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God made many covenants with man. The obvious ones are those He made with Noah, with Abraham, with Israel at Horeb after they left Egypt, with Israel at other times (Deut. 29:1), and with David. However, besides these covenants there is the one that God made with us through the Lord Jesus Christ, which is often referred to as the new covenant. Although there are many covenants, the most important are the one that God made with Abraham and the one called the new covenant. The others cover a smaller area and are of less importance.
The new covenant is a continuation and development of the covenant God made with Abraham. Galatians 3 shows us that the new covenant and the covenant made with Abraham are of the same line. Between Abraham’s covenant and the new covenant there is the covenant of law made with Israel (vv. 15-17). However, the law was added because of transgression; it is basically an addition (v. 19; Rom. 5:20). Only the covenant made with Abraham and the new covenant are of faith and promise (Gal. 3:7, 9, 16-17; Heb. 8:6). For this reason they are of the same line.
Between the covenant with Abraham and the new covenant is the covenant of law that God made with Israel. This is what is referred to in Hebrews 8:7 as the “first covenant.” This is also what we call the old covenant. This old covenant does not really mean the thirty-nine books from Genesis to Malachi, which we commonly call the Old Testament. Strictly speaking, the old covenant began from Exodus 19 and continued until the time of the death of the Lord Jesus. The conditions in the old covenant were bilateral. This is why there were two tablets of the covenant in the Ark (31:18). If the children of Israel would keep the law, God would bless them; if they broke the law, God would punish them. This is the old covenant. Before this old covenant there was an earlier one, the covenant God made with Abraham. The new covenant continues not the old covenant but Abraham’s covenant.
Hebrews 8:7 says, “If that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.” This tells us that the first covenant has faults. As far as the nature of the first covenant is concerned, “the law is holy” (Rom. 7:12), “the law is spiritual” (v. 14), and “the law is good” (1 Tim. 1:8). But as far as the function of the first covenant is concerned, “through the law is the clear knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20); “the law is not of faith, yet, ‘He who does them shall live because of them’” (Gal. 3:12). This means that the law requires man to do good, but it does not give man the life and power to do good: “That which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Therefore, “out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him” (3:20). In summary, “the law perfected nothing” (Heb. 7:19). Therefore, the first covenant has faults.
We need to see that Exodus 19 through 24 are the words of God’s covenant. Three months after the children of Israel left Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai. There they pitched their tents in front of the mountain, and Moses went to God (19:1-8). God wanted him to speak to the children of Israel: “Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My personal treasure from among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine” (v. 5). And all the people answered together and said, “All that Jehovah has spoken we will do.” (v. 8). After Moses declared the whole covenant to the congregation, he “took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Here is the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words” (24:8).
In this covenant there are words such as, “You shall have no other gods besides (lit.) Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything...You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them” (20:3-5). Could the children of Israel do this? We know that even before Moses brought the tablets of the covenant down from the mountain, they were already making the golden calf and worshipping it (32:1-8). In other words, even before the tablets of the covenant were brought down from the mountain, the children of Israel had become unfaithful to the covenant. This was the fault of the first covenant.
After this the children of Israel continued to fail in keeping God’s covenant. They provoked God in the wilderness. They tried Him by testing Him and saw His works for forty years. Nevertheless, they always went astray in their heart, and they had not known God’s ways (Heb. 3:8-10). They saw God’s “works,” but they did not know God’s “ways.” Again, this was the fault of the first covenant.
“Finding fault with them He says, ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will consummate a new covenant upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord’” (8:8-9). This means that God wanted them to continue to be faithful to the covenant, but they could not. At one time they were determined to follow the Lord, yet they could not faithfully follow Him daily. Although at one time they were revived, they could not maintain their revived condition day by day. This was the fault of the first covenant.
Paul says, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am fleshy, sold under sin...For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not” (Rom. 7:14, 18). Paul’s experience also tells us that the law itself is spiritual, but the law could not perform, in that it was weak through the flesh ( 8:3). This, too, was the fault of the first covenant.
The first covenant had faults. Then what about the second covenant? The second covenant is the new covenant (Heb. 8:7, 13). The new covenant is enacted upon better promises (v. 6). The new covenant is not written in tablets of stone but in tablets that are hearts of flesh (2 Cor. 3:3). The new covenant imparts God’s laws into man’s mind and inscribes them on man’s heart (Heb. 8:10). In other words, in the new covenant the One who demands of us is God, and the One who enables us to do the will of God is also God. The new covenant is a covenant in which God gives us life and power to do the good He intends us to do so that He may be our God and we may be His people (v. 10; Titus 2:14). The new covenant enables man to know God more deeply and in an inward way, without being taught by his fellow citizen (Heb. 8:11). Therefore, the new covenant is the covenant of sanctification (10:29), the better covenant (7:22; 8:6), and an eternal covenant (13:20). We must say, “Hallelujah! How sweet and how glorious is the new covenant! What a grace it is!”
We have seen before that the word of grace that God has given us includes God’s promises, God’s facts, and God’s covenants. We have also seen that God’s covenants include God’s promises and God’s facts. Now let us see God’s promises and God’s facts that are included in God’s covenants. The Scriptures show us that God’s covenant is God’s promise, except that God’s promise was spoken by God’s mouth, and God’s covenant was made by an oath (6:17). The promise binds God, and much more, the covenant binds God. When God made a covenant with Abraham, He swore by Himself (vv. 13-14). “Therefore God, intending to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His counsel, interposed with an oath” (v. 17). For “the Lord has sworn and will not regret it” (7:21). Therefore, a covenant limits God and binds God more than a promise.
Hebrews 9:15-18 clearly shows us that in the new covenant there are promises and there are also facts. Verse 16 says, “Where there is a testament, the death of him who made the testament must of necessity be established.” In the original text testament and covenant are the same word. Therefore, the word covenant has two meanings in the Scriptures: first, it is a covenant, or contract; and second, it is a testament, or will. Hence, we can say that the new covenant is a covenant, and we can also say that it is a will.
A covenant cannot be established without a promise. Every covenant must have a promise. An ordinary promise does not necessarily contain any pledge, but the covenanted promise must go through a legal process; it is protected and enforced by law. Hence, God’s covenant must include God’s promise. Those who are deeply taught by God’s grace and who deeply know Him consider that there is very little difference between His promise and His covenant, for they know that God is faithful even as He is righteous. They believe that if God has promised, He will fulfill His promise. It is not necessary for all His promises to pass through a legal process. To them, God’s promise equals His covenant. But to those who are weak in faith, there is a great difference between God’s promise and God’s covenant. To them, it seems that the covenant is the guarantee that God’s promise will definitely be fulfilled. We cannot say that all of God’s promises are His covenants, but we dare to say that all of God’s covenants include His promises.
Hebrews 8:6 says, “Now He has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.” This verse tells us that the new covenant is a better covenant because it is enacted upon better promises.
In God’s covenant there is not only the promise but also the testament. Hebrews 9:15 speaks of “the promise of the eternal inheritance,” and verse 16 speaks of the testament. A testament, or will, indicates that there is an estate, a bequest. The things bequeathed are the facts. For instance, a father may make a will, specifying how his possessions should be taken care of and disposed. Either they are to be passed on to his son or to someone else. Then those who receive the inheritance enjoy what he bequeathed. Therefore, a testament, or a will, is not composed of empty words but must include some facts. A testament is a covenant. Therefore, we say that the covenant includes God’s facts.
A covenant differs from God’s promise and God’s fact, but a covenant also includes God’s promise and God’s fact. Without the promise and fact, the covenant becomes empty words and is meaningless. We thank God that He has many promises that are related to the new covenant. There are also many facts that are related to the new covenant. We must say, “Hallelujah, the new covenant is so rich and complete!”
When speaking of the new covenant age, we must ask three questions: (1) With whom did God originally establish the new covenant? (2) When did God make the new covenant? and (3) Why is today the age of the new covenant?
According to the Scriptures, God never made any covenant with the Gentiles. Therefore, the new covenant cannot be a covenant that God made with the Gentiles. Nor had God ever made any covenant with the church before the time of the new covenant. Since there was no first covenant, or old covenant, with the church, we cannot say that God made a second covenant, or a new covenant, with the church. Then with whom did God make the new covenant? Jeremiah 31:31-32 says, “Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, the Lord God made a covenant with them. Later, God said that He would make a new covenant with them. This word clearly shows us that God made a covenant, not with the Gentiles but with the houses of Israel and Judah.
In determining the time when the new covenant was made, we must take into account the words in Jeremiah 31:31, which say, “Days are coming.” We know that when these words were spoken, the days had not yet come. Verse 33 says, “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah.” What are the days referred to by the phrase mentioned here, after those days? We believe that according to the content of this covenant, they refer to the beginning of the millennium. It will be at that time that God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.
Since the new covenant is a covenant that God will make with the house of Israel in the future, why do we say that today is the new covenant age? When we come to this point, we must realize that it is altogether too wonderful and an exceeding grace. We see that in the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, “He took the cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new (lit.) covenant” (Matt. 26:27-28). “New covenant!” Oh, what music to our ears! How wonderful! How marvelous!
Although the term new covenant was written in the book of Jeremiah, still for several hundred years it was not mentioned. It was a treasure that had been forgotten. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He never mentioned the new covenant for more than thirty years. Day after day, year after year, He never mentioned it. Why, at the time when He was eating the supper with His disciples, did He take the cup and bless it and give it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new (lit.) covenant”? He not only mentioned the new covenant; He also said, “This is My blood of the new (lit.) covenant.” Oh, holy and gracious Lord, with thankful tears we worship and praise You! What a new covenant this is, full of life and full of riches! To those who do not know, it is only letters. Lord, You alone know what this covenant is. Today You have revealed this new covenant. We can say that You have opened the heavenly, spiritual treasure store, and You have bequeathed all the treasures to those whom You love. O Lord, how wonderful and gracious You are! Once again we thank and praise You.
Because of the Lord’s exceeding grace, the new covenant applies to all those who are found by grace. Although it is not until “after those days” (Heb. 8:10) that God will make a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah, still the Lord paid the price of His blood, enabling those whom He has redeemed to enjoy the new covenant first. From the day He died, the new covenant was established. This is the Lord’s great grace so that we may have a foretaste of the blessing of the new covenant. It is in principle the same as when God made a covenant with Abraham. He did not make the covenant with us but with Abraham. Yet in the same way that Abraham was justified by faith, we also can be justified by faith. Likewise, the new covenant that God promised Israel for their enjoyment in the future, because the Lord has shed His blood, can be enjoyed by us today as those who have been put under the new covenant. The Lord is building us up today by the principle of the new covenant and is blessing us with the blessing of the new covenant. We know that the Lord shed His blood not only for our redemption but also for the establishing of the new covenant. Redemption is but the procedure, the path, to reach the goal. The goal at which the Lord was aiming when He shed His blood was the establishing of the new covenant. Redemption is closely related to the establishing of the new covenant, for if the problem of sin were not solved, the blessing of the new covenant could not come upon us. We thank the Lord that His blood not only solved the problem of sin but also established the new covenant. Therefore, this age is truly the new covenant age. Oh, the new covenant age is a blessed age! We need to praise God!
Now we shall summarize the contents of the new covenant. In later chapters we will examine its contents in more detail.
Hebrews 8:10-12 says, “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; and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me. And 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. For I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore.” This passage clearly reveals that the new covenant includes three parts: first, God imparts His laws into man’s mind and inscribes them on man’s heart. God becomes their God, and they become God’s people. This means that God Himself enters into man to be one with man. Second, these laws that are within man enable man to know God without the teaching of others. This is the inward knowledge of God. Third, God will make propitiation for man’s unrighteousnesses; neither will He remember man’s sins. This is forgiveness.
Hebrews 8:10-11 is actually one continuous thought. Verse 12 starts another thought. Based upon the word for in verse 12, we see that forgiveness is already accomplished. From God’s standpoint, verses 10 and 11 are His goal; therefore, they are mentioned first. Verse 12 is God’s procedure to reach His goal; therefore, it is mentioned later. According to our spiritual experience, God first makes propitiation for our unrighteousnesses and forgives our sins. Then He imparts His laws into our mind and inscribes them on our heart so that He may be our God and we may be His people; finally, He enables us to have an inward, deeper knowledge of Himself.
We may list these three parts of the new covenant as follows: (1) cleansing, (2) life and power, and (3) inner knowledge.
The new covenant truly meets our need. It need not be more, and it cannot be less. What God has done is truly complete. God has saved us, and through the Lord Jesus Christ He has given these three great blessings to us. When we have the new covenant, we have cleansing, life, and power. We also have an inward knowledge so that we may know God in a deeper way. How complete and how glorious is the new covenant! How gracious God is toward us!
