THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW COVENANT
It is remarkable that the thought of the new covenant should be constantly brought before us in the cup at the Lord’s supper, seeing that covenant relationship and blessing is not peculiar to the Christian period. Why is it?
The special blessing of the new covenant for us is the knowledge of God, as revealed in the death of Christ. “All shall know me”, Heb 8: 11. What God is to us, and what we are to Him. “They shall be my people, and I will be their God”, Jer 32: 38. All that He is as God, He is for us, and we are the objects of His choice and of His love. God is love; this was declared in the death of His Son: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all”, Rom 8: 32. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins”, 1 John 4: 10. “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”, Rom 5: 8.
The knowledge and enjoyment of this revelation supposes a work done for us by which the question of our sins has been settled and put out of the way for ever, and also a work done in us, giving us the capacity to enjoy God as revealed. Christ is the spirit of the new covenant; it is ministered to us in Him. What God is to man is set forth in Christ, and what man is to God is seen in Christ. He is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Eph 1: 17. All that was revealed of God to saints in times past is embraced in the present revelation, but now we have the full revelation of God, which could not be till the Son came. In this revelation of God we have the fountain-head of all blessing for men; He is the fountain of living water.
Whatever God does is the result of what God is. He is the cause of all that is good, of all that abides. If I think of all that He has done for me, of all the grace He has bestowed on me in Christ, I say, I am what I am, because of what God is. How this shuts out everything of man, of man’s will, man’s work, and any thought of goodness in man. God must be all in all.
I have thought that what has been said explains the reason why it is so constantly brought before us in connection with the Lord’s supper. The Lord would lead us to God, the Source of all. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”, Luke 22: 20.
While it does not express what is special Christian privilege, it prepares the way for it. What I understand as special Christian privilege is connected with the revelation of God in the name of Father, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Eph 3: 14. This involves for us the relationship of children and sons. But if God has been pleased to call us into this blessed relationship in His beloved Son, it is because of what He is, and for His pleasure and glory. God is love and He acts for the satisfaction of His love. To see this places our feet on solid ground, gives stability and real joy, that nothing can take away. We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5: 11.
How fully all this will be realised in the day of God. “I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”, Rev 21: 6, 7. To whom be glory for ever. Amen.
From Mutual Comfort vol 14 (1921)