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Announcing the New Covenant
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The goal of God has been from the very beginning to have a people for his own—a special people, a people that will love him, and that he can love in return.
The way the bible speaks of this group is the “People of God.” Let me give
you a definition of the “People of God.”
People of God, Defined: The group elected by God and committed to be His covenant people.
Election and Covenant
The choice of Israel as the people of God may be traced to Abraham.
However, the relationship between the One True God, Yahweh, and Israel began in the Exodus. Exodus 19 represents a special covenant form with both conditions and promises of the covenant.
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
(Exodus 19:5-6a)
Notice the condition of the covenant: obedience.
And the promise of the covenant:
“out of all the peoples, you will be my treasured possession.”
This promise involves a God-people and people-God relationship which is the center of the Old Testament. God wants this small group of people, the Israelites, to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests that will actually bless the other nations.
But there is a problem with this covenant. And the problem is not in the holy and perfect God who initiated this covenant, but with the people.
They never could keep up their end of the bargain! People are sinful—unable to be obedient.
As Paul wrote to the Romans,
"We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even
one...”
"...For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
(Romans 3:9b-12, 23)
The prophets, in particular, spoke of the fact that the People of God were failing to be the obedient people God expected. They warned the People that if they kept up their sinful ways, being selfish, being unloving, being arrogant, favoring the rich over the poor, allowing people to die violent deaths—that God would no longer regard them as His People.
God knew that they could not and would not be able to be obedient. This did not surprise God. He had something grander planned all along. This plan was put into place before time even began. It was the plan of redemption—the plan of a New Covenant.
In Jeremiah chapter 31, we read what God said to the ancient people of God. It is an amazing promise.
31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
1. The new covenant is the ultimate solution to human rebellion.
The old covenant, broken by the people, would be replaced by a new covenant. The foundation of this new covenant is Jesus Christ.
“But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to the Old Testament priests as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)
The New Covenant is revolutionary, involving not only Israel and Judah, but even the Gentiles. It offers a unique personal relationship with God himself, with his laws written on individuals’ hearts instead of on stone.
Jeremiah looked forward to the day when Jesus would come to establish this covenant.
But for us today, this covenant is here. We have the wonderful opportunity to make a fresh start and establish a permanent, personal relationship with God.
"They will be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, promising not to stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me."
(Jeremiah 32:38-40).
2. The new covenant is a personal relationship between God and people.
Though the Law was written on stone tablets on Mount Sinai when Moses was used
by God to present the Law to God's People, according to Jeremiah 17:1,
"Judah’s
sin is engraved with an iron tool,
inscribed
with a flint point,
on
the tablets of their hearts..."
Judah’s
sin was engraved on their hearts so that all they could do, all
that they wanted to do was to disobey. They could not obey the Law
written on the stone tablets because what was written on their hearts overruled
what was on those tablets.
In the New Covenant, God would write his law on
the people’s hearts--moving it from those stone tablets to their hearts,
overwriting the sin that is currently engraved there!
The Old Testament people must have asked, “How will God do this?”
We know on this side of the advent of Jesus Christ!
God writing his law on the hearts of his people describes an experience that everyone who has received the new birth has experienced. God takes the initiative. When we turn our life over to God, he, by his Holy Spirit, builds into us the desire to obey him.
That is why Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
(John 3:3)
Jesus also said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
The abundant life is defined in the Bible as having a life in relationship with God in Christ. That is all. Not worldly possessions, not wealth, not health. Just God.
Paul said it best in his letter to the Philippians:
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."
(Philippians 3:7-11)
Have you been born again? Have you experienced having your heart cleansed from the disobedience within you? The Christian experience is this: Being forgiven in the here and now through new spiritual birth, then having continued experience of the indwelling Holy Spirit making us into that which we are meant to be. We are not made perfect at conversion, but we are on our way!
There will come a time (either when we die and be with the Lord, or when he returns) when we will perfectly experience this righteousness. Until then, we echo Paul’s words: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” How that works is a mystery. But it is also a promise!
3. The new covenant comes through the death of Jesus Christ.
In Old Testament times, in the “Old Covenant,” God agreed to forgive people’s sins if they brought animals for the priests to sacrifice. When this sacrificial system was inaugurated, the covenant, or agreement, between God and man was sealed with the blood of animals (Exodus 24:8). But animal blood did not in itself remove sin (only God can forgive sin), and animal sacrifices had to be repeated day by day and year after year.
Jesus instituted a “new covenant” or agreement between humans and God. Under this new covenant, Jesus would die in the place of sinners. Unlike the blood of animals, his blood (because he is God) would truly remove the sins of all who put their faith in him. And Jesus’ sacrifice would never have to be repeated; it would be good for all eternity.
Look at how it is explained in Hebrews:
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
(Hebrews 9:23-28)
The prophets looked forward to this new covenant that would fulfill the old sacrificial agreement (That’s what Jeremiah was talking about!), and John the Baptist called Jesus
“the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
So, on that last night of his earthly life, Jesus made a bold statement about what he would do the next day on the cross.
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them,
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.
For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."
(Luke 22:14-20)
So there's the significance of the Communion!
When we come to the Lord’s Table, we do it in remembrance of the New Covenant
made between God and humanity through what Jesus Christ did on the cross!
The
next time you participate in Communion, be sure to reflect on the incredible
blessing of Jeremiah 31. Thank God for the New Covenant that Jesus initiated
through the blood shed on the cross for you!
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