THE SHINING COVENANT

THE SHINING COVENANT Matthew 5: 13-16, Hebrews 2:1-4

Blessings flow from God’s relationship with man. God’s relationship with man has always been regulated by a covenant so that man’s free agency is always kept under God’s will. The Old Covenant was a Shadows Covenant because it was bereft of real power to live right, and those who kept it strictly only succeeded in becoming whitewashed tombs (Matt. 23:27)! The New Covenant of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus is as a Shining Covenant because it gives real power to live a life-saving life. If those who failed to uphold the shadows were kicked out, so will those who fail to shine be kicked out of the entirety of the benefits of the shining one.

All the Earlier Covenants were essentially a “Cover Your Weak Nature” Covenant. The New Covenant is a “Show God’s Power which is in you” Covenant: The Old Covenants were “Don’t, If You do...”, But the New Covenant is “Do, if You Don’t ...”Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply, work the Garden, but do not eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil ...” Noah: Multiply and fill the earth but you shall not murder, In Israel: “You shall not make another god, etc.

In Christ: “Bear fruit (John 15:2, 8, 16), Let your light shine (Matt. 5:16, Philipp. 2:15), Walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), Go ye and make disciples (Matt. 28:18). In the Sermon on the Mount alone, Jesus, spells out not less than 16 practices that the Holy Spirit makes us capable of. They compare quite well with the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and the nature of love (1 Cor. 13)

The reason why it is a “Do” Covenant is that those who partake of this benefit receive a threefold transformation:

1.      It involves a new seed, the seed of God, into whose image we are now born (as contrasts with “made” in the case of Adam). As spirit beings, we now have as part of our nature genuine love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (John 1:13, 1 John 3:9, Gal. 5:22-23)

2.      It involves a purified conscience with the blood of the Eternal Lamb of God (as contrasts with the animal blood purifications under the law, which only washed the body, but kept the could not reach inward to cleanse the conscience, Heb. 9:13, 14)

3.      It involves the baptism of the Holy Spirit, equivalent to God flooding regenerated souls with His power causing their fruit to mature, and bestowing gifts that make them useful in the service of God. 

How shall we escape if we neglect: if we fail to shine, if we fail the saltiness test?

Three of the practices that Jesus says we are capable of must necessarily be practised in secret. These constitute the powerhouse for shining. We must pay attention to them, so that those which we must necessarily practice before men will be easier to do:

1. Selfless Giving: Thoughtful enough to meet a need, and not to earn a reputation (Matt. 6:1-4).
2. Selfless Praying: Opening up to the purifying and seasoning Fire of God, exalting and thanking God, supplicating and interceding, rather than praying without any sound New Covenant foundation. (Matt. 6: 5 – 15, Philipp. 4:6, 1 Tim. 2:1, Jam. 4:1-3)
3. Selfless Fasting: Tarrying to studiously wait on the Lord to receive strength for ministry, rather than as a pretext to propagate falsehood (Matt. 6:16-18, Col. 2:16-23)