The Two Covenants

PAUL, speaking of the old covenant, said, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." Let us now consider wherein the first covenant was faulty. It was not because it was so closely connected with the law of God, for the new, or better, covenant is even more intimately connected with the law of God than was the first, or old, covenant. The old covenant gave man the law of God upon tables of stone; but the new puts it in his heart. It was not because the law was faulty; for that is so perfect that even under the New Testament it is made the standard by which sin is shown. Ps. 19:7-11; Rom. 3:19, 20, 31; 1 John 3:4, 5. But Paul plainly intimates wherein the new covenant is better than the old one. It is "established upon in better promises." Heb. 8:6. Then it follows that the first covenant was established upon promises not so well adapted to man's case; and this very fact is, of itself, a decisive proof that the first covenant was not simply the law of god, but a contract between God and his people. Let us now examine the nature of the promise upon which the first covenant was made. Jeremiah designates the first covenant as made when Israel came forth out of Egypt. And thus he has laid open this covenant, and the nature of that promise upon which it was established. Jer. 11:3, 4: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you; so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God." The promise of the Lord that he would be their God was upon condition that they obeyed his voice. Nay, the condition was even stronger than this: "Do them according to all which I command you so shall ye be my people." But suppose they should fail to do this? Then the promise was forfeited. Surely, fallen man needs a better promise than this. It was just in God to require a man to live in exact conformity with his perfect law of right; but it was inevitable that man would forfeit his title to the promises of God. It is true that there were in the ceremonial law ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary connected with the first covenant. Heb. 9 and 10. But these could not take away sins. They could only point forward to Christ. The promises of the first covenant were upon condition of obedience to God's perfect rule of right. But such promises were insufficient to meet the helpless condition of fallen man.

So the apostle says: "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." Heb. 8:7. But because the people of Israel broke the covenant of the Lord, he justly finds fault with them, and seeks to give the place to a second and better covenant, established upon better promises. And hence it is, that God, by his prophet, gives the people of Israel to understand that they have forfeited the blessings of that covenant, and that the branches of their olive tree will be broken off. Jer. 11. And following this announcement, a few years later, is the cheering promise of a new covenant. Jer. 31:31-34. It was about 600 years before the birth of Christ that the new covenant was thus foretold. The apostle Paul makes the following expressive comment: "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Heb. 8:13. Thus it appears that the first covenant had in Jeremiah's time become old, and thenceforward, to its close, it was "ready to vanish away." And when our Lord came to do his work, he took away the first that he might "establish the second." Heb. 10:9.

Let us now consider the excellence of the new covenant, and learn wherein it is a better covenant than the one which it supersedes. Here are the terms of this covenant: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. 31:33, 34.

Certainly, this is "the better covenant,"and these are the "better promises." Let us

enumerate them. 1. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." 2. "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 3. "They shall teach no more every man his neighbor; . . . for they shall all know me." 4. "I will forgive their iniquity." 5. "I will remember their sin no more."

This is a very remarkable list of new-covenant blessings. First and foremost in this enumeration, stands a promise concerning the law of God. Surely, this is worthy of our notice. But what is this promise respecting the law? Is it, "I will abolish my law"? No. Is it, "I will change my law"? No. Is it, "I will supersede my law by a better code?" By no means. It is very different indeed from such declarations as these. This is the promise: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write in their hearts." He will make his law a part of their very being. He will establish them in their affections; he will engrave it upon the table of their hearts. This is wonderful indeed. The law of God is still uppermost in the mind of its Author. The first covenant required obedience to the law of God, but failed to secure it. The second covenant insured obedience by making the law a part of the very nature of those whom the covenant is made. God does not leave his law till he has accomplished that which he has spoken, the raising up of a people who shall obey him from their hearts. The first covenant was made concerning the law of God. In a still higher sense this is true of the second. The great work of the new covenant is to take away the carnal mind, which is enmity against the law of God so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8:1-7.

And so the Mediator of the new covenant lays down the immutability of the law of God, and solemnly enforces its observance as the condition of entering eternal life. Matt. 5:17-19; 7:12; 15:1-9; 19:16-19; 22:35-40; Luke 16:17. And the apostles, Paul, and James, and John, have faithfully testified to the same great truth. Rom. 2:12-16; 3:19, 20, 31; 7:7-14; 8:3-7; 1 Cor. 15:56; Eph. 6:1-3; James 1:25; 2:8-12; 1 John 3:4, 5; Rev. 11:19; 12:17; 14:12; 22:14.

But how is it that the second covenant is so much more efficacious than the first in securing obedience to the law of God? The answer is found in the difference between Sinai and Calvary. At Sinai the law of God entered in terrible majesty, but the hard heart of sinful man is incapable of submitting to the law of God. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, and, indeed, cannot be. At Calvary enters, not the law of God but the lamb of God, as our great sin-offering. Not the condemning law, but the sin-atoning sacrifice is the central object upon the hill of Calvary. And yet the law was present there to strike the Son of God with the sword of divine justice. Gal. 3:13. How astonishing the events of Calvary! The new covenant is given to us in the blood of Christ. We have pardon through his blood. With his stripes we are healed. Mercy and truth meet together in the sacrifice made for us by the Son of God.

The new covenant proposes to save those who have broken the law of God. It is able to forgive their sin, the transgression of the law, and not only to pardon them for violating the law of God, but to put that law in their hearts so that it shall be their very nature to obey it. This is what the Bible means by conversion. Rom. 7:7-25; 8:1-9; Acts 3:19. But the Mediator of the covenant can thus give life to the guilty, only by the sacrifice of his life. We have life from his death. We have pardon from his blood. We have grace from the fountain of his grace. The new covenant is a system of salvation wherein God is shown to be just, even in the very act of justifying the sinner, and wherein the law is shown to be established even by the doctrine of justification by faith. Rom. 3:24-26, 31.

If we place the blessings of the new covenant in chronological order, they will stand thus: 1. The forgiveness of sins. 2. The writing of the law in the heart. 3. The blotting out of sins so that they shall be remembered no more. 4. God fully unites himself to his people, thenceforward forever to be their God, and they to be his people. 5. All shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

But the forgiveness of sins is upon condition of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21. Repentance involves, 1. Godly sorrow for sin; 2. Confession of sin; 3. Reparation of wrong acts when it is in our power to make it. 4. Change of conduct, so that we cease to transgress and henceforward obey. And faith in our Lord Jesus Christ views him, 1. As our great sin-offering, and accepts his blood as our only ground of pardon; 2. As our great High Priest to plead our cause when we come to God for mercy and grace; 3. And finally it views his life as the perfect example of that obedience which the law of God requires, and the perfect model after which we must pattern.