23. The New Covenant
The primary purpose of the writer of Hebrews is to establish the meaning of the New Covenant, the Blood Covenant into which God has entered with us as believers in Jesus.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will establish and bring to completion a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not remain in My covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. This prophecy, quoted by Hebrews in 8:8-12 comes from Jeremiah 31:31-34. Notice the important words, “not like.”
God inside of Them. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days” says the Lord, “I will place My laws in their through-minds, and upon their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God inside of them, and they will be a people inside of Me. And no one will teach each their neighbor and each their brother saying, ‘Know the Lord’; because all will be fully aware of Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, because I will propitiate and resolve their acts of injustice, and their falling short will not be in My thoughts anymore.”
Throughout, the writer of Hebrews sets the two covenants against each other, just like Paul did, the New and the old, with the oft-repeated word, the New is “better.”
Better. Here are several ways in which the New Covenant is better.
1. The old covenant kills everyone; none escape. <> The New Covenant makes everyone alive, each in their season.
2. The old covenant requires human performance first, after which God will respond with promise. All have failed; the promise has been annulled. <> The New Covenant requires God performance first; God gave all, already; the promise is inside the Spirit. Humans enter through boldness of faith.
3. The blood of the old covenant is animal blood, shed constantly, which serves only to remind all of the great and failed “struggle against sin.” <> The Blood of the New Covenant is of the Lamb of God, one unlimited sacrifice for sins forever, which removes ALL consciousness of sins.
Clues towards Something More. There are many more such distinctions shown by the writer of Hebrews. Here is the most important.
4. I am on my own, without hope, but surrounded only by clamoring sin and ending only in the bitterness of death. <> Jesus is our Way into God; He has already carried us into the Most Devoted; the Covenant is already all inside of Him; Jesus is responsible for me.
However, this contrast between the two covenants is not what I want in my box. The writer of Hebrews gives us two clues besides the obvious one left out. First, he writes only to babes who cannot understand, and second, there is so much more to say, if he had time and if we could hear.
Where It Begins. The biggest clue, however, is the one everyone misses, especially the translators. Yes, Hebrews is speaking to babes in Christ, carefully taking them step by little step into the Most Devoted Place, in order to show them that THEY ARE ALREADY THERE and have always been. The missing clue is that Aaron turned around. The Christian life BEGINS inside the Most Devoted Place, already fully connected with God in every intended Way.
The big question of the New Covenant, then, is not really how it is better, and especially not how we might enter into it. The big question of the New Covenant is – What is the meaning of our next moment? What is happening with every next step we take?
When God Turned Us Around. In 2012, when I wrote “The Covenant,” I followed the typical path given to babes, through the Tabernacle into the Most Devoted. The most important letter I wrote, however, in-between seeing God as the One who carries us, in late 2011, to the opening up of Symmorphy in June 2015, was “Seeing the Invisible One,” in The Feast of Tabernacles in early 2014. In that letter, God “turned us around.”
For that reason, when I began to write Symmorphy IV: Covenant in May of 2017, I began it with the true, but unseen premise of Hebrews, that our Christian life BEGINS in the Most Devoted Place, in full Covenant with God, sharing all with Him, and that the unfolding of every next moment and step is the KINGDOM going forth, age-unfolding Life.
Meaning and Purpose. Now, I had said that I might not write in general, out from which I typically draw what goes on the JS2 page. But I find myself searching for what truly needs to be there, and this type of sharing is just the best way to find it. I do not need to re-hash the argument that runs across the book of Hebrews for it is already found through all the pages for Hebrews in the JS2 – powerfully. What I need is the core meaning, and then the ongoing purpose.
The meaning and purpose, then, is found clearly in the span of the main headings for the pages of the JS2. I will list them as our statements of faith, but read them slowly, and allow a full understanding to build from one to the next. We will see God’s clear purpose.
Statements of Faith.
➢ God speaks me inside His Son. ➢ God has put all things under my feet. ➢ I am part of Christ; I walk in all boasting confidence.
➢ I receive Word into my faith; I live inside Jesus’ rest. ➢ I speak what God says I am. ➢ I carry on into all fullness.
➢ I seize the hope set before me. ➢ I live by the power of a life that never ends. ➢ Jesus saves me into all salvation now.
➢ God has bound Himself to me by Covenant. ➢ The Blood of Christ has eliminated all my sins. ➢ I am made devoted; belonging only to God.
➢ I live inside of God; God lives inside of me. ➢ I speak boldly that I am just like Jesus. ➢ I please God with the boldness of my faith.
➢ I choose the affliction of Christ; I see God. ➢ God offers me as His son. ➢ I possess the Covenant and the Kingdom.
➢ My heart is established in God’s enabling presence.
And the two most important of these statements of faith, the place where we must begin?
➢ God has bound Himself to me by Covenant.
And the heart of that Covenant?
➢ I live inside of God; God lives inside of me.
When We Turn Around. Now, inside the meaning of the Covenant, I approach everything I find that is God inside the Most Devoted in order to know that God shares Himself utterly with me. But out from God sharing all with me, the purpose of the Covenant is the Kingdom, that in every next step I take, ➢ God offers me as His son, just like Jesus.
When we turn around in Hebrews 10:19-22, the sixth ruling verse of the Bible, two extraordinary things happen in our view of the New Covenant. First, everything written from Hebrews 10:23 on, is about God offering us as sons, and NOT about any further “need for redemption.” And second, the Covenant reaches all the way back to Hebrews 1:1 and makes it all in full right now.
The Spark Plug. There is nothing we must know more clearly, in more specific detail, and with more aggressive faith than the Covenant by which God has bound Himself to us and we to Him. I use the illustration of a spark plug. You cannot know what a spark plug is just by looking at it by itself. You must know where it fits first, and you must see it in action.
Let us define a spark plug. A spark plug is a small object made of ceramic and steel that is screwed into the place in-between the distributor and the cylinder. It’s purpose is to spark the right amount of fire at the right moment in order to explode the fuel. On the one hand, it is the explosion that then drives the cylinder which turns the wheel. On the other hand, it is the distributor that conveys the right power at the right moment to the spark plug.
Nothing of Itself. The thing about the spark plug is that it does NOTHING of itself. The spark plug does not produce the spark nor is it the explosion of power that drives the car. But if the spark plug is not in its place, operating as it is designed, then the only thing that can happen is that wild and random sparks would ignite all the fuel and blow everything to smithereens.
The spark plug is the authority God has placed into us as His human sons, the authority by which we give God permission to come through us as Fire, and thus make every next step we take to be the Kingdom, swallowing up death and bringing life and blessing everywhere we go. – For we have this treasure in a vessel of clay filled with Jesus, that the power flowing through might be God and not us.
The New Covenant. Hebrews establishes the meaning of the New Covenant, the Blood Covenant into which God has entered with all who believe into Jesus. The old covenant kills everyone; the New Covenant makes us alive again. The extraordinary assertion of Hebrews is that God has bound Himself to us by Covenant. The core of that Covenant is that God will be God inside of us and that we will be a people inside of God, that is, the Covenant is to Symmorphy. The purpose of the Covenant is that all might know the Father.
The Blood of the Covenant. Next, to know a Blood Covenant, we must know the Blood that makes the Covenant. The writer of Hebrews is big on the placement and meaning of that Blood. Life and Blood are synonymous, the life is in the blood. The Blood is both resolution, that is, propitiation, and security, as needed by both parties to the Covenant. The Blood is also the signature, by which both parties are bound and the passageway through which both parties enter into one another.
You see, this Blood Covenant God has entered into with us is a Covenant to Symmorphy. – And I will be God INSIDE OF them, and they will be a people INSIDE OF Me. The Blood is the carrier of Purpose, the essence of Pro-Thesis.
The Greatest Value. The Blood of the Covenant speaks overwhelmingly to us. First, this is the Lamb at the center, life laid down and love poured out as the continuous Bond of that Covenant. Nothing is more important to God than Jesus as every Word that He speaks. The Blood is Jesus continuously giving His Life to us for our own.
The Blood, therefore, represents the greatest Value inside of God, that which is most precious to the Heart of the Father. This VALUE is to give one’s self for the sake of others, meek and lowly of Heart. This Value God has exalted above all other values, even above His own name. This Value fills our hearts and connects us utterly together with God.
The New Covenant. In any covenant, there must be that which resolves all differences, that which provides security to both parties, and that which is the signature that activates the covenant. In the New Covenant, it is the Blood of the Lamb shed for us that accomplishes all three. The Blood is the Life of Jesus, the highest Value inside of God, Life laid down and Love poured out. Forever, Jesus connects God and us together, giving Himself utterly to us and to the Father. Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant.
The Provisions of the Covenant. Here are the first provisions of the Covenant.
1. Christ Jesus as every word God speaks is written on our hearts and in our minds, the law of life, the mind of Christ.
2. God will dwell inside of our togetherness, and we will dwell as a people together inside of God – the Church.
3. We know the Father, personally and together, that is, we possess and share age-unfolding life with God.
4. All difficulties are resolved; God knows nothing about any disconnection, ever. We give ourselves for one another.
Other Gospel verses increase the scope of this Covenant and give it ever deeper meaning, but these four things are always fixed, and in these four we dwell.
The New Covenant. Here are the first provisions of the Covenant as prophesied by Jeremiah. (1.) Christ Jesus as every word God speaks is written on our hearts and in our minds, the law of life, the mind of Christ. (2.) God will dwell inside of our togetherness, and we will dwell as a people together inside of God – the Church. (3.) We know the Father, personally and together, that is, we possess and share age-unfolding life with God. (4.) All difficulties are resolved; God knows nothing about any disconnection, ever. We give ourselves for one another.
Equal in Respect and Heart. Next, we want to consider how a Blood Covenant makes the two parties entering into Covenant together to be equal in respect and in heart. But specifically in this Blood Covenant, how Jesus Himself, the Mediator of that Covenant, connects us utterly with God. The Covenant is a living Person, the Lord Jesus.
It’s easy to see how we are equal with God. The Lord Jesus lives inside the Father’s Heart, sharing the Father’s divinity with Him. The Lord Jesus lives inside our hearts of flesh, sharing our humanity with us. This brings us to a staggering question. – What is the human heart of flesh that it can contain within it the very One who fills the Heart of the All-Sustaining Father?
Life Mixed with Life. The thing about a Blood Covenant is that it gives all that is one party to the other and all that is the other party to the first. NOTHING is left out. Then, Blood Covenant became the act of each one cutting the palm of the hand and mixing their blood together. This signified all inside of all. Life together with life.
Inside of this Covenant, just as God gives all of Himself, all that He is and has, utterly to me as my own, so I give to God all of myself, all that I am and have, utterly to Him as His own. Let the depths of this meaning penetrate deeply into our consciousness; let it become our Devotion to God.
The New Covenant. Regardless of any prior or outward differences, a blood covenant makes the two parties to be equal with one another in respect and in heart. Our Covenant with God is a Living Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus lives inside the Father’s Heart, sharing divinity with Him. Jesus lives inside of our hearts, sharing humanity with us. The Blood sprinkled upon our consciousness mixes Jesus’ life with ours, making us just like Him. Our hearts are filled with the Heart of the All-Sustaining Father. Inside of this Covenant, God gives all of Himself, all that He is and has, to us as our own. Then we, in return, give all of ourselves, all that we are and have, to the Father as His own.
The Piracy of David. Next, we want to know the importance given to each party to the Covenant securing for himself what is given by the other party.
Of truth, we must begin with David. The Ark of the Covenant did not belong to David; it belonged in the Tabernacle of Moses at Shiloh. David did NOT ask God; he simply stole the Ark for himself because he wanted it in his own back yard so that he could sing and dance inside the presence of God any time he wanted. His first attempt at stealing the Ark did not work well. After he had huffed and puffed a bit, God did speak to Him, essentially – “If you are going to seize My presence and Covenant for yourself, then do it My way.”
The Zeal of God. The action of the sixth ruling verse is our part of securing what is ours in the Covenant – all of God. “Let us approach everything we find inside of God with full assurance of faith – (to seize it for ourselves.)” It was David’s brash faith that pleased God. God liked the guy. “This is what I’m like,” He said. This corresponds with the bridge of the second ruling verse, that we are to comprehend together the full extent and meaning that is God in fullness – given to us.
We know that God is like David by the parable of the exuberant Father and by the word “Pro-Determined.” NOTHING will even slow God down in having all that we are as His own treasure and joy.
The New Covenant. In this New Covenant, it is of vital importance that both parties to the Covenant, God and us, personally and together as a people, to secure for themselves all that has been given. Thus we are to approach everything we find inside of God with full assurance of faith, making it our own with the same boldness of David. And our task together is to comprehend the full extent and meaning of all the fulness of God filling us full. In like manner, the Father is exuberantly determined to possess all that we are as His own treasure and joy.
A Will of Inheritance. The next important factor is that this Blood Covenant into which God has entered with us is actually two Covenants together. The first is the Blood Covenant which we have described thus far, but the second is a will of inheritance. The importance of the will of inheritance is emphasized by both Paul and the writer of Hebrews.
The first reason Jesus died was to show us His love for us and thus to win our hearts. This is a second reason why Jesus died. He set aside His life so that He could step aside as God’s Heir in order for the inheritance to pass from Him to us. This is exactly what Hebrews says. It is in taking His Life back again that Jesus becomes us.
Being Just Like Jesus. The New Covenant means that we are heirs of all that belongs to the Father, that is, all creation, spiritual and physical together. The death and resurrection of Jesus means that we have already inherited all. Thus Paul says, “All things belong to us” (1 Corinthians 2). “Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession” (Psalms 2).
Yet there is nothing more important to us than to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ in all ways except honor. This is the greatest part of our inheritance, which we possess right now, as we see Jesus as He is. And with Jesus, we inherit our great love for one another in all Joy.
The New Covenant. The New Covenant contains within itself a will of inheritance. In dying, Jesus set aside His life so that the inheritance could pass from Him to us. Then, in receiving us into Himself as He takes His life back again, Jesus becomes us. By the Covenant, we are heirs of all that belongs to the Father, that is, all creation, spiritual and physical together. Jesus died once; thus all things belong to us now, including the entire earth. Because being like Jesus is the most important part of our inheritance to us, we love one another just as Jesus loves us. We see the Church of God, all whom the Father has given to Jesus, as our precious inheritance.
A Covenant of War. Finally, we must consider the importance of bringing the Covenant to Completion. The Covenant is entered into with deep purpose by both parties, and both parties give themselves utterly to the securing of that purpose.
There is one purpose to this Blood Covenant God has entered into with us, the same purpose for God as well as for us. That purpose is – The Bride. – To win, to protect, and to marry the Bride.
Thus, we are speaking also of a Covenant of War. You and God have covenanted together to cast aside your own lives, to risk all, to fight to the end, in order to protect and to nourish the Church of God in her hour of greatest need.
Offered as a Son. Jesus did not win our hearts by giving Himself to us. He won our hearts by turning His back on us and giving Himself to the Father for our sakes. We do the same as He. Our job is not to give ourselves to our fellow Christians, but to the Father for their sake. It is our giving of ourselves to the Father for the sake of all our Christian brethren that makes the Covenant complete.
God offers Me as His son – is the completion of the Covenant. Indeed, consider Paul’s exhortation in Chapter 13, for he is telling all our fellow believers to follow us. – Remember those leading you in the way, who speak the word of God to you; observe carefully what comes out from their way of living; imitate their faith.
The Completion of the Covenant. And again. – Have confidence in those who are leading you, and yield to them as they watch over your souls [your self-story], as they restore word to you; that they might do this with joy. Here is the same thing spoken to Joshua. – When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it… Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before (Joshua 3).
The completion of the Covenant is you and me showing all our brethren that way – going under with Father for their sake, standing upon the Covenant for every little one.
The New Covenant. This Covenant God has entered into with us is filled with great purpose. That purpose is the Bride, to win, to protect, and to marry the Bride. We recognize that, because our inheritance is claimed by an imposter, the New Covenant is a covenant of war. In bringing the Covenant to completion, God and we have covenanted together to give all for the sake of our brethren. God offers us as sons, for the sake of the Church. We join with Father beneath of all, that we might win each little one into all the life of Christ.
Make the Vision Plain. The Covenant has finally become clear to us. I wrote the entirety of Symmorphy IV: Covenant and could still not have written what is now on the JS2 page. I think that I want to write Covenant again, but then I realize that The Science of Symmorphy would contain a full and specific layout of the New Covenant as the major topic. The Covenant is living and organic; it is the Person of Jesus. But how He connects God and us together is very literal, even “scientific.” It is the cause of everything of the Kingdom.
Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Habakkuk 2).
Reading for Next Time. We must have a second lesson on the war between the two covenants taking place now upon the earth. God has given us full clarity, and we must know the task at hand. The next lesson, then, will be “The Showdown of This Last Hour.” It will not be written for anything in the JS2, but it will conclude our “Studies in Paul.” If you have not had the chance yet to read “The Two Covenants” in The Covenant, do so.
God is pleased when we take the Covenant seriously, when we seize hold of all that He has given to us of Himself for the purposes of the Covenant, and when we then secure the inheritance for God, that is, the Church, with the same Heart that is Jesus.
Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, You have bound Yourself to us through Covenant, and You have bound us to Yourself through Jesus. Father, we know Jesus; therefore, we know You. And we know that You share all things with us inside of thankfulness. Father, cause us to know everything that You are, Your full extent inside of us, that we might possess all that You have given us through this binding Blood Covenant.
“And Father, as You give Yourself to us, so we are made able to give ourselves in return to You, all that we are. Father we give to You every part of ourselves, and every moment of our lives, that You might dwell freely inside of us. Father, we know that You answer us with Your fulness.
“But Father, we also recognize that You have bound Yourself to us by Covenant because You have a purpose. Father, Your Church, all of our brothers and sisters who love You throughout the whole world. Father, they sit in darkness, not knowing that You have given all to them. And Father, their enemies circle around them, intending to destroy Your people. Yet You have given us all authority, Father, through Christ Jesus who is our life.
“Inside of the name of Jesus, we call You, Oh God, into Your Church. Deliver her from all evil. Set her free to know You. Enclothe her with the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we give ourselves to You, that You might have Your Way into our world. Even so come, Lord Jesus.”