A New Covenant Promised
Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
“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.”
The People of Israel spent hundreds of years alternately renewing and breaking the covenant. When severe judgment fell, they returned to the worship of God alone. After the worst punishment of all, the loss of the Promised Land, the prophet Jeremiah brought good news to the exiled and hopeless people. God has promised a new covenant.
God once more promised to take the initiative to restore God’s people. Everything they had counted on - the Temple, the City of Jerusalem, the Ark with the Ten Commandments - had been destroyed. But God still loved them.
The Old Covenant would no longer work. It had been broken beyond repair. External obedience to the law was not possible. Something more was needed.
In its place, God promised a new form of relationship. This one is to be based on mutual love and affection. God’s promises will be written on hearts, not on tablets of stone. There will be gracious forgiveness for failure, bringing new incentives to keeping the covenant.
This promise is the reason we call the two parts of our Bible the Old Testament or Covenant, and the New Testament.
For Reflection: Have I accepted God’s new covenant, or am I still trying to gain acceptance through obedience to the Law?
A Prayer Seed:
O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
George Matheson, 1882
