Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

He Drank it Down. We Drink it In.

“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’” LUKE 22:17-20

 

PONDER THIS

God will never overlook sin. He cannot. God is holy and by His holiness He has sworn that sin will be punished. No sin goes unpunished. If God were to let one half of one sin go unpunished, God would no longer be holy. The cross is God’s way to punish sin and forgive the sinner at the same time—having an innocent, sinless sin-bearer take that sin on the cross.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of this. Jesus drank the cup of sin that we might have the cup of redemption. We drink the cup of communion to be reminded of what Jesus did for us. He took my sin. He drank it down. I take His righteousness. I drink it in. Isn’t that wonderful? Wherever we are in our faith, whether we are baby Christians or have grown old in this faith, we need to be reminded of what Jesus has done for us. This is why we regularly take communion. We need to be constantly reminded of the seriousness of our sin and the graciousness of our God.

In what ways are you challenged to remember how seriously God takes your sin?

Why do we need the regular reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice in communion?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and thank Jesus for His sacrifice. Share with someone why taking communion is important to you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

Making It Real for His People

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, according to Hebrews 8:6. What does that mean? It means that his blood — the blood of the covenant (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20) — finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us.

It means that God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.

And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.

The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ.

The best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant is in Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace.

So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God.

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

Who Are the Children of Abraham?

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

You who hope in Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are Abraham’s descendants and heirs of his covenant promises.

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:4, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” But Genesis makes plain that Abraham did not father a multitude of nations in a physical or political sense. Therefore, the meaning of God’s promise was probably that a multitude of nations would somehow enjoy the blessings of sonship even though physically unrelated to Abraham.

That’s no doubt what God meant in Genesis 12:3 when he said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus Christ would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Christ would become an heir of Abraham’s promise. Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

So, when God said to Abraham 4,000 years ago, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations,” he opened the way for any one of us, no matter what nation we belong to, to become a child of Abraham and an heir of God’s promises. All we have to do is share the faith of Abraham — that is, bank our hope on God’s promises, so much so that, if obedience requires it, we could give up our dearest possession like Abraham gave up Isaac.

We don’t become heirs of Abraham’s promises by working for God, but by being confident that God works for us. “[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20–21). That’s why Abraham could obey God even when obedience looked like a dead-end street. He trusted God to do the impossible — like raise his son from the dead.

Faith in God’s promises — or today we would say, faith in Christ, who is the confirmation of God’s promises — is the way to become a child of Abraham; obedience is the evidence that faith is genuine (Genesis 22:12–19). Therefore, Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”

Children of Abraham are people from all nations who put their hope in Christ and, like Abraham on Mount Moriah, therefore don’t let the loss of their most precious earthly possession stop their obedience.

You who hope in Jesus Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are the descendants of Abraham and heirs of his covenant promises.

John Piper 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

Making It Real for His People

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, according to Hebrews 8:6. What does that mean? It means that his blood — the blood of the covenant (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20) — finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us.

It means that God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.

And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.

The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ.

The best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant is in Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace.

So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God.

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

Who Are the Children of Abraham?

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

You who hope in Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are Abraham’s descendants and heirs of his covenant promises.

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:4, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” But Genesis makes plain that Abraham did not father a multitude of nations in a physical or political sense. Therefore, the meaning of God’s promise was probably that a multitude of nations would somehow enjoy the blessings of sonship even though physically unrelated to Abraham.

That’s no doubt what God meant in Genesis 12:3 when he said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus Christ would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Christ would become an heir of Abraham’s promise. Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

So, when God said to Abraham 4,000 years ago, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations,” he opened the way for any one of us, no matter what nation we belong to, to become a child of Abraham and an heir of God’s promises. All we have to do is share the faith of Abraham — that is, bank our hope on God’s promises, so much so that, if obedience requires it, we could give up our dearest possession like Abraham gave up Isaac.

We don’t become heirs of Abraham’s promises by working for God, but by being confident that God works for us. “[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20–21). That’s why Abraham could obey God even when obedience looked like a dead-end street. He trusted God to do the impossible — like raise his son from the dead.

Faith in God’s promises — or today we would say, faith in Christ, who is the confirmation of God’s promises — is the way to become a child of Abraham; obedience is the evidence that faith is genuine (Genesis 22:12–19). Therefore, Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”

Children of Abraham are people from all nations who put their hope in Christ and, like Abraham on Mount Moriah, therefore don’t let the loss of their most precious earthly possession stop their obedience.

You who hope in Jesus Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are the descendants of Abraham and heirs of his covenant promises.

John Piper 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

Jesus Bought Your Endurance

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20)

What that means is that the new covenant, promised most explicitly in Jeremiah 31 and 32, was secured and sealed by the blood of Jesus. The new covenant comes true for God’s people who trust the Messiah, Jesus, because Jesus died to establish it.

And what does the new covenant secure for all who belong to Christ? Perseverance in faith to the end.

Listen to Jeremiah 32:40,

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

The everlasting covenant — the new covenant — includes the unbreakable promise, “I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” They may not. They will not. Christ sealed this covenant with his blood. He purchased your perseverance if you are in Jesus Christ through faith.

If you are persevering in faith today, you owe it to the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who is working in you to preserve your faith, is honoring the purchase of Jesus. God the Spirit works in us what God the Son obtained for us. The Father planned it. Jesus bought it. The Spirit applies it — all of them infallibly.

God is totally committed to the perseverance and eternal security of his blood-bought children.

John Piper 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God

John Piper 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

Jesus Bought Your Endurance

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20)

What that means is that the new covenant, promised most explicitly in Jeremiah 31 and 32, was secured and sealed by the blood of Jesus. The new covenant comes true for God’s people who trust the Messiah, Jesus, because Jesus died to establish it.

And what does the new covenant secure for all who belong to Christ? Perseverance in faith to the end.

Listen to Jeremiah 32:40,

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

The everlasting covenant — the new covenant — includes the unbreakable promise, “I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” They may not. They will not. Christ sealed this covenant with his blood. He purchased your perseverance if you are in Jesus Christ through faith.

If you are persevering in faith today, you owe it to the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who is working in you to preserve your faith, is honoring the purchase of Jesus. God the Spirit works in us what God the Son obtained for us. The Father planned it. Jesus bought it. The Spirit applies it — all of them infallibly.

God is totally committed to the perseverance and eternal security of his blood-bought children.

John Piper 

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper