The Messianic Covenant (part 4)

The new covenant is significantly different from the other covenants in that in the New Covenant there is the death of the covenanter. Due to this circumstance it is called a “testament”. No term is more familiar to a reader of the Scriptures than that called “The New Testament”, yet it would be just as accurate to call it the “New Covenant”. But one thing we need to keep in mind; it is called “new” not because its contents are different from the “Old”, because it is simply a fulfillment of all that went before. Everything in the Old Testament contained a shadow or type of the substance of the New Testament.

In the New Testament the Gospel is fully unveiled, and the Gospel, in contrast to the Law, the main revelation of the Old Testament, was called “the New Testament” because it contained legacies which Jesus bequeathed to His people. (In our day, when a person dies they leave a last will and “testament” which leaves certain benefits to the family and loved ones).

It was by His blood that He ratified the New Testament; we might even say He signed the promises in His blood.

· Matt 26:28-29 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Well, what did He leave and to whom did He leave it? He left every possible blessing: temporal, spiritual, and the most durable blessing of all, eternal; and He left these to “His own”, those who loved Him and believed in Him.

Before His death Jesus spoke to His disciples on this subject when He said:

· John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

He also said something very interesting in:

· John 17:24, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

The King James version of the Bible uses an interesting phrase in John 17:24 where it says “I will that they also be with me…..So our presence with Him in eternity is part of His will. Jesus died to make His “testament” valid, and now He lives forever to be the executor and administrator of His will. Now when there is a will there are those who are the beneficiaries of the will. They are called “inheritors” and they receive an “inheritance”.

So let us move to a discussion of the contents of the Messianic Covenant. It is a covenant of promise and gives, by grace, security to God’s people and preserves them in a state of sanctification until their final salvation. In other words their right of inheritance is not by law or their own works.

· Rom 4:14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,

But what if a Christian should really depart from God and go his own way? Wouldn’t he lose all of his benefits as an heir?

This is a hypothetical situation and the answer is found in:

· Jer.32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

Have you ever seen that in your Bible before? God the Holy Spirit will not let you turn away from Him permanently. The Messianic Covenant contains all the promises that God has made since the beginning. And the covenant promised by Jeremiah included the sending of Jesus for the accomplishment of all these promises.

Let’s take an in-depth look at this covenant:

· Heb. 8:10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Please notice that God did not here promise that He would establish Israel in any earthly land, or grant them any material inheritance. This promise goes far beyond any material blessings. The promise can be summed up in four words, regeneration, reconciliation, sanctification and justification. And I would like for you to keep up with the order of things here. We are going to dissect Hebrews 8:10.

· I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.

The “law” here involves the principle of love of God in response to what He has done for us. If love is not the motivator of our hearts, then our obedience is of no consequence. This phrase clearly says that God prepares our soul by divine power so that His law is willingly received. In:

· Ezekiel 36:26, I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

What is involved here is an inward illumination of God’s goodness and the creation of a heart that is inclined to conform to His law. If all we hear is the outer voice of the preacher and there is no willingness to receive what God wants to do, there will be no obedience. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. At Sinai Moses had come down from the mountain and told the people what God required of them at which they responded by saying that they would obey all that he said. But God said in:

· Deut 5:29 “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always”

When God puts into us a heart that is receptive to the Holy Spirit, then we “delight in the law of the Lord”.

· Rom 7:22, For in my inner being I delight in God's law.

This enables us to be obedient. Remember, we are talking about re-generation.

Once we understand what God requires of us, and our inner tendencies are inclined to sincerely believe, then genuine obedience becomes the natural outcome.  The miracle of regeneration is the foundation for the further spiritual experiences. Now we have called regeneration a miracle. Think about this: We are not in the miracle business, but God is. So if we are to be regenerated, it must begin with God Himself. When we have been regenerated, what was once considered a burden is now a desire to please God.

This phrase we are now examining is a contrast between the old and new covenants. Under the old covenant (Sinai), the Law was written on tablets of stone, not only to suggest the lasting nature of the law, but also to suggest the hardheartedness of those to whom it was given. But there was no provision in the law that secured obedience. Under the Messianic covenant, the law is written on the heart causing the whole man to be in harmony with the will of God.

An additional contrast is implied in the second blessing that we see in Heb 8:10.

· I will be their God, and they will be my people.

· Ex 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.

These are other contrasts from the earlier covenant.

· Lev. 26:11-12 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

But this was greatly different from what was found in the new covenant. This dealt with a natural relationship. This new covenant dealt with a spiritual relationship. The earlier was external, this was internal; that was national, this was individual; that was temporal, this was eternal.

Under the theocracy all of Abraham’s natural descendants were true subjects and were properly members of the Jewish “church”, assuming that they had been circumcised. To be a member of the civil government and a member of the state church was essentially the same thing. That’s not unlike the case today where most Latinos are “members” of the Catholic Church but have no real connection with the church or any spiritual life within the church.

Under the Sinai Covenant God acknowledged all those to be “His people” and that He was “their God” who were externally obedient to His commands, even though there was no real spirituality in their hearts.

But things are different under the new covenant. God’s plan has now been fully revealed and God does not now acknowledge any as “His people” who do not truly know Him, love Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth. Only those who have His law written on their hearts are His people in a far higher sense than ever before under any of the previous covenants. And to be “their God” denotes that they have been reconciled to Him and have accepted His Son as their God.