THE NEW COVENANT IN ITS APPLICATION TO CHRISTIANS
[p. 26] THE NEW COVENANT IN ITS APPLICATION TO CHRISTIANS
My object in reading this Scripture is to say a few words in regard to the thought of the new covenant, and in general as to the force of a covenant. It is an idea which is presented to us in Scripture in different ways from time to time, and it is evident enough from the passage I have read that it has a very important application to us. The apostle speaks of being made competent as ministers of the new covenant, and then gives an idea of the terms and character of that covenant. Covenant was a thought with which those instructed in Scripture were familiar, and no doubt the new covenant spoken of literally, has its application in the future to Israel; it will be established for the house of Judah and Israel. But we find the truth here in its application to Christians, showing that the apostles’ ministry was, in principle, the ministry of the new covenant.
I purpose to refer to two or three instances in Scripture of covenants established, to show their character, and then to refer to the new covenant to see the import of it in regard to ourselves; and in connection with this, to show what it is intended to lead on to.
I suppose the new covenant when established with Israel will, in a sense, be the end of things for them, they will not look to anything farther, and power will be there to enable them fully to enjoy what is present. But covenant comes in in regard to us, not merely that we may enjoy what is set forth in it, but to lead us on to what is beyond; and the proof of that is found in this epistle. In chapter 5 we have the ministry of reconciliation, and it is plain enough that this is something beyond the ministry of the new covenant.
Now I want first to give you the idea of a covenant.
[p. 27] As far as I understand it, a covenant describes the terms on which God can be with an individual or a people at any given moment, the object being to secure to that people or individual the benefits of God’s previous intervention on their behalf. That is rather a long sentence, but I hope you will take it in. A covenant invariably follows upon some intervention of God on man’s behalf; and it is brought in in order that the benefits of that intervention may be enjoyed by the subjects of it. So that if God comes in to establish a covenant, that covenant lays down the terms or conditions on which God can be with man. We shall see this better and more clearly when we come to illustrations of it.
Another point incidental to this is, that a subsequent covenant usually embodies the conditions of preceding covenants, so that you are not at liberty to go back to a preceding covenant; if you do, you transgress. This is an exceedingly important principle, and comes out in Scripture very simply. What makes me refer especially to this is because of what we see in Christendom. There has been a general going back to the form of a preceding covenant, and in this sense they have transgressed. The Galatians were in great danger of doing this, of turning from the new covenant to the old, and the apostle shows that they were going in the direction of apostasy, and were in danger of falling from grace. It is this that very largely characterises Christendom. It has gone back from the new covenant to the form of the old covenant — to Judaism. It is not therefore, I think, too much to say that Christendom is apostate, that is, the mass is apostate. I do not look with the least satisfaction on Christendom, and am only too glad to have escaped in measure from its corruption, and rather than be mixed up with much in it, I think I would stand alone all my days. I feel in spirit more and more apart from it. If you have your eyes open, you cannot but see the enormous increase of pretension in it, and yet, as a matter of fact, almost every pulpit [p. 28] in the country is used to undermine the truth of God. That is pretty much the character of things in this country, and largely throughout Christendom.
To return to my subject. The first covenant to which I will allude (although it does not fully illustrate my point) is that which God made with Noah, and which followed on God’s intervention on behalf of himself and his family. When the flood of water was upon the earth, Noah and his family were saved by God’s intervention. They came forth from the ark on a regenerated earth, and that led to the covenant made with Noah. I have no doubt the basis of the covenant was the burnt-offering, and the object of it was that they might enjoy God’s intervention on their behalf. The world had been destroyed on account of its wickedness, but God having saved Noah and his family, His thought was that they should enjoy His salvation, and therefore God made a covenant on certain terms with Noah. I do not go into the detail of the terms, but there it was.
Now we pass on to Abraham, where more of the moral character of a covenant comes out. The covenant with Abraham, as I understand it, was circumcision, a covenant in the flesh of Abraham and his children. Abraham was circumcised himself; and all the males of his household. That was the condition of God’s covenant with Abraham, and the purpose and moral force of it was separation. They carried this sign with them in order that they might enjoy God’s intervention, and that intervention was that God had accounted Abraham righteous. God had not only blessed him, but He made this covenant with him — that Abraham might enjoy God’s grace. God lays down the condition on which He could be with Abraham, and the condition was circumcision. He was to be separate from the nations of the earth, a stranger and a pilgrim apart for God.
We will pass on to another case and look at the covenant [p. 29] made with Israel. God made a covenant of law with the children of Israel, and the purpose of it was that they might enjoy His intervention on their behalf, that is, their redemption from Egypt. I do not go much into the matter, but the law expressed the terms of the covenant, and these terms were good and beneficent. We find God afterwards appealing to the people on this ground, and raising the question whether any other people on the face of the earth had had righteous statutes and judgments such as they had. They were far better off than any other people. They had an amount of light from God that no other nation enjoyed, and righteous judgments to guide them in government; and the object of the covenant was that they might enjoy the intervention of God, who had not only delivered them from Egyptian bondage, but brought them to Himself in the wilderness. The covenant with them embodied the covenant made with Abraham. We read that circumcision was not of Moses, but of the fathers. Thus the covenant made with them in the law embodied the principle of the preceding covenant, and described the terms on which God could be with them, and they with God.
Before passing on from this to the covenant in connection with the coming of Christ, I may remark that there was a kind of covenant made with Israel on their return from the captivity in Babylon, which return was a remarkable intervention of God on their behalf. If you search the Scriptures, you will find that God laid down certain terms on which He would be with the people after their return. There was a modification of the original terms, because many things were scarcely possible after their return which had been laid down under the original covenant. They came back, you must remember, from the captivity under the protection of the Gentile power, but they no longer had the throne of David. They were brought back to wait for Christ under Gentile domination.
[p. 30] Now we come to the presence of Christ in Israel, and in this we see a new intervention of God on behalf of His people, the greatest intervention of all. What could be equal to the thought of Emmanuel, God with us? In the early part of the prophecy of Isaiah we get this intervention of God on their behalf referred to prophetically, in allusion to the time when the Assyrian will yet come into the land, and the prophet says (chapter 9): The darkness will not be like the darkness was in the past, for “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder”. That was the character of God’s intervention on behalf of Israel. A sign was given (chapter 7), and the sign pointed to Immanuel. At the birth of Christ the angels say to the shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord;” and the sign which they gave them was of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. The force of the intervention was “God with us”. And when Christ came in thus, there were new conditions laid down for those that received Him that they might enjoy this new intervention of God. Not that Christ was come to set aside the law, but to fulfil it; at the same time, where there was faith to appreciate this intervention of God in Christ, there were new conditions for those who accepted it. The angels celebrated this at the birth of Christ in the song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. That is very different to anything that had gone before. I have a strong impression that those who received Christ, and were associated with Him here, came under the favour of God, under that favour in which Christ stood, the object being that they might enjoy the wonderful intervention of God on behalf of His people. This intervention is celebrated in a very blessed way in the song of Zacharias in Luke 1 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and [p. 31] redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David”. While the occasion of the song was the birth of John the Baptist, the song is remarkable in its celebration of the coming kingdom of Christ. He was the “horn of salvation”. The position of those whom Christ described as “blessed” may be seen in Matthew 5 - Matthew 7. It is very interesting to trace out how those associated with Christ, when the Lord was here on earth, came under the favour of God, and that this was the character of the covenant consequent on the introduction of Christ.
I pass on to the passage I read, which speaks of the new covenant, and this refers to ourselves. Now, in order to lead up to the new covenant, I will say a few words about God’s intervention, as pictured in the great supper (Luke 14), and what I understand by it. The great supper brings before us, I judge, the glory of the Lord, as the celebration of righteousness accomplished; and you cannot understand or appreciate this intervention on behalf of men save as you apprehend the glory of the Lord. Then the new covenant has come in in order that we may behold and be changed by the glory of the Lord. You first have the terms of the new covenant, then it is added, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding ... the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image”.
Now, as I have said, the great supper connects itself with the glory of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord is a great celebration! God will have His house filled, and filled with those who are prepared to have part in the great celebration. Now, if you ask what I mean by the great supper being the celebration of righteousness, I reply that the supper is the answer to the cross, and that the cross was the accomplishment of righteousness of God. Where sin had been, sin has been removed, and at the same time righteousness established in the righteous [p. 32] One. The righteous One glorified God, and vindicated God’s righteousness. All was completed at the cross. Righteousness was established, nothing can be added to it. You remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “It is finished”. That put the seal on righteousness; and the next step was the resurrection. The resurrection was the testimony of righteousness, and therefore becomes the ground of faith. It is God’s testimony of righteousness accomplished. The reason for that is perfectly plain, for resurrection testified that death was no longer triumphant. It had reigned up to that time, but resurrection proved that the power of God was triumphant, that death’s power was annulled. Therefore the resurrection of Christ becomes the testimony of righteousness and the ground of faith, and righteousness is imputed to us “If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification”. He was raised again in testimony in order that we might be justified.
Now we come to a further point, the glory of the Lord is the celebration of righteousness. I do not know whether we all enter into the meaning of celebration, but the idea is brought before us in the great supper. I would like all to appreciate the glory of the Lord. You get a foreshadowing of it in Psalm 24, where we read, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in”. When Christ went up on high, surely He was received with rejoicing. If there was such heavenly rejoicing when Christ was born into the world, do you not think there was great rejoicing when He went up as Man on high? When the Lord entered Jerusalem, at the close of His course here, to suffer, the children sang, “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”. Now when righteousness was completed, and Christ went to heaven in the value of that completed work, do you not think He was received there with [p. 33] acclamation, that there was rejoicing in heaven? All the will of God accomplished, and the One in whom God had been perfectly glorified, who had accomplished righteousness in the place of man’s judgment, gone up on high. If there were not rejoicing, I think there would be very poor spirits in heaven! And if there was rejoicing in heaven, I think we must be very poor things if we do not rejoice here. I doubt not that there was acclamation in heaven when Christ went back there in the power of His accomplished work — rejoicing that can only be made good down here in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has come down to report the glory of Christ, and to bring us into the celebration of the great supper, the rejoicing consequent upon Christ having entered heaven in accomplished righteousness. He came from there to do the work, He goes back as having fully glorified God. The Holy Spirit has come to bring our souls into the rejoicings of heaven. If that is true, and I think no one here would be prepared to dispute it, there is not one but would wish to join in the acclamation. Every one here, I suppose, knows and confesses Christ as Lord, but how far have we entered into the rejoicings of heaven? I feel the poverty of my own spirit in this way, how little I am in accord with heaven. If we were in the spirit of what characterises heaven, we should be very bright; how much rejoicing there would be here on earth! We must be all conscious how very soon we feel the effect of a ray of sunshine; and if you got a little ray of sunshine from the glory of the Lord, from that scene, what an amazing effect there would be on the spirits of God’s people down here. The Spirit of the Lord is come, and we, in the liberty of the Spirit, beholding the glory of the Lord, enter into the rejoicings above, which really began when Christ came into the world and which have not yet ended in heaven. Christ has been received there as Man, and is seated in the highest place of honour and dignity. He has taken His place [p. 34] at the right hand of God, He has ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.
Now we will refer again to the covenant as that by which we may enjoy what we have been speaking about. The Spirit brings out the terms on which God is pleased to be with us, consequent on His intervention on our behalf. The terms are very simple: love and forgiveness, or love and righteousness. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and in the presence of the love of God it is impossible that there can be such a thing as imputation of sin. These are the spirit of the covenant, the love of God, and forgiveness or non-imputation. The love of God is the first principle of Christianity, and when the Holy Spirit is come, the love of God is shed abroad in man’s heart. What is Christianity without love? I think the sense of grace would grow old in us, if you understand me, if we had not love. But love cannot grow old; love is ever fresh, because it is what God is. The sense of grace might in measure fail in the heart of a Christian, but there is no failing in the love of God. Indeed, we get the expression in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love never fails”. It is eternal, and the Holy Spirit sheds it abroad in our hearts. He is given to us to that end, that we might be in the blessings of the new covenant, love and righteousness. And, I judge the object is, that by beholding the glory of the Lord, we might be brought more and more by the power of the Holy Spirit into correspondence with the mind of heaven. There is a company in the Revelation that puts us to shame, a company on earth who learn the heavenly song. We do not sing it much. Our hymns have not much the character of it. The company I refer to learn the heavenly song. We ought not to have to learn it, for it belongs to us as a heavenly people. It is not for us to listen to, and to catch its tones; we ought to know it and to sing it ourselves, to be in concert with heaven. We can get on very well with such a hymn as:
‘We bless our Saviour’s name,
Our sins are all forgiven’.
But that is hardly the acclamation and rejoicing of heaven; very different from it; and I think the Holy Spirit is come down here to bring our hearts into the heavenly song.
In speaking of the covenant, I have looked at it as being on our part, because covenants, though of God, are on man’s behalf. A covenant, as we have seen, describes the terms on which God can be with us so that we may enjoy His intervention on our behalf; thus covenant is on our side. God does not make a covenant for Himself but on our behalf. There are two parties to a covenant. God makes the covenant, lays down the terms, and we accept the terms. But at the same time, I believe that the new covenant is to lead us into the apprehension of what is on the part of God, and the point where we begin to touch that, is the ministry of reconciliation.
If I speak of God’s love and righteousness, of sin not being imputed, that is on man’s behalf; but when I come to the ministry of reconciliation, the word of reconciliation is that every man and every order of man has disappeared in the death of Christ from the eye of God, that but one Man may remain, and that Man is Christ.
Consequent on reconciliation, you have this: “If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new, and all things are of God”. That is not on man’s part, but on God’s part. The terms of the new covenant are to lead you to the apprehension of what is on God’s part, and if you apprehend that, you have a very much clearer sense of what is on man’s part. It is a great point for souls to go on to the apprehension of what is on God’s part. Reconciliation is so, and it began when Christ was on earth. Then He was morally outside of [p. 36] everything and every man here upon earth; He was addressing man, but as being Himself morally outside all; He had no part morally with man, but was outside of all and every man — the corn of wheat alone; and in the cross He removed every man.
Christ is now the blessed starting-point for God. God will have none other. If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation; new things have come to pass, and all things are of God. Christ is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might have the pre-eminence; and that we must accept.
Another thing comes in as connected with this: you have to get free from everything that links you to the course of things down here. You will feel the need of deliverance, the need to be set free from everything to which the flesh would attach you; and the flesh would attach you to everything here. You become conscious of the urgent necessity that every moral tie should be broken; you have put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, and then you prove the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, by which you are formed in everything that is after God. You partake morally of Christ.
One word more, to refer again to the covenant. In Christ you get the good of every preceding covenant — you get circumcision. You may not get the good of every covenant in the letter of it, but you get the spirit of it. In the new covenant you get the circumcision of Christ. So as to the covenant of law with Israel, we get the good of it, for “the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”. You get too all the good that Israel should have had in the coming and presence of Christ here. You are in the favour in which He is — “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”. At the same time we have “access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God”. You stand in divine favour. “As he is, so are we in this world”. Thus you get the good of every preceding covenant; and to go back, as the Galatians were doing, to the form of some previous covenant, is really apostasy from the truth. I see cases of departure from us now, people leaving us, and going away from the light which they have been brought into, to something out of which they had come, to what is set up after the terms of another covenant, and that really means apostasy from the light. I pray God to preserve every soul from it. We are brought into the light and pleasure of God, and we ought to understand the terms on which it pleases God to be with us.
I touch on one other point. We read, “He hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him”. That is, that we should be the eternal witness of the righteousness and consistency of God. There was in the cross the perfect solution of every moral question, and the reconciliation of love and righteousness. We are, in virtue of it, the objects of God’s love, and at the same time the witness of His righteousness. If you want to learn great and eternal lessons, there is one point where you learn them, and that is in the death of Christ.