Covenant Series: The New Covenant, Part 1 of 2

So this Covenant will be broken up into two posts since it is so huge! As I was writing about it I realized there was so much here that needed to be said. And really, only the whole New Testament is written about it, so I feel somewhat justified in using more than one post to cover it! This first, very long, post will cover the context and background of the New Covenant described in Jeremiah, the second post will look at what the New Covenant means in light of the other Covenants we have studied and how it is being fulfilled.

The basis of the New Covenant is found, of course, in the Old Testament. After the Davidic Covenant things went from bad to worse. The Kingdom of Israel was split into a Northern and Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Israel turned from true worship of God almost immediately, and were eventually sent into exile under the Assyrian Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom of Judah had a few good kings, but ultimately they did not uphold their end of the Covenants and as a punishment, were expelled from the land and sent into exile under the Babylonian Kingdom (which conquered the Assyrian Kingdom). The identity of the children of Israel was tied to the land. They had been promised the land since Abraham and with each successive covenant; the land played an important part. The Mosaic Covenant confirmed that the Israelites who came out of Egypt were the heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Davidic Covenant promised that these people would always have a place to dwell, a land to call their own. But all these promises hinged on the people’s obedience to God. When they turned from following God and did not worship Him with their whole hearts, God’s promises to them became null and void. So the people were sent away from the holy land. But God was not finished with them. You need only to read the books of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah to see that God was even faithful to His people, even when they had turned from Him.

It is the faithfulness of God that the New Covenant is born out of. One of the passage that speaks of the New Covenant part is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and it is on this one that we will focus (other passages are found in Hosea 2:17-20, Isaiah 42:6, Daniel 9:24-27). But really we need to start with Jeremiah 29 to get the context of this. As a side note, during the time of the exile, the people of Israel and Judah were called “Jews” because they were from the Babylonian province of “Yehud” which encompassed the area that the Northern and Southern kingdoms resided. German translators used a ‘j’ sound to pronounce the ‘y’ in “Yehud”, therefore we get the term “Jews”. When I refer to the people of God during and after the exile I shall use this term.

Jeremiah 29 starts out by stating that it is a letter to the exiles in Babylon from Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells the exiles to settle down because they are going to be in exile for a long time – seventy years in fact (29:10). After this appointed time though, God will “visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” Already, there is a promise of redemption and restoration. Then we come to the famous verse 11, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’” This verse is often used by Christians who are struggling as reassurance that God does indeed have great plan for all his people. And it is true! The Jews were living in exile, away from the promises and rhythms of life that had once dictated their very existence. And here God tells them that they have a hope and a future and that he will redeem them one day. And on that day, “then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (29:12-13).” Sometimes, sometimes we all have to hit rock bottom before things become clear. I believe this is what God is saying here. In seventy years, the consequences of their actions would be complete and they would truly be willing to worship God for who He is regardless of where they are. This is the bottom, and they will spend the next seventy years realizing it. Once they have, “I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.” This then, is their hope and future. That God will restore them as his treasured possession.

Jeremiah 30:3 says, “For behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.” God is declaring that he is not done with these people. When their punishment is complete, they will be restored, because God is still committed to them.

Jeremiah 30:8-9 says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” Sound familiar? It should! What is happening here is that the Exodus is being repeated! There is no Moses, or burning bush, or ten plagues, but there is God – the same God – who freed them from their oppressors once, and He is going to do it again. God is freeing His people to return to the land He promised them so that they can serve Him. (See Leviticus 26:12)

Check out 30:10-11, “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease and none shall make him afraid. For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.” In the Ancient Near East, it was very common to believe that the stronger nations had stronger Gods. The stronger Gods allowed such nations to win wars, conquer others, etc. Remember what Rahab said to the spies Joshua sent into the land? “I know that the Lord has given you the land and the terror of you has fallen on us…for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Seas before you…and what he did to the two kings of the Amorites…for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below (Joshua 2:9-11).” She is saying that the people of the land knew that the God of the Israelites was stronger than the gods of the Egyptians and the Amorites, and they were afraid. So what God is saying in Jeremiah 30:10-11 is that he is not a weaker god than the Babylonian gods, He is a just God who had disciplined his people, and will now, once again, demonstrate his strength and power by returning them to their land, and restoring their fortunes and peace.

In the next verses, God goes on to tell them that He will heal their wounds and restore health to them (Jeremiah 30:17). God is not just talking about the physical well being of the people, but also the national well being. They will not be wounded by humiliation anymore. They will have national security and spiritual health in the land they were promised. Jeremiah 30:18-21 speaks of what this restoration will look like, it is not just physical wealth and riches, but spiritual riches. The city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and a palace shall be there on its hill, but the people who live there will sing songs of thanksgiving and celebration. The people will be spiritually strong and established before God. A follower of God, one of them, will sit on David’s throne and rule them. Finally, God says, “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Remember this verse? It is talking about possession. These words appear throughout Scripture: when God gives Abraham the covenant of circumcision (Gen 17:7), when God promises to free the Israelites from the Egyptians (Exodus 6:7), after the Mosaic Covenant has been made (Exodus 29:45-46) in the blessings of obedience of the Mosaic Covenant (Leviticus 26:12), is a theme in the books of Jeremiah (7:23, 11:4, 24:7, 30:22, 31:1, 33), Ezekiel (11:20, 36:28, 37:26-27), Hosea (1:10, 2:23), Zechariah (8:8, 13:9), and even debuts in Revelation 21:3. These words are not just talking about possession though, but also about reconciliation. After Israel sinned, was punished, and redeemed, they were also reconciled to God as God told them that He would still be their God, and they would still be His people.

Now we come to Jeremiah 31. The chapter starts out by repeating the phrase, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” God is announcing his continued possession of Israel. He continues saying, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Let’s stop here a minute.  That last sentence defines why the people of God, the off spring of Abraham even survived through their disobedience: God loved them with an everlasting love, a love that knows no bounds. We should take great comfort and joy in this. If we are saved and believe that Christ died to take away the sins of the world and bring reconciliation between mankind and God, we too are recipients of this everlasting love. This is not a sappy, cheesy, fickle, Hollywood kind of love, but a strong and faithful love that looks past terrible sins and loves the person that was created in His own image, and works all things together for the eternal best for that person. The eternal best may involve exile, oppression, humiliation, and hurt, but we worship a God who is with us through all those things, and is faithful to us in that He is faithful to make us holy and righteous.

Jeremiah 31 continues with scenes of great joy and worship where there once was mourning and hopelessness. Verses 10-11 say, “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will father him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed Him from hands too strong for him.” Now we start to see some foreshadowing here. Israel will be gathered back to their land, and will truly be God’s people. God has ransomed them, paid the price to make them his own, and will keep them as such. These verses begin to open the door for the New Covenant to be introduced.

Finally we come to Jeremiah 31:31-34, “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, not 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. For 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. I will be their God and they shall be my people. And 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 theme to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” There are four main elements to the covenant described here: 1. Forgiveness, 2. Reconciliation, 3. Internality, and 4. Personal Faith.[1]

The first element, forgiveness is seen in verse 34, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.” The Jews had sinned greatly against God throughout their history by not listening to God and obeying His commands. Where they once swore to follow God regardless and do as He asked, they had never really followed through on their oath. Therefore, they were sent into exile as a punishment, but were forgiven by God so that they could be reconciled to Him. The second element, reconciliation is found in verse 33, “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This phrase was mentioned above, and here we see that God is bringing the people that he has judged, punished, and forgiven back into relationship with Him. The third element, internality is also found in verse 33, “I will put my law within them, and I will write in on their hearts.” Prior to this time, the Law of God was taught to all the Jews, but the scribes and priests were the ones who possessed copies of the written law. Most young Israelites memorized the entire Pentateuch as children so that they would have the law and scripture readily available to them. However what God promises here is that He will be the one putting the law on their minds and hearts. He will be the one to teach the law to them personally. They will possess God’s law internally. Fourth and finally, there is a promise of personal faith here. Verse 34 says, “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.” Here we see that men will now have direct access to God. They will not need to go through the priests or Levites to seek forgiveness of sins, they will be able to know the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him.

Since we have the benefit of the New Testament, what we see here is that all these promised elements of the New Covenant point to one person: Jesus Christ! The next post will go into this more, and will wrap up the Covenant Series. Keep reading!

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[1] The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1975 ed, s.vv. “Covenant, The New.”