Our Covenant Relationship with God

One of the most important and yet least understood doctrines in Christianity is the issue of the New Covenant.

​INTRODUCTION

Understanding our covenant relationship with God today, resolves a hundred different question with one answer. It explains what part of our relationship with God is our responsibility, and what part He does for us. It explains how grace works, where the 10 commandments fit in, why the Old and New Testaments seem so very different from each other and what the core of Christianity is all about. ​ Sadly this teaching is almost entirely missing from Christianity today, and many a false or skewed doctrine are the result of this gap in our understanding of God's work with mankind. The covenants are the framework within which God responds to us. He acts according to the nature of the covenant which He has established, and so understanding the covenants goes a long way to knowing how to approach God, ​ THE STRUCTURE OF OUR DISCUSSION ​

In this piece we will first define what covenant is. Then we will map out the key characteristics of each of the 3 major Biblical covenants. With all three in view, we can then discuss God's purpose for each, which also explains their differences and how to use them when interpreting different parts of the Bible. Here are the phases of our discussion:

• ​Section One: What are the covenants?

• Section Two: The Abrahamic Covenant

• Section Three: The Mosaic Covenant

• Section Four: The New Covenant

• Section Five: The purpose of the covenants & how they fit together

​​ Section One: WHAT ARE THE COVENANTS?

​ God initiated His covenants in order to establish a relationship with men. But a covenant is not just a relationship, it is more powerful than that, it is meant to be an unbreakable bond. These are life-long agreements sealed with blood as a symbol of their gravity and permanence, because "the life is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11). ​

"Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood." – Hebrews 9:18 ​

So when God establishes a covenant, He invariably calls it "an everlasting covenant," to express His full and enduring commitment towards the bond. ​ A covenant doesn't only tie two parties together in unity, but it also establishes the foundational "rules" of the relationship. Just like vows are said when a marriage covenant is sealed, these rules guarantee the strength and health of the bond. So when God establishes a covenant with us, He is limiting Himself to the restrictions of the covenant. For example, when God made a covenant with Noah, He promised never to destroy the world with water ever again (Genesis 9:13-16). God has now limited Himself to the confines of that promise. The same goes for us, the covenant confines men to stay within its rules. ​​ Covenants are meant to bring security, a deep sense of belonging and safety, a sense of permanence. They are never meant to be broken. But if one party violates the "rules" of the agreed covenant, with great loss and pain, the bond can be torn apart. So what are we looking for when we try to define the three major Biblical covenants?

Characteristics of Covenant ​

Each covenant has a defining character. We will be looking to find these so that we can compare the covenants to each other. What we want to know is the following:

• Who God is covenanting with.

• What special promises God makes to this person/people.

• What rules the covenant is founded on.

• What blood is shed to establish it.

• And what unique sign or seal is given as the mark of those included in the covenant.

​ We will go through the three major Biblical Covenants this way, namely:

• The Abrahamic Covenant

• The Mosaic Covenant (sometimes called the Old Covenant)

• The New Covenant

Section Two: THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

The Abrahamic covenant would have taken place in roughly 1900BC. The story can be found right in the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, directly after the account of the flood, the tower of Babel and the dispersion of the peoples. After all man's rebellion that has gone before, God decides to call a people out for Himself, to have a special bond with them. So in chapter 12, God speaks to Abram and makes a promise to him. We will make a shortened paraphrase (or short-phrase) of a few passages here, but you can read the full account in your Bible. ​

"The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country and your people and go to the land I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you: and in you all families of the earth will be blessed." – Short-phrase of Genesis 12:1-3 ​

This is a promise, it hasn't reached the level of covenant yet. So Abram obeys God's word and takes his wife, nephew and all his goods, and goes to the land the Lord shows him. We pick the story up again in chapter 13 (verses 14-16), when Abram is standing in the land of Canaan and God says: ​

"All the land which you can see in front of you I will give you and your seed forever. I will make your seed more than a man can number"

After these promises a very peculiar event takes place. Abram learns that his nephew, Lot, has been captured by an invading army. Abram assembles 380 of his men and they pursue the army and recover Lot, along with all the loot the army had taken from the neighbouring kingdom where Lot lived. And returning from this victory he meets Melchizedek, who arrives on the scene apparently out of nowhere. Melchizedek, the Bible tells us, is "King of Salem" (Genesis 14:18) which means "King of Peace." This king gives Abram bread to eat and wine to drink, and reveals an even more surprising fact, Melchizedek is also "a priest of the Most High God". Note that at this point in history the earth has never had a godly priesthood before. Nor is there a temple, or even a people of God yet – so who is this mysterious Melchizedek then? Melchizedek blesses Abram, and blesses God for giving Abram victory over the invading army. Abram, in turn, shows his allegiance to Melchizedek by offering him a tenth of everything he has recovered. This unusual visitation of Melchizedek is critical to understanding the Abrahamic Covenant in God's greater plan. For now we only want to plant that seed, but we will touch on it again later. Directly after this encounter, Abram receives a vision from the Lord, and God says: ​

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” - Genesis 15:1b ​

And while Abram surely appreciates God's goodness, he wants to know what use that is if he has no descendants to leave it all to, so he asks God: ​

"Lord what will You give me since I don't have an heir?' The Lord said, 'Look to the heavens, count the stars if you can, that is how many descendants you will have.' And Abram believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness." – Short-phrase of Genesis 15:2-6 ​​

Three times now the Lord has promised to give Abram a vast number of descendants. Abram was 75 years old the first time, now he is in his nineties. But despite his age, he chooses to believe God, and for that reason God reckons him righteous. A few more years go by before we get to chapter 17, now Abram is ninety-nine. God has tested his faith thoroughly and finally it is time to establish the "Abrahamic Covenant": ​

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God... This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you." – Genesis 17:1-8, 11 ​

So here we have it – the first time God binds Himself to a people of His own. We now know its characteristics are that: ​

• God established the covenant with Abraham and his seed.

• God promised him a land and a great multitude of descendants. He also promised to be a God to him, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him.

• God told Abraham to "be blameless."

• Circumcision serves as the blood shed for the covenant.

• Circumcision was also the sign of God's bond with Abraham and his seed.

Section Three: THE MOSAIC COVENANT ​

Come time for the Mosaic Covenant and more than 400 years have passed. Abraham has had the promised son Isaac, who had Jacob (also called Israel), who had 12 sons, who became fathers of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. They have been in slavery in Egypt for four generations now. Finally the day has come for God to lead His people to the land He promised their father Abraham. Enter the story of Moses and the grand Exodus out of Egypt. We are now in the second book of the Bible, and all 37 remaining Old Testament books (with the exception of Job), depict God's walk with His children Israel under the "Mosaic Covenant". ​ Take note, as you read, how different this covenant relationship is to the one which has gone before. The people are very different to Abraham, and therefore the eventual covenant is also very different. ​ We will skip through all the spectacular signs God does to deliver His people from the Egyptians (Exodus 4-14). We pick up again where they have miraculously passed through the Red Sea. They are finally free men, and would you believe it – it takes them exactly 3 days to begin complaining. ​

"And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” – Exodus 15:24-26 ​

So God gave them sweet water to quench their thirst, but also warned them that they would need to walk in obedience to Him (as Abraham had). Two and a half months pass before the people are complaining again. This time they are hungry and they go so far as to wish God had never saved them. ​

"Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained... “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” – Exodus 16:2-3

By another miracle God provides meat, as much as they want to eat. Then He establishes the way He will feed them for their entire wilderness journey. He gives the people manna every morning, but again this comes with a command to be obedient. He institutes a law, they are to collect food for every day, nothing must be left overnight, except on the the 6th day they are to collect food for two days, because on the 7th they must rest. God is testing both their trust in Him and their obedience. Once again, they fail. ​

"Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" – Exodus 16:27-18 ​

So God continues to test them, and only a few days go by before the people have worked themselves into a furious state. ​

"And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” – Exodus 17:3-4 ​

God replies with another miracle, He brings water out of a rock. By now the people are three months into their journey, and God has sent 10 plagues to loose them from Egypt, He has parted the Red Sea and closed it on the Egyptian army again. A cloud leads them by day and a pillar of fire by night, they receive manna from heaven every morning, and God has provided water twice, and despite all this they still complain and have disobeyed every law God has given thus far. At this point the Israelites are camping at the foot of mount Sinai and God announces that He wants to establish a covenant with them. But this covenant will be deeply rooted in a set of rules. If they will obey God, He will do extraordinary things for and through them. ​

‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine." – Exodus 19:4-5 ​

To this the Israelites answer that they will obey all the commands of the Lord. God then prepares them for what is coming. He tells Moses that the people must cleanse and ready themselves because He will visit them on the third day. ​

"Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled... Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly." – Exodus 19:16, 18 ​

It the midst of this extraordinary display of power, God's voice speaks directly to the people from the mount, and gives them what we now call, "The 10 Commandments". But all this thunderous presence becomes too overwhelming for them:

"Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” – Exodus 20:18-19

So from there on, the Lord speaks only to Moses, who writes everything down in, "The Book of the Covenant". Chapters 21-23 document those commands. Moses then makes an altar and sacrifices a peace offering to God. ​

"Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.” – Exodus 24:7-8 ​

Notice how the commands are actually considered to be the very same thing as the covenant. The scriptures confirm this later again where various passages call the stone tablets of the ten commandments the "tablets of the covenant". ​

"He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." – Exodus 34:28b ​ “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." – Deuteronomy 4:13 ​ "...the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands." – Deuteronomy 9:15 ​

It is critical that we understand this: The law of a covenant is literally an expression of the workings of that covenant, the covenant and its law cannot be separated. We see this clearly when the Old Covenant changes over to the New Covenant, and the Bible says, "of necessity there is also a change of the law," (we will come back to this point soon). Back to our story, and God calls Moses up the mountain to receive the stone tablets (Exodus 24:12-18). During those 40 days, God shows him the pattern of the Tabernacle he must build, exactly how it was to be made and used. And at the end of it, He tells Moses what the sign of this covenant will be. ​

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. ‘Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath... as a perpetual covenant." – Exodus 31:13, 16

God then sends Moses down to face the Israelite's. Only days before, God had so gloriously appeared on the top of the mount that the entire camp of Israel feared for their lives, they have just sealed a covenant with God promising to obey His every word – and even before Moses could return from receiving the ordinances of that covenant, the people have utterly betrayed their God. Literally the first words God had said to them those few days before was: ​

"I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God..." – Exodus 20:2-5a ​

And when Moses arrives on the scene, Israel has made a golden calf and are busy worshipping it – claiming that it is the god who delivered them from their slavery in Egypt! It is hard to imagine how God must have felt seeing that sight. But this is how the second major covenant came to be, and the whole story of Israel through the Old Testament is one of continual rebellion and repentance and rebellion again. So God calls Moses back up to the mountain: ​

"Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed... “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" – Exodus 34:5-7a ​

Moses, aware that Israel has already broken the covenant, hears the Lord's words and calls on His mercy to renew it again: ​

"So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.' And He said: 'Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.'" – Exodus 34:8-10 ​

So there we have the basics of the Mosaic (or Old) Covenant, re-established by a merciful God. We now know that it was:

• Between God and the nation of Israel.

• God promised to make them His special treasure and show Himself mightily to and through them in such a way that the world would marvel.

• The 10 commandments (and with them the entire law), are the rules and foundation on which it stands.

• A sacrifice of calves and goats was made and their blood was used to seal it.

• The sign of the covenant is their keeping the Sabbath day.

​Under the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant, the Israelites took the promised land and flourished. When they obeyed the commands, they had peace and prosperity. All that God had promised them, He fulfilled. But the Israelites were far less faithful. They betrayed God for idols, and disobeyed Him time and time again. Over the years God had to draw them back to Himself many, many times, through exiles, defeats and warnings brought by His prophets. More than 16 prophets later, God is done with the stubborn-heartedness of His people. He sends one final prophet (Malachi), to His people with this message: ​

“'I have loved you,' says the LORD. 'Yet you say, "In what way have You loved us?'... 'A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honour? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?' Says the LORD of hosts to you priests who despise My name... I have no pleasure in you... nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles... I am a great King... and My name is to be feared among the nations. But you profane it... If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name... I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart... you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law, you have corrupted the covenant..." – Extracts from Malachi ​

The Mosaic Covenant had not given God the relationship He wanted with mankind. He wanted a people who would love Him with all their hearts, all their souls and with all their strength (Mark 12:30). But sin was too deeply engrained in the human condition for that to be possible. Mankind wanted to sin. They loved to sin. It would take more than a law to remedy that. Israel's entire history proved that no matter how many laws God put down, or how many miraculous ways He manifested His power, they were still drawn to sin. The impurity was entwined in the fabric of their hearts. God would have to change the actual essence of their nature. Therefore He promised something better than the Mosaic Covenant – a New Covenant.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant... not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make... I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” – Jeremiah 31:31-34 ​

In around 400BC, God's final prophet announces that the Messiah of the New Covenant is coming, then God falls silent. ​

"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant... Behold, He is coming” – from Malachi 3:1

​Section Four: THE NEW COVENANT ​

The New Covenant is vastly different to the Mosaic Covenant which has gone before. It will fix everything that has been broken, it will change the core nature of God's people. In fact, it will so transform them that God will be able to unite with them completely. So that in this covenant God can say: ​

“...as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us." – John 17:21b ​ "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." – 1 Corinthians 6:17 ​ "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." – Ephesians 5:31-32 ​

But before this can happen, God must make mankind every bit as pure and holy as He is, because even the tiniest sin would drive a wedge in the relationship. But we know that no man is capable of God's purity. ​

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" – Romans 3:23 ​

Enter God's extraordinary solution – He becomes a man Himself! That way the perfection of God, the righteousness of God and the purity of God can be found in mankind, even if it is only in One man among them all. So God sends His Son to earth in the likeness of human flesh to stand proxy for all of mankind. The scriptures give us a glimpse of Jesus' heart: ​

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” – From Hebrews 10:5-7 also Psalm 40:6-8 ​

Sacrifices were only necessary to remedy sin. Instead, Jesus brought the thing God truly desired – He came in perfect obedience, the kind that did not need any remedy. God's law was already in Jesus' heart, which was the very thing God wanted to bring about in His New Covenant people. What law is being spoken of here? The 10 Commandments and all the Law of Moses was the "rules" of the Old Covenant. The rules of the New Covenant, however, are far more demanding. Jesus gave us a taste of it when He said: ​

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, [in the Mosaic Covenant], ‘You shall not murder.’ But I say to you [in the New Covenant] that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.... You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." – Matthew 5:21-22, 38-39 ​

Jesus sums up the rules of this New Covenant when He says: ​

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." – Matthew 5:48​ ​

So when Jesus came in complete obedience, it was to do more than just fulfil the earthly law of the 10 Commandments. He came to live out the heavenly law of perfect righteousness. To put that differently: Jesus was sent to earth to live out the laws which govern heaven. The Father in heaven is perfect. All that share heaven with Him are prefect too. These New Covenant people will also need to be perfect – and Jesus has come to walk out that heavenly perfection as a man here on earth. Jesus:

"has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life... Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant... [for He is] holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens... the Son who has been perfected forever." – Extracts from Hebrews 7:16-28

Because this heavenly law is higher than the earthly, "fleshly commandment" (or Mosaic law), the earthly is automatically fulfilled in the process. For example: if one doesn't even look at a woman to lust after her (as the heavenly law demands), then he consequently will not even come close to committing adultery with her (which is the earthly law's demand). The heavenly law governs the intent of the heart, while the earthly law governs the actions. In the heavenly law, every thought, every intent, every action, every desire of the heart must be perfectly holy, which in turn creates perfect unity with the Father, because the Father is perfectly holy. So the heavenly law then is to share God's heart, and when Jesus fulfilled that law, He and the Father moved as one:

“Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does... because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." – John 5:19-20a, 30

For a more in-depth discussion on this issue of the laws, please click the link below: The 10 Commandments and the New Testament Law

With this singular, extraordinary, perfect man, God has a kind of second Adam on the earth. He has a man with an entirely different nature to the fallen, sinful core of Adam (and his descendants). From this new Man, God can birth a new line of men with righteousness interwoven in the very fabric of their beings. And with this Man, God can covenant Himself completely.

GOD'S SOVEREIGN COVENANT

When the Lord promised the Messiah's coming through Malachi, He called Jesus the "Messenger of the Covenant". How strange then that Jesus never once brought a message about the New Covenant. He never spoke of it, not in all the years of His ministry – not, that is, until a few hours before His death. After one final meal with His disciples, we read:

"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.' " – Matthew 26:26-28

Jesus is about to inaugurate the New Covenant with His own blood, on a cross outside Jerusalem. They are only hours away and though Jesus has spent years teaching His disciples about the "Kingdom of Heaven," He has told them nothing about any covenant. The reason for this was that they had no part to play in establishing it. Jesus alone establishes the New Covenant with His Father. Through His obedience, Jesus has fulfilled all the heavenly "rules" of this New Covenant. Jesus will offer the blood to seal this New Covenant. Jesus (as we will soon show) will receive the special promises this covenant offers and Jesus will also provide the unique sign of this covenant. When Jesus breathes His last and says, "It is finished," the covenant is established. God the Father is now in New-Covenant relationship with one Man – but that Man has just died and been laid to rest in a stone tomb. It almost seems as though all is lost until the third day. That is when God begins to fulfil the extraordinary promises of this New Covenant – the first being resurrection life. In a glorious display of God's power over both life and death, He raises Jesus back to life again. And when Jesus shows Himself alive to His disciples, He tells them:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." – Matthew 28:18b

Jesus has offered up all He is on the altar to God. He has made Himself nothing for His Father's sake. Therefore, God raises Him up to the highest place and causes all His creation to worship His Son.

"[Jesus] who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth" – Philippians 2:6-7a, b8-10

This becomes a pattern for the New Covenant. Men who are grafted into this covenant also first need to lay themselves on the altar in surrender. They also need to die a kind of death, so that God can raise them up into a powerful, supernatural, resurrection life. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. ​ Back to Jesus' story, and He is taken up to heaven before His disciples' eyes and Father seats Him at His right hand in glory. Jesus has now become the centre of all God has done and the One through whom God has played out His salvation plan. Jesus becomes the expression of the Father.

"He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation... For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross" – Colossians 1:15, 19-20

Now God's entire pilgrimage with mankind has become centred and focused in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. So let's summarise what we know of this New Covenant so far:

• It was established between God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

• The rules