In the new covenant Christ is also the Mediator. Hebrews 8:6 says, “He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.” As the Mediator Christ goes between us and God, and in resurrection He executes the new covenant, which He bequeathed to us by His death. This better covenant was not only enacted upon better promises of a better law, the inner law of life (Heb. 8:10-12), but also was consummated with Christ’s better sacrifices (Heb. 9:23), which have accomplished for us eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). In the new covenant we have the forgiveness of sins and the law of life. Christ is the Mediator of this better covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 says, “He is Mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” By His death Christ consummated the new covenant. In His death He left this new covenant with us, and now in His resurrection He, as the Mediator of the new covenant, is executing what has been accomplished in the new covenant. All the promises of God have become accomplished facts in the new covenant to Christ’s redemptive work. As the Mediator of the new covenant, Christ today in resurrection is enforcing this covenant.
Hebrews 12:24 also speaks of Christ as the Mediator of the new covenant. Here the Greek word for “new,” neos, means fresh, youthful in respect to age, whereas the word for new in Hebrews 8:8 and 9:15, kainos, means new, fresh in respect to quality. In such a new covenant Christ is our Mediator.
Hebrews 7:22 says, “Jesus has become the surety of a better covenant.” That Christ has become the Surety of a better covenant is based on the fact that He is the living and perpetual High Priest. The root of the Greek word translated “surety” means a limb, a member of the body. The meaning here is that a member of the body pledges itself to the body. This pledge is a guarantee. The word surety in Hebrews 7:22 means that Christ has pledged Himself to the new covenant and to all of us. He is the bondsman, the guarantee that He will do everything necessary for the fulfillment of the new covenant.
Regarding the new covenant, a bond has been signed by Christ. Christ signed this bond by pledging Himself to the new covenant and to all of us who are under the new covenant. Because Christ has pledged Himself in this way, there is no possibility for Him to change His mind. He must do everything for us. Thus, He is the Surety of the new covenant. This pledge, which is unlimited, depends completely on His divine priesthood. The very Christ who has pledged Himself to us is unlimited. He is the qualified, capable, and able Surety. He is always available and prevailing to fulfill whatever He has guaranteed. Therefore, the new covenant, the better covenant, cannot fail because Christ is the Surety of this covenant. Everything included in it will be fulfilled not by us but by our Surety. Christ is not only the Consummator of the new covenant; He is also the Surety, the pledge that everything in it will be fulfilled.
Christ is the Maker and the Executor of the new testament (Heb. 9:16-17). In Greek the same word is used for both covenant and testament. Whether it is translated covenant or testament depends on whether the person who consummated the covenant is living or dead. If the consummator is still living, that covenant remains a covenant. But if the consummator has died, the covenant immediately becomes a testament. A covenant is an agreement containing some promises to accomplish certain things for the covenanted people, while a testament is a will containing certain accomplished things bequeathed to the inheritor. The new covenant consummated with the blood of Christ is not merely a covenant, but a testament with all the things which have been accomplished by the death of Christ bequeathed to us. The term testament is the equivalent of the modern term will. Many parents, when they know that they soon will die, make a will in which they leave various things to their children. A will only becomes effective after the death of the maker of the will. In a simple word a covenant and a testament are the same, but when the maker of the covenant is living, it is a covenant, and when he has died, it is a testament, a will.
God’s covenant is enacted upon God’s promise (Heb. 8:6), which is the word He speaks. A promise is a common, ordinary word without confirmation. In the Bible, after God made His promise, He sealed it with an oath, swearing by His Godhead that His promise was confirmed. After His promise was confirmed by an oath, it immediately became the covenant sealed by God. That the promises have become a covenant means that they cannot be altered; there is no possibility of repentance or change.
After God made His promises in the Old Testament, confirming them by His oath (Gen. 22:16-18; Psa. 110:4), the Lord Jesus came and accomplished all that God had promised. By the Lord’s work on earth every item of God’s promise has become an accomplished fact. For example, in Jeremiah 31:34 God promised to forgive our sins. The Lord Jesus did this, making propitiation for our sins on the cross as the fulfillment of God’s promise. Hence, forgiveness of sins is no longer a promise but an accomplished fact. God’s promised covenant was consummated as the new covenant by the Lord’s death with His blood (Heb. 9:18-23; Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20).
After His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus ascended into the heavens, leaving with us the covenant that He had accomplished by His death. When He left this covenant with us, it immediately became a testament, a new testament bequeathed to us. In this testament the accomplished facts are no longer merely facts; they have become bequests. First, we had the promises; second, the promises became the facts; and third, the facts have become bequests. Through the Lord’s death and resurrection all the promises were fulfilled and became accomplished facts. Now these facts are bequests. As our High Priest in the heavens, the Lord is now the Executor of the new testament, executing what He has bequeathed.
The Lord’s new testament is executed by the resurrected Christ as the Mediator, the Executor, in the heavens. Today the resurrected Christ is executing this will by interceding for us. The new testament, the will, has been validated by Christ’s death and is being executed and enforced by Christ in His resurrection. The promise of God’s covenant is insured by God’s faithfulness, God’s covenant is guaranteed by God’s righteousness, and the new testament is enforced by Christ’s resurrection power. As the ascended One sitting on the throne in the heavens, Christ is now executing what He has bequeathed, interceding for us to realize all the bequests contained in the new testament.