saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the

LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more' (Jer. 31:31-34).

To make this even more impressive, the Lord appeals to the ordinances of the sun and moon and says:

`If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a

nation before Me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the

earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD'

(Jer. 31:36,37).

This is repeated in Jeremiah 33:25,26. If we summarise it, we find the following:

(1) The covenant is between two parties, Jehovah on the one hand and on the other the houses of Israel and

Judah. It is therefore a national covenant. Both old and new covenants must refer to the literal Israel for

God speaks of the old covenant of law made with them and with their exodus from Egypt.

(2) The New Covenant is unconditional, a covenant of grace resting upon the repeated `I wills' of God.

(3) It is an everlasting covenant like the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants (Ezek. 37:25-28; Jer. 31:35-37).

(4) The New Covenant promises the impartation of a new mind and heart by God which is equivalent to

regeneration, God Himself writing His law within them (Isa. 59:20, 21; Ezek. 36:24-29).

(5) Forgiveness of sin is included in the covenant and the important passage in Romans 11:25-29 already quoted

must not be forgotten. Other blessings both spiritual and temporal flow from this covenant of grace with

There are differences of opinion as to whether this covenant can apply in this present age to a wider company

than Israel and Judah. It is certain that the basis upon which this covenant rests is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus

at the Passover supper, for he says:

`... for this is My blood of the new testament (covenant), which is shed for many for the remission (forgiveness)

of sins' (Matt. 26:28).

As the one offering of Christ on the cross is the basis for the salvation of the believer today, it is concluded by many

that the New Covenant must apply to the church, the Body of Christ. How do they get round the fact that it is made

with literal Israel and not with the church? Here is how E. W. Grant does it:

`It will be asked how, according to this, the New Covenant applies to all of us? Other Scriptures answer this by

assuring us that if we have not the Covenant made with us, it can yet in all the blessings of which it speaks, be

ministered to us' The Numerical Bible vii, 48.

This is ingenious, but even if it was true, it could not be done without spiritualising. What these people do not

realise is that God is not forced to limit the forgiveness of sins, resting in the shed blood of Christ, to a covenant

basis of any kind. The infinite blessings from Calvary can flow out to all who put their trust in the Lord Jesus

irrespective of whether they are Jews or Gentiles, in covenant with God or not. This Ephesians makes perfectly

`... In Whom (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of

His grace; wherein He hath abounded (overflowed) toward us ... ' (Eph. 1:7,8).

Riches of grace beyond our dreams can flow from the offering of Christ `once for all' (Heb. 10:10-12) and

`exceeding riches of His grace' in the future ages (Eph. 2:4-9) and there is no mention of any covenant here. There

is no need whatsoever to trespass upon Israel's national covenant of grace. It can be left where God expressly placed

it, that is upon His earthly people.

J. N. Darby saw this clearly:

`This covenant of the letter is made with Israel, not with us ... Israel, not accepting the blessing, God brought out

the church and the Mediator of the covenant went on high. We are associated with the Mediator. It will be made

good to Israel by and by' The Collected Writings of J. N. Darby xxvii, 565-566.