The new covenant to the Church

1. It is found in Hebrews 9:15; 10:29; 12:24. It is also found in Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 7:22.

2. The new covenant to the Church recognises the interruption of the Jewish Age and the need to replace the shadows with reality. A specialised priesthood must be replaced by a universal priesthood.

3. The strategic victory of Jesus Christ on the cross, followed by His resurrection, ascension, and session, demands the replacement of the first covenant in our context with the second covenant to the Church. The second covenant is not found in Hebrews chapter eight. We do not have it until Hebrews chapter nine.

4. In the new covenant to the Church the royal priesthood is authorised while in the new covenant to Israel we have the fulfilment of the Millennium but not a royal priesthood authorised.

5. The new covenant to Israel is fulfilled in the Millennium; the new covenant to the Church is fulfilled in the dispensation of the Church. The new covenant to the Church only operates on the earth during the Church Age.

6. Notice that in the book of Hebrews both new covenants are discussed.

7. To understand these covenant passages we must be able to distinguish between the new covenant to Israel and the new covenant to the Church. The are entirely different in content, they are in different dispensations, and certain passages in Hebrews cannot be properly understood without this distinction being previously in your mind.

The doctrine of the new covenant to the Church

1. Definition.

a) A covenant is a disposition made by one party (God) in favour of another party (man after salvation). It is not a testament. A testament simply means inheritance after death, it depends on someone’s physical death before it becomes valid to those who are mentioned in the will as the heirs. But the physical death of Christ has nothing to do with salvation, nor does it have anything to do with our legacy. Our legacy is based upon His spiritual death. And a covenant has greater strength than a will, it cannot be set aside whereas a will can be set aside by an act of law. Therefore we have something that is much greater than a will or testament. Furthermore, Jesus Christ is alive. A will or a testament is in operation because the person is dead, but Christ in resurrection body is physically alive. So we are not the beneficiaries of a will and testament because otherwise the resurrection of Christ would have cancelled His will and testament. We are the beneficiaries of a covenant which has nothing to do with physical death. The new covenant demands the spiritual death or the saving work of Christ or the blood of Christ for its fulfilment.

b) The Mosaic covenant or the Mosaic law was a covenant of shadows — shadow buildings, shadow priesthood, shadow sacrifices — because the Mediator had not come in the flesh, and therefore there was no mediator until Christ became true humanity.

c) Therefore the function of the Mosaic law in the Age of Israel was legitimate but not efficacious.

d) A new covenant must exist with historic reality — the first advent of Christ making Him mediator and qualifying Him to be saviour. And there must be an efficacious sacrifice. The Mosaic law did not authorise any efficacious sacrifices, it simply pointed to efficacious sacrifice. The coming of reality — the first advent — and the fulfilment of the shadows in the efficacious sacrifice of Christ on the cross demands a new covenant.

e) In fact, it demands two new covenants, one to the Church and one to Israel. Once Christ comes and becomes the true mediator by His virgin birth, true humanity — in other words, the hypostatic union qualifies Him to go to the cross, qualifies Him to be a mediator, and it immediately sets aside the Mosaic law. In setting aside or abrogating the Mosaic law that leaves Israel hanging for the Millennium. So there must be a new covenant to Israel in the Millennium as well as a new covenant to the Church for our dispensation. Every dispensation after the interruption of the age of the law must have a new covenant related to the efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

f) This new covenant to the Church is a spiritual legacy for the royal family of God and authorises a royal priesthood.

g) The new covenant applies only to those who are born again by faith in Christ.

h) Hence, the new covenant is God’s grace disposition to the royal family of God in time and eternity.

Summary conclusion:

1. a) The new covenant is not a will which requires the physical death of the testator (the one who makes the will).

b) The new covenant requires the spiritual death of Christ on the cross, His efficacious offering of the blood so that God the Father can ratify a new covenant. A covenant is ratified; a will or testament becomes operational by physical death. But the parties involved are alive in the ratification of the covenant, and Jesus Christ in resurrection body is alive.

c) The new covenant to the Church is made in favour of the royal family. This is God’s greatest experiment of grace.

d) The new covenant supersedes the shadow covenant of the Old Testament — the Mosaic law, the Levitical code.

e) It authorises a new universal priesthood for the royal family of God which operates positionally in the holy of holies.

f) The new covenant ratified by God the Father is valid only because of the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ could not be, therefore, His physical, literal blood. Christ did not save us by bleeding to death, He saved us by bearing our sins.

g) The new covenant is the reality in contrast to the shadows of the old covenant, the Levitical code.

h) Hence, the new covenant is the legacy of the royal priesthood with God the Father as the ratifier and God the Son as the mediator.

i) The mediator offered Himself as an efficacious sacrifice on the cross.

j) The Father was propitiated, the covenant was ratified. The covenant calls for a royal family to live forever in the holy of holies.

2. The scripture regarding the new covenant to the Church. The reason we pause to give the scripture is because there is a new covenant to Israel and it has a different set of scriptures. This is scripture regarding the new covenant to the Church, not to Israel — Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3; Hebrews 7:22; 9:15-20; 10:29; 12:24.

3. The principle of the new covenant to the Church. The old covenant, the Mosaic law is abrogated by the death of Christ, His burial, resurrection, and ascension. When He is seated at the right hand of the Father the old covenant is through and the new covenant is operational. So the new covenant replaces the old, the shadow is now replaced by reality, and for the first time in all of human history we live in the reality period of God’s plan.

4. The new covenant and the priesthood. The new covenant authorises a new priesthood, a royal priesthood of the Church Age. The specialised priesthood, the Levitical order of Israel, is set aside with shadow worship.

5. The new covenant and the strategic victory of Jesus Christ. The strategic victory of Christ in the angelic conflict — which is His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session — interrupts the Age of Israel, voids the old covenant, the Mosaic law. It does not void the unconditional covenants of Old Testament times. The Mosaic law is an unconditional covenant abrogated by the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. We also have to Israel the Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants. With the death, burial, resurrection, and session of Christ at the right hand of the Father the Mosaic law is abrogated and is replaced by the new covenant to the Church. To take care of these unconditional covenants we also have a new covenant to Israel. The new covenant to the Church is authorised for the Church Age, the new covenant for Israel is authorised for the Millennium. Both are eternal. The new covenant belongs to the royal family only, the new covenant to Israel belongs to Israel in the Millennium and forever.

6. There is a distinction, therefore, between the new covenant to Israel and the new covenant to the Church. The new covenant to Israel, for example, is found in Galatians 4:4; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8-12; Hebrews 10:15-18. The new covenant to Israel is the authorising agent for the restored Israel in the Millennium. Today there is not Israel. Israel is scattered as far as the Word of God is concerned and when a Jew believes in Christ he is a member of the royal family of God just as when a Gentile believes in Jesus Christ. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile in this age. The distinction comes after the Rapture of the Church. So we have a distinction between these covenants. The new covenant to Israel replaces the Mosaic law for the function of Israel’s priesthood and all Israel in the Millennium. This means that there will be animal sacrifices in the Millennium authorised by the new covenant to Israel as a memorial to the work of Christ, not a shadow. We also have the new covenant to the Church which authorises the royal priesthood and will continue forever, living in the holy of holies.

7. The summary of authorising covenants. a) We have the Mosaic law which authorises the Levitical priesthood of the Age of Israel. b) We have the new covenant to the Church authorising the royal priesthood of the Church Age. c) We have the new covenant to Israel authorising the Levitical priesthood of the Millennium and the Millennial temple of Ezekiel chapters forty through forty-eight.

8. The new covenant to the Church is the basis for establishing the royal family of God forever. Part of the plunder of the strategic victory of Christ is the establishing of a royal family composed of Church Age believers only. The new covenant to the Church authorises the royal family its priesthood and its supergrace plunder — promotion, wealth, materialistic things, success, prosperity, sharing God’s happiness. Remember that God is not interested in merely providing your needs.

9. The shadows and the reality. All the shadows of the old covenant point to the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the reality, He has become the “guarantee of a better covenant” — Hebrews 7:22. The better covenant is the new covenant and Jesus Christ is the guarantee. The blood of the covenant has set us apart as the royal family — Hebrews 10:29.