The preceding seven covenants were covenants that God made with man in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, through the death of the Lord Jesus, which accomplished redemption for all men, God made a covenant with all sinners, the eighth, and the last, covenant that God made with man (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8-13).
The One who made the new covenant is the Lord Jesus (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20). Jesus is a wonderful name which means Jehovah the Savior, or the salvation of Jehovah. This name includes three factors: Jehovah, the Savior, and salvation, indicating that this wonderful Person is Jehovah coming to be the Savior to man and to become salvation to man. He is the very God coming into man to be incarnated. Therefore, He is a God-man; He is both the complete God and the perfect Man. He died and shed His blood on the cross to accomplish redemption for the sins of all men, thus enacting the new covenant. Hence, the One who made the new covenant is the Lord Jesus, who shed His blood to accomplish redemption for the sins of all men.
The One who made the new covenant is also God (Heb. 8:8; Jer. 31:31), who had promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him (Gen. 22:18). He did not say, “And to the seeds,” as concerning many, but as concerning one, “And to your seed,” who is Christ (Gal. 3:16). Christ died on the cross, shedding His precious blood, to accomplish redemption for all men. In this way, according to His promise to Abraham, God can deal with man according to grace in Christ and bestow the blessing upon all people, thus making a covenant with man.
The ones with whom the covenant was made are all the sinners (Rom. 3:23-24), who are the descendants of fallen Adam, sinners who must die. When Adam fell, sin entered into mankind through him (Rom. 5:12) to become the constituent of man (Rom. 5:19), and it is passed on from generation to generation in man. Therefore, the descendants of fallen Adam are born sinners with the sinful nature inherited by birth. Actually, sin is the evil nature of Satan, the evil one, dwelling, acting, and reigning in fallen man. Furthermore, since the fruit of sin is death (James 1:15; Rom. 5:12), fallen men have become sinners who must die (Heb. 9:27a); no one can escape death. Nevertheless, God made a covenant with such ones who are descendants of fallen Adam, sinners by birth, who inherited sin in their nature, and sinners who must die.
Fallen sinners are not only born sinners and inherit sin in their nature, but they also sin and do evil according to Satan, committing sins themselves, and become transgressors who deserve death. Because fallen men have a life in them that is mingled with the life of Satan, the Devil, and a nature that is mixed with Satan’s nature, they have become the children of the Devil (1 John 3:8, 10; John 8:44), walking according to the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2) and sinning and doing evil according to him. It is with such ones who sin and do evil according to Satan, transgressors who deserve death, that God made a covenant.