LESSON ELEVEN

THE NEW COVENANT

by Steve and Terri White

"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But 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; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer. 31:31-34)

"For I [the LORD] will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God." (Ez. 36:24-28)

Although the Sinai Covenant was broken, God kept His covenants with Abraham and David. The fulfillment of His promises to both Abraham and David was foretold in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. God called it His New Covenant. Let’s examine the terms of the New Covenant explained in the above passages:

HOUSE OF ISRAEL: Both passages address the house of Israel. Who is the house of Israel? "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7; see also Rom. 11:20,23; I Pet. 2:9,10).  The true Israel is not those with the blood of Abraham flowing in their veins, but those with the faith of Abraham. In other words, the New Covenant is entered by faith; an Israeli nationality does not get one into the New Covenant.

BACK TO THE LAND: In approximately 500 B.C. the remnant of Judah returned to the Promised Land. Why did they need to return to the land? The ancient prophecies declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and grow up a "Branch of righteousness" (Micah5:2; Is. 11:1; Jer. 23:5,6; Matt. 2:23). Nazareth means village of the branch. Because the name Jesus was as common as John Smith is today, he was called Jesus of Nazareth to differentiate him from all the other men named Jesus. In doing so, however, it was also calling Him Jesus of the Branch, declaring him the Messiah.

GOD TAKES THE INITIATIVE: I will is sprinkled throughout both passages. This is God’s idea, and He will see to it that His New Covenant is fulfilled and kept. Romans 11:36 states this in another way: "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever." When God starts something, He continues it and finishes it, and then gets all the glory. He will cease being God if He does not fulfill and keep this New Covenant.

FORGIVENESS OF SIN: Under the Sinai Covenant, sin was never removed, only rolled ahead. For some sins like murder and adultery, there were no sacrifices allowed to even push the sins ahead; only stoning fulfilled the Law (Ps. 51:16; Lev. 20:10; John 8:3-5). The offering of many sacrifices year after year was always a reminder of one’s sins because "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins" (Heb. 10:2-4). These sacrifices made under the Law looked forward to the time when a final sacrifice would be made, and there would be no more need for a Day of Atonement (Heb. 10:12-18). With the Sinai Covenant broken, something or someone had to die -- that is the nature of a covenant. Jesus fulfilled this requirement of the Law as the final sacrificial goat, ". . . the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is.53:6c).

It is the resurrection of Jesus, though, that is the proof that sin has been paid for -- He could only rise from the dead because the penalty for sin had been completely paid. With this accomplished, the New Covenant promises that God will cleanse us from all our filthiness and idols, and He will no longer remember our sins. In other words, we are justified. To be justified means to be pardoned -- declared as if we had never sinned and accepted by God as if we were Jesus Himself (Rom. 5:1). (Sanctification is the ongoing process of salvation after we have been justified [Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:11-14]; see lesson 16.)

Because sin is completely removed, God can accomplish the rest of the terms of the New Covenant:

PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU: The New Covenant is not one of new ideas, but new in administration -- the terms will be applied in the heart of man as never before. Jeremiah expresses this by saying that the Law will be put in our minds and hearts. Ezekiel says the same thing in a different way -- we will be given a new heart and a new spirit within us to cause us to keep the Law. Instead of the ten commandments written on tablets of stone, the principles of life will be on the inside to empower us to live the Law (Prov. 4:23).

The Law was weak in that it could only give a standard by which to live without the power to keep it. The heart of the Law, though, is love -- God’s kind of love. (See Lesson Six for a review of the love of God.) Jesus did not just come to forgive us, but He came to produce a new "race" of people who love as He does. ". . . unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain" (John 12:24). Jesus was the first grain; He was the first man to walk in the power of agape and to die for His enemies. Those who enter the New Covenant are the fruit of Jesus’ death ('much grain') and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk as Jesus walked. ". . . the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5b). With the Holy Spirit within us, New Covenant believers have the power to walk in love, thus fulfilling the Law (Gal. 5:14; Rom. 8:3,4).

God’s love is like electricity and the ten commandments likened to the appliances in the kitchen. Each appliance is different, but all are run by electricity. If the electricity goes out, the appliances cannot fulfill their purpose. You might say that each appliance is an expression or conductor of electricity. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Man was created to be filled with the love of God. When he is filled, he walks in love, thus fulfilling the Law. Just as a refrigerator cools when plugged in, so man loves when filled with the Holy Spirit.

The New Covenant extends the reach of the Law. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (I John 3:16).  It is all about laying down our lives for others -- serving others. One example of this can be found in Eph. 4:28. "Let him who stole steal no longer" -- that is the Law; " . .  . but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need" -- the New Covenant goes beyond the commandment to not steal and expects us to work extra so that we have money to give away. We live our lives to give our lives away.

Ezekiel 37 is a wonderful word-picture of the 'new birth' experience in the New Covenant. The dry bones represent physical Israel who had been (spiritually) dead a long time (the Sinai Covenant was over). Resurrected Israel represents the true Israel (sons of Abraham by faith) that experience a new birth by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Verses 24-28 further states that the Messiah (My servant David shall be their prince and shepherd and king) will rule over true Israel (New Covenant believers) forever. II Corinthians 5:17 explains it this way, ". . . if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Jesus, telling Nicodemus that "You must be born again" (John 3:7), was amazed that Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, had not seen this in the scriptures. This is the "new heart" and the "new spirit" that Ezekiel proclaimed in chapter 36. Colossians 1:27b states it this way: ". . . Christ in you, the hope of glory."

MY GOD, MY PEOPLE: Under the Sinai Covenant, a personal relationship with God depended on how the people lived. In the New Covenant, it is dependent on God. Through the Holy Spirit we receive all that He is and all that He has. His Spirit works in our lives to keep the covenant. Through the shed blood of Jesus, we have been redeemed (purchased); therefore, we are His people. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God" (I John 3:1; see also Rom. 8:16, 17). The cry of the church is: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His" (Song of Sol. 2:16).

ALL SHALL KNOW ME: To know means to penetrate as in a marriage union. It is intimate and perfect unity. In this knowing, God penetrates us and we penetrate Him and become one. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). It is not an intellectual knowledge that only knows about Him; it is experiential and is seen in our lives. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (I John 4:7) -- a life of love, united to agape Himself. It is a committed relationship that the believer and the Lord have, called koinonia  in the Greek New Testament (I Cor. 1:9; II Cor. 13:14; Phil. 1:5; I John 1:3,6,7).

Every believer, from the newest convert (the least) to the oldest saint (the greatest) can personally know God. Moses and the Levites stood between God and the Israelites in the Sinai Covenant. While there may be teaching  in the New Covenant, it will always  cooperate with what the Holy Spirit is already working within us. New Covenant believers can individually know God without a mediator (I John 2:26,27).

CONCLUSION:

"And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last man Adam was made a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." (I Cor. 15:45-49)

Having made the Lord Jesus the Head of His new creation – His new race – His objective is to transform the race into the likeness of its Head. Christ then becomes God’s primary focus in all His works. And the Lord is now working in the new creation – in you and me – to transform us into the image of His Son. God has no other work on hand. Every means of God is reduced to one single, comprehensive goal – He is seeking to reproduce His Son in His Bride, to transform us into the image of His Son.

From eternity God’s desire has been to express Himself, and all creation is God’s way of doing so. When we look at the Lord Jesus, we see God realizing His desire. But when we look at His activity with His Bride, we see God seeking His expression in a fuller way – beyond the individual person of the Lord Jesus – to reproduce Himself in the Body of Christ, the Church. This heavenly order of which Christ is the Head is what God is determined to bring about in the new race.

The first Adam could only produce after his kind, and because of his choice, his kind was an earthly (soulish) order. He could not produce after the fullness of the Spirit of God.  The Lord Jesus can only produce after His kind, also. The difference, though, is that because Jesus chose the spiritual, He has the power to accomplish the Divine purpose by bringing in the spiritual (heavenly) order. You have, then, a ‘new race’ in union with Him, the life-giving spirit becoming the energy by which the end shall be reached. The Lord Jesus in us, through the Holy Spirit, is the energy and power to reproduce after His own kind. That makes a heavenly order possible, the fullest expression of the New Covenant: "Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 4:13

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