Recently, my family has helped to plant and subsequently joined a new church. It has been an exhilarating, emotionally-fraught experience. We left a church body we loved to set out into the unknown, to spread the gospel in a local community without a strong, evangelical church present. God is abundantly blessing this new congregation.
One of the conditions of becoming a member of this young fellowship is to read and sign a church covenant. I remember as a child seeing a large framed print of my home church's covenant, as it hung conspicuously on the front wall of that small, country church. Not once did I read it. Not once did I hear a sermon about it. It was merely there, hanging precipitously in front of the congregation. Perhaps that little church body was guided by it? I really can't say ...
But, back to this new gathering of believers - - - as the new church was founded, it was believed important that those joining have common beliefs, goals and desires to bind them together in mutual agreement, and that that agreement be formalized by each member signing of a copy of the covenant. In addition to that, all new members are required to attend an orientation at which time the church covenant, among other things, is discussed in detail.
I'm blogging about these contemporary matters because of Hebrews 8, in which the author contrasts the "old covenant" God made with the Hebrew people (the covenant with The Law as its centerpiece), with the "new covenant" brought about by the finished work of our high priest, Jesus Christ.
One commentator, Barnes1, notes that we actually don't have an English word to properly describe the agreements God made in the Old Testament and this new one here in the Hebrews 8. The English word "covenant" commonly describes an agreement between two equal parties. It's not hard to realize that "covenant", then, is not the best word to describe such God-man agreements. God and man are most certainly unequal! But, there again, it is the best word the English translators could employ.
Going deeper, in the "covenants" God made with men down through the centuries (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David and others), God did not negotiate the terms of the covenants. He simply told the men how things would be and (this is important) what He pledged to do. He obligated Himself with promises to men and/or people groups. For man's part in the covenants, there were obligations; but, God decided for them what was best, what those obligations would be.
A church covenant today is designed to bring its members closer to God and to each other. In that respect, today's church covenants mimic the two covenants described in Hebrews 8, as the purposes for each are the same. When you think about it, all Bible covenants were put in place by God to bring His people closer to Him, and to each other.2
Let's look more closely at these two covenants in Hebrews 8:8-12 (ESV)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
In verse 9 the author of Hebrews focuses on the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20:1-26; 31:12-17), the one that God made with the Hebrew people when He brought them out of their slavery in the nation of Egypt. Although the people were given The Law in the desert, they were unable to keep its precepts.
In the new covenant, brought about by Jesus Christ and through Him, God not only set the terms of the new covenant, He gives people who turn to Him in faith the Holy Spirit, Who empowers them to keep this covenant. See verse 10: "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts."
What a beautiful promise God makes to His own! Think about the Christians, not the CINOs (Christian in Name Only), but the real ones. They live as though the ways of God have been branded on their hearts and implanted into their minds. That is because, when conversion happens, the Holy Spirit makes His home in the heart of all true believers, filling them with the ardent desire to follow Jesus Christ, to pursue His perfection and make it their own.
Let's not miss one more precious, magnificent aspect of this new covenant. Contrast verse 10 with verse 12. Verse 10 sounds to me an awful lot like ... well, like true Christians must be "perfect people". But, we all know that we can never achieve Christ's perfection in this life. Even Christians are not immune to the beguilement of sin. They don't wallow it, but they sometimes fall into it. What a mark of God's love that He is merciful toward our iniquities. He "remembers that we are dust", made from the earth's own elements (Psalm 103:14). And, in His mercy, He remembers the sins of His people no more.
No more - - - "as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) so far has He removed our transgressions from us!"
King David, who wrote Psalm 103, was unknowingly looking forward prophetically to the new covenant, which would be revealed through David's earthly descendant, Jesus Christ.
What a blessing to take part in this new covenant, as part of Christ's Bride, the Church! And, what a joy to "covenant" with our brothers and sisters in faith, to worship with them and minister together for the sake of Jesus Christ's good news, the gospel!
But, you say, isn't this passage concerning the Hebrew people, the spiritual nation of Israel, the Jews? Yes, the old covenants did apply in largest part to the Jews, although there were some non-Jews who were included (Rahab, Ruth, etc.) . And, although the new covenant applies to the followers of Jesus Christ from every nation on Earth, some of those followers are of Jewish descent. The Church today is part of "spiritual Israel"; yet, the Jews have not been disdained by God. Verses 10-12 also have a futuristic, prophetic meaning for the Jewish people on Earth, as a whole. In the last days, God's Spirit will once again be poured out upon the Jews. In that day, huge numbers of Jews will recognize Jesus as Messiah and know the fullness of this new covenant. What a wonderful day that will be!
Sources:
1 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/hebrews/8-8.htm
2 http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/why-a-church-covenant
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