Our SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCY through the ‘NEW COVENANT’
August 17 Bible Reading: Jeremiah Chapters 31-33
Our SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCY through the ‘NEW COVENANT’
"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 -- 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. 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." (Jer 31:31-34)
The ‘New Covenant’ is the fifth and last of the theocratic
covenants (pertaining to the rule of God). God made the ‘New Covenant’
primarily with Israel and Judah (v. 31). This is a covenant of grace through
which humans will be given a new moral nature, and knowledge of the Lord will
be universal (see Heb. 10:15–17). Unlike the Mosaic Law, it is unconditional.
It emphasized what God will do, not what man must do (vv. 33-34).
The ‘New Covenant’ is the culmination of God’s
covenant-making with Israel. There are some marked differences between the
‘Old’ and ‘New Covenant’ (v. 32; Gen. 9:13):
- The ‘Old Covenant’ (given at Mount Sinai) demanded obedience, while the ‘New Covenant’ offers forgiveness of sin.
- The ‘Old Covenant’ was written on stone tablets, while the ‘New Covenant’ is carved on the hearts of God’s people (see Ezekiel 36:26, 27).
- The ‘Old Covenant’ was between God and the nation Israel, whereas the ‘New Covenant’ is between God and all believers.
At the foundation of the ‘New Covenant’ is the fact that God
is everything; He will make His people what they ought to be. The new covenant
came into force with the atoning death of Christ. All believers in the present
church age are the recipients of its benefits. Eventually those benefits will
also be extended to include a repentant and regenerate Israel (Rom. 11:25–29).
Four provisions are made in this ‘New Covenant’:
- Regeneration—God will put His law in their inward
parts and write it in their hearts (v. 33)
- A national restoration—Yahweh will be their God and the
nation will be His people (v. 33)
- Personal ministry of
the Holy Spirit—they
will all be taught individually by God (v. 34)
- Full justification—their sins will be forgiven and
completely removed (v. 34)
The ‘New Covenant’ is made sure by the blood that Jesus shed
on Calvary’s cross. Jesus’ payment for sins is more than adequate to pay for
the sins of all who will believe in Him. The ‘New Covenant’ is called “new” in contrast to the covenant with
Moses which is called “old” (Jer.
31:32; Heb. 8:6–13) because it actually accomplishes what the Mosaic covenant
could only point to, that is, the child
of God living in a manner that is consistent with the character of God.
The New Testament reveals that the words that God has
promised to write on the hearts of His people are written by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:1–3), who empowers them to live in a manner that reflects the very character
of God. This profound truth of God’s ‘New Covenant’ is so significant that this passage is quoted three times in the
New Testament (John 6:45; Heb. 8:10; 10:16–17).
We are the ‘living epistles’ of Christ in these end times, and we must reflect Christ with love and goodness through a steady pattern of living excellence. We have to be spiritually transparent living under the ‘New Covenant’. This is what Apostle Paul tells about our status: "You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart." (2 Cor 3:2-3)
