A New Covenant

I. Introduction

Jer 31:31-37.

Not sure of the time or place of the prophecy, but many scholars infer that it was, along with Jer 32 and 33, given during the time of the Babylonian seige.

Structure

Vs 31-34: Structure of the New Covenant.

Contrast of old vs new covenants.

Four key differences.

Vs 35-37: Endurance of the New Covenant.

Sign of the covenant: the rising sun and moon.

Judgment of sin does not nullify the New covenant.

II. Body

Vs 31-34

Contrast of the Old and New.

Old:

Jeremiah 31:31–32 ““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.”

Occasioned by the coming out of Egypt

Broken by sin and faithlessness.

Marriage is the analogy here.

Adultery breaks the bond of marriage.

Four differences between new and old.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 “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. 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. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.””

I will put my law within them.

An external law doesn’t change the heart.

Exod 32 9 “And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.””

Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”

They need the inner testimony of the law, pictured in Ezekiel as a “heart of flesh.”

Ezekiel 36:26–27 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

This is fulfilled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

“I will be their God and they will be my people.”

Has always been the goal

Genesis 17:8 “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.””

Exodus 6:7 “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Exodus 29:45–46 “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”

Leviticus 26:12 “And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”

Leviticus 26:45 “But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.””

Deuteronomy 29:13 “that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Jeremiah 7:23 “But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’”

Jeremiah 11:4 “that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,”

Jeremiah 24:7 “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

Jeremiah 30:22 “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.””

Jeremiah 31:1 ““At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.””

Jeremiah 32:38 “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel 11:20 “that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel 14:11 “that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.””

Ezekiel 36:28 “You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Ezekiel 37:23 “They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel 37:27 “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Hosea 2:23 “and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ””

Zechariah 8:8 “and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.””

Zechariah 13:9 “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ””

Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

External exhortation from the prophetic voice will be replaced by the inner knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

As long as we are in this life, we will need to share with fellow mortals the truth of the gospel.

However, in the Millennium, there will be no more “unreached people groups.”

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

All men shall know the Lord, from the least unto the greatest”—young and old, simple and noble, foolish and wise, worthless and good, savage and civilized. Here is the great encouragement for Christian missions. They do not follow a mere desire of charity. They are realizing a promise of God

The law and its prophetic voices to Israel attempted heart change from the outside.

John 14-16 emphasizes the difference between the dispensation of law that Jesus fulfilled and the dispensation of grace that His resurrection will commence.

John 14 26 (above)

John 16:12–15 ““I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The knowledge of and exhortation toward righteousness is no longer external, but internal.

Sin will truly be forgiven, not just rolled back.

Hebrews 10:4–18

The whole point of the day of atonement was to deal with that year’s sin, but these too needed to be repeated.

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”

Vs 35-37

Every covenant has a sign:

Noahic: Rainbow

Abrahamic: Circumcision

Siniatic: Sabbath

Davidic: Throne

Signs were meant to be seen frequently and call to mind the promises and obligations of the covenant.

God calls the dawn of every day a sign of the promised new covenant. If that ever fails to happen, then we can call this covenant into question.

We must not replace Israel’s place in this covenant. We have been grafted into the promises here, but they are first and foremost for God’s people.

Jeremiah 31:37 “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.””

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 11:25–29 “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Where We See Jesus

Jesus is not himself mentioned directly here, but it is the work of his ministry that is in focus.

The inauguration of this new covenant was on the mind of Christ in the last supper.

Matthew 26:26–29 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.””

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

III. Conclusion/Application

Mankind broke every covenant they had with God. They were faithless covenant partners.

Jesus came as the God-man to stand in the place of humanity (Noahic), A Hebrew (Abrahamic/Siniatic), and an heir of David (Davidic) and be a faithful covenant partner on all counts.

God became His own covenant partner to bless the world.