests serve a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. The tabernacle and temple were shadows; the official priesthood was a shadow; the animal sacrifices were a shadow; the feasts and dietary laws were a shadow. And when Christ came, the shadows began to fall away, because Christ himself is the Reality. He is our temple and tabernacle, our focus and place of worship. He is our High Priest and Mediator and Intercessor. He is our atoning sacrifice. He is our Passover feast and spiritual food. He is our purity and holiness that sets us off from other people.

II. The New Covenant Furnishes all the Power and Provisions Needed So that We can be Blessed and a Blessing to the Nations!

Basic Benefits of the New Covenant

The Old Covenant was a come-see type arrangement, where one man from one tribe, on one day of the year could enter the holy of holies. The New Covenant is a go-tell arrangement. That is why Christianity is radically spiritual; radically internal; radically personal; and radically ethical. It is meant for all peoples, tribes, tongues and nations.

1.The internalization of God's law – Hebrews 8:10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts…”

If God’s covenant desire and design is that we be free from religion - with all its externalism, formalism, ritualism and traditionalism - and freed up for relationship with Him – so that our faith and our corporate worship and our life can be radically spiritual and personal and internal, then we need more than just a change in the shadows of the Old Testament. Simply Replacing Shadows with the Reality is not enough! It would never work even if God set Christ before us as the great Reality and left us to ourselves to know him and love him. He is going to have to do something powerful and dramatic in us and not just outside of us. We need for God to write his will on our hearts. We need for him to assert himself powerfully in our lives as our God. Praise God! That’s the coverage offered in the New Covenant!

The New Covenant provides internal motivation by the life of Christ’s indwelling presence instead of trying to life up to external lists of do’s and don’ts! This will take care of that “I-Can’t-Ever-Measure-Up” type of mentality. In the New Covenant in Christ Jesus, the distinguishing feature is that for every precept there is power and for every statute there is strength and for the otherwise impossible task of saying Yes to God’s commands there is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

2. Unbroken fellowship with God - 8:10b, “.…and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”This God most nigh, close, personal, intimate relationship is available to settle the issues of struggling to find myself; of trying to find acceptance, approval, appreciation, and affirmation based on what I do or what I think others think about me.
   
   
3. Unmediated knowledge of God - Heb 8:11, “And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” Unmediated means that you don’t need to go through a priest or through sacrificial rituals. Nor does it mean that all persons, in all lands, would then know the Lord - though the time will come when that will be true. The point is not that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole world, but all of God’s elect will have a much more full and clear knowledge of God than was possessed under the old covenant. Without question, Christians have a much more perfect knowledge of God and of his government than could have been learned merely from the revelations of the Old Covenant or Testament.
   
   
4. Unconditional forgiveness of sins – Heb 8:12, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”  The eyes of our heart are opened so that we can understand the things freely given us by God in the New Covenant! We have received His life; we can relish and reciprocate His love; we can reflect His likeness; be recipients of His legacy (inheritance); we reign as kings in life by His life; and can know beyond a shadow of doubt that when we die we will reside in His presence forever!

This forgetting makes all things new. Scarlet sins are made whiter than snow; those that are red like crimson will become like washed wool (Isa_1:18). No promise to the human heart is more satisfying and liberating. This promise of such complete reconciliation is the meaning of covenant faith.

In whom is the New Covenant fulfilled? There are at least 5 different views:

1. The New Covenant was given exclusively for ethnic Israel and will therefore be fulfilled only in her at the end of the age when Israel as a nation is saved. The Church, according to this view, has no part in the blessings of this covenant.
   
   
2. There have been other dispensationalists who argued that there are two New Covenants, one for ethnic Israel and one for the Church. This view has been largely if not altogether abandoned by those who first proposed it.
   
   
3. Still others within the dispensational camp have suggested that there is only one New Covenant, for Israel, in which the Church shares spiritually. In other words, those blessings in the covenant which pertain to salvation are equally enjoyed by the Church, but those that pertain to earthly prominence in the land belong solely to Israel.
   
   
4. A fourth view is that there are two covenants, one for the Jewish people and one for those (whether Jew or Gentile) who embrace Jesus as Messiah. This is unbiblical and dangerous.
   
   
5. There is only one New Covenant. The Church, being the historical continuation of the believing remnant within Israel, is the recipient of its blessings. Thus, both believing Jews and believing Gentiles, the latter of whom have been graciously included in the covenants of promise (Eph. 2:12), together and equally enjoy the fulfillment of all aspects of the New Covenant (see especially Mt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:11-22; 3:6; Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15; 10:15; 10:19ff.).
   
   

   Two Big Blockers of New Covenant Benefits
   

   A. Ignorance of the Contents of the Coverage - Rom 10:3, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.”
   
   B. Unbelief of the Contents of the Coverage - Mat 13:58, “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” Heb 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

What a blessing indeed, that the ministry of the New Covenant will never fade away or be abolished or become obsolete and need to be replaced by one that surpasses it in power or preeminence.

For the immeasurable provisions of the New Covenant, we give thanks and on its power we rely as we seek to live to the glory of its Giver.