Christ as the Servant of Jehovah serves God by being a covenant and a light to God’s chosen people that He may be the full salvation of God extending to the ends of the earth (Isa. 42:5-7; 49:6, 8-9a). God’s full salvation is based on God’s righteousness and is consummated in God’s life (Rom. 5:17, 21). Righteousness in God’s justice and life through God’s light are the two basic factors of God’s salvation (Rom. 1:16-17; 5:18b; Titus 3:7). God’s salvation in its two aspects is composed of Christ as the covenant for justification and Christ as the light for life (Rom. 5:10). Through His death Christ as the covenant satisfies God’s righteousness for justification as the base of God’s full salvation, and in His resurrection Christ as the light imparts life as the consummation of God’s full salvation. Ultimately, the complete salvation of God is embodied in the New Jerusalem, which is a matter of life built on the foundation of righteousness (Rev. 22:1-2; 21:14, 19-20 and note Rev. 22:191a, par. 2).
Through His death and in His resurrection Christ has become the new covenant as the new testament (Heb. 8:10-12; 9:15-17) according to God’s righteousness to be the base of God’s full salvation. God gave Christ as a light to the nations that He might be God’s salvation to all the world (Matt. 4:16; Luke 2:30-32). The life of this light (John 1:4; 8:32), as the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16b), the incorruptible life (2 Tim. 1:10b), and the real and eternal life that we should lay hold on (12, 1 Tim. 6:19), becomes God’s salvation to us in His righteousness (Rom. 5:10, 17). This life also ensures us, guarantees us, the heirs of God in His life, the right to inherit God with all His riches as our eternal inheritance (Acts 26:18). Such a life of light grows in us continually, issuing in our church life today (Eph. 5:8) and consummating in the New Jerusalem in eternity (Rev. 21:2-3, 9-11, 18-23; 22:1-5).