In this message 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.
The new covenant, which the Lord Jesus enacted, is better than the old covenant made through Moses. In the old covenant, all things were shadows, whereas in the new covenant everything is reality. Everything in the old covenant has been fulfilled and realized in the new covenant. Hence, the new covenant is a better covenant (Heb. 7:22; 8:6).
The new covenant is enacted upon better promises (Heb. 8:6), which were given in Jer. 31:31-34. In these better promises, as we have seen in previous messages, four major things are covered — the inward law of life, the blessing of God being our God and us being God’s people, the inward ability of knowing the Lord, and the forgiveness of sins. Among these four major things, the inward law of life is the focus. The old covenant was made with the outward law of letters, whereas the new covenant is enacted with this inward law of life. The old covenant was of letters; the new covenant is of life.
Hebrews 9:23 says, “It was necessary therefore for the examples of the things in the heavens to be purified by these, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these.” The tabernacle and all things pertaining to it were sprinkled and purified by the blood of goats and bulls (Heb. 9:21-23). That was a figure showing that the heavenly things needed to be purified by the blood of better sacrifices, which are the sacrifices of Christ (Heb. 7:27; 9:14, 28; 10:10, 12, 14). Heaven and all things in heaven have been defiled by the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels who followed him in his rebellion against God. Thus, all the heavenly things needed to be purified. Christ accomplished this purification with His own blood when He entered into heaven (Heb. 9:12).
The new covenant was consummated with better sacrifices and with the blood that speaks better things. Christ offered Himself as one sacrifice (Heb. 9:14; 10:12). This one sacrifice, viewed from its various aspects, may be considered as many sacrifices. As Christ is the eternal Son of the living God incarnated to be the Son of Man who offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit, so His sacrifices are better than those of animals. The animal sacrifices were shadows which could never take away sins (Heb. 10:11), but His sacrifices are real and have put away sin once for all (Heb. 9:26), thus finding an eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12). Verse 22 says that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Without forgiveness of sin there is no way to fulfill the requirement of God’s righteousness that by it the covenant may be enacted. But Christ’s blood has been shed for the forgiveness of sin, and the covenant has been enacted with His blood (Matt. 26:28). We are told in 12:24 that Christ’s blood “speaks better than that of Abel.” The blood of Christ is the speaking blood, speaking to God for forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and redemption. As unveiled in Hebrews, this precious blood speaks to God for us that by it the new covenant may be enacted. Hence, it is called the blood of the eternal covenant (Heb. 10:29; 13:20).
In the old covenant the high priest was a mortal man, and his ministry was a shadow of the good things to come. But the new testament has a High Priest who is the eternal Son of God with a more excellent ministry (Heb. 8:1-13). With Him there is no preventing of death. His ministry is the ministry of the kingly and divine priesthood in heaven, ministering, by His intercession, the divine life with all its riches as our daily supply to bring us into His perfection and glorification.
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 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.
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.
We have seen that after the Lord left the covenant with us, it became the new testament containing all the accomplished facts as our bequests. The Lord’s new testament is executed by the resurrected Christ as the Mediator in the heavens (Heb. 9:15; 12:24). While the Lord is resting on His throne in the heavens, He is concerned for all the heirs of this new testament. He is concerned whether the heirs are wise and diligent enough to take the bequests, or whether they are trusting in their own cleverness and trying to do something else. Because He is so concerned, He is interceding that we shall have the full realization of all the bequests contained in His bequeathed will. If our eyes are opened to see this matter of the Lord’s testament, we shall be beside ourselves and say, “How poor the situation has been for over nineteen centuries. Very few Christians have realized these bequests.” All Christians understand God’s salvation in a low way according to the natural human concept, not in the way of bequests. Have you ever heard that the forgiveness of sins is a bequest? Were you ever taught that the imparting of the divine life, the rebirth, and our crucifixion with Christ are also bequests? We were crucified before we were born. It was accomplished by Christ on the cross and it is one of the many bequests itemized in the will. Our perfection and glorification also are bequests. In the new testament, the new will, everything is a bequest which has been accomplished already. In the last portion of this new will, the book of Revelation, the Apostle John uses the past tense very often. For example, in Revelation 20:10 John said that “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” and in 21:2 he said, “I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Both of these are in the past tense because every item in the will is a bequest, not a promise.
In your preaching, have you ever told people of their bequests? Most preachers say, “If you believe, God will forgive your sins and you will be born again.” We need to tell people, “I have a will for you, God’s will. This will clearly says that all your sins were forgiven long before you even committed them. This will also declares that your rebirth, justification, sanctification, perfection and glorification have all been accomplished by Him. All these items are bequests presented to you in the will. Will you accept it? If you are willing to take it, just thank the Lord and receive it.” If a person will accept the will in this way, he will immediately have forgiveness of sins, rebirth, justification, sanctification, perfection, glorification, and even the New Jerusalem! From now on, we must enjoy and partake of all the bequests itemized in the Lord’s new will. If we have this view, we shall be radically revolutionized. If you have seen this matter of the new testament, you will no longer need to pray in a begging way.
Many Christians understand Ephesians 5:19 and 20 in this way: “Praying to God continually, begging earnestly and fasting to the Lord, making petitions to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But these verses say, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In these verses, there is no begging but praising and thanksgiving, because the Lord has accomplished everything. The Father promised everything and the Lord Jesus accomplished everything. All the accomplished facts have been itemized in the new will as our bequests. We do not need to beg; we need to thank and praise the Lord for our bequests and enjoy them. If we know God’s economy, we shall praise the Lord and thank Him for all He has accomplished and bequeathed to us. Suppose a relative has bequeathed a house to you in his will. There is no need for you to beg for that house. When you learn that the house has been given to you, all you need to do is say thank you and accept it. This is the proper Christian life. There is no need for us to beg; we simply need to take with thanks to the Lord what has already been given to us in such an extraordinary way — in the way of the new will.
Nothing is as binding and as strongly established as a will. No one can change it. Whatever is bequeathed in a will is final; it must go to whom it has been bequeathed. If our eyes could be opened to see that we have such a will, we would be beside ourselves with praise to the Lord. There is no need for people to wait for their rebirth, for that is an item in the will. They should simply accept regeneration as a bequest and say, “Thank You, Lord, for such a wonderful rebirth. Lord, thank You for the impartation of the divine life accomplished at the time of Your resurrection.” God’s selection is another bequest in the will, having been accomplished before the foundation of the world. Since this is clearly itemized as a bequest in Ephesians 1:4, there is no need to kneel down and pray, “O God, have mercy on me. I am a pitiful sinner, and hell is my destiny. “O God, please grant me Your selection.” How foolish it is to pray in this way! Simply say, “Father, thank You for Your selection which has already been accomplished and bequeathed to me.” God’s selection and predestination both are bequests of the new will which have already been accomplished. Romans 8:30 even tells us that we have already been glorified. Glorification, into which we shall enter in the future, is also a bequest in the new will. In God’s reckoning, it has been accomplished already.
We need to have the heavenly vision to see that all God’s blessings are bequests. Do you need peace? It is a bequest. It was promised by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and has been itemized in the new will as your bequest. Simply thank God for it and receive it. This is the new way to partake of God’s blessings. Do not be a poor beggar — you are a glorious inheritor. An heir has no need to beg; he simply receives all the bequests with thanksgiving. When my eyes were opened to see this matter of the bequests in the new testament, my whole concept was changed. This is why I do not beg. Whenever I pray, I pray with the realization that everything was already given to me nineteen and a half centuries ago as a bequest in the divine will and that I can take all I need. I can boldly say, “Praise the Lord! This is mine and I take it.”
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.
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!
