Fulfilling the New Covenant
(week 36/09)
Olubi Johnson
Hebrews 8:8-10 NKJV: He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah– 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10 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 in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
The new covenant is the spiritual contract we have with God in Christ Jesus. Like any contract between two parties each party has responsibilities and benefits.
What then are God’s responsibilities and benefits?
God’s responsibility was to pay price for our sins by giving His Son to die for us and then giving His Holy Spirit and His written Word by which we can do His will.
God’s benefits is to find in man a dwelling place in which He can rest and manifest His nature, character and power in the earth and so have sweet fellowship with man, which was the reason He created man in the first place.
Now, what are man’s responsibilities and benefits?
Man’s responsibility is to use the written Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to write God’s law upon our souls (mind, will and emotions) and so control our bodies by the same, so that God can live in us and express Himself accurately through us in deeds of love, charity, righteousness and justice.
Man’s benefit is healing for our bodies, material and financial provision, divine protection and most importantly God’s friendship and fellowship in the manifestation of His glory through us.
God has fulfilled his part of the covenant by sending the Lord Jesus to die for our sins, the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and the written Word through the prophets and the Apostles.
We are now to fulfill our part firstly as individuals and then secondly and ultimately as a corporate body.
The degree to which we fulfill our responsibilities is the same degree to which we will enjoy our benefits:
Mark 4:24-25 NIV: 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you— and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
3 John 2 NKJV: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
We see that material and physical prosperity is to be proportional to spiritual prosperity.
If your material prosperity is greater than your spiritual prosperity it can destroy you by sending leanness to your soul (Pr. 1.32, Ps. 106.15). You can quickly correct this situation by diligently seeking God daily in prayer and the Word.
The degree, or measure to which you use the Word is the same degree or measure that the Word will minister to you.
So how then do we fulfill the new covenant?
By daily writing the law of the new covenant, which is love upon our hearts using the life of God, the written Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 John 3:22-23 NKJV: And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
Jude 20-21 NKJV: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV: You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
As we do this diligently we will be rewarded (Heb. 11.6) with good health, material prosperity, divine protection in ever increasing measures and ultimately we will inherit the glory of God (Pr. 3.35, Col. 1.27) that was in Christ when He was on the earth: doing the works He did and even greater (Jn. 14.12).
