THE TWO
COVENANTS
by F. B.
Meyer
"I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people."
(Heb 8.10)
Theologians have detected several different kinds of covenant in the
course of human history, and as depicted in the Bible. But it is
sufficient for us to notice the two covenants, Old
and New, mentioned in this paragraph. And the basis of the whole
argument is contained in Jeremiah 31.31-34, in which there is a
distinction made between the covenant made with the fathers-when God
took them out of the land of Egypt, and that new covenant, which in the
days of Jeremiah, was still future. Moses was the mediator of the
first, as Jesus is of the second.
THE MOSAIC COVENANT.
It was often reiterated in very gracious and searching tones. Take, for
instance, that scene which took place as the vast host {crowded} into
the plain beneath the brow of Sinai, in the third month of the Exodus.
As yet there was no cloud or fire on Sinai's crest; but a proposition
was made to the people by Moses, that if they, on their side, would
obey God's voice and keep his word, God, on his side, would do two
things: he would regard them as his peculiar treasure above all people;
and he would take them to himself as a kingdom of priests, and a holy
nation (Exod. 19.5, 6). And the people, little counting the cost, or
realizing all that was involved, cried with one glib, unanimous voice,
"All that the Lord hath spoken will we do." They thus entered into
covenant.
Shortly after, when the Ten Commandments {were} given, the terms of the
covenant on God's part were very much enlarged. On the fulfillment, on
the part of the people, of the old condition of obedience, God went
further than ever before in his promises, which comprehended a vast
variety of need, and consisted of many parts (Exod. 23.22-31). And
again the people gave one mighty, unanimous shout of assent (24.3).
Nor was this all; for when, . . . they were entered in the Book of the
Covenant, and read publicly, amid the solemn ratification of sprinkled
blood, the people again said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do,
and be obedient" (24.7). But how little they knew themselves! Within a
week or two they were dancing wildly around the golden calf; and within
a few months there was not one who dared affirm that he had kept the
covenant in every jot and tittle. No, on the contrary: "which my
covenant they broke, saith the Lord." What else could be expected of
them! Although Moses did write them a second and detailed statement of
the conditions of the covenant in the Book of Deuteronomy, with the
reiterated demand, that occurs like a refrain, "Ye shall observe to do."
There were two great defects in that old covenant, which arose out of
the weakness of poor human nature; in the first place, it gave no
power, no moral dynamics, to enable the {people} to do what they
promised; and, secondly, it could not provide for the effectual putting
away of those sins which arose from their failure to carry {out their
part of the covenant in obedience} (Heb. 9. 9).
Surely the majority of men, aiming after a {spiritual} life, pass
through an experience like this. When first we are redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb, and brought out into the new life, we seem to stand
again under Mount Sinai; or, better still, our conscience becomes our
Sinai, and from its highest point we seem to hear the voice of God,
engaging himself to be a God to us if we will in all things obey his
voice. And this we immediately pledge ourselves to do. We are not
insincere, we really mean to perform it; we are enamoured at the ideal
of life presented to us. It is not only desirable as the condition of
blessings, but it is eminently attractive and lovely.
But we make a profound mistake in pledging ourselves; for we are
undertaking a matter which is totally beyond our reach. As well might a
paralyzed man undertake to climb Mount Blanc, or a bankrupt to pay his
debts. We soon learn that sin has paralyzed all our moral motor nerves.
The good we would, we do not: the evil we would not, we do. We are
brought into captivity to the law of sin in our members, which wars
against the law of our mind. We go out to shake ourselves, as at other
times; but we {don’t know that we are} powerless and helpless.
It seems a pity that each has to learn the uselessness of these
attempts for himself, instead of profiting by the experience of others
and the records of the past. Yet so it is. One after another starts to
earn the privilege of God's presence and smile and blessing by being
good and obedient . . . in complying with rules and forms and
regulations. It goes on well for a little while, but soon utterly
breaks down. We are baffled and beaten, as sea-fowl who dash themselves
against a lighthouse tower in the storm, and then fall wounded into the
foam beneath. We are slow to learn that, {in the same way} receive
justification, so must we receive sanctification, from the hands of God
as his free gift.
If any reader of these lines is trying to keep up a friendly
relationship with God on this principle of try and do and keep, the
sooner that soul realizes the certainty of failure, not for want of
will, but through the weakness of the {old} nature, and yields itself
to the grace revealed in the second and better covenant, the more
quickly will it find a secure and happy resting place, from which it
will not be disturbed or driven, world without end.
THE BETTER COVENANT.
It is so much better than that of Moses, in this way: while it pledges
God to even better promises (ver. 6) than those of the earlier
covenant, promises which for a moment demand our attention, there is no
pledge or undertaking of any kind demanded from us. There are no ifs; .
. .no conditions of obedience to be fulfilled. From first to last it
consists of the I wills of the Most High. Count them up in this
marvelous {passage} (vv. 10, II, 12), and then dare to claim that each
should be fulfilled in your personal experience; because this is the
covenant under which we are living, and through which we have access to
God.
"I will write my laws into their
minds." That refers to the intellectual faculty, which thinks,
remembers, argues. It will be of inestimable value to have them there
for constant reference; so that they shall always stand inscribed on
the side posts and lintels of the inner life, demanding reverence, and
compelling daily attention.
"I will write them upon their hearts."
That is the seat of the emotional life and of the affections. If they
are written there, they must engage our love. And 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, which had sunk deep down into
his breast, "and you will find the Emperor"; and in the case of the
Christian who has been taken into covenant with God, the law is
inscribed on the deepest affections of his being. He obeys because he
loves to obey. He stays in his Master's service, not because he must,
but because he chooses it for himself, saying, as his ear is bored to
the door, "I love my Master, I will not go out free."
"I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people." The last clause is even better than
the first, because it implies the keeping power of God. His chosen
people so wandered from him that he once called them "LoAmmi" Not my
people (Hos. 1.). But if we are ever to be his people; people for his
peculiar possession then it can only result from the operation of his
gracious Spirit, who keeps us, as the sun restrains the planets from
dashing off into space to become wandering stars.
"All shall know me." Oh,
rapture of raptures! can it be? To know God! To know the deep things of
God. To know him, or to be known of him. 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 reach of the
least!
"I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness." In the old covenant there was little room for
mercy. It was a matter of voluntary agreement; if one of the
covenanting parties failed in the least particular, there was no
obligation on the other to remain faithful to their mutual agreement.
The failure of one party neutralized the whole covenant. But there is
no such stringency here. On the contrary, mercy is admitted into the
relationship, and exercises her gracious sway.
"I will remember their sins and
iniquities no more." As a score is forgotten when blotted from a
slate, so shall sin be, as if obliterated from the memory of God. It
will be forgotten, as a debt paid years ago. It will be so entirely put
out of mind that it shall be as if it had never been. If sought for,
not found. . .The stone dropped into ocean depths. The cloud absorbed
by the summer heat, as it fades from the deep blue sky. Joseph's
brethren, in their last approach to Joseph, after their father's death,
betrayed a fear that though his resentment was cloaked, it was not
thoroughly relinquished. But their fears were entirely groundless. They
discovered that the offense had utterly passed from their brother's
thought, and Joseph wept when they spoke to him. In {the} same way as
this God ceases to consider our sins, and grieves if we do not believe
the thoroughness of his abundant pardon.
Are you enjoying the terms of this covenant in your daily experience?
God is prepared to fulfill them to the letter. Count on him to do as he
has promised. Reckon on his faithfulness. Claim that each pledge shall
be realized in you to the fullest limits of his wealth, and your need.
Do not try to invent conditions or terms not laid down by him; but
gladly accept the position of doing nothing to earn or win, and of
accepting all that God gives, without money and without price.
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 {place}, 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 borne the penalty of human weakness and
transgression. He has met all demands for a perfect and unbroken
obedience. He has engaged to secure, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, a
holiness in us, which could never have been obtained by our own
efforts. And as he has become our Sponsor and Surety, so God is able to
enter into these liberal terms with us, saying nothing of all the cost
to his Son, but permitting us to share all the benefits; on this
condition only, that we identify ourselves with him by a living faith,
intrusting all spiritual transactions into his hands, and abiding by
the decisions of his will. This is the new and better covenant, which
has replaced the old.
* An excerpt taken from F. B. Meyer’s The Way Into
the Holiest Ch. 19