“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (vv.33-34)
At the heart of God’s relationship with Israel was the covenant, begun with Abraham and renewed through Moses and David. The story of the Old Testament reveals that Israel’s history was plagued with covenant disobedience. That theme of God’s covenant, and Israel’s inability to keep it, dominates today’s reading.
The crux of today’s reading, however, and of the book of Jeremiah, comes in verses 31-34, a “new covenant.” This promise is found nowhere else in the Old Testament. The need for a new covenant lay not in any defect in the old, but rather in the people’s inability to keep it. But now, declared God, He would address that internal problem by writing His law on their hearts and minds. Through this covenant, there would be a new, intimate relationship between God and people.
Jesus said to His disciples at the last supper He had with them before His death, “This cup which is poured out for you is the “new covenant” in My blood” (Luke 22:20). This was (is) a passage of hope for us. Ultimately due to His own redemptive work, God promises to restore us. Therefore, the story does not end with times of trouble, but with His act of everlasting love, which will keep us to the end.
The Truth:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (v.3)
“We have been delivered from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not the old way of the written law.” (Romans 7:6)
At the heart of God’s relationship with Israel was the covenant, begun with Abraham and renewed through Moses and David. The story of the Old Testament reveals that Israel’s history was plagued with covenant disobedience. That theme of God’s covenant, and Israel’s inability to keep it, dominates today’s reading.
The crux of today’s reading, however, and of the book of Jeremiah, comes in verses 31-34, a “new covenant.” This promise is found nowhere else in the Old Testament. The need for a new covenant lay not in any defect in the old, but rather in the people’s inability to keep it. But now, declared God, He would address that internal problem by writing His law on their hearts and minds. Through this covenant, there would be a new, intimate relationship between God and people.
Jesus said to His disciples at the last supper He had with them before His death, “This cup which is poured out for you is the “new covenant” in My blood” (Luke 22:20). This was (is) a passage of hope for us. Ultimately due to His own redemptive work, God promises to restore us. Therefore, the story does not end with times of trouble, but with His act of everlasting love, which will keep us to the end.
The Truth:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (v.3)
“We have been delivered from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not the old way of the written law.” (Romans 7:6)
