How Covenants Are Ratified

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The new covenant is founded and ratified in the blood of Christ. “This is My blood of the new testament” (more accurately, “the new covenant”), said our Lord to His disciples as He gave to them the passover cup (Matt. 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28)), and we read also in Hebrews of “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:2020Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)). The force of these expressions will be best understood by a reference once again to the old covenant. Moses, when he had sprinkled the blood upon the people, said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words” (Ex. 24:6-86And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. (Exodus 24:6‑8); Heb. 9:18-2018Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. 19For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (Hebrews 9:18‑20)). God thus confirmed His covenant with Israel at Sinai by blood — the blood of animals — but He has founded and made the new covenant immutably secure in the blood of Christ. By confirming the new covenant with the blood of Christ, God has declared not only its everlasting and unchangeable character, but also the priceless nature of the blessings which He has thereby secured to His people. How stable a foundation, moreover, God has thus laid for the confidence of His saints! In the Old Testament He often encouraged them to rest in the certainty of His word and promise, and in writing to the Hebrews the Apostle speaks of the two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie — His oath and His promise — which afforded strong consolation to them who had fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. Even beyond these certainties He has sealed His truth, as it were, by the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son.
It is in the fulfillment of this new covenant, so ratified, that Israel’s hopes of future blessing rest (Heb. 8:6-136But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8For 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: 9Not 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. 10For 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: 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:6‑13)). At Sinai they rashly entered into the engagement of obedience to procure the blessings promised, but they failed and lost everything. God, acting in grace in pursuance of His purposes and in virtue of the blood of Christ, will yet bring them into the enjoyment of all that He has promised. The new covenant is made, not with believers now, but with Israel, but all its spiritual blessings are ministered to us through the Spirit. Hence, the Apostle speaks of himself and his fellow-laborers as being “able ministers of the new covenant” (2 Cor. 4:6). We enjoy these blessings now, blessings of a higher character than those promised to Israel, but in a future day God will cause them to enjoy every blessing specified in His Word. Both we and they alike will owe everything to the precious blood of Christ.
The Resurrection of Christ
In this connection, it should be pointed out that the resurrection of Christ Himself, as the Great Shepherd of the sheep, is through the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:2020Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)). This indeed was God’s public testimony to its value — His declaration that the blood shed in the death of Christ had made a full, adequate and everlasting atonement for sin. Therefore, He brought again from the dead the Mediator of the “better covenant,” that all its objectives might be accomplished. Hence it is that as the Great Shepherd He will seek out and gather together the sheep from every land, in accordance with His own words to the Jews: “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock [not fold], and one Shepherd” (John 10:1616And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)). Thus the covenant, sealed by His blood, has been certified in His resurrection, the value of the blood securing all, and, finally, its entire and complete accomplishment.
E. Dennett