Regarding the characteristics of the content of the new covenant, we have already mentioned two main aspects. It is true that God is propitious to our unrighteousnesses and no longer remembers our sins. This is the grace of God given to us in the new covenant. But this is merely a procedure by which God achieves His eternal purpose. It is also true that God becomes our God and we become His people in the law of life. The new covenant, however, does not stop there, but continues with, “They shall by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the little one to the great among them” (Heb. 8:11). This is the deeper knowledge of God. This is knowing God Himself. Through the Spirit, God is bringing His redeemed ones to the highest point, that is, to know Himself. God imparts His laws into our mind and inscribes them upon our hearts. This is merely a procedure by which God achieves His deeper purpose, which is to know God Himself. While it is true that to have fellowship with God is purposeful in itself, at the same time the fellowship we have with God is His procedure to obtain a deeper purpose, which is to know God Himself. We know that God’s purpose is to constitute us with Himself that He may become completely blended with us. Thus the characteristic of the new covenant is that man may know God Himself in the law of life, and in this way fulfill God’s purpose.
Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” The lack of knowledge in this verse is the lack of knowing God Himself. The children of Israel were disobedient to the extent that they were destroyed. This was mainly due to the fact that they did not know God. But, praise God, the new covenant has this characteristic—that anyone who has eternal life also knows God (John 17:3). Today, eternal life has the function of knowing God. The characteristic of the new covenant is that God gives us revelation and guidance in the law of life. He enables us to worship Him, to serve Him, and to have fellowship with Him, so that we may go on step by step and get to know Him more and more. Now we need to see how in this law of life we can know God without anyone’s teaching at all.
Hebrews 8:11 reads: “And they shall by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the little one to the great among them.” The phrase “by no means” is a very strong word in the original text. What is mentioned here coincides with 1 John 2:27: “The anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in him.”
The reason why one who has the life of God does not need the teaching of others at all is because he has the Lord’s anointing abiding in him, and it teaches him concerning all things. This is a very practical matter. When God’s Word says “by no means,” it means just that—“by no means.” The Lord’s anointing always abides in us. It seems the greater the grace is, the more difficult it is for us to believe; therefore, the Word of God says that this anointing “is true” and then follows with the phrase “and is no lie.” We should not doubt God’s Word simply because our spiritual condition is abnormal. What God says is consistent with what He accomplishes. We need to believe God’s Word, and we also need to thank and praise Him.
To properly understand the teaching of the anointing we need to consider the three functions of the human spirit. We have said previously that man’s spirit is composed of three parts or functions: intuition, fellowship, and conscience. Let us consider them separately.
It is a fact that when we were regenerated, our spirit became alive. To have our spirit made alive is the first step in the fellowship between God and man. We know further that when we were regenerated the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us. We also know that God is Spirit, and that for this reason he who worships Him must worship in spirit and in reality. The Holy Spirit guides man in his spirit to worship God and to have fellowship with God. This shows the function of the fellowship of our human spirit.
When we were regenerated, our conscience was made alive. The blood of the Lord Jesus purifies the conscience, making it clean and causing its sense to be keen. The Holy Spirit testifies in our conscience concerning our behavior and walk. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” Romans 9:1 says, “My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit.” First Corinthians 5:3 reveals that the spirit judges, and 2 Corinthians 1:12 says that our conscience testifies. These all indicate that the spirit has the function of conscience.
If we are wrong, the Holy Spirit will condemn us in our conscience. We must pay attention to the fact that what the conscience condemns, God will also condemn. It cannot be that the conscience has condemned something, yet God justifies it. If our conscience says we are wrong, then we must be wrong. Since we are wrong, we must repent, confess, and be cleansed by the Lord’s precious blood (1 John 1:9). If our conscience is pure and void of offence (2 Tim. 1:3; Acts 24:16), then we can serve God with boldness and without fear.