In this message I would like to say more concerning Christ as the covenant and the light to God's chosen people. Why did Christ need to be given to us by God as a covenant? What is the significance of this? Apparently, it is not difficult to grasp logically the thought that Christ is the light given by God to the nations. But the thought that God has given Christ to us as a covenant is difficult to grasp. Nevertheless, we need to realize that in these two matters, the covenant and the light, the entire Bible is embodied. The entire Scripture of sixty-six books is embodied in these two things—in Christ being the covenant and in Christ being the light.
There is a clear word in two portions of the Bible that says that Christ has been given to us, God's chosen people, first as the covenant and, second, as the light (Isa. 42:5-7; 49:6, 8b-9a). Isaiah 42:6b says, "I have kept You [Christ] and I have given You / As a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations," and Isaiah 49:6b and 8b say, "I will also set You as a light of the nations / That you may be My salvation to the ends of the earth....And I will preserve You and give You for a covenant of the people."
We should be deeply impressed when we read such a word. Many Christians, when they come to the Word of God, see only the shallow things. When they read a chapter such as Ephesians 5, they prefer to see that wives should submit to their husbands and that husbands should love their wives. This is according to their taste, their preference. Although the Bible does teach that wives should submit to their husbands and that husbands should love their wives, this is a very small item in the teaching of the Bible. The principal item unveiled in the Bible is God's economy. God's economy is to dispense Himself into us as our life, our person, and our everything. This is what the Bible teaches, and this is what the Old Testament and the New Testament unveil to us. But, sorry to say, nearly all the readers of the Bible have their eyes covered concerning this matter, and thus they cannot see this.