This study of the covenant(s) has prayerfully and carefully examined the new covenant, identified four major promises or provisions that constitute its DNA markers, and traced those markers back through time. Examining the Old Testament record in light of the new covenant DNA markers revealed that God had either implicitly or explicitly embedded the new covenant promises in every previous covenant He had made with humankind, and had reiterated them here and there in clearly identifiable clusters throughout the whole of the Old Testament as well as the New.
Another finding of this study was the emergence of a set of timeless, universal, gospel truths taught throughout both Old and New Testaments. True believers living in every era of human history have experienced these gospel truths, and as such are considered new covenant believers whether they lived in the historical Old or New Testament eras.
There was a historical old covenant and a historical new covenant represented respectively by the Old Testament and New Testament historical eras.[1] Both the historical old and new covenants taught these same timeless, gospel truths, for there is only one true gospel. At the same time those who have responded in faith to this universal, timeless gospel, and within whom the gospel has become internalized and ingrained, have been recognized in Scripture as having a new covenant experience, no matter whether they lived in the Old or New Testament historical era (Heb. 4:2; 11). By the same token, those who have rejected this gospel, or who have perverted it into a religious system of works, relying on their own good works for righteousness, have been recognized in Scripture as having experienced an external religion, carved in stone, in granite only--an old covenant experience.
As expressed in Jeremiah, with very minor adaptations in Hebrews, the new covenant reads:
"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jer. 31:31-34)
Following are the four promises/provisions (the DNA markers) God embedded in His new covenant:
Promise/Provision 1
(Sanctification)--"I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts" (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10).
Promise/Provision 2
(Reconciliation)--"I will be their God and they will be my people" (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10).
Promise/Provision 3
(Mission)--"No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11).
Promise/Provision 4
(Justification)--"I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:12).
These promises have been accepted, internalized, and ingrained in people of every era who through the operation of the Holy Spirit have by grace through faith gained a new covenant experience. They have been rejected or perverted by all who have lived an old covenant experience. Keeping these four promises/provisions in mind, we can identify the following ten timeless, universal truths of the gospel that are taught in both the Old and New Testaments:
1. Adam was created within God's everlasting covenant of love with God's law written on his heart.
God created Adam in His image (Gen. 1:26-27) as an expression of the everlasting covenant of intra-Trinitarian love that extends out from God to embrace all of creation. Thus God's covenant with Adam at creation, while it required his obedience for him to live forever, was also a covenant of grace (2 Tim. 1:9). Since Adam was created perfect, we can assume that God wrote His law in his heart (sanctification: promise/provision 1 of the new covenant). God was Adam's God and he was God's child (reconciliation: promise/provision 2 of the new covenant). Adam had no need for anyone to teach him about God, for he knew God personally and intimately (mission: promise/provision 3 of the new covenant). God had made provision to forgive and redeem Adam should he fall into sin (justification: promise/provision 4 of the new covenant) (1 Cor. 1:23-24 with 2:7-8; 2 Cor. 5:19; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Rev. 13:8).
2. Adam sinned against God and His covenant, subjecting all humanity to a sinful nature and death.
Due to Adam's sin, all of his descendants are born with a sinful nature- at enmity against God, incapable of even seeking God without His intervention, bound over to disobedience, and made subject to death (Gen. 8:21; Ps. 51:5; Jer. 13:23; John 3:6; Rom. 3:10-17; 5:12,15; 8:7-8; 11:32). Not only are we born with sinful natures due to Adam's sin, but each of us also sins personally and stands guilty before God in judgment, destined to die "the second death" (1 Kings 8:46; Isa. 24:5; Rom. 3:23; 5:12; 6:23; Rev. 20:14-15). Sin is identified as works of the flesh, which can be manifest either as rebellion against God or as attempts to gain righteousness by good works (Rom. 9:31-32; 14:23; Gal. 3:2-3,10; 5:22-23; Phil. 3:4-6; 1 John 3:4).
3. The sinful nature manifests itself in an old covenant experience toward God and His law.
Under the influence of Satan and the sinful nature, God's holy law becomes a mere written code engraved in granite. It becomes an instrument of sin, bondage, condemnation, and death leading to an old covenant experience--something we must die to in order to find true life (Romans 7; 2 Corinthians 3; Galatians 3-4).
4. God's everlasting-covenant response to sin was the covenant of redemption.
Immediately after Adam sinned, God's covenant of redemption--His "secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began," His "grace given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time"--went into effect (1 Cor. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:9). He promised to produce a Savior who would defeat Satan and bring salvation (Gen. 3:15). In so doing, God treated sinful humanity as He would want to be treated Himself if our situation and His had been reversed--an expression of His everlasting covenant of sacrificial love for the good of the other, which "sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12).
5. God's covenant of redemption encompasses His four promises/provisions of the new covenant, the gospel.
In the new covenant God gave four promises or provisions (enumerated above) which express His goals for all humankind and constitute the essence of the gospel, which was proclaimed throughout both the New Testament and the Old, including the Sinai covenant (Deut. 30:11-14 with Rom. 10:10-16; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 4:2,6; 8:8-12). Through these four promises/provisions God reaffirmed His love for humankind and pledged to restore all people to their original estate in God's image. Throughout the history of the covenant of redemption God has been working to accomplish these four promises/provisions in every heart, and is indeed accomplishing them in the hearts of those who are receptive and believe. Their full realization, however, awaits the second coming of Jesus when "face to face" the saved "shall know [Him] fully," "will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God"; there will no longer be any need to teach anyone about God, for all will know Him, from the least of us to the greatest (1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. 21:3; Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11). Until then, even though we now "see but a poor reflection" and "know [Him only] in part," God "through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him ... among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" (2 Cor. 2:14). Every believer throughout history has experienced a "now/notyet" fulfillment of these four covenant promises/provisions.
6. God has prepared every heart to receive the gospel and be reconciled to Him as a new covenant believer.
God has planted in every heart an enmity against Satan, a God-shaped vacuum that hungers for a loving relationship with God, a vacuum that cannot be filled in an enduring, satisfying way by anything other than God Himself, from whom we came and to whom we belong (Gen. 3:15; Acts 17:24-28). By this every heart has been prepared to receive the gospel and be reconciled to God.[2] This corresponds to promise/provision 2 of the new covenant (reconciliation). The ultimate fulfillment of this promise/provision will take place at the second coming of Jesus--"I will be their God and they will be my people" (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10).
7. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus gained and extends forgiveness and justification to every sinner.
Through the righteousness displayed in the perfect life of Jesus, and by the shedding of His blood, forgiveness of sin and salvation have been purchased for the whole world, to be received by faith: "We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe" (1 Tim. 4:10; cf. Isa. 53:1-11; Zech. 3:1-7; John 1:29; Rom. 3:22-24). The theological term for this divine gift is justification. This corresponds to promise/provision 4 of the new covenant and anticipates its ultimate fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus: "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:12).
8. The Holy Spirit is the divine agent in the conversion of sinners.
Yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit, the sinner appropriates God's gifts of forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal salvation by faith (Eph. 2:1-8). This is the meaning of conversion--being "born again" or "born of the Spirit"--and is the work of God in the hearts of those who respond to His saving initiative (1 Sam. 10:6,9; John 3:3-6; Phil. 2:13; Titus 3:3-7). No person in history has ever been converted apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, God's law fulfills its intended purpose as an instrument of righteousness, alerting us to our sin and need of forgiveness, and leading us to true spiritual freedom in dependence on Christ as our only righteousness (Rom. 5:20-21; 7:13; 8:2).
9. The Holy Spirit is the divine agent in the sanctification of believers.
The Holy Spirit works to write God's law in the heart of believers, teaching them to love God and His law as Adam once did, and to live by faith like Jesus--a new covenant experience (Deut. 30:6; Ps. 40:8; Jer. 31:33; Rom. 7:22,25; Phil. 2:13; Heb. 8:10). The theological term for this process is sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God in the hearts of those who willingly respond in faith to His saving initiative to make them holy as He is holy (Exod. 31:12; Lev. 20:7-8 with 1 Pet. 1:15; Acts 26:18). Faith in God and obedience to His commandments have always been linked in the divine economy (Gen. 15:5-6; 26:4-5; Hebrews 11; James 2:17-26; Rev. 14:12). God's invitation to love Him and keep His commandments was never intended as a call for lost people to do this to be saved, but always as an enabling call to those who are being saved (Deut. 30:6,11-14; Rom. 10:5-8,16). In Christ we are proleptically sanctified and glorified even while we are in the process of being saved (Rom. 4:17; 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11). This corresponds to promise/provision 1 (sanctification) of the new covenant and anticipates its ultimate fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus: "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts" (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10).
10. Every believer has been called to share in God's mission to seek the lost.
Converted people share Christ's passion for the salvation of lost people (Gen. 12:3; 28:14; Psalm 67; Matt. 28:19-20; 2 Cor. 2:14; 5:20). They live as spiritual priests and kings whose works show forth the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light (Exod. 19:5-6 with 1 Pet. 2:9-10; Isa. 49:6; Matt. 5:14-16; Eph. 2:10). Working through the loving lives and witness of His children, God purposes to reach the hearts of unbelievers and restore them to Himself (Matt. 5:16; James 5:19-20). "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him" (2 Cor. 2:14). This corresponds to promise/provision 3 (mission) of the new covenant and anticipates its ultimate fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus: "No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11).
In summary, the four divine promises/provisions that constitute the new covenant DNA were expressions of God's everlasting covenant of love which embraced His creation before the beginning of time and continue to do so into eternity. Applied to humankind, they represent God's total commitment in grace to the eternal happiness and security of His children.
The following table briefly depicts the applicability of these divine promises/provisions to humankind's past, present, and future:
1. The Covenant of Creation
a) Adam before sin
b) • New Covenant promises/provisions 1-3 (sanctification, reconciliation, and mission) were realized in Adam at creation.
• New Covenant promise/provision 4 (justification) was already a commitment in God's heart and plan if needed.
2. The Covenant of Redemption
a) Adam's Sin to Second Coming
b) • New Covenant promises/provisions 1-4 (sanctification, reconciliation, mission, and justification) constitute the everlasting gospel and have been in the process of being realized by the agency of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of all who have accepted these divine promises by faith.
3. New Covenant Promises Fully Realized[3]
a) New Earth
b) • New Covenant promises/provisions 1-3 (sanctification, reconciliation, and mission) will be fully realized in the experiences of God's covenant people throughout eternity.
• New Covenant promise/provision 4 (justification) will be unnecessary as sin will not rise up a second time, but this provision will never be absent from God's heart and everlasting covenant commitment to His creation.
Notes: