We have seen from the Word that God has established His
covenant in the earth, but what about the new covenant? The
Word says it is a covenant of righteousness based on better
promises. As we have read in Deuteronomy, God called Israel
stiff-necked and unrighteous. According to the new covenant,
we have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
God does not see us as a stiff-necked people. (He sees us many
times as an untaught people because we do not know the covenant,
but we are not stiff-necked and unrighteous.) He sees us
through the blood of the Lamb: spotless, blameless, beyond
reproach. Israel was the servant of God; we are the sons of God
(see Galatians 4:7). We need to realize our rights as His
children and citizens of the kingdom of God.

To illustrate, let’s look at the parable of the prodigal son
from Luke 15. For many years we have read this story without
realizing its full significance, and it has a very important application
in the area of prosperity which has been entirely overlooked.
As we have read about the prodigal son coming home,
we’ve stopped there. Our minds have been on him, but what
about the other son? The prodigal son took his inheritance and
squandered it. When he returned home, his father killed the
fatted calf and threw a big party welcoming him with open
arms. Then the other son came in, saw what had happened and
got mad at his father. He said, “I have stayed here with you, and
you have never even given me a little goat. Yet when he goes off
and wastes his money, you celebrate by killing a calf for him!”
Then his father said, “But, son, everything I have belongs to
you.” In other words, he was saying, “You could have had a fatted
calf anytime you wanted it. It belongs to you. I’m pleased
that your brother has come home, but you could have had it for
the asking!” You see, the other son would have settled for a
goat when the calf was his all the time! The inheritance
belonged to both sons; only one took advantage of it. The older
son did without because of the littleness of his thinking. Most
Christians are cheating themselves out of their full inheritance
in Jesus Christ because of the littleness of their thinking. By not
knowing their covenant, they do not know their rights as children
of Almighty God!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland