The New Covenant Promises to the New Covenant People

In the last blog post, Repairers of the breach, I began to look at the idea of being New Covenant people. The New Covenant promises in the Old Testament Prophets are addressed to New Covenant people. Who are the New Covenant people anyway? The simple answer is they are all people who have truly apprehended Christ and his provisions. Peter states it this way; 2Peter 1:3-4  “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,  (4)  by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” The great and precious promises are all of the divine decrees proclaimed in the New Covenant passages of the Old Testament Prophets.

Just to name a few, Isaiah 40-66, Jeremiah 31;31-34, and Ezekiel 36:26 come to mind. How does one become a partaker of the divine nature and therefore become new covenant people? The answer is “in Christ.” There is no other way. What I mean by that specifically is there is no other way to be certain of New Covenant status. That is only obtained through union with Christ who is the promised seed of Abraham. Gal 3:26-29  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  “(27)  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  (28)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29)  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” One is baptized into Christ by simply apprehending the gospel. I like the word apprehend because it is descriptive of real true faith. It is more than mental assent. It grabs a hold of the promises and does not let go. It is the obedience of faith.

Notice it is not obedience to a set of principles. It is a faith that holds on to promises and will not relinquish. It is like the faith of Jacob wrestling with the angel. He would not let go no matter what and that is exactly the description of apprehending Christ Jesus; holding on and not letting go no matter what.

It is in the apprehension of Christ that all of the New Covenant promises come into play. Apprehending Christ is NOT grabbing hold of a specific doctrinal stance. It is NOT talking a certain way, walking a certain way and being in a building every time the doors open. That is NOT the sign of New Covenant people. The promises DO NOT come as the result of church affiliation. They come by apprehending Christ and becoming an heir of Abraham through the promise.

We shall continue to look into what it means to be New Covenant people in subsequent posts.