Inspired by my reading of Psalm 111, this morning I went to searching for this covenant that He said He “has ordained forever” (verse 9). Of course, it is not the Old Covenant given under Moses that is a forever covenant, but the New Covenant mediated by the Lord Jesus Christ.  This one was prophesied by both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and was ratified by the blood of the cross of Christ.  

“This is the New Covenant in My blood,” Jesus said on the night of His betrayal.  

So I went to searching.  

It is my understanding that a covenant is an agreement between two parties, but this one seems one-sided.  Meaning, it is a covenant God makes and keeps; we are merely the recipients of it–if indeed we are recipients.  

Here is the New Covenant:

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,

When I will effect A new covenant

With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers

On the day when I took them by the hand

To lead them out of the land of Egypt;

For they did not continue in My covenant,

And I did not care for them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

After those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws into their minds,

And I will write them on their hearts.

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

For all will know Me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:8-12).

Here, in essence, is what God commits Himself to do:  1) He will put His laws into our minds, 2) He will write His laws upon our hearts, 3) He will be merciful to our iniquities, 4) He will remember our sins no more, and 5) He will be our God and we will be His people.  

Put briefly, He will “be in us both to will and to do” (Philippians 2:13), will forget our sins, and be our God.  

The writer of Hebrews wraps most of this up in his concluding statements.  He writes, “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (13:20-21).  

Here we see it again:  “working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.”  This is so much the New Covenant!  It is all God!  

The Old Covenant was ineffective and did not work because it had to do with God’s laws outside a person; it was external and did not affect the heart.  Man, sinful as he is, could not keep the law.  The New Covenant however, is internal, and has to do with the heart and mind of a person.  It takes sin out of the equation and injects the Spirit of God into it.  

Paul writes,

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

The New Covenant is spiritual; it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, given by the Spirit, and enacted by the Spirit.  It is the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart of man.  This is why Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  And, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  

What I marvel at, and take comfort in, is the commitment God makes to bring about His purposes in people.  He is saying, “I will do in you what you cannot do in yourself.  I will not only give you the desire to do what I want, but I will give you to do it.  I will work in you what is pleasing to Me.  This, My friend, is My promise to you.”  

What then is our responsibility–if we have one at all, given this is all so much God?  

Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2.  There he says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (verse 12).  In other words, what God works in we must work out.  We must obey the laws He writes upon our hearts and minds.  We must act on the desires He gives us.  We must do the doing; He cannot do the doing for us.  

It says here, “with fear and trembling.”  Why?  “For it is God who is at work in you.”  Chew upon that for a moment.  The living God, the creator of the ends of the earth, the One who calls the stars by name, who keeps everything in perfect order by the power of His word–this One is at work in you.  He is the One who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to His power at work in us (Ephesians 3:20).  Shouldn’t this inspire a deep sense of reverence and awe in us?  Ought we not tremble at the thought of not responding?  

I said this New Covenant was ratified by the blood of the Cross.  It is a blood covenant.  In other words, God paid a very high price for it:  the blood of His eternal, only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ–who was slain before the foundations of the world (cf., Revelation 13:8 NKJV).  

We can thank God that we need not measure up to a set of standards we could never keep.  Instead, rather, all we need to do is allow Him to do what only He can do and respond accordingly.  It is not that we are not to keep His commandments; we are.  But it is different this time around; He writes these upon our hearts and puts them into our heads.  He gives us the desire–and the ability–to keep them.  This was not so under the Old Covenant.