Read: Jeremiah 30:1-31:26; 1 Timothy 2:1-15; Psalm 87:1-7; Proverbs 25:18-19
Today in the One Year Bible we encounter a very important passage from the Book of Jeremiah. The Prophet proclaims:
Behold,
the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
Jeremiah 31:31
This verse is part of a much longer paraenesis scholars call the “Book of Comfort” (chapters 30-33) where Jeremiah promises the restoration of Israel and Judah. At the core of the prophet’s message is the promise of a “New Covenant” made necessary by the brokenness of past covenants and the Lord’s commitment to restore His people.
Jeremiah had the longest recorded ministry in the Old Testament (627-582 B.C.) spanning a period of 45 years, a length of service even exceeding Moses. Jeremiah was appointed over nations and kingdoms to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (v. 1:10) through revelation and prophecy, through the promises of judgment and hope (c.f. 18:15-17; 24:6; 31:28; 42:10; 45:4). Jeremiah is the longest book in the Old Testament with over thirty-three thousand words in the original text. The ‘covenant’ he speaks of is essential to every New Testament believer because it speaks of the assurance God offers His people–the promise to redeem the fallen world and bring unity to His Holy People–the descendants of Abraham and all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:2-3).
In our reading today Jeremiah records:
31“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
Jeremiah
31:31-34
Covenants represent important milestones in
the history of Israel; ancient Israel existed because God bound them in
covenant to himself. But not all entered them, and even fewer understood them.
The Israelites fell victim to constant misunderstandings of God’s promises and
covenants. In the New Testament we find the passage above from Jeremiah quoted in the Book of
Hebrews (vv. 8:8-12) and the author follows the passage by writing:
In
speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:13
People often mistakenly interpret verse thirteen to justify the doctrine of “a replacement theology” whereby the New Testament believer replaces the people of Israel as God’s chosen people. However there is a greater meaning in this passage. The reference to the prophecy made by Jeremiah of a ‘New Covenant’ for the house of Israel and the house of Judah’ (v. 31) suggests the author of Hebrew’s true purpose was not to condemn Israel but rather to reveal to his Jewish audience ‘faith’ and ‘grace’ is at the core of all redemptive history–in the New Covenant and in Old Testament times.
If there is one exception it might be in what scholars call the Edenic Covenant which was a covenant of works. Before the fall Adam lived in perfect union with God in the garden and thus there was no need for redemption, grace, or faith–only obedience. It was a true covenant of works because Adam was instructed to tend the garden and have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28-30). It is a feature of these types of divine agreements established by God if a certain condition (i.e. obedience) is met, there will be a reward, if it is not there will be a penalty. There was only one restriction on Adam’s freedom:
15The
LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of
every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely
die.”
Genesis 2:15-17
The covenant in the garden established what Adam was to do (Genesis 1:28-30), what he was not allowed to do and the penalty for failing to obey (v. 17).
After the fall, a new type of covenant was needed–one rooted in grace and forgiveness. These new types of covenants based on faith begin with the flood and the exodus, pass through the family of Abraham and the remnant of Israel and bring forth the Messiah. They often involved or were perceived as covenants of work; the perception was that if the Israelites obeyed, they would be blessed. But what was often overlooked was the role faith played in their obedience.
It took faith for Noah to be obedient and build the Ark (Genesis 6:11-22), but the reward was the preservation of the seeds of all life. It took faith for Abram to be obedient and leave the land of his birth and travel to Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3), but the reward was his descendants grew into a great nation. It took faith for Moses to be obedient and return to Egypt and lead God’s chosen people (Exodus 19:5-6) out of bondage, but it freed the Children of Israel from the bonds of slavery. It took faith for David to endure the challenges and hardships of his life, but his faith brought forth the Messiah through his line of Kings (2 Samuel 23:5).
In the reading the day before (Ch. 29), Jeremiah is instructed by God to write the exiles in Babylon reminding them once again of the promise of restoration for Israel and Judah. In chapter thirty the Prophet declares why God has forsaken them (vv. 1-17). Twice in those verses he proclaims … Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you (v. 14 and v. 15). He follows that in verses eighteen through twenty-four with the promise of restoration in which he reminds them … And you shall be my people, and I will be your God (v. 22). Very familiar wording found throughout the Old Testament (c.f. Exodus 6:7; Leviticus 26:12; and Ezekiel 11:20, 36:28). Jeremiah has already used the same language himself in verse 7:23. This language reflects an underlying theme found all throughout the Old Testament: every time Israel is scattered there is a promise of renewal and restoration and this promise is at the core of all Jeremiah’s ministry and writing (c.f. 1:10; 16:14-15; 52:31-33).
Jeremiah goes on to describe the promised
restoration:
33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write
it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his
neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest,
declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34
The language in these two verses is
profound. In the first verse God promises a covenant built on a new kind
of law, one rooted in the spirit and written on the heart; He promises if they
are obedient and faithful, He will be their God, and they shall be (his) my
people (v. 33). And
the second verse is rich in meaning as well. First, he declares it will no longer
be necessary to teach one another about God for everyone will know Him … from the least of them to the greatest (v. 34). The Lord will by his grace, gather His people to
Him in the day of His power: All shall know the Lord; all shall be welcome to
the knowledge of God, and shall have the means of that knowledge. None shall
perish but for his own sins.
This language is essential because it echoes the promise made to Abraham:
2And
I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3And
I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all
the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:2-3
In the Abrahamic Covenant we find the promise to make Israel ‘great’ (v. 2) and that they will be a ‘blessing’ to all the families of the earth (v. 3). It is a promise not only of national identity for Israel and Judah but also of a spiritual restoration for mankind. God's design was never to replace Israel but rather to expand the kingdom until His blessing reached all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:7-9). Jeremiah’s message was of a New Covenant, which is internal, redeeming, and with finished atonement ... promised in the very last sentence–I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” The purpose of Israel was to bring forth the Messiah; and the purpose of the New Testament Church is to carry forward the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every corner of the world.
Walk with the Lord …
Ephesians 1:17
(RLB231017)
Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It in no way affiliated with or represents denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.
