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Meditation
by Bishop M. Neville A. Smith, M.B.E.,J.P.,F.C.M.I.
God's
Amazing Covenant
We
have an amazing Covenant with the Lord our God, through
Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant. The
Bible informs us that this is a 'better covenant'
- better than the Old ( Hebrews 8:6) .
If
it is better than the old, then it must contain better
commitments, assurances and promises than the Old
Covenant.
What
is a Covenant ?
It is a mutual understanding between two or more parties,
each binding himself to fulfill specific obligations.
It is a legal contract or a binding agreement. It
is also a written solemn agreement to do or not to
do a certain thing. Such a covenant between people
is often called a treaty, a pledge, an alliance of
friendship, an ordinance, a constitution, or simply
an agreement. However, between God and man it is a
Covenant, a Divine Constitution or Ordinance with
signs and pledges reflecting an alliance of holy friendship.
The
enactment of these two types of covenants is strikingly
different. A covenant of man with man
is established after each man equally
does that which is necessary to fulfill obligations
brought about by their equal authority. In other words,
each one of them is equal to the other in power and
ability, and by their word can meet their own requirements
without the other person's help. However,
a covenant of God with man demands a
different approach, else it would be impossible to
ratify. Since man is dependant upon the Lord, created
by the Lord, and given life by the Lord, he (man)
can hardly consider himself to be equal with God.
How then can the Lord establish a Covenant with man?
Simple, yet so wonderful!
God,
of course, knows that man cannot do his part to establish
a Covenant with Him, so He lovingly carries out His
part of the Covenant, then steps into the
frame of a man - that is He becomes a man
while still remaining God in the Person of
Jesus Christ ( Johns' Gospel chapter 1:14
) , and fulfills man's obligation for
him - thus two equal parts.
As a result, Covenant with man is established, legally.
Now
in order for this Covenant or Testament to be ratified
- released to us by inheritance - one of the two parties
to the Testament/Covenant had to die. Only by the
death of the testator can
the Testament/Covenant become active
in the life of the one (man) who is entitled to it
by inheritance ( Hebrews 9:
15
& 16 )
.
So what does God our Father do? He sends Jesus,
born of a woman, to live before us and to die in our
place thereby paying the price that ratified the Covenant.
He became sin for us, although He knew no sin. Why
did He do it? So that we might become the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? It means
that He and He alone established the Covenant with
man as a man, but while He still remained God, and
that in doing so brought man into a Covenant relationship
with Jehovah through reconciliation (restored friendship/fellowship).
All
this means, among many other things, that we who believe
in Jesus Christ according to the Word of God ( Romans
10: 9 & 10 ) can by entitlement
because of Jesus Christ, approach our Father
God through His Word (written Word - the Bible and
the Living Word, Jesus Christ), on Covenant matters
or all things that pertain to life and
godliness ( 2nd Peter 1:3).
Do you know what that means? Yes,
you are correct. It means nothing that is important
to us, and nothing that we need is outside His Covenant
Grace and ability to be able to provide for us. Permit
me to assure you that when the Lord asked Jeremiah:
'Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there
any thing too hard for me?' - The Lord had already
caused Jeremiah to give His position in a preceding
verse where we see the reply before the question.
This was (and is) the answer: ' Ah Lord
God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth
by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there
is nothing too hard for thee:' (Jeremiah 32: 27 &
17). Perhaps this should remind
us that the Lord said, ' before we call
He will answer' . In other words, His
Provision is made
available to us even before we ask for
it.
It
amounts to having the confident assurance that what
we hope for is going to happen ( Hebrews
11:1 NLT ). It's called, 'faith'
in the Covenant Word of the Lord our God, through
Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant. Remember,
you have been made just
(righteous) by the covenant blood of
Jesus Christ, and the Bible instructs us that the
just shall live by (Covenant) faith.
I commend you to His Covenant grace.
Copyright
© 2004 RRCF
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