To enter total, complete union with Christ in God with all true saints is the greatest of all opportunities.

The God of creation is asking for our hand in marriage.

This is holy ground and we need "to take our shoes off." This is holy beyond all holiness.

We cannot conceive of such a marvel. Words cannot describe the glory of union with God through Christ; they only can tell us God has ordained it.

There is one element in man that can comprehend this opportunity of the new covenant. It is the element of love. Somehow we understand that God loves us enough to desire that we be part of Himself for eternity. At the same time we sense the smallness and immaturity of our own personality.

We know our love is not up to the Divine level. We trust that in the future we shall learn to love God. But it surely will require an eternity of eternities before we gain some small idea of the greatness of God's love for us.

We are unable in the present hour to do more than acknowledge God's intention and to respond as well as we can.

Under the new covenant, God and Christ have given us Themselves. We can state this but we cannot describe it. They are giving to us more than Their things, They are giving us what They are.

Christ Himself is the Grace given under the new covenant. The gift of Jesus is the gift of God's Heart.

The Lord requires a like response from us. He is not asking merely for our things, our time, our efforts. God is asking for our heart. He has given all; He is requiring all. God has withheld nothing from us. He will accept nothing less than all we are, all we have, all we do.

The person who does not forsake father, mother, children, the world, and his own life to follow Christ is not worthy of Christ. The believer who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.

God has given all. He expects to receive all in return.

It is impossible to receive the fullness of the grace of the new covenant, or to enter the opportunities and rewards of the new covenant, until we make up our mind to give all we are to Christ. Until we are determined to die in Christ and to live in Christ we cannot participate fully in the new covenant.

No previous covenant has included the giving of the fullness of God Himself.

No previous covenant has required that a human being give up his or her own life in its entirety.

No previous covenant has offered the smallest fraction of the glory available to the participant in the new covenant.

But what about the accompanying punishments for those of the elect who are not willing to devote their whole lives to the pursuit of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?

To be continued.