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The covenant of grace
that God has made with spiritual Israel has no conditions in it for them
to meet. From beginning to end it contains a declaration of what God
will do for them. This includes, (1) the putting of His laws into their
minds and writing them in their hearts, (2) His being to them a God, and
their being to Him a people, (3) their all being brought to the
knowledge of Him, from the least to the greatest, (4) His being merciful
to their unrighteousness, (5) His forgiving their iniquity, and (6) His
remembrance of their sins no more. All these things are secured in and
by the new covenant and God's people have nothing whatsoever to do with
their coming to pass.
The old covenant that God made with the natural
Israelites was a conditional covenant, and in one way or another they
all broke it. But the new covenant is not according to that former
covenant, in which they did not continue, even though God was a husband
unto them (Jer. 31:32). If it was conditional on their part then it
would be according to the old, and spiritual Israel would brake it just
like national Israel broke the first. But this covenant will not be
broken, for it was made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit. They all have their office works to perform, and all those
works will be carried out to perfection, the end result being that all
spiritual Israelites "shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation" (Isa. 45:17). He will be to them a God, and
they shall be to Him a people---no uncertainty about it.
There is much for God's people (spiritual Israel) to
be doing, for they are under law to Christ, and righteous living should
characterize their everyday conduct and deportment. But in that eternal
covenant that secures their final destiny, they have nothing to perform,
for in order for the stipulations of that covenant to be perfectly met,
God alone must carry them out and complete them, otherwise not one
living soul would ever see heaven. |