THE NEW COVENANT
[p. 282] THE NEW COVENANT
The ministry of the new covenant is divine teaching, and the new covenant is not of practical value to us until divine teaching is effective. Human teaching is for the mind, and the impression may fade away, but divine teaching is an impression which God makes upon the heart, and it never fades away. Divine teaching is not corrective; discipline is corrective, and comes in that divine teaching may be effective.
Ques What condition is necessary for divine teaching?
People are not in a condition for divine teaching until they are in the good of the kingdom, and have the sense of being under grace. No one is in the condition to be divinely taught until he is in the sense of security, which is the kingdom. A man is formed by divine teaching, but I doubt if the formative work of the Spirit goes on until one is in the good of the kingdom, and has the sense of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The effect of being in the good of the kingdom is that we do not fear evil; we are apart from the course of things here, and in the sense that God is greater than all evil. The object and end of the kingdom is salvation from every enemy, and that gives the sense of security, and deliverance from fear of evil. The kingdom is maintained in power in the believer, for “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4: 4). Divine teaching gives character; God teaches His people that they may be an expression of Himself, and it will result in the heavenly city. The kingdom, the new covenant, reconciliation, and eternal life all apply to earth, and Israel therefore will come into them. Christianity brings in consciousness, but we cannot have the consciousness of anything that does not exist. The kingdom is here, hence we can be in the consciousness of it. The kingdom is individual, and we are under the new covenant when [p. 283] we are in the kingdom. The Testator has died, and the covenant is there, but it has to be ministered to us, so that we may be in the good of it. The covenant is God’s mind and disposition towards those who believe. A covenant is really always on one side. Israel was taken up on the ground of obedience, but it was the covenant which God had enjoined; the old covenant was God’s mind towards man in the flesh.
The great characteristics of the covenant are love and righteousness, and both came out in the death of Christ; so the Lord said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”, Luke 22: 20. We take the bread before we take the wine; His body given signifies our removal, and the cup is the witness to the love of God. I have an increasing interest in the Lord’s supper; the Supper is essentially the Lord’s table. What is brought before us in the Supper is what will yet fill the universe; there is the removal of the man, and the revelation of the love of God. It is in connection with the death of the Testator that the covenant comes in; it is not valid until then. Christ’s body given is the death of the Testator, and then we get the new covenant set forth in the cup, as the Lord Himself said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”. The bread sets forth that we have become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Reconciliation goes further, and brings in the Man that is to the pleasure of God. Reconciliation means that there is complacency where there was distance, but then it is Christ who brings in the complacency. Christ had to remove us that He might have us.
In 1 Corinthians 10 we have the sacrificial order; in the case of a sin offering the blood was dealt with first; it was carried inside, God’s righteousness was vindicated, and then the carcase burnt afterwards signified the removal of the man. That is God’s side, but in chapter 11, where it is Christ’s side, His death is put before us as the expression of His love. When it is a question of God the blood must come first, and it signifies that every requirement of God has been met. Christ has entered into [p. 284] everything which lay on man — curse, death, and judgment — and all has been borne according to God. The burning of the carcase is the expression of God’s mind in regard of man’s state in the flesh. When we look at it as to what Christ effected, He removed the man that He might declare the love. Chapter 10 is the sacrificial side; chapter 11 is the declaration of love. The cup is the expression of the love of God to us. The blood being carried into the holiest conveys the thought to me that man is going into the holiest. I cannot see any other object than that in blood going in there; God could have vindicated Himself by judgment, and therefore the blood need not have gone in merely for that.
We have to look at the death of Christ in its sacrificial aspect, and also in its witness aspect. We could not understand the latter unless we apprehended the glory of the Lord — that the One who did the work was the Son of God. He was the Son of man suffering from men, but underneath that, the One who was suffering was God’s beloved Son.
At the Supper it is a great thing to be simple, and partake of what Christ sets before us. In His body given He presents to us our removal, and in the cup the love of God; we are to be in accord with these, to have Christ before us, and to be occupied with Him. The Supper tests us; it tested the Corinthians, for they were not in accord with it. If we answered to it we should walk in self-judgment; we should judge ourselves and so eat; that is the spirit we are to be of. Lessons of the widest import are brought before us in the Supper, and principles are brought to light by which God will revolutionise the world. God removes the man, and thus sin is removed. The Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world, and then afterwards it is said that He baptises with the Holy Spirit (John 1: 29, 33). This looks on to the perfect exclusion of sin in eternity and then God will be all in all; the kingdom will have been given up, and the nature of God will pervade everything. Thus we see that the universe will be filled by what is set forth in the [p. 285] Supper. All will be removed that is contrary to God, and He will be all in all.
The simplest illustration of covenant is a will. A will always expresses the true disposition of the testator. Many a man is disappointed at the reading of a will, having thought that he had more place with the testator; the disposition of the testator comes to light when he is dead. Now the death of the Testator has come in, and therefore we have the disclosure of God’s love. We get inheritance by the will, but we get the Testator too; we get the good of the Testator Himself, as well as the knowledge of His disposition. The love of God in one way is unbounded; it is towards the world, but we do not get into it until we leave the world by the door which Christ has opened up out of it by His death. Then we get into the good of the love. The love of God has its satisfaction in those who leave the world by that open door, in those who accept God’s testimony; the Holy Spirit is given to shed His love abroad in their hearts.
The glory of the Lord is unveiled now; there is no question now as to who He is; He is the Son of God. While He was here His glory was veiled, though occasionally there was a witness to the fact that He was God’s beloved Son, but now it is clear that His glory at the right hand of God declares Him to be the Son of God. His glory is that He is God’s beloved Son, making God known. Glory is the celebration of righteousness, and therefore grace here is equivalent to the glory at the right hand of God. My impression is that “the glory of the Lord” in 2 Corinthians 3: 18 is in contrast to what He was when He was here. “Changed into the same image” is, I think, that we become partakers of the divine nature. On the mount of transfiguration the three disciples saw His true glory for a moment; the veil was withdrawn, and He was saluted as God’s beloved Son. Now He is at the right hand of God; the veil is entirely drawn aside, and we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. This last verse is not the assembly; things are individual until we come to reconciliation. Reconciliation brings in [p. 286] the assembly. In Colossians the order is, first the Head, then reconciliation, then the body.
The effect of divine teaching will come out in the heavenly city. The covenant gives character to the heavenly Jerusalem; it will come down from God out of heaven, and its light is most precious; the light which it reflects is really the glory of God. There is the same line of thought in 1 John 4, “God dwelleth in us” (verse 12), and “God dwelleth in him” (verse 15). We must get back to the truth; we do not cherish any idea of the restoration of the church, but we should like to get back to the truth as it was at the beginning. I do not think we should expect too much from people seeking fellowship; if they are clear about the gospel, and are in the kingdom we may be free to receive them, and then they come into the place where they get divine teaching. I should put the gravity of the step before them, for many people regard it as nothing more than joining a church or chapel.
It is a great thing to be brought into the kingdom, where God is greater than man; there we get the sense of security, and have no fear of evil. Things must be taken up in divine order. We get the kingdom first, because there God and man are in their right places respectively; then we are prepared for the covenant. I think the bride comes in morally before the body.