Scripture Reading: Jer. 31:31-34
In this message I am burdened to give an additional word concerning Jeremiah's laying the foundation of the new covenant, the covenant of life.
The Bible shows us that the desire of God's heart is to come into man as life and to be one with man. God has always liked to contact man, and in this contact He has made several covenants with man. The first covenant God made with man was the covenant with the created man (Gen. 2:8-9, 15-17), and the second was His covenant with fallen man (3:8-21). Although God had close and intimate contact with Abel, no covenant was made with him. After Noah passed through the flood, God came in to make a covenant with him and his sons (9:8-17). Then after calling Abraham, God made a covenant with him (12:2-3, 7-8; 15:4-18; 17:1-2; 22:17-18), and this covenant was repeated with Isaac (26:3-5) and with Jacob (28:13-15). Later, when God brought Israel out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, He made a long covenant with Israel (Exo. 20—23; 24:3-8). This covenant, the covenant of the law, is called the first covenant (Heb. 8:7, 13; 9:1), the old covenant. After traveling in the wilderness for forty years, Israel came to the land of Moab, and there God made another covenant with them (Deut. 29—30). According to 2 Samuel 7, God also made a covenant with David. Finally, in the New Testament the Lord Jesus established the new covenant (Luke 22:20).
In the Bible God made eight covenants with man, but He counts only two covenants: the covenant made with Israel through Moses and the new covenant, the covenant of life, which is considered the second covenant (Heb. 8:7). All the other covenants — the covenants with the created man, with the fallen man, with Noah, with Abraham, with Israel in the land of Moab, and with David — are considered by God as side covenants. Still, the covenant God made with Abraham corresponds to the new covenant and is the basis for the new covenant (Gal. 3). If we study all these covenants thoroughly, we will see that God cares for only one covenant, the new covenant of life.
The content of the new covenant is the Triune God, who has been processed and consummated to become everything to God's chosen people. This new covenant was promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Heb. 8:8-13), and it was absolutely, thoroughly, and completely fulfilled by the Lord Jesus when He established His table (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). In instituting the table, the Lord Jesus made a covenant with the New Testament believers.
The most important part of the book of Jeremiah is the portion on the new covenant. Since Jeremiah spoke regarding the new covenant, this book, in a sense, is more important than the writings of Moses, which do not say anything about the new covenant. Although Moses prophesied very much concerning Christ, the covenant God made with Israel through him had nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Based on the fact that the book of Jeremiah prophesies concerning the new covenant, the book of Jeremiah may be considered an Old Testament book that is also a New Testament book.
At this point, we need to say a word regarding the position and function of the old covenant of the law.
The position of the covenant of the law was that of a concubine. In Galatians 4 Paul tells us that Abraham had two wives, representing two covenants. Sarah, the proper wife, represents the new covenant, and Hagar, the concubine, represents the old covenant of law. Because Hagar, the concubine, symbolizes the old covenant of the law, the position of this covenant is the position of a concubine. As Abraham cast out Hagar, when Christ came He put aside the old covenant and made it of no effect, replacing it with the new covenant.
Furthermore, in Romans 5:20 Paul tells us that "the law entered in alongside." This means that the law was added later, that it was not God's original intention to have the law. Rather, the law later came in alongside of something that was present before the law came. This indicates that the main line of God's economy was there already.
Whereas Christ's ministry is a ministry of justification, Moses' ministry was a ministry of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9a). Therefore, in God's economy Moses' ministry is not the central line. However, without the old covenant of the law made through Moses, Jeremiah could not have exposed Israel to the uttermost. In order to expose Israel, Jeremiah often referred to the covenant of the law. Here we see that the function of the law, which is something on the negative side, is to expose our fallen condition and situation. This helps us turn to the source, to the fountain of living waters, which in the New Testament is Christ as the embodiment of God.
In chapter thirty-one Jeremiah laid the foundation of the new covenant, prophesying that God will put His law within us; that He will write His law into our mind that we may know God; that God will be our God and we will be His people; that we will not need anyone to teach us, because we will all have a teaching life within us; and that God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no longer. In the new covenant we enjoy the inner law of life. This law of life brings us God's person and also the divine capacity of the divine life, which can accomplish everything for God to fulfill His economy. By the inner law of life we have the capacity to know God, to live God, and even to be constituted with God in His life and nature so that we may be His corporate expression.
We need all the twenty-seven books of the New Testament to define this one short portion of Jeremiah 31. If we understand this portion in light of the entire New Testament, we will see that in this new covenant we have the church, the kingdom of God, God's household, the house of God as God's dwelling place in our spirit, the new man, and the Body of Christ as the fullness of the processed and consummated Triune God. Eventually, this new covenant will bring in the millennium. Ultimately and consummately, it will bring in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.
Today there are many who have believed in Christ, who have received the blessing of the new covenant, and yet are not aware of the content of the new covenant and what it accomplishes and produces. Therefore, we have the burden to emphasize the new covenant again and again. May we all see the new covenant and be fully occupied with it.
