Message Three

The New Covenant
(2)

Its Execution and Application

Scripture Reading: Heb. 7:25; 9:15; 7:22; 8:2;
13:20; 12:1-2; 9:14; 10:29

1. As the ascended One sitting on the throne in the heavens, Christ is now executing the new covenant, which He has bequeathed to us as a testament, interceding for us and ministering to us that we may realize, experience, and enjoy all the bequests contained in the new testament—Heb. 12:2; 7:25; 8:1-2:
   1. The new testament, the will, has been validated by Christ’s death and is being executed and enforced by Christ in His resurrection and ascension.
   2. The new covenant has been bequeathed to us as the new testament, and now, in the mystical realm of His heavenly ministry, Christ is executing what He has bequeathed.
   3. Christ is now in the heavens, living, divine, and capable; He is able to execute the new testament in every detail, making every bequest in it available and real to us:
      1. As the divine High Priest, Christ is executing the new covenant by interceding for us, praying that we would be brought into the reality of the new covenant—7:25.
      2. As the Mediator, the Executor, of the new covenant, Christ in His heavenly ministry is executing the new testament and carrying out in us every item of its bequests—8:6; 9:15; 12:24.
      3. As the surety of the new covenant, Christ is the pledge that everything in the new covenant will be fulfilled; He guarantees and ensures the effectiveness of the new testament—7:22.
      4. As the Minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, Christ is serving us with the bequests, the blessings, of the new testament, making the facts of the new covenant effective in our experience—8:2.
      5. As the great Shepherd of the sheep, Christ, by His shepherding, is consummating the New Jerusalem according to God’s eternal covenant—13:20.
2. If we would receive the application of all the blessings in the new covenant, we need to be those who respond to Christ’s heavenly ministry—Heb. 12:1-2; Col. 3:1:
   1. Christ’s ministry in the heavens to execute the new covenant requires our response—Heb. 7:25; 4:16; 10:19:
      1. For centuries Christ has tried without adequate success to gain a group of people to respond to His ministry in the heavens.
      2. By His mercy and grace, there is on earth today a group of people in the recovery responding to the heavenly ministry of Christ.
      3. As the Head is in the heavens interceding for us and ministering to us, we, the Body, are on earth responding to Christ’s heavenly ministry, corresponding to and reflecting what He is doing to execute the new covenant—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16.
   2. Our eyes must be opened to see the heavenly vision of the new testament, the will, with all its bequests—Eph. 1:17-18:
      1. The Father promised everything, and the Lord Jesus accomplished everything; now all the accomplished facts have been itemized in the will as our bequests—Luke 22:20; Heb. 9:16-17.
      2. If we have the heavenly vision to see that all God’s blessings are bequests in the will, we will pray not as poor beggars but as glorious inheritors, receiving the bequests by faith— Rom. 8:17; Eph. 3:6; Heb. 6:17; 1:14.
      3. If we have the heavenly view of the new testament, our concept will be changed, we will be radically revolutionized, and we will be beside ourselves with praise to the Lord— 2 Cor. 5:13; Rev. 5:6-13.
   3. We need to realize that the blood of Christ is the blood of the covenant—Heb. 9:14, 18-22; 10:29; 13:20:
      1. In the book of Hebrews the blood of Christ is particularly prominent and crucial:
         1. Through this blood Christ entered once for all into the Holy of Holies and obtained an eternal redemption for us— 9:12.
         2. By this blood Christ cleansed the heavens and all things in the heavens—9:22-24.
         3. This blood sanctifies us, purifies our conscience to serve the living God, and speaks something better for us than the blood of Abel—13:12; 10:29; 9:14; 12:24.
         4. In this blood we have boldness for entering the Holy of Holies—10:19.
      2. The blood of Christ is the blood of the covenant—10:29; 13:20:
         1. It is the blood of the eternal covenant, with which the new and better covenant was enacted—10:29; 13:20; Luke 22:20.
         2. The blood of the covenant is not mainly for forgiveness; it is primarily for God to be our portion—Rev. 22:14.
         3. The blood of the covenant brings us into the Holy of Holies; that is, it brings us into God and into the full enjoyment of God as our portion both now and forever—Heb. 10:19.
         4. The blood of the covenant speaks for us, saying that by the blood the new covenant has been enacted and that in this new covenant God must give Himself and all His blessings to the believers in Christ who receive this covenant out of faith— 12:24.
   4. We need to come forward to God in faith, coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace and coming forward to the Holy of Holies, having “boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus”—7:25; 11:6; 4:16; 10:19-20.