Return to Alpha Omega Net *** Forthshining Christ's Life
"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now He which stablisheth us with you is Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 1.19-23).
The Covenant God made with us as set forth in our Bible confesses it to be "new" -- that is the "New Testament or Covenant" and has three outstanding themes:
1. HIS WORD, which is the substance, the good news proclamation, the very embodiment of that covenant.
2. HIS SPIRIT, the power, energy; the ability for fulfillment of that covenant.
3. HIS NAME, the authority of the covenant.
We know that Jesus Christ is THE WORD (Logos) of the New Covenant because we read of Him in John 1.1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God". Because HE IS THE LIVING WORD of the New Covenant, we see that all His commandments are promises....promises which are guaranteed of fulfillment. HE is the "yes" and the "Amen" (i.e. "it is and shall be so") of every promise. It is IN HIM, in CHRIST, that we are established, anointed, and sealed -- and thus we are effectually guaranteed the victory of fulfillment.
We are "stablished" -- from a Greek word "bebaio" -- to make firm, to establish, confirm, make sure -- God has purposed to make us stable and sure in our life, unreprovable in His sight.
I believe this may be the very basic prayer of every true believer in Christ: that we may be made firm and forever soundly established in Him. And, praise God, this we HAVE -- in CHRIST NOW.
We can't find in Him one characteristic that stands out above others. In Him everything is in balance and He is perfect in all His ways. There are no high points and low points in Him because He is complete, HE IS THE ALL. And He is for us THE WAY, and THE TRUTH and THE LIFE (John 14.6), so He makes OUR way perfect and draws us on toward fulfillment with HIMSELF.
We rest in Him and in so doing we don't get all gushy-mushy with a distorted "love message", or zealous about "blabbing and grabbing" earthly, transient riches. NOR do we get hung up on a few points of "doctrine" and overemphasize our "resurrection freedom" in Him. Such weakness allows the carnal mind to misinterpret His will and often lowers one into fleshly indulgence.
Being firmly established, we will not suffer from tunnel vision and become enshrouded with "death and glory" consciousness -- (which sees only the cross in hind sight) -- and self-inflicted death to "self". And we won't become giddily blessing-conscious, muddleheaded with emotion because our thoughts are primarily of the riches promised us in the Christ.
Neither will we become hardened and unforgiving in judgement and wrath just because that's all we see in store for evil. We won't take any of these elements and pervert them into outlandish portraits of the Lord -- because all the facets of His character will be blended, for us, into one splendid harmonious expression of God Himself.
We are established in Him! And so we walk in Him. "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude" (Colossians 2.6-7, NASB).
"SO WALK IN HIM..." HE is the realm of our progress and we are firmly rooted and grounded in Him. He gives us faith -- and establishes us in that faith -- not in man's system of works, this do-don't doctrine or the babbling Babylon of theology's "I" or "our" or "my" ministries -- but FIRMLY ESTABLISHED IN HIS GREAT GIFT -- FAITH!!
And this faith is of the New Covenant.
Hebrews 13.8-9 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Greek: eis tous aeonas = into or to the ages). Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be STRENGTHENED (Greek: bebaiousthai = an infinitive form of bebaio = establish) by GRACE, not by foods, which have not benefitted their adherents" (RSV, my emphasis and parenthesis).
The contrast here is interesting -- that is -- the need to be established with or by grace, not with foods. The "foods" signify the whole system of WORKS, of DOING -- self-efforts that did not then nor can, now, profit those therein occupied. This Externalism, (strongly entrenched in present organizations misnaming themselves "church"), is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, "both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience" (Hebrews 9.9, NASB).
"BUT", says the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 13.10, "We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat" -- and this altar is another realm beyond all works of the flesh. We partake of HIS ALTAR, ministering to Him -- worshipping in spirit and in truth. It isn't an altar in the domain of self-works nor of self-indulgence, but a place in the spirit of offering up everything to Him so that He might become in us "the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1.23). In this blessed realm of the inner man, the spiritual man, our consciences are purified by GRACE of the indwelling Christ, and He establishes us, confirms us, for all time, in that grace.
We also are ANOINTED. Here the Greek is "chrio" meaning, actually, "to rub the body or parts of it", and when used with oil it means "to smear" (volume 9, page 494, Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament). Ours is not an anointing that is poured on to run off, giving us a "buzz", a momentary exhilaration causing a fleshly reaction. We need far more than a pew-jumping jolt of external excitement. We need the reality of HIS INDWELLING LIFE! This life with which He has anointed us is smeared all over and rubbed in to penetrate to the innermost core of our being, whence it works its marvelous transformation.
It isn't a self-anointing, the sort that seems to afflict some of the more wack-o members of the works-smeared church. Either God anoints us or we haven't been anointed; the anointing is applied: smeared on and rubbed in by the ANOINTER: "He which...anointed us is God". "We are His workmanship" (Ephesians 2.10). And we are not our own -- we belong to Him. "Seeking" Him, "waiting before" Him, "surrendering to" Him -- all are properly pious attitudes, worthy positions to take in His presence -- but HE is the giver of the GIFT, and we can only receive as much as He gives; we can't earn a gift with pseudo-reverence and self-righteous attitudes -- whether physical, mental, or emotional. "...the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Psalm 84.11, NASB).
Firmly established and anointed, then next -- : He sealed us. The Greek word used in 2 Corinthians 1.22 is an aorist participle form of "sphagizo" , which means to set a mark upon; to mark with a seal. In this particular verse as well as in Ephesians 1.13 ("...ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise") and in Ephesians 4.30 ("...the Holy Spirit of God, whereby (by whom) ye are sealed until the day of redemption") -- the word means a guarantee of genuineness and a witness that we belong to Him and to no other -- ESPECIALLY NOT TO OURSELVES.
Our security, and the purging necessary for that security, is guaranteed by Him -- and that Holy Spirit by whom we are sealed is a perpetual reminder that we are, indeed, the dwelling place of the LORD. That "seal" constantly reproves us of sin, of righteousness, and judgement, and works out every factor and facet of the process necessary to maintain a purity that produces the glory and honor of God's Son -- IN US ! While, like any disciplining, the process is not particularly joyful at the time it is ministered, God ministers that processing "...for our profit, that we might be partakers (Greek: to acquire a share permanently -- not just hit and run) of His holiness" (Hebrews 12.10).
He has "given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts", and this INDWELLING SPIRIT signifies an absolute guarantee that we are a genuine product of His grace -- ALL HIS. Now, His Spirit, having taken up incorruptible age-during residence in us, so strongly desires our holiness that HE veritably becomes the New Covenant guarantor of a purity acceptable to God -- and this purging is not the result of works we might do but the result of the Grace of the I AM.
The covenant of the law could not purify anyone because so much depended on man's external workings, so (as planned) it failed. Now, IN CHRIST, we have a better covenant -- and HE IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS living in us, and He has a great desire for our holiness.
In our King James New Testament the word "lusteth", usually translated from the Greek verb "epithumeo" , has two meanings. In a negative sense it may mean to "over-desire"; or, in a positive sense: "to have an intense longing". Our Lord has a tremendous longing or desire that we be brought to the full stature of the wholeness of Christ, and HE WILL accomplish His purpose. Because in His omnipotence He has always known that we can't accomplish this utter integrity by our own strength, HE abides within. 1 Thessalonians 5.23-24 says, "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless (complete and sound) at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and HE WILL do it" (NIV translation; my parenthesis and emphasis).
There are times when He shares with us His intense desire and we are moved with deep unutterable longings for the reality of His holiness. This yearning may even reach the point of envy, though not in a sinful sense, but in a positive sense, working for our good. The Holy Spirit speaks about this in Galatians 5.17: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other."
In another place the Spirit speaks about this longing: "You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world] and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us -- and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love" (James 4.4-5, Amplified Bible; see also Jeremiah 3.14 and Hosea 2.19-20).
If it is the "spirit of the world" that rules within us then our desires are in opposition to the righteousness of God. But when the Holy Spirit who lives in us rules and directs us then it's equally true that His desires are contrary and in opposition to the flesh. So, in His omnipotence God foreordained the operation of the cross within us to bring to an end the things of the flesh -- self, love of the world, et cetera. This operation continues, by the grace of God, until we are finally joined to Him in ONE SPIRIT, the spirit of holiness.
How grace-full: that while the over-desires of the carnal man work against the purity of the Spirit, the intense desires of the Spirit will accomplish the work that delivers us from the flesh. "Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost -- completely, perfectly, finally and for all time and eternity -- those who come to God through Him...". (Hebrews 7.25, Amplified Bible).
Our Saviour-God will not be satisfied with anything less than the divine perfection of His own image and nature. Fear not!! Since He began the work, He will finish it. (In fact, HE considers it finished.)
Using Paul as His messenger, the Spirit says in 1 Corinthians 1.6-9: "...even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (NASB Translation).
The words "confirmed" in the sixth verse and "confirm" in the eighth verse are different tenses and voices of the same Greek word used in the Scripture cited at the beginning of this discourse, and there as well as in other places translated as "to establish", "to confirm", "to make sure", "to make firm". Christ is established and made sure in us and we are the same in Him; the result is that we shall be found blameless before Him. His testimony, His witness, is PERSONIFIED in us so that we BECOME the testimony and witness of His righteousness. It was for this reason that "He was made (became) a SIN OFFERING for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made (become) the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5.21).
Men have borne witness about Christ; their testimony is plain for all to apprehend. Those who encountered Him during His first earthly ministry gave direct witness concerning Him. Jesus asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" The disciples told Him what men said: some said John the Baptist, some Elijah, others that He was Jeremiah, or some other prophet come from the dead. (Note that all those were "dead"; more about this at a later date). Then Jesus asked them, "Who do YOU say that I am?" Peter, by utterance of the Holy Spirit revealing God's covenant promise said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (verse 16).
Here then is THE WORD clothed in a form of His own creation, formed in fashion as a man. "None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2.8), NIV), and "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him" (John 1.10-11,NIV).
Only when the Spirit reveals Him, can man know who He really is. Flesh and blood can't witness to His reality. Most of the preachers of the present church system are just poor propagandists, chanting what they've heard men say; they can't truly bear witness to Christ, because they don't KNOW Him. They may have a library full of homilies (which are usually nothing more than the reasoning of a carnal mind), and from these they fabricate gross caricatures of Him. HE is the FATHER'S SECRET, which only HE can reveal to, and IN, those whom He calls to Himself.
Plainly, the reason there is such grievous ignorance today concerning the NEW COVENANT IN CHRIST, is because the "will-he-nill-he" churchdom calling itself Christendom hasn't received a revelation from the FATHER concerning Him. Unless there is a personal quickening INTO LIFE imparted by GOD HIMSELF, all the religious practices by which the apostate church of the age exercises itself leads only to DEATH. "NO MAN CAN COME TO ME, EXCEPT THE FATHER WHICH HATH SENT ME DRAW HIM" (John 6.44).
We can name it-claim it, profess, demand, confess, whoop and holler, shout, dance, and sing until our old man drops from exhaustion, but until our God's sovereignty works in us, all is flesh and fantasy and futility. WE CANNOT APPROPRIATE ANYTHING FROM GOD WHICH HAS NOT YET BEEN GIVEN US.
This NEW COVENANT IS MINISTERED BY OUR GOD! It is initiated by Him, revealed to us by Him, and then this wonderful "testimony of Christ" is confirmed in us by Him; He establishes, anoints, and seals us TO HIS WAY.
I've said this before: no man can live on borrowed revelation. God's revelations are not some form of man-created knowledge or mental assent to a doctrine produced by a pseudo philosophy originating in the darkness of some theologian's mind. Rather, we are being enriched by the quickening of God's Spirit -- in DIRECT REVELATION OF HIS GOODNESS AND WILL. Though we may at times be privileged to offer confirmation to others of these things, it can only be done to the degree that HE has first implanted them in our spirit -- for only HE can cause TRUTH to become LIFE in man.
We appreciate the witness of other men, especially if they've actually encountered HIM and so know what they are witnessing about -- yet we realize the necessity of direct witness of Christ Himself to us: "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19.10). Men can witness to us about Him, but they can't change our life; the law was such a witness. Hebrews 10.1 says, "The Law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming -- not the realities themselves..." (NIV). The law, like any witness except HIS PERSONAL WITNESS can only speak of Him in type and shadow -- but it can not change us until HE confirms His testimony IN us. Once confirmed, this testimony, this living witness is a prophecy of what we are becoming in Him, and it is guaranteed because HE and HE alone is the "Author and Finisher of our faith".
In Acts 3.26 God reminds us that "God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities".
The word "bless" in that verse is from a Greek word meaning "to speak well of". Will any one deny that God is able to prophetically bear witness of what we are going to become, then bring it to pass by turning us away from sin into the righteousness of Himself in Christ Jesus?
We, as men, eulogize a person for works he has already done, at an assembly in his honor or at a pagan funeral, perhaps. We rehearse his good deeds and good character and "speak well" of him and we can only bear testimony of what we know of the past -- thus the eulogy is historical.
But the testimony of Jesus is far different.
Our Saviour-God, in His omniscience, declares the good things we'll do, what we are becoming -- even while we are steeped in iniquity. We may presently appear to be the most unlovely of all unloveliness -- especially to ourselves -- yet HE SPEAKS WELL OF US, HE BLESSES US, witnessing to that predestined creature we are becoming. Think about it! A CHILD OF GOD; participant in common in His nature; conformed to His image; an expression of His righteousness!
That testimony is CONFIRMED, fulfillment guaranteed, by HIS SPIRIT resident in us, bringing to pass that which He has spoken, because He is the FULFILLER of the testimony. HE is the Guarantee and the Guarantor of His own word -- and there can be no greater.
He establishes, He anoints, He seals --- He confirms the good news and becomes both Author and Finisher.
The processing seems long but in due time it will end and the product IS; manifested in a state of BEING; acceptable to the Father: "For Christ is the end (culmination) of the law (of sin and death) for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10.4, NASB, my parenthesis). He is the end, the perfecter, the fulfillment of the process that was ordained to discipline and form us. Yes, the end of the processing -- and we are being filled to overflowing with Himself.
(It was John the Baptist who said, by the Spirit, "He must increase, I must decrease" -- and that prophecy is being fulfilled now in a firstfruits company of sons.)
There is a union with His fullness, a Oneness with THE ALL that is taking place now. It's not a fenced-off portion over here, a qualified "your ministry", "my ministry" there, a limited revelation for your group, an unlimited spiritual "high" for me and "my church" -- but it is CHRIST, being brought into HIS GLORY. HE is the END, the OMEGA, -- not a date, an hour, an event, a happening -- NO! THE END IS A PERSON, CHRIST, AND WE ARE BEING FOUND IN HIM.
"He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He bears witness, -- and no man receives His witness. He who has received His witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure" (John 3.31-34, NASB).
What witness are we heeding? All that man, without a revelation from God, can bear witness to is of the earth -- because He is of the earth, earthy. Will we listen to the witness of man, or of Christ -- who is from heaven (the spiritual realm) and lives in that spiritual realm? He is able to reveal what He has seen and heard; He is qualified to bear witness to that which is from the realm of the Spirit. We are admonished in Revelation 3.6, "He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the (Holy) Spirit says to the assemblies (the churches)" (Amplified Bible).
"If the testimony of men we receive, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that He hath testified concerning His Son. He who is believing in the Son of God, hath the testimony in himself; he who is not believing God, a liar hath made Him, because he hath not believed in the testimony that God hath testified concerning His Son; and this is the testimony, that life age-during did God give to us, and this -- the life -- is in His Son; he who is having the Son, hath the life; he who is not having the Son of God -- the life he hath not." (1 John 5.9-12, Young's Literal Translation).
Most of religious "credo" (I believe) and dogma is of the earth and reeks of man's gamy B O. Such foulness would nauseate even our Saviour-God were He not the quintessence of lovingkindness, age-during mercy and patience. Just listen to any voice from the quagmire of television and radio evangelism and you hear witness to "I", and "my" and "mine" -- all self-words concerning what some pulpiteer's conception of God is. Closely examine the picture painted by priestcraft and you'll find that God has taken on the image of corruption and mortality -- "...you thought I was altogether like you..." (Psalm 50.21, NIV. The margin reads, "You thought the 'I AM' was like you".)
Carnal man likes to attribute to God all his own iniquitous emotions and in so doing, over and over again, he fulfills the Word, "...His appearance was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men..." (Isaiah 52.14). Only when HE is revealed to man by the Spirit and when man becomes ONE IN HIM, will man have a true witness of the Christ. Then, "the kings shall shut their mouths on account of Him, for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand" (verse 15).
For nearly two millennia man has distorted the Christ and borne witness to condemnation and death, but very little witness has been or is being borne to HIS life and HIS righteousness. Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full; (John 10.10 NIV). The earth witnesses death and damnation -- but HE gives a far different witness and confirms it within, saying, "THERE IS LIFE" -- and He becomes that life in us.
"And this is the promise which He Himself has given us -- the Life of the Ages. I have written to you concerning those who are leading you astray. And as for you, the anointing which you received from him remains within you, and there is no need for anyone to teach you. But since His anointing gives you instruction in all things -- and it is true and is no falsehood -- you are continuing in union with Him even as it has taught you to do" (1 John 2.25-27; Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech, my emphasis).
HIS anointing is not of the earth's witness, but truth as He is truth; so being, it abides all processing and culminates in a fulfilled reality of Christ in us. In Colossians 2.2-3 there is an earnest prayer uttered by the Holy Spirit, to which we can certainly add our "yea and amen": "How I long that you may be encouraged, and find out more and more how strong are the bonds of Christian love. How I long for you to grow more certain in your knowledge and more sure in your grasp of God Himself. May your spiritual experience become richer as you see more and more fully God's great secret, CHRIST HIMSELF! For it is IN HIM, and IN HIM alone, that men will find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Phillip's Translation; my emphasis).
Revelation 3.14 states that Jesus Christ is "...THE AMEN, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." To what He has seen and heard He bears witness -- BY HIS VERY STATE OF BEING. He is the I AM. He is love personified, the WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE, THE BREAD OF LIFE and more than space permits to enumerate. All that HE WAS AND IS IN PERSON testifies to these most marvelous realities.
He said, "Because I out of myself spoke not, but the Father who sent me hath Himself given me commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life age-abiding; the things therefore which I speak, just as the Father hath told me, so I speak" (John 12.49-50, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible).
May God deliver us from the earthy witness of man and open our hearts and minds to receive the witness of Jesus Christ, for He has commandment FROM the FATHER -- what to speak and when to speak it. That commandment is life that lasts through all time -- through all the disciplinary processing, through all the pompous futility and depravity of this present age, until we realize total victory is obtained, and God is all in all.
As cited at the beginning of this discourse, "...The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us....was not yea and nay, but in Him was YEA. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1.19-20).
To secure fulfillment, HE stabilizes, HE anoints, HE seals US . For it is BY US that the fulfilled promise redounds to the glory of God. That promise God gave TO US! "For God so loved the world...", THAT'S US! So, the promise only glorifies God when it is fulfilled in us. It is a truly amazing revelation of His grace that links "The glory of God" and "BY US", especially since we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God . But IN CHRIST all of this come short is made up in "the fullness of Him that filleth all in all ".
Our Saviour, the Mediator of the New Covenant, declaring LIFE, is not a "maybe-so, hope-so, wish-I-may-wish-I-might" witness. He is not a nay and yea...nay if...yea if. There are no conditional clauses inserted in the promise -- unless man, in his unbelief, inserted them. IN HIM ALL THE PROMISES ARE YEA , plainly asserted, and AMEN , faithfully fulfilled.
That's why, as I've stated in other places, in Jesus Christ all commandments of God are promises, and all promises are guaranteed of fulfillment -- BECAUSE HE IS THE ETERNAL YES . Why? Because, "...it is God who makes us as well as you secure through union with Christ, and has anointed us, and put His seal upon us, and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment of future rewards". (2 Corinthians 1.21-11, Williams' Translation).
And His testimony is the Spirit of prophecy: "He calls those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4.17). He plainly prophesies the victory: He is the AMEN, the YES, the FULFILLER of all that He prophesied. He is the SO BE IT, the IT IS TRUE, the I WILL DO IT!
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your soulful nature (of your flesh), God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2.13-14, NIV).
It has been well stated in another place:
"The law was against us because it comes like a task master, bidding us do, but neither putting the inclination in our hearts nor the power in our hands. It was against us, because the revelation of unfulfilled duty in the accusation of the defaulter, a revelation to him of his guilt. It was against us, because it comes with threatenings and foretastes of penalty and pain. Thus, as STANDARD, ACCUSER, and AVENGER, it is against us." (George Hawtin, 'Treasures of Truth').
In contra-distinction to this, in the New Covenant, He says, "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Hebrews 8.10, citing Jeremiah 31.33,NIV). The Holy Spirit confirms this: "For it is God Himself whose power creates within you both the desire and the power to execute His gracious will" (Phillipians 2.13, Weymouth). "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8.33).
You can't beat that for absolute surety !!
The old Mosaic covenant was to Gospel Truth what shadow is to man -- "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things". The substance belongs to Christ; it can be derived only from Him, and can be realized only through union with Him. "Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2.20)
The covenant made at Sinai lacked the seal of victory. There was no guarantee provided by either party to the covenant that assured fulfillment; it was conditional upon man's ability to "DO" and MAN COULDN'T DO. In this New Covenant HE establishes, anoints, seals, and then imparts HIS life so that we might live the covenant -- to HIS glory and praise. He makes promise for both Himself, and for us, "I will, and thou shalt...". Then, as the Indwelling "YES!" He becomes the absolute security.
So, that "old" covenant was condemnation to death; "The soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18.4,20,NASB. Compare to Romans 6.23). The New Covenant ministration is a COMMANDMENT UNTO LIFE AGE-ABIDING, because He said, "We will come unto him and make our abode with Him" (John 14.23). It is because He lives in us, the truth, the way, and the life -- that we are assured of the unconditional YES and AMEN that verifies the New Covenant of God! Never is there a "maybe-so", never a "no" -- He has imposed Himself without any negativism at all, and He has ordained Himself entirely responsible for fulfillment -- both His part and ours.
Is there any doubt that God can and will keep His part of the Covenant? Certainly NOT!! But there has always been great doubt about man's part, and indeed, it has been most definitely proven by the weakness of the flesh from Sinai to the cross. But when HE takes the responsibility for our part, then all the covenant is secured in YES on God's part and YES on our part, because HE, the ETERNAL YES guarantees it.
Here's the promise: "And it SHALL COME TO PASS...I will pour out of My Spirit upon ALL flesh..." (Joel 2.28, emphasis mine). When His Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh, upon every one of His creation, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3.6). The Amplified Bible reads "And all mankind shall see (behold and understand [and at last acknowledge]) the salvation of God...". His Spirit has come to dwell in every creature and He is changing that creature into HIS OWN IMAGE, transforming it into the New Creation species that HE is, -- fulfilling the covenant for every man.
"I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, IN THE LORD HAVE I RIGHTEOUSNESS and strength..." (Isaiah 45.23-24, my emphasis. See also Romans 14.11; Hebrews 6.13; Phillipians 2.10-11).
When all mankind confesses that its righteousness is IN THE LORD, then, surely, "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2.14).
This great victory is the yea and amen -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous.
Keep yourselves from idols.