THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW COVENANT
THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW COVENANT
Exodus 21:1-6; 2 Corinthians 3:5,6; 2 Corinthians 3:17,18.
I Feel, Dear brethren, that for the moment I cannot serve you better than to seek to point out the manner and spirit which it was the Lord’s thought should mark us during His absence and pending His return. The Lord exhibited that spirit while here, and now, He being absent, His Spirit is to continue in Christians. That was the divine intent, and I desire to show you how it is brought to pass in us, how the spirit of Christ is produced in us.
Many of you will remember how in the Canticles the bride in chapter 2 refers to the bridegroom under the figure of an apple tree. She uses the figure of an apple tree to describe her Beloved, as compared with the other sons. “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons”. In her estimate, her Beloved was marked off from all others by certain distinctive features, and when we come to the Antitype these features are delineated, I think, in the gospels, especially in the synoptic gospels. The distinctive marks of Christ, as compared with all others, are set forth in these gospels; so that, blended together, as they are by the Spirit, you can have the spirit of Christ as is seen in the holy anointing of old, Exodus 30. The bride takes account of the Bridegroom in that way, and compares Him with “the sons”. Then in chapter 8 it says, “I raised thee up (or awoke thee) under the apple tree”. She is brought to life and maturity under the influence of the Person whom she distinguished and marked off in chapter 2. In chapter 8, the speaker continues, “there thy mother brought thee forth;” the mother is the covenant, or system, by which she is brought forth; compare Galatians 4: 26 - 28. Think of the wonderful spirit that marked Christ, and led Him into death; it was in death that He brought to light the terms of the new covenant, in the light of this we are brought up. It is important to bear in mind that if children are brought up under a certain influence, that influence gives character to them. Hence the importance of saints coming under the power and influence of the spirit of Christ.
At the outset of Israel’s history as a nation, God’s thought was to bring them up under His own influence. They were taken account of under terms of parental affection. “When Israel was a child”, God says, “then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt”. There were the affections of a father in God. In the mind of God, Israel was to have the place of son to Him, and was to be called out of the sphere which in every sense tended to degradation. That is what the world is; the influence of the world produces degradation. Every right-minded Christian father wishes to have his children saved from the influences of the world; they are influences of moral degradation. God desired to bring His son out of Egypt. He says, “When Israel was a child then I loved him”. There were in the early beating of Israel’s breast, affections towards God. It is always so in youth. “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals”. As a rule, God works most with young people; very few old people are converted, but I refer to spiritual youth, and there it was in that stage in Israel, and God says, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth”. They might have forgotten it, but God remembered their love. There were the childhood conditions, and God would nurture His people in these conditions.
I refer to that to make room for another statement.
[p. 290] The covenant made with Israel was intended to be the nurturing influence for Israel. But the first covenant was not the “apple tree”. It was not a Person; the new covenant is. God says to Christ in the prophet Isaiah, “I will give thee for a covenant of the people”. The first covenant was simply an abstract code, representing divine authority, hence it was not a formative principle, except in type. The mediator of it was not its spirit. Moses was called up to the mount to receive from God the terms of the covenant: that which was in type the formative influence under which God intended the people to be nurtured. Supposing Moses had been Christ, what would have been seen? A Man coming down with the law in His heart, instead of in His hands! A Man coming down from God with His affections filled with God, and their outgoings to men! Instead of simply representing divine authority, as Moses did, let us suppose Christ were present with the law in His heart, when Israel had turned aside as they did. What would He do? — yea, what did He do when He came into similar conditions? Instead of bringing judgment on the nation, He died for the nation. Moses said: “Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin”, but before that “peradventure” he had set every man’s sword against his brother, Exodus 32. All this, of course, was right in another connection. It was righteous zeal for God. But look at Christ! Instead of setting every man’s sword against his brother, the sword was against Himself. He was made a curse. “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”, Galatians 3. In that way you will see that the first covenant utterly failed as a formative principle, and as a life-giving power; it did not bring the people into the land; whereas in Canticles, in chapter 8, the bride is seen coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. She is not going into the wilderness, but coming up out of it.
[p. 291] Of old, the children of Israel followed the Lord into the wilderness, and at Sinai He brought in typically the covenant by which they were to be formed and to enter the land, but it lacked the power. “If there had been a law given”, the apostle says, “which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law;” Galatians 3: 21. Then there would have been no requirement for the Lord’s death; but the law could not give life. In Canticles, which contemplates the new covenant, the bride is seen coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. Look at that picture! See how the Lord takes up Israel. See how He nurtures them under the influence of the covenant He makes for them. The bride is formed under His influence, and then she is seen leaning on His arm. That is the support of Christ. He is greater than Moses, in regard of the house, and greater than Moses as leaders of the people, for Moses did not lead them into the land, and Christ does. The bride leans on the arm of her Beloved, and He leads her into the land of purpose. That is what the Lord Jesus does. I connect it in my mind with the Lord’s supper.
It was at Horeb that Moses received His commission. “He came”, we are told, “to the mountain of God, even to Horeb”. He was to lead the people there, to the full height of his commission, to serve Jehovah. They were to be taken out of Egypt to serve Jehovah at that mountain. The first covenant was given in order that the service might begin: that was the end God had in view. “Let my son go that he may serve me”. He was to be nurtured under the influence of divine love, and there the service was to begin. The first covenant could not effect it, but the new covenant does effect it. If God does anything twice, the second doing is final, and the giving of the new covenant effects the divine thought. The covenant is at Horeb, and at Horeb [p. 292] the service of God begins, and the service of God is carried on by those who are under the influence of the covenant. The Lord’s supper speaks to our hearts of the terms on which God is pleased to be with us, and the principles under which our souls are nurtured. We are to be formed in our affections, and the covenant presents to our hearts the terms on which God is pleased to be with us. These terms become light in our souls, and so form us according to God. The terms are presented objectively in Christ; that is what the Supper is; it is the presentation objectively of what Christ is, as presented in His death.
In 2 Corinthians we have the spirit of the covenant; the first epistle is more objective, and presents what answers to the terms of the covenant. The second epistle shows how the thing has become effectual in at least one — Paul! “The letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life”. In Song of Songs 8 we find the bride brought up under the apple tree, and as brought up she is leaning on the arm of Christ and coming up from the wilderness. The wilderness is not the divine end, it falls in line with the ways of God, and there you are formed and become attached to Christ, and you know Christ as your Husband. Then, directly you know Him in this way, you lean on His arm. And where would He lead you? He will lead you up out of the wilderness. He will lead you to the sphere of purpose. You are to be “to another, even to him that is raised from the dead”.
Now, I want to show you how you get a picture of that in the types. Exodus 20 sets before us the terms of the first covenant; chapter 19 shows what God had done for His people. “Ye have seen ... how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself”. Following on that, He says, “ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all [p. 293] people, ... a kingdom of priests and an holy nation”. All depended on their receiving the terms of the covenant that God made with them. Chapter 20 gives the terms of the covenant, and God encourages them by saying at the close, “in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee”. What an incentive for the response of the people!
The divine case was thus stated, but what about the people? What a blank! There was no answer to it! Not an atom of movement in answer, and hence God sets out in chapter 21 a picture of Christ. It was as if He said: ‘Now I know what the people will do’. God is never disappointed with your heart or with mine — never! I have said sometimes that it is well to gauge a person and to know how much you may expect from him, and then you will not be disappointed. God knew all about man. He did not need to test him by the first covenant. He gives a picture of Christ, as much as to say; There, is the only Man who will keep it. God places alongside the covenant, which He knew Israel would never respond to, a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus in the Hebrew servant. He who would keep it in every particular, and not only so, but He would magnify the law and make it honourable. This latter is a very remarkable statement, a statement that brings the perfection of Christ into great prominence. He would enhance the law and make it honourable in the world. That is exactly what the Hebrew servant pictures to us. The Lord went beyond the actual requirements of the law. He says: “I restored that which I took not away”. He goes beyond the requirements; so does the Hebrew servant. He serves for six years and in the seventh he is entitled to go free. That was the Lord’s due; He was entitled to go out free. He fulfilled His due. But the excess is the point of Christianity. It goes beyond [p. 294] the legal claim. The Hebrew servant says plainly, “I will not go out free”.
If we can think of the manner in which the Lord Jesus served, if we think of His love to the Father, and His love to the saints, we must admit that He spake plainly. He fulfilled every divine requirement in every detail, and on that ground He was entitled to go out free; but instead of that, He brought in the excess. “I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free”. Beloved friends, the Lord Jesus did not go out free, and in not going out free He expresses the spirit that is to mark us. There is excess, a going beyond requirement. I do appeal to you as to whether you read the gospels. You will never get a right appreciation of Christ until you read the gospels and apprehend the divinely inspired narrative, and how it presents to us perfection in a Man. He answered to every possible divine requirement, and was entitled to go out free; but instead of this, He deliberately resolves to remain in the place of servitude. He says plainly, “I love my master”. God accepts that. God accepts the resolve of Christ, and allows Him to have His ears bored, so to speak, and to remain a Servant for ever. He has left the world in that way, and remains a Servant. He returns to His place with the Father, but returns to it, not alone, but with His associates, with His wife and children, so to speak.
As to the wife and children of the Hebrew servant, their character would become greatly altered, one would think by the wonderful object lesson set by the head of the house. So with the disciples. No doubt they enjoyed the Lord’s love, no doubt they enjoyed Christ’s affection before the institution of the Supper, but here you have a new thing. Picture the wife and children of the Hebrew servant observing the head of the house go to the doorpost. What an effect that would have on their hearts! Of what [p. 295] would it speak to them? Of devoted love to his master and to them. He would not be apart from them. He loved them, and hence he had said, “I will not go out free”, and he had his ear bored, which, as we all know, had reference to the Lord’s death. There we find the great principle of the covenant. And God’s thought is to produce in this world an order of man like His Son; that is the great moral force of the object lesson in John 13. What is recorded there took place at the Supper. The formal institution of the Supper is not there recorded, but we get the spirit that underlies the Supper in that chapter. John gives the spirit that is to mark those who have the place of “wife and children”. We get the same thing in 2 Corinthians. Paul is the only specific servant who is formally set before us as an example to follow. “Be ye followers of me”.
I take it that 2 Corinthians is a justification of Paul, for his character had been questioned at Corinth, but his justification lies in the fact that he was formed after Christ. All his ways were after Christ. You want no other justification. If any question is raised as to your character, you are called to be judged by the perfect law of liberty. The rule of judgment is the perfect law of liberty; nothing is lacking there, we need no further legislation. There is no legislation in the world to come; the legislation has taken place at the cross. There is set forth in the death of Christ the legislation or principle that is to govern the house of God, and indeed the whole moral universe. “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty;” James 2:12. John 13 is really that; it presents to us what James alludes to.
In his letter to the Galatians the apostle says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault”; not overtaken by a fault, but in it, that is, brethren find it out. Of old, Moses had to go to the Lord [p. 296] about such a thing; but the Lord has already formulated the principles to govern us. Suppose one is overtaken in a fault; the apostle says, “ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”. Those that “are spiritual” are those that are formed by the spirit that was seen in Christ, and indeed in Paul. Paul says: “not of the letter but of the spirit;” he laid hold of the spirit of the covenant. “Restore such an one”, he says. What a solution of things! All is to be learnt in Him who is typified by the Hebrew servant! The Hebrew servant presents to us the spirit of the covenant, and the thought is that that spirit is to take its place in the saints. The second epistle to the Corinthians shows how it had place in Paul, and his vindication is that he was formed by it. The chapter I read is part of his vindication. “God hath made us competent as ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit;” he says.
Following that is a long parenthesis, then he says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit;” the Lord is that in toto, and that is to give character to each one of us. Saints are not brought into bondage by any circumstance. The most appalling things may happen, but the saints are supported in spirit. Look at Paul! how buoyant he was as sustained by the Spirit of Christ. The greater the pressure the more buoyant, we may say, he became. Then he shows how bountiful is the supply; “we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord, the Spirit”. The sun affords a bountiful supply of light. One is often struck by the bountifulness of things in the creation. Take the sun as illustration. What a bountiful supply of light there is in it. The “glory of the Lord” is for us the Sun of glory in the heavens; we are to look on that, and [p. 297] as we do we are affected by the transforming power of it, and we are changed into the same image. There is the reproduction of Christ in every one of us, and all of one kind. All are formed by the same principle and all are constituted alike, and in that way all are unitedly a reflection of Christ, so that the spirit that shone in Him comes out down here.
May God grant that, however brokenly these things may have been presented, what is of the Spirit may lay hold of us. Christ is the presentation of God to us, and that is to affect our hearts, that we are changed, and all formed after Him.