2004-10-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
The challenge has been offer to me from the Lord to write about how the new covenant, the Covenant of Grace, solves the problem of the sinful human heart. And yes, a lot has been said about that before. However, the Lord has more for us to consider. From a practical point of view, it all starts with JER 31: 31-34. “The Lord says, ‘The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and lead them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow countryman to know the Lord, because all will know Me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
When we put this amazing prophecy in the context of the time it was written, we have to be awe struck. It was between 627-582 BC, and I suspect, closer to the end of that time than the beginning. Due to extreme disobedience to God, what had been a unified single country, Israel, had split into to two human-led kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Jeremiah spent his entire ministry delivering the unpopular message that the people should reform their ways, seek God’s leadership, and live their lives differently than they were doing. Moreover, if they didn’t, God was bringing a punishment that Jeremiah told them would last for seventy years [JER 25: 11]. Toward the end of his life, Jeremiah was captured and was put down Prince Malchiah’s well [JER 38: 6], was released by a Sudanese palace eunuch [JER 38: 7-10], and saw the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the capture of his own people by Babylonia in 586 BC [JER 39: 1-10]. During that time, the Governor of Judah, Gedaliah, along with Jeremiah, went to Mizpah for awhile [JER 40: 8-10]. But Gedaliah was eventually assassinated by Ishmael, a member of the royal family. Jeremiah’s safety was over [JER 41: 1-2], and he was eventually taken to Egypt [JER 43: 5], where he later died. Once again, God follows a distinctive pattern in that He reveals the future to those whom He esteems-something He did to Jeremiah.
If we look carefully at the language of JER 31: 32, we can see that God is revealing that the old covenant wasn’t bringing His people to obedient faith in practice, only in intent. It wasn’t working, and needed to be replaced with a new and better covenant. Then in verses 33-34, God restates His greatest desire for His people-that His law would be written in their hearts, that He will be their God and they will be His people, and that He would forgive and forget their sins. The latter part of this promise is repeated in HE 8: 12 and 10: 17. This stated desire occurs in at least eleven other places in the Scriptures and maybe more. We must remember that when a statement is repeated that often by God, it’s because He wants us to wake up and listen. By the use of the word, “Israel,” in verse 33, rather than “Israel” and “Judah,” we can see that the reunification of the homeland for the Jews was indeed God’s intent. God was preparing a way for salvation that had not existed at any time in mankind’s history.
As I’ve already written, the old covenant was all about revealing what is acceptable to God and what isn’t [RO 7:7]. It was about the Law, but had been twisted and turned from the original 10 Commandments to 613 laws, which no man except for Jesus Christ could obey. We all know that the institution of the new covenant is sealed in Christ’s blood shed on the cross. Christ speaks of this in 1 COR 11: 23-25 at the last supper. We have to ask what this means to us in order to maximize the value of the time we have on this earth. Of course, it goes without saying that God is extending an invitation to us to repent and come to faith. It also means that He offers us grace, undeserved merit. We learn something about God’s power to transform our hearts from ones of evil deceit to ones of willingness to submit to Him, obey Him, and receive Him in RO 12 :2. This new perspective is to extend to the point where the will God, stated in JER 31: 33-34, can actually happen in practice. RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.” That’s God’s dream coming true. Each of us should examine this oft-repeated verse in terms of what impact it has on our own lives. In a practical sense, we must ask the questions: 1) What changes must I make to conform to God’s will for me? 2) Why is making these changes so important to my life in the eternal sense? God calls us to willing, submissive, and obedient partners in the Covenant of Grace.
PRAYER: O Lord, You call us to understand the value of Your commandments and then to examine our lives to conform to Your will. For sinful humans, this is a tall order, but one we are equipped by You to fulfill. Will it be easy for us? Of course not! But all that You ask of us is always in our best interests. You have given us the privilege of having not only Your word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit to help us, but You are a perfect Covenant Partner on Whom we can rely. Your patience and compassion for those who try to do Your will, albeit it imperfectly at times, is amazing! We can derive great comfort from 2 CH 16: 9, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” You brought the Jews out of Egypt and gave them Your law to know Your will. Some, like Moses, became Your friends and obeyed it. Others, like Korah and his followers rebelled against it [NU 16: 1-35]. Out of twelve spies sent into Canaan from Kadesh Barnea [just south of modern day Israel], only two, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb, told the truth that the Jews could walk eleven days into the Promised Land [NU 13: 1-33]. The result of the disobedience of Your chosen people was that except for Joshua and Caleb, only those of the next generation could enter the Promised Land. That was 40 years later! Not even Moses was obedient enough to go there. The Jews broke Your laws, but You remained faithful. Grace was meant for Jeremiah’s future, even through You told Him about it, and He shared this prophecy with the people. For those of us who repent, come to faith in the Son, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and live according to Your will, Your dream comes true. You are our God, and we are Your people with Your laws written on our hearts. We stand before Your altar today, often beaten and battered by Satan’s attacks on us. We have been assailed by him with illness, doubts, fears, fatigue, temptation, and all manner of evil. But, Dearest Abba, we refuse to give up on our faith in Christ or in You. We have been called to lives of holiness [1 PET 1: 16] and are attempting to make the changes in our lives You command of us. Without You, we can not do this; with You, we can be victors over Satan in Christ’s name [EPH 1: 18-20]. So, today, we beseech You to continue being ever-faithful to us, to guide us and correct us, to keep revealing Yourself to us, and to help us to resist the flesh. Our goal is to answer Christ’s call at the time of the rapture to a “meeting in the air” [1 THESS 4: 13-17] and to His wedding feast in heaven [REV 19: 5-10]. We offer You our thanks and praise. In His holy name, we pray. Amen.
The Holy Spirit has called me to write more about how the new covenant solves the problem of deceitful human hearts. In doing this, God causes us to revisit passages in His word, each time giving us a new perspective, His perspective, on them. If we’ve been in the faith for awhile, each of us can look back on our past lives as non-believers and recognize the changes that God has wrought in our hearts. Of course, we are not yet perfected, or else we would be up in heaven with God right now. So, He is still at work on our hearts. Look at the opportunities He is providing for us to become better believers. We should take advantage of them. One way He is doing this for me is through having to write weekly messages which honor Him to you. Another is by allowing Peter and I the privilege of having gone through a Via de Cristo weekend and then to spend time serving this wonderful organization to bring others through. He has also taught me (all too recently) to pray to Him, both for Peter’s and my own needs and for the needs of others through coordinating the Woodbury Lutheran Church prayer chain. These are only some of the ways people can serve God and grow in spiritual maturity through this service. We can each enjoy some amazing blessings through learning to depart from selfishness and engage in the joy of caring about and serving others. We have many wonderful ministries in our congregation, things like the Porch-Light Ministry (which reaches out to newcomers and the unsaved in our community), the Stephen Ministry and Befrienders (which makes caring friendship available to those in crisis), our six choirs (which “lift a joyful noise to the Lord”), many programs to bring children and youths to the love of Christ, numerous Bible studies for all ages and at differing depths, and so the list goes on. Our Abba loves us so much that His main purpose is to bring us back to Him through Jesus Christ [JN 6: 39-40; RO 3: 24-25; JN 3: 16; COL 1: 20]. Revel in being covered in the blood of Christ!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn