JESUS, THE MEDIATOR OF A NEW COVENANT
JESUS, THE MEDIATOR OF A NEW COVENANT
\”He is the mediator of a better covenant, which hath
been enacted upon better promises. He is faithful that
promised.\” — Heb 8:6; Heb 10:23.
THIS IS called the Better Covenant. There are no ifs;
no injunctions of \”\’observe to do\”; no conditions of
obedience to be fulfilled. From first to last it consists of
the I Wills of the Most High.
I will put my laws into their minds, refers to the
intellectual faculty, which thinks, remembers, and
reasons.
I will write them upon their hearts, the seat of the
emotional life and affections. What a man loves, he is
pretty certain to follow and obey. \”A little lower,\” said
the dying veteran, as they probed for the bullet, \”and
you will find the Emperor.\” So with the Christian who
has been taken into the Covenant with God, the law is
inscribed on the deepest affections of his being. He
obeys because he loves.
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a
people. This last clause is even better than the first,
because it implies the keeping power of God. If we are
to be a people for His peculiar possession, it can only
result from the operation of His gracious Spirit, who
keeps us, as the sun restrains the planets from
becoming wandering stars.
All shall know Me. Oh, wonder of wonders. Can it be?
To know God! To know Him as Abraham did, to whom
He told His secrets; as Moses did, who conversed
with Him face to face; or as the Apostle John did when
he beheld Him in the visions of the Apocalypse. And
that this privilege should be within the reach of the
least!
I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins will I
remember no more. As a score is forgotten when
blotted from a slate, so shall sin be obliterated from
the memory of God. It will be forgotten as a debt paid
years ago.
Do you ask how God can call this a covenant, in
which there is no second covenanting party? The
answer is easy: Jesus Christ has stood in our stead,
and has not only negotiated this covenant, but has
fulfilled in our name, and on our behalf, all the
conditions which were necessary and right. He has
become our Sponsor and Surety, so God is able to
enter into these liberal terms with us, if we will identify
ourselves with Him by a living faith. This is the new
and better covenant.
PRAYER
Holy Father! I claim from Thee the fulfilment of Thy
Covenant Promise, that Thou shouldst write Thy law
upon my heart, and remember my sins and iniquities
no more. May I hear Thee say: \”Thy faith hath saved
thee; Go, and sin no more!\” AMEN.Hebrews 8:6
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry,….
Christ has a ministry, he is the minister of the
sanctuary, Heb 8:2 he has \”obtained\” this ministry of
his Father; he was called unto it and engaged in it by
him; and he has \”now\” obtained it; for though he was
called to it from eternity, it was in time he came an
high priest of good things, to come; and his ministry is
a more excellent one than that of the priests, who
offered gifts according to the law and served to the
example and shadow of heavenly things; as
abundantly appears from the preceding chapter, and
from this, as well, as from what follows:
by how much also he is the Mediator of a better
covenant; the covenant of grace, as administered
under the Gospel dispensation; which is not only
better than the covenant of works, that being
conditional, this absolute; that stood on the foot of
works, this on the foot of grace, and is established in
Christ; that being broken and made void, this
continues; and not only better than the covenant of
the Levitical priesthood, which was but a typical one,
and is now ceased, but also than the covenant of
grace, as administered under the legal dispensation;
being better than that, as to the manner of its
manifestation, which is more full and clear; and as to
the extent of its administration, reaching to Gentiles as
well as Jews; and as to the ratification of it by the
blood of Christ, called from thence the blood of the
everlasting covenant; and as to the promises of it,
here said to be better:
which was established upon better promises; which
are not now delivered out as before, under the figure
of earthly and temporal things; nor under a condition
to be performed nor confined to a particular people
and nation; and which are attended with a greater
measure of the Spirit, to open and apply them; and
are all secured in Christ Jesus, and confirmed by his
blood: and now of this covenant Christ is the
\”Mediator\”; a mediator is of more persons than one,
and of these at variance; and he is a middle person
between both; and his business is to bring both
parties together, and make peace between them: the
two parties in this case are God and man, set at a
distance from each other by the sin of man, whereby
man is become enmity to God; Christ is the Mediator
between God and man, a middle person between
both, being both God and man, the daysman, who
lays his hands on both; who brings men to God that
were afar off, and makes peace for them by the blood
of his cross, and satisfies the justice of God, which he
has done by the sacrifice of himself; and now appears
in the presence of God for them, and intercedes for
them, and applies the blessings of the covenant to
them by his Spirit, and keeps and preserves them
safe to his everlasting kingdom; and for this office he
is every way fit, and in this he excels the Levitical
priests, and has a ministry superior to theirs, since he
is such a Mediator, and a Mediator of such a
covenant,