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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Becoming the New Covenant, #2
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: (Deuteronomy 28:1,2)
A covenant is an agreement between two parties. One promises to do something and the other agrees and enters the covenant.
The Old Covenant consisted of the Ten Commandments plus the remainder of the statutes of the Law of Moses. The Ark of the Covenant was so named because the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, was carried in the Ark.
God spoke the words of the covenant to Moses. Then the Israelites were to obey them. When the Israelites obeyed the Law of Moses, God was bound by the covenant to bless them, give them victory over their enemies, prosper them in material possessions, and keep them in health.
Because the Jews had only the adamic nature to enable them to keep the terms of the Covenant they failed on many occasions. God was not satisfied with them and issued a new covenant.
The new covenant is not written with ink but with the Spirit of God. The new covenant cannot be written on parchment or paper but only on the mind and heart of man. The new covenant is not a covenant of the letter, as was the Law of Moses, but a covenant of the Holy Spirit. The letter of the Law kills but the Holy Spirit gives life. The first covenant was a covenant of condemnation. The new covenant is a covenant of righteousness.
The old covenant can be learned by devout, intelligent people and then communicated by speaking and writing to the students.
The words of the New Testament can be learned by devout, intelligent people and then communicated by speaking and writing to the students. A rigorous exegesis can be made of the various passages and then the text can be expounded.
But the new covenant itself cannot be communicated in this manner.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. (II Corinthians 3:2)
When the new covenant is to be formed in a group of people, it first must be written on the heart of the apostle sent to them. This does not mean the apostle must first experience the new covenant and then tell the group about it. Rather the birth and formation of the covenant in the group must be birthed and formed in the apostle. Aaron must carry Israel on his shoulders and over his heart, so to speak. The apostle must be a "father" to the group.
"Written on our hearts." It is the apostle who travails with birth pains. But it is in the group that Christ is formed.
The new covenant is Christ written in the mind and on the heart. As the apostle is brought down to death the Life of Jesus raises him from the dead. The superabundance of eternal resurrection Life flows from the apostle to those around him and they live also. Christ is formed in them. They become the new covenant.
Paul cried out from the Praetorian barracks, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." Because the exultant paean rose from a saint in travail the exhortation comes with a fertile force. People are transformed. The course of nations is affected.
To be continued.