The Daily Word of Righteousness

The New Covenant, #2

He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end." (Hebrews 1:10-13—NIV)

The human race and the physical universe as we know it were never destined to be eternal. They are to be folded up and discarded once God has brought forth His true Adam and Eve.

Jesus Christ Himself is the only Tree of Life. Adam and Eve, apart from eating of the Tree of Life, were dust. "Dust you are and to the dust you shall return."

All of mankind is dust. The flesh profits nothing. Until we become part of Jesus Christ we have no significance. The flesh is but a vain show. It is as the flower of the field: beautiful today and cast into the fire tomorrow.

The Christian religion places great emphasis on avoiding Hell and entering Paradise. There is a real Hell and there is a real Paradise.

But if you study the New Testament carefully you will discover the emphasis is not on avoiding Hell and entering Heaven. The emphasis is on escaping death and entering eternal life. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. The issue is life.

The first, material creation is dead. It has no genuine life, its life being merely the circulation of blood. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ is there true life, eternal life, the Life of God, the life that has significance, love, joy, hope.

Every covenant of God has as its purpose the bringing forth of the four aspects of the Divine fiat:

That man be in the image of God.

That man be male and female.

That man be fruitful.

That man rule all the works of God's hands.

As we said, the true man is the Lord Jesus Christ. The true helper is the Church, the Bride of the Lamb. The true fruitfulness consists of people in the image of Christ. The true rulership is authority and power over all things in the heavens and on the earth.

Every Divine covenant has as its ultimate purpose the bringing about of the four aspects in which God is interested, in which God finds pleasure.

One covenant can be judged better than another only if it is more successful in accomplishing the Divine objectives.

Am I making sense so far?

Now, why is the new covenant better than the Law of Moses?

Let us consider the first aspect of the Divine fiat, that of man being in the image of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the first Man to appear on the earth who actually is in the image of God.

As far as the remainder of the sons of God are concerned, the Law of Moses does not do such a good job. The Law itself is perfect. But since it had to be obeyed by the sinful nature of man, it could not possibly create us in the image of God. Yet we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in spirit, soul, and finally, at His appearing, in body.

To be continued.