Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NKJV) 31 “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– 32 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. 33 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. 34 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.“
As we have been studying the covenant God made with Abraham, we have found that the access granted by God to humanity via this covenant enabled God to undertake the plan of redemption without compromising his sovereignty. Although sovereignty implies the right to do anything, we must understand that in his sovereignty, God set certain things in motion that he will not change. In our last post, we went into detail about how the Abrahamic covenant ensured God could redeem his family even after the fall in the Garden of Eden.
The Abrahamic covenant with the Mosaic law added provided the channel through which God could work in the earth without violating what he had established in creation. However, the Abrahamic/Mosaic covenant was not the fulness of what God had in mind for man. He created man to be his family and to eternally be in fellowship with himself. The Abrahamic covenant was a means to an end. It simply gave man a way to maintain a limited relationship with him until sin could be fully dealt with in Christ. There was always going to be another covenant. God gave the prophet Jerimiah insight into this, and we read about it in todays scripture.
Jerimiah prophesied during some of the most difficult times in Israel’s history, including the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. These were very rebellious times, yet in the middle God reveals that the covenant of Abraham, which was a major part of Israels identity, was not the last covenant God would make with his people. We read in Jerimiah 31:31 that the days are coming when God will “make a New Covenant” with his people. I can imagine that to Israelite ears this must have seemed blasphemous. How could there be a covenant that would replace the one that created them as the people of God? However, that is what it very clearly said!
It is interesting to note that God speaks of the covenant that he made with Israel when he took them out of Egypt. When God first made a covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, there was no law attached to it. Abraham’s covenant was based on a promise not on a law. It was under Moses that the law was added. Paul tells us clearly why in Galatians 3.
Galatians 3:19 (NKJV) What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Paul tells us that the Law was added because of transgressions. It was added to the Abrahamic covenant of promise because Israel could not keep the covenant. God gave them the law to provide a consistent method for dealing with their breaking of the covenant because of sin. However, Paul says in the 17th verse that the law, added 430 years after the promise, did not negate the promise. In Jerimiah 31, God says he is going to replace the covenant that was put in place with the addition of the law with something very different. How was it to be different.
He points out something important in the beginning of his description of what is coming. He says that the problem with the Old Covenant was that the people of Israel consistently broke it, even though God was a husband to them. In this we see what Paul said in Galatians. The law was added because they broke the covenant. However, God never broke it. He was a husband to them. That means he cared for them, provided for them and protected them as a husband should for his family. He was always faithful, yet they rejected Him. This New Covenant is going to change all that.
The key difference between the Abrahamic/Mosaic covenant and this New Covenant that is coming is in the function and application of the law. The law is a reflection of the nature of God. The most well-known statement of that nature is in the 10 commandments. This is not just a list of dos and don’ts. It is a revelation of what God is like and how to live in harmony with his nature. However, there are no consequences listed for the violation of these commandments. There are no sacrifices or offerings as to how to be restored if they are broken. The truth is the consequence for breaking them is the same as the consequence for breaking the blood covenant. Death.
In this New Covenant that was coming, God says he is going to put his law in the minds of his people and write them on their hearts. I use the New King James Bible most of the time, but in this case, I think the original King James is clearer.
Jeremiah 31:33 (KJV) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In this version it says God will put them in their “inward parts.” This word in Hebrew refers to the center of their being. It can be translated as bowels. Jerimiah also says he will write them in their hearts. In this context the heart means the feelings and the intellect. I think these two terms give us a clearer picture of this covenant.
God is going to put his law, the revelation of his nature, in their “inward parts.” He is going to cause it to be built into what man is. The revelation of the nature of God is going to become a part of the core of their being. That is how God created man in the Garden of Eden. The fall changed that, but God determined to put it right. Paul said it this way.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
In this New Covenant, God is going to change the nature of man. He is going to cause his law to be a built in part of man’s being. He will then write it on our emotions and intellect (Romans 12:1-3.) The result will be that they will finally fully be the people of God, and he will finally be able to be all to them that he always wanted to be. This will result in there being no need for people to say, “know the Lord”, because they will all know him from the inside out. This will be possible because he “will forgive their iniquity, and their sin he will remember no more.”
To me it is clear that this is a prophecy of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus spoken of in the book of Hebrews. The spiritual reality of this New Covenant is that the law will be part of us and we will keep it from the inside out. It will be necessary for those “born again” into this covenant to renew their minds so that the inward reality can become manifest in our outward life, but what God would do in this was going to be real. More important, to all who are in Christ, it is the covenant under which we live.
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