(Jer 31:33) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people…

A short time ago, as I was shuffling through my files I discovered a one-page outline entitled "The New Covenant." I am not sure of its origin, but I’m guessing that it came from Elim Bible Institute – sometime back in the sixties. The interesting thing about this incident was that I was intently thinking about the New Covenant when this little paper dropped into my hands. I have never been very keen about making outlines myself, but I felt the spirit of revelation as I began to analyze the content of this one-page find.

If someone were to ask you what the general theme of the New Testament was, it might seem like a pretty indistinct question. Yet the answer is so obvious that we wonder why we didn’t see it. The theme of the New Testament is the "New Covenant." Or, you could say, the theme of the New Testament is the "New Testament." (The New Covenant and the New Testament are one and the same.)

• Jesus was the "Messenger" of the New Covenant.
• The apostles preached the New Covenant.
• The epistles explain the New Covenant.
• The book of Revelation gives us a picture of those who have entered the fullness of the New Covenant – they are reigning with Christ!

1. Manifestation – the four Gospels reveal Christ as the "Messenger" of the New Covenant, or, Christ the embodiment of the New Covenant.

2. Propagation – the book of Acts gives the account of the apostles spreading the message of the New Covenant far and wide.

3. Explanation – the Epistles explain the mysteries of the New Covenant.

4. Consummation – the book of Revelation gives us a picture of those who have fully appropriated the New Covenant and are now gloriously reigning with Christ.

The church (generally speaking) is living far below the provisions that the New Covenant affords. There may be a number of reasons for this, but may I suggest that we must first know and understand the objectives of this covenant before can live up to it. In all honesty, I have not met a lot of Christians that fully understand its implications. Obviously, if God’s people are not being sufficiently taught that is one reason. Perhaps another reason is to be found in a statement that David makes in Psalm 25:14: "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant."

It may well be that this is why many Christians are deficient in their understanding of the ways of God. The fear of the Lord is not a part of their spiritual composition! The fear of the Lord makes us afraid to sin. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, perverse conversation, and every evil way (Pro. 8:13). We live in a generation of Christendom that doesn’t seem terribly concerned about keeping the commandments, or mixing themselves with the world. The Lord is certainly not going to write His laws upon the hearts of people who have no qualms about breaking them. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).

This same covenant was first promised to Israel (Jer. 31:31-34). However, Israel will not enter into that covenant until Christ returns, or until the millennium. Why? Basically for the reasons mentioned above. The Lord gave Israel over to blindness because of their hypocritical life style. God gives light to those who walk righteously. Israel couldn’t receive their "promised" covenant because they walked so contrary to the One whom was the very embodiment of the covenant!

Ezekiel describes the covenant: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezk. 36:26-27). This new life (new heart/new spirit) begins at salvation; forgiveness of sins... a fresh start, etc. Paul quotes from Jeremiah 31:34 when he says: "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." The initial promises of a purged conscience and a new boldness to approach the living God are wonderful promises in themselves; yet they do not end here. They continue on to give us even the greater hopes that God will remove the stony heart, and give us the enabling of His Spirit to walk in His ways. (This is a promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.)

The New Covenant is all about having the laws of God written upon the fleshly tables of our heart. It is about a heart that has been made sensitive to the ways of God, indeed, reflects the ways of God. That doesn’t take place when we are saved, but it takes place as we walk in the Spirit (Rom. 8:4). As we continue to walk in the light, God brings us into the conditions that deal with the "old" nature – the stony heart. Israel (in a figure) had to go into captivity to be cleansed from the inbred idolatries. Those who submitted to the dealings of the captivity were brought back with a new heart – a heart that was in sync with God (Jer. 24:5-7). "And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart."

I once knew a man who had served about three years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. His own testimony was that he had been living very carelessly at the time of his arrest. In fact, he was actually betrayed by some of the bad company that he had been keeping. While he was in prison, he was offered a reduced sentence if he would go to certain rehabilitation classes. He refused on the grounds that he had not committed the crime, and consequently served the full sentence. I asked him if he was bitter about the whole affair, and his response was "No, the Lord gave me a new heart while I was there!"

The Sermon on the Mount was actually an introduction to the New Covenant. Our Lord was taking the law that was written upon stone (the outward observance of the law) and bringing His people to grips with the real issue. The real issue of keeping the law stems from the condition of the heart. Moses condemned the physical transgression of the law, but Jesus traced the problem to the sins of the heart and spirit: "From out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:19).

Although the Master was raising the standard, He was also bringing a greater grace and enabling to fulfil it. The Old Covenant had many debilitating factors: There was an inferior mediation (earthly priests). There was inferior sacrifice… inferior blood, blood that could not purge the conscience. It was confined to time and place. There was not the endowment of the Holy Spirit. The law was veiled, the ark (the presence of God) was veiled, and their minds were veiled.

The whole book of Hebrews is basically a contrast of the two covenants. The author is trying to show the Jews the superiority of the New Covenant by virtue of its "better" promises. (Many of the Hebrew believers were drifting back into the old rituals.) The better promises include full redemption – "Salvation to the uttermost." Salvation to the uttermost because the blood of Jesus opened the way. Salvation to the uttermost because we have access to the One who can make the comers perfect.

In my estimation, the two mountains in Hebrews chapter twelve best illustrate the two covenants. Sinai was symbolic of Old Covenant, shrouded with fear and quaking and death. Mt Zion symbolizes the New Covenant. It symbolizes the New Covenant because the veil has been rent – (the unveiled Ark of the Covenant rested there). It symbolizes the abundant life. It even symbolizes resurrection power because the ark contained the rod that budded. The way to the ark wherein was the covenant (law) has now been opened; and Christ is there to give us the enabling to fulfil His law (Heb. 10:19-20). We, in the New Testament dispensation, have been given every advantage to experience the "fullness" of salvation. The millennial promises, the millennial reign as kings and priests for 1000 years, is to those who have fully appropriated the promises of the New Covenant. May the Lord graciously renew the spirit of our mind with a fresh desire to press toward the mark. Amen!