THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews
Message Three
A Better Covenant
Scripture Reading: Heb. 9:15-17; Eph. 1:3; Heb. 12:2; 7:25; 8:1-2; Jer. 31:31-34; Gal. 4:26-28, 31
I. The new covenant consummated with the blood of Christ is not merely a covenant but also a testament with all the things which have been accomplished by the death of Christ bequeathed to us—Heb. 9:15-17:
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—vv. 16-17.
B. A covenant is an agreement containing some promises to accomplish certain things for the covenanted people; a testament is a will containing certain accomplished things bequeathed to the inheritor—vv. 16-17; cf. Deut. 11:29; 28:1, 15; Jer. 31:31-32.
C. If we would understand the new covenant, we need to know the difference between a promise, an oath, a covenant, and a testament—Heb. 8:6; 6:13, 17; 8:7-8; 9:16-17:
1. God’s covenant is enacted upon God’s promise, which is a common, ordinary word without confirmation—8:6.
2. After God made His promise, He sealed it with an oath, swearing by His Godhead that His promise would be fulfilled—6:13, 17.
3. After God’s promise had been confirmed by an oath, it immediately became the covenant sealed by God—8:7-8.
4. The One who made the covenant died so that the covenant might become a testament, a will—9:16-17.
D. The contents of the new covenant are the contents of the entire New Testament—vv. 15-17:
1. 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—v. 15.
2. In the new covenant God gives us forgiveness, salvation, life, and all spiritual, heavenly, and divine blessings—Eph. 1:3.
II. As the ascended One sitting on the throne in the heavens, Christ is now executing the new covenant, which He has bequeathed to us as a testament, interceding for us and ministering to us that we may realize, experience, and enjoy all the bequests contained in the new testament—Heb. 12:2, 7:25, 8:1-2:
A. The new testament, the will, has been validated by Christ’s death and is being executed and enforced by Christ in His resurrection and ascension—v. 6.
B. The new covenant has been bequeathed to us as the new testament, and now, in the mystical realm of His heavenly ministry, Christ is executing what he has bequeathed—8:1-2.
C. Christ is now in the heavens, living, divine, and capable; He is able to execute the new testament in every detail, making every bequest in it available and real to us—7:25; 8:6; 9:15; 12:24; 7:22; 8:2; 13:20.
III. The contents of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34: Heb. 8:8-12) include the following four blessings as God’s bequests to us:
A. “I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them”—Heb. 8:10:
1. The law of life, the law of the spirit of life, is the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit—Rom. 8:2-3, 11, 34.
2. The law of life is the spontaneous power of life; it is the natural characteristic and the innate, automatic function of life—v. 2.
3. The function of the law of life is—vv. 2, 11-13:
a. To make us God in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead, shaping us into the image of the firstborn Son of God so that we may become His corporate expression—vv. 2, 29.
b. To constitute us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions—Eph. 4:11-12, 16.
4. We enjoy the dispensing of life into our being for the accomplishment of God’s economy by the working of the law of the Spirit of life—Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11.
5. We need to cooperate with the installed and operating law of the Spirit of life by “switching on” this law—1 Thes. 5:16-18; Luke 8:15.
B. “I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me”—Heb. 8:10:
1. For God to be our God means that He is our inheritance, and for us to be God’s people means that we are God’s inheritance—Eph. 1:11, 14, 18; 3:21.
2. In the new covenant we have the privilege of having God as our God and of being His people—the enabling of life for us to participate in the enjoyment of God in fellowship with Him so that He can be known by us, apprehended by us, and lived by us—1 John 1:3, 7.
C. “They shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all will know Me from the little one to the great one among them”—Heb. 8:11:
1. The function of life enables us to know God in the inward way of life—1 John 2:29.
2. We can know God subjectively from within by the sense of life, which is the feeling, the consciousness, of the divine life within us—Rom. 8:6; Eph. 4:18-19; Phil. 3:10a.
D. “I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore”—Heb. 8:12; Jer. 31:34b:
1. Christ made propitiation for our sins to appease God’s righteousness, to reconcile us by satisfying the demands of God’s righteousness—Heb. 2:17.
2. The precious and all-efficacious blood of Christ resolves all our problems so that we can remain constantly in fellowship with God to continually enjoy His organic salvation—1 John 1:7-9; 2:1-2.
3. Once God forgives us, He erases our sins from His memory and remembers them no longer—Psa. 103:12; Lev. 16:7-10, 15-22.
4. God’s forgiveness of our sins results in our fearing Him and loving Him in our restored fellowship with Him—Psa. 130:4; Luke 7:47.
IV. The new covenant will ultimately issue in the New Jerusalem, the embodiment of God’s new covenant to express Him in a corporate way to the uttermost for eternity—Gal. 4:26-28, 31.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE NEW COVENANT CONSUMMATED WITH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST BEQUEATHING TO US ALL THE THINGS WHICH HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST
The Same Word Being Used for Both Covenant and Testament in Greek
We shall cover two important matters — the new covenant and the new testament. In Greek the same word is used for both covenant and testament. Whether it is translated covenant or testament depends on whether the person who consummated the covenant is living or dead. If the consummator is still living, that covenant remains a covenant. But if the consummator has died, the covenant immediately becomes a testament. 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 bequeathed to the inheritor. The new covenant consummated with the blood of Christ is not merely a covenant, but a testament with all the things which have been accomplished by the death of Christ bequeathed to us. The term testament is the equivalent of the modern term will. Many parents, when they know that they soon will die, make a will in which they leave various things to their children. A will only becomes effective after the death of the maker of the will. In a simple word, 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 will. The Bible is composed of two wills — the Old Testament, the old will, and the New Testament, the new will. The Bible is not mainly a book of teachings; it is a will.
God’s Promise
God’s promise is God’s word which He speaks. God speaks many different kinds of words. He may command us to do a particular thing. That command is God’s word, but it is not God’s promise. When God speaks in such a way that He promises to give, do, or be something to us, that is a promise. As we have seen, God’s promise of the new covenant is in Jer. 31:31-34 and includes four major things. The word of God’s promise is insured by His faithfulness (Heb. 10:23; 11:11). God’s faithfulness is the guarantee of what He speaks as a promise.
God’s Covenant
God’s covenant is enacted upon God’s promise (Heb. 8:6). A promise is a common, ordinary word without confirmation. In the Bible, after God made His promise, He sealed it with an oath. He swore by His Godhead that His promise was confirmed. Once His promise was confirmed by an oath, it immediately became the covenant sealed by God. Hebrews 6:16 says that in all disputes an oath is final for confirmation. If you read the Old Testament carefully, you will see that God’s promises were all sealed by His oath. That the promises have become a covenant means that they cannot possibly be altered. Once the promises have been confirmed by God’s oath, having been made unalterable, there is no possibility of repentance or change. The promise has been sealed; it is no longer a promise but a covenant confirmed by God’s oath.
After God made His promises in the Old Testament, confirming them by His oath (Gen. 22:16-18; Psa. 110:4), the Lord Jesus came and accomplished all that God had promised. By the Lord’s work on earth, every item of God’s promise has become an accomplished fact. For example, in Jeremiah 31 God promised to forgive our sins. The Lord Jesus did this, making propitiation for our sins on the cross as the fulfillment of God’s promise. Before the Lord Jesus died on the cross, it was a promise. After He died on the cross, that promised item became an accomplished fact. Hence, forgiveness of sins is no longer a promise but an accomplished fact of history. God’s promised covenant was consummated as the new covenant by the Lord’s death with His blood (Heb. 9:18-23; Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20). By His death, all the promises have become accomplished facts.
The New Covenant Immediately Becoming a Testament
After the Lord Had Left It with Us
After His death and resurrection, the Lord ascended into the heavens, leaving with us the covenant which He had accomplished by His death. When He left this covenant with us, it immediately became a testament, a new testament bequeathed to us (Heb. 9:16-17). In this testament the accomplished facts are no longer merely facts; they have all become bequests. Firstly, we had the promises; secondly, the promises became the facts; and thirdly, the facts have become the bequests. Through the Lord’s death and resurrection, all the promises were fulfilled and became accomplished facts. After the Lord had left this new covenant with us, it immediately became a testament, a will, containing all the accomplished facts as our bequests. Since the Lord had accomplished everything, He went to the heavenly throne where He is now restfully sitting. As our High Priest in the heavens, the Lord is the Surety of this better covenant (Heb. 7:21-22).
Four stages were needed for the consummation of the new testament: firstly, God’s word; secondly, God’s promise; thirdly, the new covenant; and lastly, the new testament. No longer do we just have God’s word, God’s promise, and the new covenant; we also have the new testament, the will. The Bible is a will in which everything has not only been mentioned, promised, and accomplished but also bequeathed. Furthermore, the Lord in resurrection is executing what He has bequeathed. We simply need to thank Him for all the bequests. If we would do this, opening wide to Him that He may execute all that He desires to execute, there will be a mass reproduction of the standard model, the Firstborn Son, for God’s corporate expression. This is the heavenly vision that we all must see.
THE LORD’S NEW TESTAMENT BEING EXECUTED BY THE RESURRECTED CHRIST AS THE MEDIATOR, THE EXECUTOR, IN THE HEAVENS
Christ on the Throne Interceding for Us to Realize This Testament
The Lord’s new testament is executed by the resurrected Christ as the Mediator, the Executor, in the heavens. Today the resurrected Christ is executing this will by restfully interceding for us. The testament, the will, has been confirmed and validated by Christ’s death and is being executed and enforced by Christ in His resurrection. The promise of God’s covenant is insured by God’s faithfulness, God’s covenant is guaranteed by God’s righteousness, and the new testament is enforced by Christ’s resurrection power. Christ is now on the throne interceding for us to realize this testament, this will. All the seeking Christians throughout the world are hungry and thirsty. If you tell them about this will and its bequests, they will gladly receive it. They will be willing to give themselves to it and be consumed by it. This will has been given to the Lord’s people for over nineteen centuries, but few of them have realized it. By His mercy, the Lord has brought us into a full realization of His will. Now He is speeding up His recovery. The heavenly Intercessor is motivating and energizing us day by day with His heavenly “pum, pum, pum” that we may partake of all the riches of His will. This is the reason that the Christians in the Lord’s recovery are so aggressive.
Christ Executing What He Has Bequeathed as the Ascended One
Sitting on the Throne in the Heavens
God’s promises have all become accomplished facts in the new covenant, and the new covenant has been bequeathed to us as the new testament. Now, in resurrection as the ascended One sitting on the throne in the heavens, Christ is executing what He has bequeathed. The crucial point in this matter is the automatic and innate function of the law of the divine life. Praise the Lord! (Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 41)
THE CONTENTS OF THE NEW COVENANT
Imparting of the Law of Life
What are the contents of the new covenant? The contents include four things, the first of which is the imparting of the law of life. Verse 10 says, “For this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them.” In Jeremiah 31:33, the source of this quotation, the word laws is singular, proving that it is one law that spreads into a number of laws. The one law that eventually develops into many laws is the law of life (Rom. 8:2). Every life has a law. The higher the life, the higher is its law. The divine life we receive of God is the highest; therefore, it has the highest law, the law referred to here. By imparting His divine life into us, God puts this highest law into our spirit, from whence it spreads into our inward parts, such as our mind, emotion, and will, and becomes several laws. We all know this by experience. When we called on the name of the Lord, the divine life came into our spirit. Gradually, as we have been growing in this life, this life has had the opportunity to develop from our spirit into all of our inward parts. When this life develops into our inward parts, in every part there will be a law to regulate us. Many laws develop out of that one law of life. (Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 36)
The Triune God Being Processed to Become the Law of the Spirit of Life in Us
At this point we need to ask what the law of the Spirit of life is. We must even go on to ask this crucial question: Who is this law? If we read chapter eight carefully and compare it with chapters five, six, and seven, we shall see that the law of the Spirit of life is the processed Triune God becoming the life-giving Spirit to dwell in us. This means that the processed Triune God is Himself the law of the Spirit of life. Just as sin is a person — Satan — so this law is also a Person — the Triune God.
Romans 8 speaks of the process, even the processes, through which the Triune God has passed to become the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. In verse 3 Paul refers to incarnation and crucifixion: “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” The phrase, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” is related to incarnation. God’s sending His Son concerning sin and condemning sin in the flesh point to Christ’s crucifixion. Furthermore, verse 11 also implies crucifixion, for it speaks of the Lord Jesus being raised from among the dead. However, what this verse clearly reveals is the process of resurrection: “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” In verse 34 Paul refers to the ascension when he tells us that Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us. Therefore, in this chapter we have four processes through which the Triune God has passed: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Romans 8 also reveals the Triune God. In verse 2 we have the Spirit of life. In verse 3 we have God, the Father, sending His Son. Thus, in verses 2 and 3 we have the Spirit, the Father, and the Son. Verses 9 and 10 speak of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. Verse 11 mentions all three of the Triune God: the Spirit, He (the Father) who raised Christ Jesus, and Christ, the Son. Therefore, Romans 8 is a chapter concerning the processed Triune God. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 67)
The Law of the Divine Life Being the Natural Characteristic,
the Innate, Automatic Function of the Life of God
What is the law of life? A law is a natural regulation, a constant and unchanging rule. A law of life is the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of a certain kind of life, and the higher a life is, the higher is its law. The law of the divine life is then the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of the life of God, and since the life of God is the highest, its law is the highest. This highest law of life is the function, the working, of the divine life. This function and working are innate, spontaneous, natural, and automatic. (Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 37)
The Law of the Spirit of Life Working in Us
This working of the Triune God as a law within us can be illustrated by the electricity which has been installed in our homes. Since electricity has been installed in our homes, there is no need for us to call the power plant when we need electrical energy to operate a certain appliance. Would it not be foolish to telephone the power plant and beg someone to turn on the lights or operate our appliances? If we did this, the people at the power plant would say that there is no need for us to call them. Instead, we should simply turn on the power that has already been installed. No one who has even the most elementary knowledge of electricity would ever call the power plant and beg for electrical power. Those who have the knowledge that electricity has been installed will simply turn on the switch and apply the power.
All That Is Needed Being to Turn on the Switch
Often we Christians are like persons who call a power plant for electricity when all that is needed is to turn on the switch. The Triune God has been installed into us. Nevertheless, when we are bothered by our temper, we may cry out, “O God, merciful Father, have mercy on me and help me not to lose my temper. I don’t want to lose my temper again. Please deliver me from this.” This kind of prayer is never answered. In fact, the more you pray in this way, the more trouble you will have with your temper. If we continue to pray such prayers, the Lord may say, “Foolish child, don’t you know that I have been installed into you and that I am working in you as a law? There is no need for you to cry to Me or even pray about this.”
Our God today is not only the mighty One, the Redeemer, and the Savior. He is even more than just our life and our life supply — He is a law working within us. Now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. How wonderful that such a law is working within us! Therefore, instead of crying to the Lord about certain things, we should simply “switch on” and be at rest.
Let us again use electricity and electrical appliances as an illustration. Suppose it is very hot when you go to bed at night, and you need the air conditioner to cool the room. You do not pray for cool air. You simply switch on the air conditioner and go to sleep, enjoying the cool air supplied by the air conditioner. In like manner, we may enjoy the wonderful law of the Spirit of life, the very law who is the Triune God who has been processed and dispensed into us and who now dwells in us. As such a law, He is seeking the opportunity to work for us. The problem is that we are not knowledgeable concerning this law. We do not know that we have this law within us, and we do not know how to cooperate and coordinate with it. As we shall see, the way to cooperate with this law is to walk in the spirit and simply be in spirit.
In a message to come we shall point out that since we are already in the spirit, there is no need for us to get into the spirit. Rather, we should simply remain in the spirit. Thus, instead of turning to the spirit, we should stay in the spirit. Many times we have sung, “Turn to your spirit.” It is better to change the words of this hymn and sing, “Stay in your spirit.” Hallelujah, we have the processed Triune God as a law within us, and we have a regenerated spirit! As long as we stay in the spirit, this law works in us automatically.
To be in the spirit is to have the divine electricity turned on. By staying in the spirit we keep the switch on; we never turn it off. This is the way to cooperate with the processed Triune God who is the law operating in us. As the life-giving Spirit, He has been dispensed into us and He dwells in us. By His indwelling, He has made our spirit life, He is causing our soul to become life, and He is imparting life to our mortal bodies. We are now enjoying life in a threefold way by the working of this wonderful law, the law of the Spirit of life. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 67)
This law of life differs from the law of letters. The law of life regulates us from within by and according to its life element, while the law of letters regulates us from without by and according to its dead letters. The law of dead letters depends upon outward teachings, but the law of life depends upon the inward consciousness, the inward sense of life. Since we all, great or small, have this law of life, we do not need outward teachings according to the law of letters (8:11).
Being Imparted into Our Inward Parts
The law of life is imparted into our spirit and from our spirit it spreads into our mind and into all of our inward parts (v. 10). In Jeremiah 31:33, “inward parts” is used for “mind.” This proves that the mind is one of the inward parts. It is also an interpretation of the term inward parts. The inward parts include the mind, the emotion, and the will, which are the composition of the heart mentioned in the following clause in verse 10.
Being Inscribed on Our Hearts
Verse 10 also says that the Lord will inscribe His laws on our hearts. Firstly, God imparts His laws into us; then He inscribes them upon us. He does the inscribing in our experiences of the law of life. The more we experience the law of life, the more its laws will be inscribed into the different parts of our heart. They will be constituted into the different parts of our inward being through our experiences.
The Blessing of Having God and of Being His People
The second item of the new covenant is the blessing of having God and of being His people. The last part of verse 10 says, “I will be God to them, and they shall be a people to Me.” In the new covenant we have the privilege of having God as our God and of being His people—the enabling of life for us to participate in the enjoyment of God in fellowship with Him. The people under the old covenant had God according to the Ten Commandments. God was God to them according to the old law of letters, and they were His people also according to the law of letters. But today our God is God to us not according to letters but according to the inward life, and we are His people not according to any written regulations but also according to the inner life. It is according to the law of life that God is God to us and we are a people to Him. God’s relationship with us today is fully based upon the law of life; it is a relationship in life. So today we do not need to walk according to the knowledge of the law of letters but according to the consciousness of the law of life.
It is very difficult, for example, to find a verse in the New Testament which tells us what time God wants us to get up in the morning. How then shall we know what time to get up? We shall not know it by any regulation of letters outwardly but according to the inner life. When tomorrow morning comes, the inner life will tell us what time God wants us to get up. If we do not rise up at that time, we shall miss God’s presence. Another example is the matter of getting a haircut. All of the young people should realize that we are God’s people. As God’s people, how should we cut our hair? Since the term haircut is not found in the Bible, how can we know how short or how long to cut our hair? We know it by the law of life. If we go according to the inner law of life, we shall know how short or how long our hair should be.
Inward Ability of Knowing the Lord
In the new covenant there is also the function of the law of life by which we know God in the inward way of life. Verse 11 says, “And they shall by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the little one to the great among them.” There is no need for the outward teachings, because we know the Lord by the sense of life. Some today oppose us for saying that we no longer need the teachings. They are not merely opposing us; they are opposing the Bible. It is the Holy Bible that says that we do not need the teachings because we have the inner sense of life.
In this verse two Greek words are used for know: the first is ginosko, which signifies the outward, objective knowledge; the second is oida, referring to the inward, subjective consciousness. In John 8:55 the Lord Jesus told the Pharisees that they have not known (ginosko) God the Father (even in the outward, objective knowledge), but He knows (oida) the Father (in the inward, subjective consciousness).
Propitiation for Our Unrighteousnesses and Forgiveness of Our Sins
The last of the contents of the new covenant is propitiation for our unrighteousnesses and forgiveness of our sins. Hebrews 8:12 says, “I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I will by no means remember anymore.” To be propitious is to make propitiation for our sins. Christ made propitiation for our sins to appease God’s righteousness, to reconcile us by satisfying the demand of God’s righteousness (2:17). God is propitious to us because Christ has made propitiation for our sins. Based upon this propitiation, God forgives our sins. In 8:12 we are told by the Lord that “their sins I will by no means remember anymore.” Here we see that God will forget our sins. To forgive means to forget, for the forgetting of sins is the real forgiveness of sins. If you forgive me, it means that you must forget my faults. Without forgetting, forgiveness is not real. God not only forgives us our sins but also forgets our sins.
In the new covenant the primary blessing is the imparting of the divine life which brings in the inner law of life, the blessing of having God and of being His people, and the inward ability of knowing the Lord. For God to do this, He had to be propitious to our unrighteousnesses and forget our sins. The propitiation for our unrighteousnesses and the forgiveness of our sins give Him the ground to impart His life into us. The little word “for” in verse 12 proves this. He imparts life to us, “for” He is propitious to our unrighteousnesses and forgets our sins. God’s original intention for His eternal purpose was to impart His life into man, but sin came in to frustrate this. In order to carry out His original intention, God made propitiation through Christ for our sins and granted us the forgiveness of sins so that He might impart the divine life into us for the fulfillment of His purpose. This divine life brings in the law of life, our relationship with God in life, and the inward ability of knowing the Lord. In the new covenant, life with its riches has been brought in and sin with its sinfulness has been put away. This is the content of the new covenant. Praise the Lord! (Life-Study of Hebrews, msg. 36)
THE NEW JERUSALEM AS THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION OF THE NEW COVENANT OF GOD TO EXPRESS GOD IN A CORPORATE WAY
TO THE UTTERMOST FOR ETERNITY
Before He died on the cross for our redemption, the Lord Jesus established the new covenant. At His table He enacted a law to be the new covenant (Luke 22:20). All the New Testament books from Acts through Revelation tell us what the new covenant is. The content of this new covenant is the Triune God within us to be our life, our life law, our life supply, our life capacity, and our everything that we may be constituted with God in His life and nature and thereby become His increase, His enlargement, to be His fullness for His eternal expression. First, this expression is the church; second, it is the kingdom; and eventually, in the new heaven and new earth, it is the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of the new covenant of God to express God in a corporate way to the uttermost for eternity. (Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 33)