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Scripture Reading: Matt. 26:28
Matthew 26:28 shows us that although the blood of Christ was shed for the forgiveness of sins, the blood is also the "blood of the covenant." The blood is first related to the covenant. The nature of the blood is of the covenant. The function of the blood is for the forgiveness of sins. While it is true that the shedding of the blood is for the redemption and forgiveness of sins, it is the blood of the covenant that forgives sins. If the blood were not the blood of the covenant, even though it was shed, it could not bring in forgiveness. The reason that the shedding of blood forgives sins is that God had made a covenant with man in which the shedding of the blood would bring about the forgiveness of sins. This is why the shedding of blood can forgive sins. Therefore, this verse tells us the nature of the shedding of the blood. The shedding of the blood is related to the new covenant, while the effect of the shed blood is the forgiveness of sins.
God's Word reveals that grace involves three aspects: promises, facts, and covenants. We have mentioned promises and facts and will not repeat it today. Now we will consider a covenant made with an oath. This is the central message of our conference this time. We want to see what the covenant that God has made — the new covenant — is for. Some have said that there are a total of eight covenants in the Bible. I do not know if this is right. However many there may be, the new covenant is the most important of them all.
Within a covenant, there are also promises and facts. The Bible tells us clearly that God's covenant is a promise. God's promise is what He has said with His own mouth, while God's covenant is what He has made with an oath. A promise binds a person, but a covenant binds a person even more. Furthermore, a covenant cannot be annulled. Therefore, when God made a covenant with Abraham, He swore by Himself. God not only promised Abraham but swore to him. Thank and praise God that He has not only promised us but also made a covenant with us so that we can draw near to God and lay hold of Him with boldness, according to His righteousness and faithfulness.
Hebrews 9:15-18 explains to us the reason that the covenant contains a promise and fact. Verse 16 says, "For where there is a testament, the death of him who made the testament must of necessity be established." The word testament is the same as the word covenant in the original language. The New Testament means "the new covenant" in the original language. In the Bible there are two meanings to the word covenant: (1) a covenant, and (2) a will, or a testament. Therefore, the new covenant can be considered both a covenant as well as a testament or a will of God. Without a promise, a covenant cannot be established. Any covenant contains a promise. For example, a certificate of loan is a covenant. Within this certificate, there is a promise. An ordinary promise does not usually have a document with it. However, a promise made in a covenant is supported by a legal procedure and bound by the law. Therefore, God's covenant includes God's promise. But it is higher than His promise. There is not much difference between God's promise and His covenant for those who have been deeply taught by God's grace and who know God in an intimate way. They know that God is faithful, just as He is righteous. Therefore, whatever God has promised, He will not leave unfulfilled. They do not have to see legal evidence for all the promises before they believe in them. They consider God's promises to be God's covenants. But for those who are weak in faith, God's promise and covenant still need to be distinguished from each other. Therefore, we cannot say that all promises are covenants. But we can say that all covenants have promises.
A covenant contains not only a promise but a testament. Therefore, with a covenant there is not only a promise but also a fact. What is willed is the fact. For example, a father may will something to his son. His testament tells of the way to dispose of his possessions. The inheritance is the result of the father's labor which the son can obtain without any work of his own. As long as he is the son, he can enjoy the inheritance. Therefore, there must be facts within a testament. Within the covenant there is a testament and inheritance. Therefore, within a covenant there is a fact.
The three aspects of grace that God has given to us in the Bible are promises, facts, and covenants. A covenant is higher than a promise or a fact. But a covenant includes a promise and a fact. Without these two things, a covenant is empty. Thank God that there are many promises that are related to the new covenant. There are also many facts that are related to the new covenant. Now we want to consider the nature of a covenant, the basis of a covenant, the relationship a covenant has with us, and the security of a covenant, etc. Suppose you receive a check or a bank draft. The first thing you want to see is the amount; when you see it you are happy. But if the check is void, it is useless. Today I can tell you that this check is very reliable and trustworthy. It can be cashed. You can be sure that you can safely draw money from it.
How do we know that a covenant is reliable? How can we tell that a testament is reliable? We know that many covenants established by many nations are not reliable. Our first need is not to ask what the covenant or a testament has given to us. Our first need is to ask if such a covenant or testament is reliable.
"For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28). The cup is the cup of the new covenant, and the blood is in the new covenant. The new covenant is in the blood of the new covenant. The blood of the new covenant has a wonderful effect, which is to cleanse sins. The direct purpose of the shedding of the Lord Jesus' blood was for the establishing of the covenant. How strange it is that one has to shed his blood to establish a covenant! Why is a covenant only effective when blood is shed? I deeply believe that if every Christian knew that the blood of the Lord Jesus established a covenant, we would not be as bound, restricted, and powerless, and we would not receive only a few answers to prayer and few results in our work as we do today. Brothers and sisters, we have fallen to such a condition because we have put the new covenant aside. We know the term the new covenant, but we have forgotten its use. This is why we have fallen to such a state.
God established a few covenants in the past. He established a covenant with Noah. He also established a covenant with Abraham. He also established a covenant with Jacob, even though it was not called one explicitly. He also established a covenant with the Israelites who left Egypt. But there is still another covenant which He enacted through the Lord Jesus Christ. There are other covenants besides these. Although there are many covenants, the two most important ones are the one made with Abraham and the new covenant. All the other covenants are less crucial and affect a smaller sphere. The new covenant follows immediately after the covenant God made with Abraham. The new covenant is a further development of the covenant God made with Abraham and inherits what God promised to Abraham. The book of Galatians tells us that the covenant God made with Abraham is the proper covenant, while the covenant of the law was only an insertion between two covenants. Only Abraham's covenant of promise and the new covenant are proper covenants. In between the covenant of promise and the new covenant, another covenant was inserted. This is the so-called "old covenant," or old testament, which lasted for fifteen hundred years. The old testament is not the thirty-nine books that we have which span from Genesis to Malachi. Actually, the proper name of these thirty-nine books is the Holy Scripture. The actual time of the old testament begins from Exodus 19 and ends with the death of the Lord Jesus. Before the old testament or covenant, there was the covenant which God made with Abraham from which the new covenant follows.
Originally, when man was created, he was well preserved. Because of the fall through sin, there was the action of the conscience, and man walked according to his conscience. But two thousand five hundred years after God created the world, man was still sinning. For this reason, God told Moses to enact a covenant (the law) with man. God promised the Israelites that they would be a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priests. But the condition of the old covenant was bilateral. This is why there were two tablets of the law in the tabernacle. On the one side, the Israelites had to keep the law. On the other side, God would bless them if they kept it. If they could not keep God's law, God would punish them. This is the picture of the old covenant.
As far as the condition in Eden is concerned, the blood of the Lord Jesus is necessary. As far as the law is concerned, the blood of the Lord Jesus is also necessary. What was the picture of the exile from Eden? It was a loss of position, inheritance, and a loss of life. Man had to labor in the sweat of his face. I always consider sin to be a big minus sign; our body, spiritual life, as well as all that we should have inherited from our Creator were lost because of sin. All these were lost through Adam.
There was a long period from Adam to Moses. The period from Moses to Christ was also a very long period. From Adam to Moses, death reigned, while from Moses to Christ, not just death reigned, but death and sin reigned. Sin has been present since Adam, and death has been reigning because the result of sin is death. What is death? It is the totality of sin. Sin is like small rivers and streams, while death is like the sea. The general name for the whole period between Adam and Moses is death. Exile, curses, laboring in birth, thorns, pain, and sweat, all point to death. All of these things signify death. The end of these things is death. Death is like the sea into which all the streams and rivers feed.
This is what we lost in Eden through Adam, and this is what we gained through Adam. We did not lose just a few things; we lost everything. Two thousand five hundred years later, Moses received the covenant of the law from God on Mount Sinai. The covenant said that if man kept the words of the covenant, God would bless him. However, if he could not keep the words of the covenant, God would punish him. What has the law added to us? It has added nothing. Is it an addition? No. This is why death reigned from Adam to Moses, while both death and sin reigned from Moses to Christ. Previously, there was just death. There was sin in addition to death. The law did nothing except expose sin. This was indeed a big minus. Not only was there no blessing, but there was sin and curse as well.
Before Christ came, man had incurred two great losses. The first loss was through Adam. The second loss was through Moses. These losses have kept man from receiving answers to prayers and have caused man to fail and not overcome. Man was estranged and kept from the enjoyment of God's presence. Man became foolish and ignorant of God. He became weak and unable to enjoy the power of God toward his body and spirit. Man was deprived of all things pertaining to life and godliness. How was the death that was present in the time between Adam and Moses removed? How was the sin that was present in the time between Moses and Christ removed? Today, the blood is the answer to these questions. Some have said that the cross is a big plus sign. Although this is man's saying, it is nevertheless true. The cross of God has added everything to us. From Adam to Moses, all we had was death, and from Moses to Christ, all we had was sin. Now the blood of Christ has terminated everything of Adam, including death, and has terminated everything after Moses that was condemned as sin. Now all our failures before God are removed and nothing is left. Through the shedding of the Lord's blood, we do not have to die anymore, and our sins are cleansed. Originally God was for us, and everything that God had was ours. We were separated from God because of sin and, subsequently, death. God could not help us anymore, and His intended blessings and grace were barred from us. Although we can say that through sin we gained death, what actually happened was that through sin, we lost everything that is of God. We lost everything that God had given, can give, and will give to us. The blood apparently only does a direct work of cleansing us from sin. But actually, the blood recovers our relationship with God. Now what God has given, can give, and will give to us can come to us once more in an unhindered way. The blood adds God to us. The blood of Christ not only accomplished redemption, but accomplished an eternal redemption. Unlike the blood of bulls and goats which only accomplished a temporary redemption, the blood of Christ was shed only once and it accomplished an eternal redemption. The blood of Christ is not like the blood of bulls and goats which men in the Old Testament trusted in. The blood of Christ was shed once. Now sin is gone forever, and the conscience no longer condemns us of sins. This is what the blood of Christ has done. It has completely solved, once for all, the problem of sin. Because the problem of sin is solved, God is added to us.
In the Bible there were two men who covenanted with each other. They were David and Jonathan. David acted according to his covenant with Jonathan. When he found Jonathan's young son, Mephibosheth, among the descendants of Saul, David brought him to his table so that he could eat with him. Mephibosheth thought his life was over and his ancestor's inheritance was lost. When David sent men to look for him, Mephibosheth was trembling in fear. But after David expressed his good intention to him, Mephibosheth realized that his life was no longer in peril. If just his life was preserved, however, he would have regained only the first half of what he had lost. So David called in Ziba and ordered that Saul's possessions be returned to Mephibosheth. In this way Mephibosheth's inheritance was also recovered.
God wants to give us life, and we have received it. But God also wants to give us our lost inheritance. The shedding of the Lord's blood is not only for the forgiveness of sins. This, by itself, is glorious enough and should be known by all who feel shameful and who hate and abhor their sins. Thank God that more than the problems of death and sin have been solved. The blood of the Lord Jesus has not only dealt with condemnation but has recovered our lost inheritance. The blood has done a wonderful thing: it has added God to us. The blood of the Lord Jesus not only saves us from the recompense of sin; it has redeemed all the inheritance that we have lost in Eden. "The new covenant established in My blood" (Luke 22:20). On the one hand, the Lord's blood was shed for redemption and, on the negative side, removed all the things that harmed us. On the other hand, the blood was shed for the enactment of the new covenant and, on the positive side, bought back our lost inheritance. His blood is not just to redeem, but to buy something back for us. He did not merely redeem us to take care of the problem of sin. He has shed His blood for the purpose of buying back everything that was lost through Adam.
What is the new covenant? It is an absolutely legal document, established fully according to God's righteous procedures. The new covenant is not God's empty words; it is a document proving that God has bought many things for us through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Out of concern that you would not understand this, let me bring up one question related to the gospel: what part of our salvation was accomplished through God's righteousness and what part through God's grace? Before the Lord was crucified, everything was done through God's grace. But after the Lord was crucified, everything is done through God's righteousness. What does this mean? It does not mean that there is no grace after the cross. Grace is like the tap water and righteousness is like the water pipe. Grace flows to us through the channel of righteousness; it never flows to us by itself. Concerning this, look at Romans 5:21, "In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Grace reigns through righteousness. God does not give grace to man independently; He gives His grace to man through righteousness. God is merciful to us and does not want us to die. This is why He sent the Lord Jesus to die for us. This is grace. If God did not love us and had not bestowed grace on us, the Lord Jesus would not have come to accomplish redemption for us. But the Lord has died and redemption has been accomplished. When we believe in the Lord for our salvation, is it God's grace or His righteousness that saves us? God's righteousness saves us. The Lord Jesus has died and we have been redeemed; we are no longer condemned. The Lord's death has become our death, and God has accepted the sacrifice we offered in Christ. What we have obtained today is what we should rightfully have. If God does not save us, He would be unrighteous. Before the cross, we could not say that God was unrighteous if He did not save us; all we could say was that God did not love us. But after the Lord Jesus died and redemption was accomplished, if God does not save us, it would not be a matter of God's not loving or giving grace to us but a matter of His being unrighteous and unfaithful.
Suppose someone owes me fifty dollars and has written a credit note. If he does not pay back his debt, I can force him to pay me back. Even if I have to sue him to get back my money, I cannot be considered unrighteous; I can only be considered as lacking in mercy and love. However, if I give him fifty dollars, and he pays back his debt, I will be unrighteous if I do not tear up the credit note when I receive the money. If I asked him for more money, I would be unrighteous. What is unrighteousness? It is to demand a second payment after a full payment has been made. It is all right if I do not give anything to him. But if I have given him the money, and he has paid the debt, I have to tear up the credit note.
We cannot say that God does not have grace. If God did not have grace, there would be no new covenant. But if everything that God has given us were based on grace, our faith would not be strong because grace is not very trustworthy. Man often doubts the good intentions of others. However, God does not just have grace; He has manifested His grace in a covenant. In order to give us grace, He bound Himself to a covenant. Grace is expressed in the form of righteousness so that our faith can be strengthened. It is easier to believe in God's righteousness than it is to believe in God's grace and kindness. Consider, for example, the matter of forgiveness. How do we know that our sins are forgiven? The covenant and Word that God has given provides us the assurance. If we see this, we will have more boldness to come to God. We will not ask Him hesitantly like beggars. We have to realize that when we come to God, we can fellowship with Him according to righteousness. Righteousness does not annul grace. On the contrary, it is the highest expression of God's grace. Now, we can boldly take hold of His covenant and ask of Him. He cannot refuse us.
Do you remember the story of the woman who wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair as she wept continually? The Lord told Simon, "You did not give Me water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has wet My feet...Her sins which are many are forgiven, because she loved much" (Luke 7:44, 47). The Lord's word referred to the forgiveness of the woman's sins. Yet He said this word to Simon and not to the woman directly. While He was saying this, the woman's sins were forgiven. Although the woman heard it, the Lord realized that this was not enough. Her sins were forgiven. But a person's faith may be strong at one time and weak at another time, or he may wonder if his sins are forgiven and doubt his salvation. For this reason, the Lord purposely and explicitly told her, "Your faith has saved you" (v. 50), even though in reality she was already saved. This did not mean that the woman was only saved at the instant of His word. The Lord said this purposely to give her a "handle" to grasp onto. It is not enough to have the fact of salvation; there must also be the word of salvation. Although she was saved, when she received this word, she received the strength to deal with everything, whether Satan's temptations, man's mockings, or her own doubts. She could lay hold of the Lord's word and say to all these things, "The Lord has said that my faith has saved me."
We have received God's grace, but God established His covenant with us according to His righteousness, so that we can reckon with God and lay hold of His Word. The way of faith is to speak to God and reckon with Him by taking hold of His Word. We are indeed standing on the ground of grace. But we do not receive grace directly; grace does not come to us directly. The blood of Jesus Christ has become the foundation of righteousness; the covenant God made with us can no longer fail. We can now communicate with God on the foundation of righteousness. God loves to see us taking hold of His Word as a handle. He has given us promises based on His facts. One person who was experienced in the Lord said, "God's covenant is God's therapy for unbelief; He uses the covenant to heal the unbelieving ones." In seeking for the forgiveness of sins, before some people consider themselves as being forgiven, they pray until they feel peaceful in their hearts. But what does the Bible tell us? It tells us that we are forgiven by believing in the Word of God. First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God says that when there is confession, there is forgiveness. Therefore, if we confess our sins, our sins will surely be forgiven. If we believe, we will receive the peace of forgiveness. God says that our duty is to confess and His duty is to forgive. If we do our part, God will do His part. We only have to take care of our part; we do not have to take care of God's part. Mr. Wilkes put it well when he asked, "Will God not do His part when you have done your part?" Therefore, we do not have to worry about our feelings, and we do not have to care about what others say. We do not have to worry about what Satan will inject into our thoughts. All we have to do is to take care of God's Word. As long as we confess, He will forgive. The life of a Christian is nothing other than a life of holding onto God's Word. We believe that God is faithful and righteous, and that whatever He has said will be done. He has said it, and it is so. If we stand fully on the covenant enacted by the Lord's blood, God will care for us and give us everything. God cannot hold back anything from us because He has accepted the blood of the Lord Jesus. God has bound His will in His covenant; He can only operate within the confines of His covenant. Before He made the covenant, He could deal with us as He wished. But after He made the covenant with us, He has only been able to act according to the words in the covenant. God cannot be unrighteous; He has to deal with us in righteousness. He loves us and is merciful to us. He cannot deal with us except in righteousness. No other grace is greater than this! Therefore, where grace is manifested the most, righteousness is also manifested the most.
The blood of the Lord Jesus is the price of the purchase. The new covenant is the document that proves the purchase, while our faith appropriates what the Lord's blood has purchased. God is pleased to see us labor and build on this field. Suppose you have spent one thousand dollars to buy a piece of land. The money is paid and the grant deed has been transferred to you. You can rule over this land, farm on the land, and build on it. You can rule over this land because you have paid a price for it, not because anyone has granted you a favor. Whatever you have received is what you deserve to receive because you have paid the former owner the price of one thousand dollars. Without the blood of the Lord Jesus, I can honestly say that we do not deserve anything. But because of the blood of the Lord Jesus, we deserve everything. As soon as we receive the blood of the Lord Jesus, we have the right to execute everything contained in God's covenant. What is given to us through the Lord's blood is God's grace. When we ask for God's blessing, based on His covenant and the Lord's blood, and when He blesses us according to His covenant, we are just acting according to righteousness.
Why does a grant deed need to go through a procedure of being stamped by the government? What is the use of the piece of paper? The little piece of paper comforts our heart. The paper grants us the protection of the government and the protection of the law. God is afraid that our faith is too small to believe in God, and His grace is too bountiful to remember. Therefore, He gave us the new covenant. God is not afraid that He will be unfaithful. This is why He is not afraid to put even the most stringent terms in the covenant. When we claim something according to this covenant, He will surely give it to us.
In this meeting, we want to know one thing: why is this the age of the new covenant or the New Testament? Today is the age of the new covenant because God has been waiting for His church to rise up and bargain with Him according to His covenant for two thousand years. He has been expecting His church to communicate with Him according to His covenant and demand that He fulfill everything. Brothers and sisters, our faith will be encouraged by speaking to God. He expects to see us speaking to Him in faith. We can lay hold of God's covenant and tell Him, "God, You have to give this to us, and You have to give it to us according to Your righteousness and faithfulness because You have said it in Your covenant." Then we will see fresh grace pouring down from heaven, and we will praise Him because He will fill our mouth with honey. When this happens, we will not need to force a few words of praise out of our mouth during the worship meetings; our mouth will always be filled with "Hallelujahs."
James said that we do not have because we do not ask, and even if we ask, we do not receive because we would waste what we have (James 4:2-3). But I have to add one more word: we do not receive even when we ask because we do not believe. We do not believe in God's promise, fact, and Word. Soon we will consider the principle of prayer. The principle of prayer is to speak to God by taking hold of the handle in His Word. In the Old Testament, the Lord said in one place that we should ask and command Him (Isa. 45:11). Oh, we can command God!
You may not know how precious the blood is. If you want to evaluate the value of the blood, do not evaluate according to your understanding. Just say to God, "I do not know the value of the blood, but I ask that You fulfill my requests according to how You value the blood." If you do not pray this way, your prayer and life will be ineffectual. If you lift up the blood before God, you can claim what the covenant has established by the blood. Mr. Andrew Murray said that no one can know all that the blood includes. You cannot fully understand the value of the blood, and you do not have to fully understand. You do not have to see the full value of the blood with your eyes. All you have to do is to say to God, "God, fulfill my prayer according to how You value the blood." You do not have to beg painfully. You can simply pray. Sometimes, you do not even have to pray; you only need to tell God that you want this because it is in His covenant. God will never be unfaithful.
Therefore, we can see why an unbelieving person will suffer great punishment. Hebrews 10:29 says, "By how much do you think he will be thought worthy of worse punishment who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has considered the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" This kind of person is unsaved; he has despised the blood through which Jesus Christ enacted the covenant. There is no hope for him. He does not believe in the death and redemption of the Lord Jesus and nothing more can be done for him. Apart from the Lord Jesus, he can never find another Savior to redeem him and his end is punishment. However, if we lay hold of God's word, our future will be bright and glorious. The Lord's blood has satisfied God's heart and His demands. God is now standing on our side. All we have to do is believe in His Word. Revelation does not come after faith. First, there is the revelation; then there is the faith to believe in what God has given us.
