⸻ One: The new covenant is the foundation of all spiritual life. It is because of the new covenant that our sin can be forgiven. Our conscience can regain peace. It is through the new covenant that we are able to obey God and do the things that most please Him. It is also through the new covenant that we may commune directly with God and know Him intimately. If it were not for the new covenant, we would have no assurance of forgiveness, no power to obey God and do His will, no intimate fellowship with God, and no deep knowledge of Him. Thanks be to God, there is a new covenant. And He has entered into covenant with us. Therefore, we may rest in His covenant. Frances Ridley Havergal wrote in her hymn: “Resting on the faithfulness of Christ, our Lord. Resting on the fullness of His firm Word. Resting in His wisdom, His love, and His power. Resting in His covenant, hour by hour.” The author of this hymn understood what the new covenant is, and therefore she could rest in the Lord’s covenant. ⸻ Two: God’s eternal purpose is revealed in the new covenant. The one who belongs to the Lord must know this covenant; otherwise, he will not grasp God’s eternal purpose in his experience. The Bible says that from Adam until Moses, sin reigned through death. During that period, God’s eternal purpose had not yet been revealed. When God proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all nations shall be blessed,” something of grace was revealed — but the substance of grace was still invisible. The law was given through Moses. But the law was never included in God’s eternal purpose, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Therefore, with Christ came the dispensation of grace, the new covenant, and the revelation of God’s eternal purpose. This purpose is revealed in the new covenant. By knowing it, we may expect it to be fulfilled in our lives. Otherwise, we might only touch the hem of salvation and not its substance. If we know something concerning the new covenant, then we may say that we have touched the very core of the universe. ⸻ Three: What is God’s eternal purpose? Simply stated, it is God opening the way to reach the man He created. God delights in uniting Himself with man so that man may have the divine life and nature. In eternity — before time began, before heaven and earth and man were created — God had already conceived this purpose. He desired that man would be like Him — glorified and conformed to the image of His Son.
