Wednesday: The New Covenant – Part 1
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. What do these texts mean both in their immediate context and in ours today?
Jeremiah uttered these words amid the greatest crisis the people had yet faced: the coming Babylonian invasion, when the nation was threatened with all but certain extinction. Here again, however, as in other places, the Lord offered them hope, the promise that this was not going to be the ultimate end, and that they would have another chance to thrive in the presence of the Lord.
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So, the first promise of the new covenant
found in the Bible is in the context of Israel’s eventual return from Babylonian exile and the blessing that God would grant to them upon that return. Just as the breaking of the covenant made at Sinai (Jer. 31:32) brought them into exile, so the remaking of this covenant would preserve them and their hope for the future. Like the Sinai covenant, the new covenant would be relational, and it would include the same law, the Ten Commandments, but now written not just on tablets of stone but in their minds and on their hearts, where it should have been all along.
The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness, we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth ‘the fruits of the Spirit.’ Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked.
-Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 372.
Under the new covenant, their sins would be forgiven, they would know the Lord for themselves, and they would obey God’s law through the power of the Holy Spirit working in them. Old covenant in shadows and in symbols, new covenant in reality, salvation was always by faith, a faith that would reveal the fruits of the Spirit.
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Jehovah made it clear the Old Covenant which was a type of the Everlasting Covenant was about marriage (Jeremiah 31:32; 32:40). More than salvation from sin, which was not necessary before the fall, the Greater Covenant is about oneness with the Creator. This faultless union with God required perfect obedience, the timeless condition of the Covenant.
For this reason sinners who breached the original covenant needed forgiveness by the provision of a Substitute who satisfied the requirement of perfect obedience (Jeremiah 31:34). The perfect righteousness of Christ was made available to the repentant soul with whom the Covenant may be renewed (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Jehovah promised to put the same moral law in the mind and heart of the people of Israel and Judah which was placed in the mind and heart of Adam and Eve to bond them to Himself and create enmity with the evil one (Jeremiah 31:33; Genesis 3:15). The Holy Spirit is He who performs this task (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
In Eden the Creator had established the two enduring institutions, of Marriage and the Sabbath, before the entrance of sin to support the covenant relationship. These were to be means of developing the image of God in mankind and later means of restoration (Ezekiel 20:12).
By commitment, submission, appropriate roles, respect, love and spending quality time with God the relationship with the Creator would blossom and flourish. The tampering with marriage and its roles and the mockery made of it by believers, as well as the supposed change of the Sabbath and its common violation undermines the covenant relationship with Jehovah.
The Redeemer is still looking forward to reunite with a chaste bride (2 Corinthians 11:2), who honors Him and show regard for the institutions he made for his bride (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 2:27).
This "new" covenant sounds like the one we will have for eternity with God.
We know the New Testament history; here again God's people failed Him miserably.
They even killed Him.
Could it be that the "new" covenant is the one God will give us at the second coming-one we will enjoy in heaven with God forever, the one that will keep us bound forever to Him by love and faith.
If we take the word "new" and replace it with "fresh"(a proper meaning of חָדָשׁ), perhaps we can see that it's not a different covenant, but a fresh start with those who will at last surrender fully to the will of God. This is more of a foretelling of a people that would live by faith than God doing anything different for fallen man since sin entered in Eden. God does not change, so it is we that much change through faith. Whether through faith taught in the types and shadows or through faith in the life and death of Christ, the covenant is the same: "take up [your] cross and follow me". This is wearing the yoke of Jesus and finding Rest.
From Jeremiah to Jesus, this was never "fulfilled" in the broad sense of any earthy nation becoming obedient, which the 70 weeks revealed, but there were individuals that would come to receive this righteousness by faith, including a pagan king.
This covenant of Rest remains for all who will follow the Lamb wherever He leads. If we die after the manner of His death(fully surrendered to God's will) then we will be transformed to walk in the newness of His Life, and all who enter into this eternal covenant will be the true Israel of God in Christ.
How come we keep editting the law of God in our hearts, a rebellious generation indeed commiting aborminable acts that mar our contact with God. God is not deaf even if he does not hear us, His hands aint short to reach out for our needs or desires but the sin in the heart has denied Jesus access to our hearts as His dwelling place. It is good to make our hearts holy spirit dwelling place to keep the coventant of peace and enjoy eternal benefits in this world. Imagine putting a smile where the world could expect a sorrowful despair cry.