The New Covenant

by Toms, A. F. | Category: Gems From Jeremiah | Aug 1991

Very often God reserves His brightest promises for the darkest days. It was so in the case of the promise God spoke through Jeremiah when the Babylonian army was mustering outside the city of Jerusalem, ready to destroy it and to carry its people away into captivity because of their repeated disobedience.

The outlook could hardly have been darker, and it was then that God gave them, like a shaft of light, His most wonderful promise. Here it is:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;

But this is the covenant that I will make ... I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more (Jer. 31:31-34).

These are remarkable words, and they are quoted in full in Hebrews chapter 8, for the day is coming when God will completely fulfil this promise and take up Israel once again as His people. So many portions of the Word of God speak of those great days that are coming for Israel. But that is not all, for if you turn over to chapter 10 of Hebrews you will find that this same promise has its application to us today.

And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us: for after He hath said, This is the covenant that I will make with them ... then saith He, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (vv. 15-17).

These are great words and they are written to us, as the Holy Spirit bears witness. It is possible for us to be linked with God in this covenant relationship which has various aspects. In Hebrews chapter 9 we read, "Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service" (v.1), and if the first covenant had them, so has the new covenant which embraces us. This service with its ordinances belongs to God's house where His people serve Him according to the pattern set out in His Word.

Let us think about the terms of the covenant, taking them in reverse order and beginning where we must all begin in our relationship with God, with the work of Christ in putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The scripture says:

For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10:14).

It is on account of that one sacrifice that God says "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" and "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). That is a glorious truth, and it applies to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The second of the terms of the covenant concerns the knowledge of God.

For all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest of them (Heb. 8:11).

And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ (John 17:3).

There is nothing in the world to compare with this knowledge.

The third term of the covenant, the one that is put first in the order in which God gives them to us, relates to putting His laws in our minds and writing them on our hearts, so that we may serve Him intelligently with our minds and lovingly from our hearts. This truth touches you and me today.

Are we willing to let God by His Spirit write His laws on our minds and hearts? Paul speaks of the Word of God being written on the fleshy tablets of our hearts in contrast to the law that was written on tablets of stone. Writing to the Church of God in the city of Corinth he said:

Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men; being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh (2 Cor. 3:2,3).

A church of God is a precious place in which to be. It is a company of disciples in a town or city on whose hearts Christ has written His Word by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and this has resulted in their being gathered together to obey that Word in fellowship with the people of God. They are seeking to put it into practice in the way they live, and in the way they serve God together. Are we willing to let Him write His Word and His will deeply in our hearts? We can see what will be involved if we do. It will mean that we no longer live to please ourselves, but to please the One who has brought us into covenant with Himself. But that is the great purpose for which God has saved us, and through us Christ will be sending out His message to men and women around us. We shall be like a letter from Christ that all men may read.

Toms, A. F. | Aug 1991
Gems From Jeremiah