The service of the new covenant is completely different from the service of the old covenant because of its special characteristics. Therefore, we need to look at the special characteristics of the new covenant.
1. “I will impart My laws into their mind” (Heb. 8:10; see also 10:16).
The new covenant is according to an inner law. This is the first special characteristic. The law of the old covenant was written with letters on stone tablets outside of man, so it was outward and dead. The law of the new covenant is written with life on the tablets of our hearts, so it is inward and living. This inner living law is the life of God. Since each life has a nature and capabilities related to its nature, the nature and capability of the life of God operate within us spontaneously (2 Pet. 1:4).
1. “All will know Me” (Heb. 8:11).
The new covenant also involves an inner knowing. This is the second special characteristic. This knowledge of God is inward rather than outward. Since the law of the new covenant is within man, the knowledge of God related to the new covenant is also within man. In the old covenant man knew God by the outward law of letters. There was an outward knowledge of God, but it was according to dead letters. In the new covenant man knows God by the inward law of life. This knowledge is inward, and it is according to the living operation of the life of God. Knowledge from outward letters is shallow and weak because it is not related to life, but knowledge that comes from God’s inward life is deep and strong.
Inward knowledge does not come out of outward knowledge; it comes out of life. A six-month-old child knows that some herbs are bitter, but sugar is sweet. This knowledge is not based on knowing outward facts but on the reactions of his inward life. Even though the child has no concept of bitter or sweet, his inward life reacts negatively to what is bitter and positively to what is sweet. Similarly, in the new covenant our knowledge of God and the things of God does not come from outward knowledge but from an inner sense of life. Any knowledge that comes from outward knowledge related to our mind will be shallow, weak, and even dead. The inner sense of life, however, will result in a knowledge of God that is deep, strong, and living. This is the kind of knowledge that is spoken of in the second half of Hebrews 8:11.
1. “They shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord” (Heb. 8:11).
In the new covenant there is no need for man’s teaching. This is the third special characteristic. In the old covenant man needed others to teach him if he wanted to know God. In the new covenant we do not need others to teach us to know God because we all have the law of life that causes us to know God. Man teaches according to outward knowledge, but the knowledge that comes from the law of life replaces and even surpasses man’s teaching. We do not need people to teach us to know God because the law of life teaches us inwardly.
2. “You have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things” (1 John 2:27).
We do not need anyone to teach us to know God, because we have the law of life within, and we also have His anointing within that teaches us concerning all things and causes us to know God. This anointing is the inward operation of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The Holy Spirit operates as ointment to anoint us inwardly, teaching us to know God in all things. Therefore, we do not need man’s teachings.
1. “Made us a kingdom, priests to His God” (Rev. 1:6; see also 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:9).
In the new covenant every believer is a priest. This is the fourth special characteristic. In the old covenant there were only a few priests among God’s people. In the new covenant God wants every believer to be a priest. To be a priest means to serve God. God wants every believer to serve Him because He wants every believer to be a priest. In fallen Catholicism and deformed Christianity, only a few serve God because of the clergy-laity system. This system is very much against the teaching of the new covenant. In the new covenant God wants all His people to serve Him. He wants every believer to be a serving priest without any distinction based on a system of clergy and laity, that is, those who serve God and those who do not serve God. Every believer should serve God because every believer is a priest to God in the new covenant.