March 24, 2018 Saturday

““Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —  “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV)

            What an amazing picture of God’s plan for a new covenant!  God explains the old covenant with Israel to show the comparison with the new covenant to come.  At least part of the reason for the new covenant is that the people of Israel broke the old covenant. 

            God describes the old covenant in very personal terms as God describes how Israel was led from slavery in Egypt by God’s hand!  God reminds them they broke the old covenant even though God was their husband.  Despite this deep and personal relationship with God Israel in God’s words became a prostitute. 

            So God calls for a new relationship with humanity that will be even more personal through this new covenant.  Once again God seeks to renew the relationship with humanity like there was in the Garden of Eden.

            The new covenant will be very different for while the old covenant was written on stone tablets the new covenant will be written on their minds and hearts!  Those participating in this new covenant will be God’s people and their way of knowing God will change.

            Where before the old covenant the law was written on stone tablets, the new covenant will be written in their minds and hearts.  God will take the covenant with humanity a step further by taking the external and making it internal.  Lest we think this means we do not need to study and learn more is added.

            The new covenant learning will be more guided by God than by human teachers.  Every participant of the new covenant will receive the revelation of God and can really know God.  Some may think this means we do not have to study the Bible or join together to study, but that would be a misreading of this text.  We can all bring what God has revealed to us as we study together.

            The new covenant also provides for not just forgiveness but also assurance!  Those who participate in the new covenant can know that their sins are not only forgiven but that God will remember them no more!

            Are you a participant in the new covenant or are you still trying to earn your way to God on your own terms?  Does your life in Jesus under the new covenant resemble the picture God reveals to us here?

            Today was a tale of two days as some of the time the pain and weariness were less and at other times it was worse.  Jonathan came by and we had lunch together and enjoyed the afternoon.  My mind wanders and it takes me a long time to read a passage from even a light book.  But God still makes scripture something that calms my heart and mind even though often I do not really remember where I have read.