The Ministry of the New Covenant
Book of 2 Corinthians Chapter 3
A covenant is a binding agreement between two or more parties.
In the ancient days, covenants, would be sealed by each party by swallowing a drop of each other's blood.
This soon became distasteful, and they began the sacrifice of animals.
Jehovah settled His covenants with an oath.
Many settled agreements with a handshake.
Pro 6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
Pro 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Pro 17:18 A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.
God does not like for His children to become a surety; God says Do not sign your name to another person's debt.
Pro 22:26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
Pro 22:27 If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
In our Bible we read of covenants made between men.
A marriage is a covenant between two people.
We can make a covenant with ourselves, and we should: Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
We can even make a covenant with animals and with the land we live on: Job 5:23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
The most important covenants we can make are those we make with God, and those God makes with us.
Before we were found by Jesus Christ and adopted into the family of God, we were not a part of the covenants of God.
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
It is only by the Lord Jesus Christ that we are part of the New Covenant!
The Old Covenant was a covenant of "works": Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The New Covenant is the covenant of "Grace": 2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
*****2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
We must clearly understand the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
A covenant is an agreement made between two parties, a contract drawn between two people.
God first made a covenant of works with Adam, promising eternal life for obedience and death for disobedience.
Adam failed, and death entered the human race!
Then God made a covenant with Abraham, also a covenant of works.
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Then there was a covenant called the Palestinian Covenant, also a covenant of works.
Remember this area was named Palestine by the Romans just to slander the Jews.
Deu 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Then there was what is called the Davidic Covenant, the promise of the true Messiah.
2Sa 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
2Sa 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
The main Old Covenant was between God and His earthly people Israel.
Both parties took upon themselves certain obligations.
Israel vowed to be obedient to the law, and God in His turn should bless them if they were obedient.
This, too, was a covenant of works, which they failed to keep.
God first dealt with His special people, Israel.
God then promised them a land.
God then promised a posterity, the Messiah.
God promised He would be their true King.
God is still working on Israel to bring them to a true blessing.
No human can live by a covenant of works, because we are born sinners; it is in our bloodline that we inherited from Adam.
There would have to be a New Covenant.
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
God had given Israel a conditional covenant we call the Mosaic Covenant, which we can call God's standard for righteous living.
This covenant in the Book of Jeremiah has not happened yet, because they rejected the Messiah God gave to them.
God gives the world His Covenant of Grace!
God turned His attention to the Gentile world!
The Covenant of Grace is the covenant made by God, which He offers salvation to those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Messiah.
To the believer: 2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
To Israel: Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
God said He would give us His own Son in payment for all the sin of the world and a guarantee for our salvation.
God said by His Grace, His gift of Jesus Christ, He would give the Holy Spirit to live within us.
This is a Trinitarian Covenant:
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
1) This is an eternal and unbreakable covenant.
2) This covenant only extends to those, the elect of God. The elect are all those who have accepted this gift of God's "Grace".
These are the same ones who have answered the call of the Holy Spirit in faith.
3) This is the "Good News" from Heaven and the one Gospel by which souls can be saved.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
The Apostle Paul was very careful to bring this good news to the Gentile world, knowing that there is a limited time for the Gentiles to come to Christ, and God again begins dealing with Israel with this same New Covenant.
The New Covenant not only introduces us to God's Messiah, but we can have a personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit who has sealed us until our Redeemer comes to take us home.
God has called us and equipped us to be ministers of this New Covenant to the world!
*****2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
2Co 3:8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
How can the law be said to be glorious when, if you broke the law, your punishment was death?
There is no glory in eternal death.
The only thing the Laws of Moses did for the children of Israel was to bring them close enough to God where they could get a glimpse of His glory.
The Laws of Moses were glorious only because it was Jehovah, the Almighty, glorious God who gave those laws to Moses face to face.
This is the place we all want to meet God, face to face.
The laws of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, give us a picture of the of the righteousness of our God.
He is Holy, and He is Righteous above His creation.
Those laws have accomplished one thing if we try to live by them. They show us we have need of a Savior!
Those laws prove to us that we are sinners and come far short of the Glory of the Living God.
This is why the world hates the Ten Commandments; they remind them they are sinners.
Moses experienced God's glory, and it could be seen on his face.
The face of Moses shined with the glory of God.
In fact, the glory of God was so bright that the people could not continuously look upon his face, and he had to cover it with a veil to speak to the people of Israel.
Exo 34:30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
What does Paul say? But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
God has taken His glory away from that Old Covenant! Why? Because no one could keep all those laws, and we know Israel had 613 laws and not just the 10 commandments we are so familiar with.
They had a law for every aspect of their life.
Before you get to asking why God would do this, you must first know that the Muslims have a law for every aspect of their lives, as do the Hindus, and almost every nation, including our own, has laws for every aspect of our lives.
If we could keep all the laws of our nation, there would be no place for courts or lawyers or any so-called legal documents.
God knew these things, but God had also made some promises that He could not keep if there was no one to give those blessings to.
The New Covenant of God came about because of this, and this Covenant of Grace shows that God demands nothing anymore from His people, as He will fulfill all the conditions of this covenant Himself.
Grace means that the Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill all the obligations that God had first given to His people.
Only the Lord Jesus could keep all those old laws, and therefore He took all the sin of the world upon Himself and died in our place.
God the Father did this on His own terms, and He explains that to us:
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Just notice the "I wills" in this passage of Scripture. There is no contribution expected from these people.
This is Grace brought about by the Mercy of God and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The Lord Jesus Christ has done all the work to get us into Heaven as His bride and then wife.
We as the Church are to be servants of this New Covenant just as Apostle Paul was.
The New Covenant is related to the work of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts.
The Old Covenant consisted of letters and stones.
How can the ministry of the Holy Spirit not be glorious when the Holy Spirit is God, and salvation can only come by the Tri-unity of God?
God the Father made the covenant.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price with His blood.
The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts to make it all work toward our salvation.
*****2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
That Old Covenant brought condemnation. Anyone who broke the law was condemned and had a broken and severed relationship with the Triune God.
With the New Covenant, and the Holy Spirit, comes righteousness, and the nature of God to us.
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The glory of the New Covenant is permanent because the Holy Spirit will never leave us!
*****2Co 3:11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
The Old Covenant is fading away with Israel the last holdout after the Church Age.
The Lost must believe that the Lord Jesus completed the work God required for the Holy Spirit to move into our hearts and begin His work.
It is really not that hard to understand except for one thing, and it is the Devil.
The Lord Jesus said these “end days” will be full of deception. We are already finding this to be true.
2Co_11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
There is no other way to live with God, and these are His rules and not mine!
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The knowledge of these things should settle every Christian and bring hope to those who have yet to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior.
*****2Co 3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Co 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
Our hope is not just in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, but our hope is in this New Covenant of God, and God does not lie, and God does not break covenants.
The ministry of God's people is built upon the truth of God and not some fairy tale or some false doctrine.
The language God uses is plain, and it is simple.
Remember the same Holy Spirit who comes to live in the believer is the same Holy Spirit who gives us the Word of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
We know that in the time of Moses, Israel withdrew from the veiled glory of God.
The veil would not allow people to see the glory on Moses' face fading away.
Moses was saying that he was just the messenger and the true glory of the Lord would come later.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Rom 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The world hates the Ten Commandments because they feel bound by them in order to please God, when the Ten Commandments just give us an idea of the righteousness of God.
Honoring those commandments and all the laws of this world does please God!
What truly pleases God is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has paid that sin debt and we are to see Him as our Savior.
Now this does not mean we are not to live as close to those commands as we possibly can; it means that if we fail, it is not the thing that brings death and a separation from our Heavenly Father.
We are not to continue in sin at any time!
The lost do not see the real meaning of those laws which were given to reveal the nature of God's glory and perfection.
The lost do not see that those laws show us that no one can keep all those laws.
The lost do not see that those laws show us the need of a Savior.
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Even today the children of Israel remain blinded to the truth of the New Covenant of God.
*****2Co 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Today Moses is already in Heaven, but the veil he put upon his face is now upon the hearts of God's people.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
That veil over their heart prevents them from seeing the disappearance of the Old Covenant.
That old veil will never be removed unless the children of Israel turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only then will they be able to see as a nation that the Old Testament was written in view of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Messiah.
This is what the Apostles discovered and every true Christian since that day, and we know that the children of Israel will soon see this truth at or just before the Rapture of the Church and the end of the Church Age.
Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
All types and all prophecies of the law will be fully accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen
