THE COVENANT

A covenant is a binding agreement between two or more parties. Every covenant is based upon certain terms or conditions. In scripture it signifies something which God engages Himself to do—in it God says, “I will”. It determines the conditions on which man is to be in relationship with God, and on which God is in relationship with men. “I will be to them for God”, &c., Heb 8: 10. The first mention of a covenant in scripture is in connection with Noah. When God was about to destroy all flesh, He declared He would make a covenant with Noah, Gen 6: 18; 9: 8-17. The ground on which this covenant was established was the burnt sacrifices offered by Noah when he came out of the ark. “God smelled the sweet odour” (Gen 8: 21), and He said in His heart He would not henceforth curse the ground on account of man. In chapter 9, He established this covenant with Noah, and with his seed, and with every living thing, saying that He would not again destroy the earth with a flood, but as long as the earth remained there should be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. He also gave a sign of the covenant by putting His bow in the cloud. This covenant was chiefly of a negative character. God said, “I will not”.

The next mention of covenant is in connection with Abram, Gen 15: 18; 17: 2-21. This covenant was to be established in Isaac, figure of Christ, and in him in resurrection figuratively, when it was confirmed by God’s oath. The basis was sacrifice, see Gen 15: 9-17. And in connection with this covenant God instituted the rite of circumcision. That is, Abram was to understand that it was not to be established in the energy of the flesh, but by the faithfulness and power of God, the flesh was judged. God said, “I will”. It was to depend upon the grace, power and faithfulness of God. Hence it was an everlasting covenant. The flesh of man is entirely shut out from that which is of God. God will not adopt it in any way, it can have no part in that which is abiding—only what is of God abides. God bound Himself according to the value of the death of Christ to fulfil what He had spoken of to Abram. This is what is signified by the figure of the smoking furnace and the burning lamp passing between the parts of the sacrifice, see Jer 34: 18, 19. God is a consuming fire, consuming in holy judgment all that is evil, yet at the same time a lamp of fire, light for His people during the darkness of the night, see Exod 14: 20; 40: 38.

The next covenant we read of was that made with Israel at Mount Sinai after they had been redeemed out of Egypt—that is the covenant of the law. This is what is spoken of in the New Testament as the old covenant. The condition on which it was established was the obedience of the people to the law; on this condition God engaged to do certain things for the people if they were obedient. What was promised unconditionally to the patriarchs was now presented to the people conditionally on their keeping the law. This was intended to prove to men that it is impossible for any blessing to be established on this ground. God never intended to establish anything permanently on this ground. Under this covenant everything was forfeited, and it became a ministration of death and condemnation instead of righteousness and life. Hence God spoke of making a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, Jer 31: 31-34. It is according to the terms of this new covenant that He will establish the promises to the patriarchs. In the letter this covenant applies to Israel. But Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, speaks of himself as a minister of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit—that is, in the spirit of it, it is made good to us before it is established with Israel. The spirit of it is set forth in Christ. In Him we see the terms on which man is with God. As man He is with God on the ground of His perfect sacrifice in which He has accomplished redemption. He is there in righteousness and life, so that in Him all the promises of God are yea and in Him Amen. In Him God has established all that He purposed. It was impossible that anything permanent could be established in connection with man after the flesh. God’s “I will” is established in Christ—that is, what God has established in Christ is the expression of what God has engaged Himself to establish in us. This is not yet fully brought about in us, but it is all part of God’s engagement, and therefore is as sure as if it were already accomplished.

So far as righteousness and life are concerned, these things are established in us. In Christ, righteousness and life have been ministered to us, so that we can behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. Under the old covenant the people could not behold the glory of the Lord because they had not kept the covenant. But we can, because for us it is the witness of how all our liabilities have been met, and also of the fact that we are in relation to God in Christ as He is—God’s disposition towards us is set forth in Him. Under the old covenant God said, ‘I will, if you will’, but under the new covenant God’s “I will” is based upon what Christ has accomplished for God in His death. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (Matt 26: 28) ... “But the God of peace, who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, in the power of the blood of the eternal covenant”, Heb 13: 20. He has entered into the holiest, having obtained an eternal redemption, and on this ground He is mediator of the new covenant. He could say, “Lo, I come … to do thy will, O God”, Heb 10: 7. On this ground God can in righteousness establish all His will. This covenant is likened to a testament, or will, which expresses the disposition of the testator. In all this we see what the disposition of God is toward us, and behind it all there is His love. So that in presenting to us the cup, the Lord would speak to us of the love of God, and call forth our hearts in thanksgiving to Him, while setting before us the sure and settled ground on which we are in relationship with God, the eternally abiding character of the blessing which is established in Christ by God’s “I will”.

What is brought before us in the cup is not so much what has been removed by the blood, but rather the new things which have been established for us in Christ, that which God engages Himself to perform—all that flows from what God is to us. “I will be to them for God”. “All shall know me”, Heb 8: 10, 11. It is our privilege to know God according to what has been displayed in the death of Christ—that is, in love. Then we know that our relationship to God does not depend upon our obedience, but upon the sweet savour which God has found in Him who by His obedience has so perfectly glorified God in the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hence we can enjoy liberty in the presence of the glory of God, the glory no longer exacting something from us but testifying to God’s satisfaction and delight in Christ. We can therefore understand the force of the expression, “The cup of blessing which we bless”, 1 Cor 10: 16. What a blessing to know God, and to know that all our good depends solely upon what He is to us, and to know too that we are His people, the objects of His favour and love, and that this relationship rests upon such immutable ground, the blood of Christ! We may well give thanks!

From Helps for the Poor of the Flock vol 17 (1912)