Coming back to the centrepiece of the New Covenant, you have probably figured it out. The law of God and the forgiveness of our sins are central to the New Covenant. The New Covenant is God’s pledge to the followers of Jesus. This means it is God’s pledge also to us. New Testament is actually the New Covenant. Jesus died so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The death of Jesus enabled God to implement this long awaited New Covenant. New Covenant brings God’s Righteousness, which He calls the law of God, into our hearts and minds. This means – God’s Righteousness in our hearts is paid for by the Blood of Jesus and therefore is most precious. It is through that blood that God reconciled the world to Himself, by forgiving their sins. The righteousness which God inscribed on our natures is alive and it works itself out in the form of righteous characters, revealed in works of kindness and lives in harmony with the perfect will of God.
Only a few weeks after it was made, the wilderness generation, at the time of Moses, broke the old Covenant which God made with them. They broke it in a major way.
“How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
Exodus 32:8 NLT
The issue was: faithlessness, ingratitude, the noncompliance to the Ten Commandments. So to assist the obedience for the believers after the Cross, God writes His law right into our hearts and minds where the righteousness of the law needs to be. At the same time He comprehensively increases its righteousness to meet the new standard of perfection expected under the Blood and merits of Jesus. We usually call it Christ’s Righteousness. At the same time, God adds His Holy Spirit to administer this righteousness from within, until it turns out into righteous characters, holy behaviour, and the deeds of kindness and benevolence akin to that of God the Father whose righteousness it is.
““This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.””
Hebrews 10:16-17 NLT
We are well aware of Jesus Christ dying in our stead and spilling His precious blood for the forgiveness of our sins. But what happened to the other twin centrepiece of the Covenant between God and us? God wrote His law on our hearts and minds. He gave us that righteousness. His righteousness. Where is the awareness of the law of God? If we have rejected the law of God outright, then our hearts are empty. God’s Righteousness is not there. It is not working on our behalf. This means that we too have broken the Covenant God made between Himself and us. This means – on the Judgment Day – there will be no righteous character recognised in us – and you know what that means.
Faith cannot help us here, because faith shows “the reality of what we hope for”, and then turns it into “substance”.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1 NLT
But if we have rejected the law of God, then there is no inner righteousness needed to inspire hope and faith which God turns into substance.
Christ died to Save us. His death enabled God to implement this treasure on our behalf. He knew the value of it, and no price was too high to make it happen. He waited thousands of years for the blood of Christ so He could implement it. But for some reason or the other – we rejected this unrecognised gift. No one talks about it. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the New Covenant? Even now we can’t see what it is meant to do. It is well known that constant rejection and hardening of heart – makes our eyes blind and our ears deaf. Oh dear Jesus, save us.
Please dear God, bring us back to a place where we can start this all over again. We desire to do it properly this time. Have mercy.
Yes. Works of righteousness are needed. God graciously provided comprehensive provisions so we need not fail. We know that faith is needed. But for faith to turn into substance, it needs to focus on the desired outcome. It needs the hope. Faith needs to trust God. It is God who makes faith work. It is faith in Jesus who turns faith into a miracle. Now with Jesus Christ in our hearts, more is expected. More is needed. That ‘more’ Is encapsulated in the righteousness God places into the heart. That righteousness is alive. It changes sinner into a saint. We need to listen to our hearts. We need to hear the Holy Spirit. But if the heart is empty, there is nothing to hear. And if you say: I believe in Jesus. Jesus is in my heart now. That is all well and good. We need Jesus in our hearts. But what God desires to achieve in order to Save us – is the righteous characters which will stand the test on the Judgement Day. Which will make us feel comfortable in the company of holy beings in heaven. Yes. We do need to submit to ‘God’s ways’. But if we resist that righteousness, can we truly say: ‘Jesus is in my heart’? We know that the Righteousness of Christ is received as a gift upon all and unto all who believe. Like the faith of Abraham.
“For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.””
Romans 4:3 NLT
From God’s point of view that is a perfect solution. And that is how things are. But on the Judgment Day, everyone needs to see clearly that God is just and fair. That His huge risk in accepting us on the basis of faith without works – has worked. The righteous characters and godly lives of His saints are indisputable evidence which need to be clearly seen and felt by all. This New Covenant pledge was in the heart of God for a very long time. When Jesus died on our behalf, God’s pledge was put into effect. God does not make mistakes. Righteousness of the law of God placed into our hearts and minds is God’s doing. It is a gift. It is a part of the “better promises” under the “better” Covenant. It was made possible by the Blood of Christ. It is so wildly successful that at the end, Christ’s Righteousness is called the righteousness of the saints.
“And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
Revelation 19:8. KJV
This is ‘God’s way’ and that is why the miracle of our Redemption will succeed. Has succeeded. Thank You dear Father. Thank You dear Jesus.
If we reject ‘God’s ways’, can we seriously hope for a better outcome than that of the wilderness generation?
Oh dear Jesus, have mercy.