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Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
Taken from the Lamb's Book of Life-Part 1 by Preston EbyTHE LAW WRITTEN WITHIN
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 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 my people. In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:10,13).
Herein is an arrangement that will work – the old covenant was written and engraven in stone and the people were unable to keep it. Israel began well, accepted the covenant, and promised obedience. But there was no power to continue, to fulfill it; no power to conquer temptation, or overcome the evil heart; to remain faithful. Just as the old covenant was the law written and engraven in stone, and one could hold high this stone tablet and say, "Here is the covenant of our God," so the new covenant is the law of God inscribed in the minds and hearts of a people – not merely a law, but that law inscribed in a people – so that you can point to that people and say, "There is the covenant of our God!" The people with the law of God in their heart IS THE COVENANT, THE BOOK OF GOD'S LAW OF LIFE. I heard of a man who collects presidential signatures. The autographs are valuable, some of them priceless – not because of the ink or paper that was used but because of the person who wrote them. These presidential signatures are all appropriately framed and hung with dignity and honor. God has made a covenant with mankind that has been written by His finger and signed in blood. This is not a mere document but an agreement – signed in our Lord's own blood. His blood is His life and it is His life formed in His people which constitutes His signature with His blood. YOU ARE THE COVENANT. Never forget that!
We speak of "signing on the dotted line" and there's something awesome about it. Watch a head of government sign a bill into law; watch a bride and groom sign a marriage license; watch an executive sign a 100-million-dollar contract – each time you will notice the solemnity, the weightiness, the finality. When I sign on the dotted line, that's it. The hospital may now proceed with my surgery; the army has me for four years; my spouse is now endowed with all my earthly wealth; I will pay $800 a month for the house. They've got it in writing. God has graciously allowed His covenant with man to be put into writing and signed with His signature – within a people. That is an awesome thing for God to do, for now His covenant can be known and read by all men. In the integrity of His holy heart He is bound to keep all His word, fulfill all His purpose, develop all His life, display all His wisdom, nature and glory in and through this people who are His covenant written upon the fleshy tables of their hearts. Now He can be held to His word, for He has invested His signature onto the document. But that's exactly what He intends: that His word be viewed as final, permanent, binding, and therefore reliable and trustworthy. What hope and faith this should inspire in our hearts!
The Lamb's Book of Life, God's New Covenant – seek it not in the starry skies, nor in the sweet bye and bye – seek it in a life transformed. This is His monument – not in cold stone, not in chiseled marble, not in plaques of bronze, not in ancient parchments, not in weighty documents, but given by the very finger of God upon human hearts and in human lives. Here is the covenant that will last when time is obsolete, when the sands of the ages have run out, when the elements have melted with fervent heat. Andrew Murray once asked, What does it mean to have a law in the heart? It means this: to have the knowledge and the will and the nature and the power of God inspired into us. For example, when I speak of an acorn, how do I know it will grow up into a mighty oak tree that may stand for a hundred years? Because the law of the oak tree has been written in the heart of the acorn. The acorn may be small, and the oak tree may be spreading its branches for a hundred years to come, but it was in the acorn. Even so with Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant, the One on whom I can depend to make the covenant true. Christ Jesus is to see that the Spirit of the Lord God shall be and live in me, rule in me, conquer in me, and work out all His blessed purposes in me. Christ, the High Priest, is Mediator of the Covenant for this blessing too – a life that lives out the law written in the heart. And may I add – as the Lord Jesus is the surety for us of the covenant, so we in Him are the surety for the rest of creation.
Ray Prinzing wrote, "'Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that reads it' (Hab. 2:2). What is the table upon which He is writing? 'For this is the covenant that I will make...I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts' (Heb. 8:10). The vision is not being written out with pen and ink. We praise God for the writing ministries that He is using in this hour, confirming from heart to heart of that which He is speaking within. But the reality of the vision is not being written with pen and ink, but by the Spirit of God into the tables of our heart and mind. We can send forth printed messages that speak of the vision, but the vision itself is that which God is uncovering and engraving in your own being until you BECOME THE MESSAGE. A living message, having become that which was written within" – end quote.
Paul Mueller has shared some precious insights into this wonderful Book of God, which I am constrained to share at this point. He writes: "There is a wonderful truth that is about to break in upon the minds and hearts of the Lord's elect, and that is the blessed truth that it is God's intention to write His complete word upon the tables of our hearts. The entire scripture, including the Gospel of Christ and the inspired word of truth divinely ordained for our growth unto perfection, the manifestation of the sons of God, and the propagation and administration of the kingdom of God, is all to be written upon the tables of our hearts. The fact is, the Bible as we now know it will one day become obsolete for us. The blessed book that we carry around, study and sometimes memorize, is to be imparted into our lives so that we are truly 'epistles...known and read of all men.' This is not to downgrade the Bible or to denigrate its effectiveness, authority, and inspiration. The book we call the Bible is, for the most part, the inspired word of God, and we are truly and deeply grateful for all it means to us. However, our respect for the Bible will not alter the great truth that it is God's intention that we become His living word. Every truth that has been given by the Spirit will eventually become a part of our lives, so that we will not need to turn to chapter and verse for guidance and truth, but rather, that truth will be written and engraved upon our lives so that we do by nature all the truth the Bible contains to the glory of God.
"Paul wrote to the Corinthians, setting forth this truth, 'You are those who are openly shown to be a letter which exhibits Christ, this letter having been ministered (written) by us, not having been written with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets that are human hearts' (II Cor. 3:3, Wuest). OH TO BE A LETTER WHICH EXHIBITS CHRIST! That is the real intent and purpose of the dual function of the Word and the Spirit. And when we have put on the garment of the fullness of Christ, we will have become an epistle which exhibits Him. We should then understand and know that God is daily writing His truth upon our hearts, and He will continue to write upon our lives until we become all that the written word contains. It is also a great truth to know that the law of God, once written upon tables of stone, is now being written upon the tables of our hearts. The same finger of God that wrote the stone tablets is now writing upon the fleshly tables of our hearts. This is the new covenant, the covenant of the New Testament. The great distinction between the Old testament and the New is that the law which was written on stone tablets, and which could not be kept by unregenerate man, is now being written upon our hearts SO that by the power of the indwelling Christ, we are thus enabled to fulfill all the law because we have a new nature, the very nature of Christ.
"The laws and covenants of God were not intended to be repeated on the pages of the book we call the New Testament. The old covenant clearly states that the next time the Lord writes His laws and covenant, it would be upon the hearts of His elect and chosen ones. The highest fulfillment of anything is to become that which it contains and reveals. When we have become the promised living epistles, manifesting the very Life of Christ, we shall then be able ministers of the new covenant. Then the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Mic. 4:2). It will not be the dead letter read from the pages of a book, but the living, anointed truth of God coming forth from lives that have been transformed by the power of that word. Many nations shall then desire to come up to the house of the Lord, where dwells those living epistles. Then shall they learn the ways of the Lord from kings and priests who express the experiences of the Spirit. Then, many peoples and nations shall walk in the paths of the Lord, for they will have witnessed the grand fulfillment of the new covenant within an anointed and holy people.
"When we have become fully processed and are ready to rule and reign with Christ, we will then become in the fullest sense possible epistles of Christ, 'known and read of all men.' Each kingdom ruler will be like streams of water in a dry place, and like the shade of a great rock in a wearisome land. The presence of Christ will flow out of their lives like streams of water gushing from an overflowing fountain. The glory, power, and life of the Spirit will be so manifest that all who had ears but could not hear will then hear and understand the truth of God clearly. Eyes that once were blinded to revelation and reality will be opened by the power of the Spirit that is flowing out of the elect. The minds of those lacking true judgment and the ability to apprehend will then be able to comprehend fully God's abundant, redemptive love for them, as well as all His living truth. Then the tongue of the stammering will be quick to speak plainly. The multitudes will receive the anointed message of Life coming from those living epistles" – end quote.
Hallelujah, what a day! As the Father opens His Book of Life, He is actually sending forth His creative Word in a positive, triumphant outflowing which will not cease until every mountain has been made low and every valley has been filled, till every man and every creature and every order in every realm of heaven and earth have been purged and transformed and filled full and every heart beats in unison with the heart of God. As this ministry of Life advances every mind shall be brought into harmony with the divine wisdom and eternal purpose, and the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and every creature shall know the triumph of His Life within until all death is swallowed up into HIS VICTORY and God becomes All-in-all, everything to everyone, the indwelling and controlling factor of life. May God hasten it and perform it. Amen!
The Lamb's Book of Life-Part 1 (2nd) - BACK
Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
