The New Covenant, part 2 (31:23-40)

The earlier parts of the Book of Comfort have exuberantly portrayed the restoration of the exiles to the land and their spiritual restoration to God. As often happens, after the excitement of great promises come realistic questions. This section can be understood as addressing some nagging questions concerning repopulation and the cycles of sin.

I. Description of Future Blessing (31:23–28)

23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!’ 24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” 26 After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me. 27 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.

A. Jeremiah addresses the land of Judah, its towns and Zion in particular.

Instead of a place in ruins where injustice and idolatry took place. God will turn all misery into hope and he will ‘restore their fortunes’.

This is a picture of that future regathering of the people of Israel in the end times. They will enjoy a renewed land, where the citizens will bless their neighbors in the name of the Lord. Farmers and city dwellers will live together in harmony because of the blessing of the Lord.

B. It suggests that the messages to this point had been given to Jeremiah in a dream.

Jeremiah’s response to revelation was not always so positive, and from what we know, his experience generally was far from pleasant. Therefore it must indeed have been delightful to receive in a prophetic sleep such dreams of reassurance concerning the future of his people.

After Babylon’s conquest, Judah lay in ruins. The population had been decimated by war, disease, and famine. The Lord had brought about their uprooting, tearing down, overthrowing, and destruction. Here he promised to be responsible for their rebuilding and replanting. This reminds us of God’s sovereign control; He punishes and He blesses.

II. Abandonment of a Popular Saying (31:29–30)

29 In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

A. The exile complained that that generation was suffering for the sins of preceding ones.

While in exile the people concluded out of self-pity and fatalistic despair that they were being punished unjustly for sins of previous generations (cf. Lam 5:7). This popular proverb summed up their attitude.

B. The Lord would deal with each generation, and even each individual, separately and justly.

Jeremiah rejected their theology that God punishes one person for the sins of another and insisted on individual responsibility for sin. Each will be punished for his or her sins, not for the sins of another.

Ezekiel quoted the same proverb and developed the doctrine of individual responsibility at even greater length.

III. Announcement of a New Covenant (31:31–34)

31 “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—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But 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. 34 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.” 35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): 36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” 37 Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD. 38 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD—from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”

A. The New Covenant isn’t just another renewal of the Old Covenant that God gave at Sinai.

Any plan for the betterment of human society that ignores the sin problem is destined to failure. It isn’t enough to change the environment, for the heart of every problem is the problem of the heart. God must change the hearts of people so that they want to love Him and do His will.

The New Covenant is inward so that God’s Law is written on the heart and not on stone tablets. The emphasis is personal rather than national, with each person putting faith in the Lord and receiving a “new heart” and with it a new disposition toward godliness.

B. The Old Covenant tried to control conduct, but the New Covenant changes character so that people can love the Lord and one another and want to obey God’s will.

By the Law is the knowledge of sin”, but under the New Covenant God promised “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”. It is this covenant that the Jews will experience in the last days when they see their Messiah and repent.

The basis for the New Covenant is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Because the church today partakes in Israel’s spiritual riches, anyone who puts faith in Jesus Christ shares in this New Covenant. It’s an experience of regeneration, being “born again” into the family of God.

The Lord also affirmed the permanence of the nation and the faithfulness of His relationship to His people. It would be easier for the sun to stop shining and the moon and stars to go out than for God to break His promises to His people Israel. Just as Jerusalem was rebuilt after the Babylonian Captivity, so it will be restored after the “time of Jacob’s trouble” and be holy to the Lord. Because of its ancient associations with Israel, Islam, Jesus, and the church, Jerusalem is called “the holy city,” but it will not truly be holy until the Lord restores it and reigns in glory at the end of the age.