God Declares a New Covenant

The Israelites had a sin problem resulting in a vicious cycle they couldn’t self-correct. The old covenant provided an external law system that allowed a righteous God to be in relationship with His unrighteous people. But the people’s sin remained a hindrance to their faithfulness and worship. Something needed to change.

In this session, we will look at Jeremiah 31:31-40, which foretells of a new covenant and projects a future in which God’s righteous judgment against sinners is satisfied by His sovereign work of redemption through Jesus. Now we live by faith in Jesus for our redemption and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

Session Outline

++The new covenant is [Needed for God’s Law to be] written on the heart (Jer. 31:31-33).

++The new covenant brings about [effective] knowledge of God (Jer. 31:34a).

++The new covenant provides [the means for] lasting forgiveness (Jer. 31:34b-40).

Background Passage: Jeremiah 30–31

Session in a Sentence

The new covenant describes a time when God’s people would truly know, love, and obey Him [willingly from their heart].

++The New Covenant empowers the heart to produce meaningful obedience to God.

Christ Connection

Despite having God’s law, God’s people were still unable to obey Him because of the sinfulness of their hearts. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied about a coming day when God would write His law on His people’s hearts and provide lasting forgiveness of sin. This prophecy points to God’s provision of Jesus. Through Jesus, God offers all forgiveness, and through the Holy Spirit, God enables everyone to obey His commands.

Missional Application

Because we have been given new hearts that love God by grace through faith, we now have the ability to yield to the Holy Spirit as He empowers us to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

DDG (p. 94)

Laws are not new to us. Systems of laws have been utilized for millennia. In the United States, laws help guide and maintain our court system with the hope of “justice for all” being implemented effectively.

But from the start, laws have been used to justify the unjustifiable. For example, the institution of slavery found its home throughout the world and its history: Laws that attacked the unwanted, laws that impoverish people, laws that protect the guilty, and so on. Laws can serve a good purpose, but in the hands of sinners, laws will always fail us, both for justice and for righteousness.

What are some rules or laws that fail to reflect the ideals of the people who implement them?

(the implementation and management of the social security system, etc.)

Say: God’s law in the Old Testament revealed His perfect will for sinners to demonstrate their love of God and others. It even made provision for the times His people failed to live up to His expectations. But for all their effort, God’s chosen people failed and eventually rejected the old covenant. Something new was needed. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God revealed a new covenant that would accomplish the redemption of sinners once and for all, something that the Mosaic covenant could never do.

Jeremiah 31:31-40 foretells of a new covenant and projects a future in which God’s righteous judgment against sinners is satisfied by His sovereign work of redemption through Jesus. Now we live by faith in Jesus for our redemption and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

Point 1: The new covenant is [Needed for God’s Law to be] written on the heart (Jer. 31:31-33).

Read: Ask a volunteer to read Jeremiah 31:31-33 (DDG p. 95).

31 “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, 32 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. 33 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. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

DDG (p. 95)

In this passage in the Old Testament, Jeremiah spoke of spiritual renewal of the Israelites’ minds and hearts and of God remembering their sins no more—of a new covenant. God promised to cleanse His people, to do good to them, and to cause them to prosper. But why a new covenant? The problem in this relationship was not with God or with the old covenant He had made—it was in the hearts of the people.

They could not reciprocate God’s love despite God’s faithfulness to them. Because of the sin of the people, the old covenant was broken and a new one was needed because of sin.

· Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit (Rom. 5:12-21), and God cut them off from full access to His presence (Gen. 3). Ever since, the results of humanity’s sinful nature have been dreadful.

· The Israelites were caught in a wicked cycle of sin: short-term repentance followed by a return to their false gods. God, true to His character, was faithful again and again to Israel (Jer. 3:12–4:2). He had upheld His end of the covenant (Josh. 21:45; 1 Kings 8:56) while His people had continued in their evil cycle of sin. So God, again faithful to His character, disciplined them in their rebellion. God sent the Northern Kingdom of Israel into judgment for their disobedience, and just 136 years later, He would do the same to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

· Because of sin, humanity was not capable of obeying the old covenant regulations. We needed a new way, a better way, that depended not on what we could do but rather on what God would do for us in Christ.

Ask:

What are some ways God had demonstrated His faithfulness to the Israelites?

(He brought them out of slavery in Egypt; He kept His covenant with Abraham to give his descendants the promised land; He gave them His law; He graciously protected them from external threats; He sent His prophets to confront them in their sin so they would repent)

In our Western culture, we believe all of our problems can be solved if we work harder, study more, stay up later, and rise earlier. But the relationship problem between God and humanity can’t be fixed by more or harder work. Instead, God promised to bring about the necessary change in people’s inner nature, which would make them capable of obedience.

DDG (p. 95)

God promised a change in His people that would make them capable of a deep, rich, abiding love with the Creator of their souls. God would set His law within them and write it on their hearts, minds, and wills. The old covenant was written on stone (Ex. 31:18; 34:28-29; Deut. 4:13; 5:22) and scroll (Ex. 24:7). The new covenant would be written on the tender flesh of a new heart.

There can be no loving obedience of the sovereign God apart from His grace-filled, transforming work on the heart.

The very act of the Ninevites’ repentance was confirmation of the sovereign grace and loving mercy of God. Had He not turned their hearts, they would never have turned.

John F. MacArthur

· A covenant simply means a formal, solemn, and binding agreement. But biblical covenants are not agreements between equals; instead, biblical covenants are based in grace. The covenant between God and His people was established so that the stronger party, God, might rain down grace on the weaker party, humanity. Simply put: God loved His people so much that He was bonding Himself to them although they could do nothing in return. This is grace.

· Lest we think we have anything to do with this gift of grace, God declares otherwise (see His four “I will” statements in verse 33). And these promises were not just for the people of Israel. The Old Testament proclaimed a future for God’s people, a future not realized in Jeremiah’s day. These promises are for all of Israel, and residual blessing for all those who hear the Lord’s declaration and believe, Jew or not.

Ask:

Why is God’s grace necessary for us to have a relationship with Him?

(our sin has made us enemies of God who hate and resist His love and commands; we rightly deserve God’s just punishment for sin, which is eternity in hell; in our sin, we cannot know God and His goodness apart from His grace to communicate that to us through His Word about Christ)

Point 2: The new covenant brings about [effective] knowledge of God (Jer. 31:34a).

Read Jeremiah 31:34a (DDG p. 96).

34a 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 them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

First paragraph DDG (p. 96)

During the time of the Mosaic covenant, the Israelites had a system to meet with God, but access to God’s presence was not available to all of His chosen people, only to the priests and the high priests. The high priest served as the mediator between God and the people so the people could know about God. The priesthood based on the old covenant, however, was filled with priests who could not remain in office because they died on account of their own sin. But God sent a new covenant priest—Jesus, a sinless Man who would die for the sins of others and rise again to everlasting life.

Hebrews 9:6–7 NASB

6 Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship,7 but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

· According to Hebrews 9:6-7, the priests could enter the first room of the temple repeatedly, but the high priest alone could enter the second room, the holy of holies, and only once a year. He would enter the second room with blood to offer for himself and for the sins of the people.

· Jesus, the new High Priest, offered a sacrifice once and for all (Heb. 10:10). That blood of Christ did not have to be taken into the Holy of Holies, because Christ, as the God-man, was shedding it in His Father’s presence, as a blood that was unique over all the flowing sacrificial blood that had flowed before. Now Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding on behalf of His people (Rom. 8:34). Jesus Christ was sent so that all might know Him. The holy God longed to dwell with His people beyond the holy of holies, but they needed to be a holy people. Thus, when Jesus Christ, our ultimate High Priest, died—cleansing from sin those who believe in Him and making them into a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9)—the temple veil separating the first and second rooms of the temple was ripped in two (Matt. 27:50-51). Immediate access to God became available to all, for He does not dwell in temples made by human hands (Acts 7:48-50). He was finished with that temple and its religious system. By His death, Jesus inaugurated the new covenant whereby the Lord can be known by all (see Luke 22:20).

The second paragraph DDG (p. 96)

In the new covenant, all Israel will “know” the Lord (Jer. 31:34a) and by grace through faith, we all are recipients of a taste of that covenant. This does not mean that Sunday morning sermons and Bible studies throughout the week are irrelevant. Instead, the word “know” means “experience intimately.” Fellowship with God requires peace with God because God cannot abide sin. The old covenant priest needed the blood of an animal to cover his sins. We must be covered by the blood of Jesus to “know” and experience Him. Every believer in Christ “knows” the Lord and has experienced His salvation and assurance of forgiveness of sin.

Voices from Church History

“The teachers of the Word come and go, and others follow in the succession of those who pass away. But the sacred Scripture remains for all time without ever being abolished, until the time when the Lord shall appear at the end of the world. Then we shall have no further need for the Scriptures or for those who interpret them.” 1 –Bede (c. 672-735)

· The Hebrew term for “know” in these verses in Jeremiah reveal the intimate personal knowledge between two persons who are committed wholly to one another in a relationship (see Gen. 4:1; lit. “Adam knew his wife”). The result is not just knowledge of the law but knowledge of the Lord. This leads to a relationship, which was the impossible goal of the old covenant because of the sin of the people.

Illustration: In the new covenant era, the apostle Peter had a vision while on a rooftop, and a complex one at that. He saw heaven opened up and what looked like a large sheet coming down. On it were all four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds, and a voice told him to kill the animals and eat them. Peter exclaimed that he could never do that because it directly violated the Jewish food laws (Acts 10:9-16). But God was teaching Peter a lesson—that he must no longer call any person impure or unclean based on ethnicity. Due to the vision, Peter understood that God doesn’t show favoritism; He doesn’t exclude any nation or ethnicity from the offer of salvation (10:28,34). In fact, to do so would completely ignore the Abrahamic Covenant that clearly states that all the nations would be blessed. Simply stated, Peter said, “In every nation anyone who fears [God] and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)…” (Acts 10:35-36). All may know God intimately and personally. All may have access to Him through the blood of His very precious Son, Jesus Christ.

Ask:

What should we understand about God based on His covenant promise to make Himself known to all people?

(He does not show favoritism; He is gracious to all who believe in His Son; He desires all people to be saved; He has a plan for people to hear the gospel of His Son; God is personal and He wants to know and be known by His people)

Point 3: The new covenant provides [the means for] lasting forgiveness (Jer. 31:34b-40).

Read Jeremiah 31:34b-40 (DDG p. 97).

34b For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name: 36 “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” 37 Thus says the Lord: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.”

38 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

The first paragraph DDG (p. 97)

God is omniscient, “all-knowing.” So how can God be all-knowing and never again remember our sin? God can choose not to remember, that is, to bring, something against us. Instead of punishing us as we deserve for our sins, God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12) by placing them on Christ to be punished in our place. Christ has freed us from sin and death and reconciled us to God.

· Imagine standing on a mountaintop. You look east toward the sunrise; then you look west, where the sun will set, and you realize that the reaches of east and west never meet. Scripture is clear that God forgives and forgets our sins (see Isa. 43:25; Heb. 10:17). God’s love is so deep that even though He knows Christians will still sin, He is still faithful to forgive when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9).

Illustration: An elephant in India can stand nearly ten feet tall and weigh up to five tons when fully grown. When trained, its owner may put it to work hauling great boulders and uprooting full-grown trees. But when evening comes, the elephant is kept from wandering by a piece of rope tying one of its hind legs to a small tree. Obviously the adult elephant could easily snap the piece of rope. So what makes it stay? An elephant’s training starts when it is young and a lot less strong. The elephant is shackled with a large iron chain, and for days, the baby kicks and pulls against the chain. Eventually, the young elephant stops trying to pull away. Then slowly, the owner weakens the strength of the chain until only a small piece of rope is needed. The elephant is so conditioned by its environment that it remains in place without pulling on the restraint.

Jesus hasn’t just weakened our chain to sin to that of a piece of rope—He has removed it completely. Due to our human nature, we may live as though a piece of rope is bound around our ankle. But we have a new environment in the freedom of being fully loved and accepted by God, not because of anything we have done on our own but because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. His obedience for our sake led Him to the cross. The gift of freedom didn’t come without a cost, and the cost was paid by the sinless Son in radical obedience to the Father.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p. 97)

Christ as Reconciliation: Sin is an infinite offense against an infinite God. Thankfully, God loves His enemies and has sent Christ to be the reconciler between us and God. Through Christ’s death, God provides the means whereby that broken relationship is restored and renewed (Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Essential Doctrine “Christ as Reconciliation”: Ever since the fall of the first man and woman in the garden of Eden, God and human beings have been estranged. Sin resulted not only in an estranged relationship with God but also in enmity between God and humanity.

The second paragraph in the DDG (p. 97) God forgives us and frees us from sin so that we can pursue His mission for ourselves and the world.

God un-tethered us from the bondage of sin so that we could be in a right relationship with Him. Furthermore, He grants us the privilege of participating in His grand design of calling others to Himself (Matt. 28:18-20). In the power of His Holy Spirit, God changes us so that we might bring the gospel through our lives and our mouths to others, so that they might believe. We find our motivation for this mission in the reality of God’s forgiveness and His unending faithfulness to His people (Jer. 31:35-37).

Ask:

How does God’s Word empower us for the gospel mission?

(the Scriptures makes us wise for salvation; God’s Word tells us about Jesus, revealing to us the power of God in His gospel; the Holy Spirit uses the Word to convict us of sin for our freedom and to spur us on to good works in the name of Christ; God’s Word helps us to understand the reality of our physical world and the spiritual realm; it communicates to us the sure hope of the future God has in store for His people)

My Mission

Sometimes we get used to a story. Imagine a mom at bedtime reading her son the same story over and over again. The son finishes brushing his teeth and bounds into his room, “Read it again, Mama!” Before she knows it, the pages are well worn, the binding falling apart, and she’s memorized the words. She remembers when she first heard the story and how moved she was; now it has become nothing more than routine. Her eyes glaze over as the pages turn and her voice is less passionate in the reading.

In the same way, we can become all too familiar with the radical story of the gospel. But God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to fulfill what Jeremiah was proclaiming—a new covenant brought only by Jesus’ blood. This is a story we must never get over.

May we retell the story over and over again with passion and conviction, and may we be faithful in prayer to allow the gift of Jesus’ blood and the new covenant to revive our souls.

DDG (p. 98)

Because we have been given new hearts that love God, we yield to the Holy Spirit as He empowers us to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

· How will you respond to the new covenant promise of forgiveness through the blood of Jesus?

· What can your group do to live together sacrificially in light of the new covenant?

· How will you point someone to Jesus for the knowledge of God and forgiveness of sins?

Voices from the Church

“Without a heart transformed by the grace of Christ, we just continue to manage external and internal darkness.” 2 –Matt Chandler

Session in a Sentence

The new covenant describes a time when God’s people would truly know, love, and obey Him [willingly from their heart].

++The New Covenant empowers the heart to produce meaningful obedience to God.

Close in prayer:

References

1. Bede, On the Tabernacle, 1.7.47, quoted in Jeremiah, Lamentations, ed. Dean O. Wenthe, vol. XII in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament (IVP, 2001) [Wordsearch].

2. Matt Chandler with Jared Wilson, The Explicit Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 199.

3. J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010) [Wordsearch].

4. Paul Swarup, “Jeremiah,” in South Asia Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Brian Wintle (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015), 982-83.

5. J. Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah and Lamentations, in The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015) [Wordsearch].

6. Stefana Dan Laing, ed., “Jeremiah,” in The Study Bible for Women (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2014), 997, n. 31:34.

7. Walter Kaiser Jr., “Jeremiah,” in CSB Study Bible (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2017), 1191, n. 31:34.

8. J. Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah and Lamentations, in The NIV Application Commentary [Wordsearch].

9. Paul R. House, “Jeremiah,” in ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 1431, n. 31:34.

10. Stefana Dan Laing, ed., “Jeremiah,” in The Study Bible for Women, 997, n. 31:35-37.

11. Issiaka Coulibaly, “Jeremiah,” in Africa Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 922.

12. F. B. Huey Jr., Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 16 in The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2003) [Wordsearch].

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