Scripture Reading: Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12
Ⅰ
In Greek the same word is used for both covenant and testament:
A
A covenant and a testament are the same, but when the maker of the covenant is living, it is a covenant, and when he has died, it is a testament; a testament in today's terms is a will.
B
A covenant is an agreement containing some promises to accomplish certain things for the covenanted people, while a testament is a will containing certain accomplished things that are bequeathed to the inheritor—Heb. 9:16-17; cf. Deut. 11:29; 28:1, 15; Jer. 31:31-32.
Ⅱ
The old covenant, the law, is the testimony of God, the portrait of God, showing us who God is and exposing man, subduing man, and conducting God's chosen ones to Christ— Psa. 78:5; 119:88b; Gen. 1:26; Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:23-25; John 10:9-10.
Ⅲ
The old covenant of the law is a portrait of God, but the new covenant of grace is the person of God—1:16-17:
A
The law makes demands upon man according to what God is; grace supplies man with what God is to meet what God demands—1 Cor. 15:10.
B
When we believe into Christ, the person of this portrait comes into us and He fulfills in us the righteous requirements of the law as we walk according to the spirit and set our mind on the spirit—Ezek. 36:26-27; Rom. 8:2, 4, 6, 10.
C
In the new covenant God puts Himself into His chosen people as their life, and this life is a law, a spontaneous, automatic principle—Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:2.
D
In essence this law is God in Christ as the Spirit, and in function it has the capacity to deify us and to constitute us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions—vv. 10, 6, 11, 28-29.
Ⅳ
Christ Himself is the new covenant, the new testament, given to us by God—Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12:
A
Through His death Christ fulfilled the demands of God's righteousness according to His law and enacted the new covenant (Rom. 6:23; 3:21; 10:3-4; Luke 22:20; Heb. 9:16-17), and in His resurrection He became the new covenant with all of its bequests (1 Cor. 15:45b; Isa. 42:6; Phil. 1:19).
B
In His ascension Christ opened the scroll of the new covenant concerning God's economy, and in His heavenly ministry He is carrying out its contents—Rev. 5:1-5.
C
As the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Christ overcame and defeated Satan, as the redeeming Lamb, Christ took away the sin of fallen man, and as the seven Spirits, Christ infuses us with Himself as the contents of the scroll of the new covenant—vv. 5-6.
D
God's salvation, God's blessings, and all of God's riches have been covenanted to us, and this covenant is Christ:
１
The reality of all the hundreds of bequests in the New Testament is Christ—Gen. 22:18a; Gal. 3:14; 1 Cor. 1:30; 15:45b; Eph. 1:3.
２
Christ is the reality of the new testament, the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given to us; therefore, Christ is the new testament.
３
The bequests are many, but all these many bequests are actually one person—the pneumatic Christ; God has willed Himself in Christ as the Spirit to us—John 20:22; Eph. 3:8.
４
The bequests bequeathed to us by the Lord in the new testament are inexhaustible, and they are for us to experience and enjoy through the Spirit for eternity—Heb. 9:15.
Ⅴ
Our spirit is the "bank account" of all the bequests of the new covenant; by the law of the Spirit of life, all of these bequests are dispensed into us and made real to us—Rom. 8:2, 10, 6, 11, 16; Heb. 8:10; John 16:13:
A
In our spirit we have the presence of God, the speaking of God, the meeting with God, and the dispensing of God through His operation as the law of the divine life to impart and inscribe Himself into all our inward parts—Heb. 8:10.
B
The Lord makes His covenant known to those who fear Him, and He dispenses Himself as the unsearchable reality of His covenant to those who love Him—Psa. 25:14; Isa. 11:2-3a; 1 Cor. 2:9.
C
Christ as the new covenant is our portion, our cup of salvation and our cup of blessing; we can drink Him as our salvation and blessing by calling upon His precious name—Luke 22:20; Psa. 16:5; 23:5; 116:13; 1 Cor. 10:16a.
D
Christ is the pneumatic Executor, Mediator, of the new covenant in our spirit; as the Executor He makes every bequest of His will available and real as we receive the word of His will by means of all prayer—Heb. 8:6; 1 John 5:6.
E
As the surety of the new covenant, Christ is the pledge that everything in the new covenant will be fulfilled; He guarantees and ensures the effectiveness of the new testament—Heb. 7:22.
F
As the divine High Priest, Christ is executing the new covenant by interceding for us, praying that we would be brought into the reality of the new covenant—v. 25; Rom. 8:34, 26.
G
As the Minister of the holy places, Christ is serving us with the bequests, the blessings, of the new testament, making the facts of the new covenant effective in our experience—Heb. 8:2.
H
In order to receive the application of all the blessings in the new covenant, we need to be those who respond to Christ's heavenly ministry by entering into His intercession for the churches and His ministering God into others—Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 7:25; 8:2; Acts 6:4.