What Is the New Covenant and Are We Living In it?
by Michael Clark
Things became very clear to me that my salvation was
not a result of my works, or even my best efforts but God’s, when I read chapter eight of
Hebrews and understand what it reveals. There I read the difference between the Old Covenant of
works under the Law of Moses and the New Covenant which Jeremiah
prophesied of God’s wonderful Grace. The writer of Hebrews wrote:
“For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For
finding fault with them, He says, Behold, the days come, says the
Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt*; because they continued not in My
covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord; I will put My laws in their minds, and write them in
their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a
people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from
the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more.” (Heb 8:7-12 KJ2000)
The first covenant (the covenant given through Moses,
note also this word covenant was added as it is in italics) was
doomed to failure because it hinged on the obedience of seemingly
endless list of commandments, that the Hebrews had to keep. (Just as
Moses lost the glory that was upon his face and he covered to hide
until it had faded away. The fading away was what this covenant of
laws was to do also because it could not administer life, God's
Life to an already dead people.) By their own strength and as we read here they failed and
broke this covenant that they made with God, thusly releasing
God from doing His part. If life could have been enacted by this covenant of
laws then it stands to reason it would not have been broken. So God knowing this had a further plan that
WOULD work and in this plan, it is not dependent on the righteousness
of the first Adam (fallen man), but the righteousness of the Last
Adam, Jesus Christ. The first covenant enacted by Israel as a nation
was filled with “thou shalt’s and thou shalt not’s” but the
second and more perfect covenant is pronounced with a short list of
“I WILL’s” and it is all fulfilled by the working of the will
of God in each of us:
I will make a new covenant
I will put my laws into
their minds
I will write my laws in their hearts
I will be to
them a God and they shall be my people
They shall not teach every
man his neighbor…for all shall know me
I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness
I will remember their sins no more
In Ezekiel we read a bit more about this covenant
saying,
“And I will sanctify My great name, which was
profaned by the Hebrews among the nations, which you have profaned in
the midst of them; and the nations shall know that 'I AM' the LORD,
says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you
before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations
(Psalm2:6-8), and gather you out of all countries (Psalm2:9),
and will bring you into your own land (spiritual Zion, Beulah
land Isaiah's message of 62:4-5 in similitude). Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you
to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do
them.” (Ezekiel 36:23-27 KJ2000)
I will sanctify my great name
I will be sanctified
in you
I will take you from among the nations
I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean
I will cleanse you
I
will give you a new heart
I will put a new spirit within you
I
will take away your stoney hearts
I will cause you to walk in my
statues and do them
Nope, not a single “thou shalt” or “thou
shalt not,” but fifteen “I will…” statements by
God. The New Covenant is “good news” because Jesus and the Spirit
of God gives those who surrender to Christ, receive the power to obey
Him and live upright lives IN Him. We live by God’s power and heart
and not our own inability to please Him by our own works. So what are
all these statutes and commandments He puts on our hearts? In Hebrews
again we read,
In that he says, A new covenant, he has made
the first old. Now that which decays and grows old is ready to vanish
away. (Heb 8:13 KJ2000)
If therefore perfection were by the Levitical
priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further
need was there that another priest who should be raised after the
order of Melchizedek's *, and not be called after the
order of Aaron? For the priesthood has been changed, there is made of
necessity a change also of the law. (Heb 7:11-12 KJ2000)
*as it were from death, death here being the flood
of Noah, the baptism by water of Shem and his future sons, still in
his loins, the seed of promise, of which Abram was one.
I just
revealed the mystery and power of the blood through which life is
propagated and which can be known by nature itself.
Jesus Christ is our great High Priest and with Him
and His covenant came in a New and changed law. Jesus said, “A
new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have
loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know
that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another.”
(John 13:34-35 KJ2000)
To this Paul wrote, “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, Meekness, self-control: against such there is no law.”
(Gal 5:22-23 KJ2000)
And in Romans we read, “Owe no man anything,
but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the
law. For this, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You
shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not
covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this
saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Rom 13:8-9 KJ2000)
So, as we abide IN Christ we now find that we have a
new heart, a new mind (the mind of Christ), a new Spirit, the Spirit
of God, and are able to walk in His New Commandment, the
law of love that sums up the whole old
covenant law and it is all by the power of God through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sending of His Holy Spirit to
abide in us and with us. THIS is the Good News of this Gospel, not a
new list of rules and regulations we have to keep by our own
strength… a list that we can not keep any more that the Hebrew
people could keep the laws of the first covenant given through Moses.
This covenant is not the same as that cut by God and Abraham, this
Covenant is based on Abraham's being counted by God as Righteous.
Which Israel as a nation never attained. The New Covenant is not
about us, but it is all about Him and we who abide IN Him as members
of HIS Body. Our being counted with Abraham as righteous. Amen, Lord. So be it!”
Taken from a post by Michael
Clark with limited editing by me.
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