Jeremiah 31:31-40 New Covenant
This New Covenant is one that cannot be revoked. It cannot be negated. It cannot be dismissed. It cannot be changed. For it will forever change man.
We are living on the other side of the New Covenant. It is written in Jesus’ blood. NOTHING can devalue, replace, or destroy it. The work Jesus did on the cross stands forever. And it changed the face of the relationship between God and man.
Under the Law of Moses, given by God, man had to perform specific acts in order to bring a request to God. A person was required to follow each step of the law, to maintain the right attitude while performing the steps, and to enlist the assistance of those God put in place for performing the rituals. Blood had to be shed with each encounter and interaction. It was full of ritual and requirements that man was NOT able to perform perfectly.
It was also FULL of LOVE. God’s love. It was the closest man and God could come, thanks to sin. God desired more from His relationship with man. He wanted intimacy so He wove a tapestry that would cover man’s sin until it could be wiped away. It was also the framework for His New Covenant to come. And it carried the blueprints that Jesus would follow exactly as HIS FATHER had laid down.
There were men who had a deep relationship with God within the framework of the Old Covenant. Abraham, David, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Josiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Moses just to name a few. These were men who were closer to God than those of their fellow Israelites (Hebrews in Abraham’s case). I KNOW there were MANY others but this kind of deep relationship was more the exception than the rule. Others followed the rules to the best of their ability and prayed that would be good enough. While others dismissed God’s Covenant as too much work or of no real consequence in their lives.
I wonder what kind of relationship I would have had with God if I had lived during the age of the Law. Would I have done the work required to be close to Him? Would I have found the intimacy that David did with Him? Knowing myself, probably not. And I would have regretted it for all of eternity.
The Old Covenant required a LOT on man’s part. Man had to reach up to God. He received much in return when he obeyed. God was also ‘relegated’ to one place. Men had to physically go to the place where God had designated for them to meet with Him. God was able to move wherever He chose but He kept His works confined to where His people were.
Jesus’ life is the embodiment of the New Covenant. How He walked personally with the people. How He reached out and brought healing to a hurting world. How He looked at the heart of the person rather than the outer trappings and traditions. He was intimately involved in EACH of His disciples’ lives. He KNEW their pain, their joy, their possibilities and their shortcomings. And yet He used them for His work. He mediated their disputes. He verbally chastised their lapses in faith. He built their confidence. He ‘fed’ them from God’s word, ensuring that they understood what it was they were laying their lives down for.
Jesus didn’t throw out the Old Covenant. He completed it and built a lasting Covenant on its foundation. One that even time could not render outdated. He did the work for God to reach man.
God was reaching to man under the Old Covenant but the day-to-day maintenance of the relationship was man reaching out to God. Man was unable to maintain that degree of dedication and fell short. So, God reached out even farther to man. He sent us His own Son. Jesus did the work to reach man. And He even forgave man for the part he played in the process of ratifying the New Covenant.
The letter of the Law was replaced by the Spirit of the Law. For, from the moment of Jesus’ crucifixion, God’s Spirit was free to move from the ‘one place’ and inhabit the world who would believe in His work. From the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord has been freed to dwell in man wherever he may be instead of requiring him to go to the place where God lived.
The New covenant is one of personal interaction with God’s Spirit that lives within each believer. The Comforter whom Jesus promised would come. He touches our hearts and encourages us to live lives pleasing unto Him. The Comforter empowers us to turn away from sin; when we listen to him. He opens God’s word to us in ways that rote reading never could. He brings God’s word to life! And He brings NEW life into the old dead body. A life that, apart from Him, we would NOT have. TRUE life! Life that the Old Covenant could not provide.
ALL IT TAKES to be a part of this New Covenant is accepting the FREE gift of salvation that Jesus is offering. Accepting that HE did ALL the work to bring you this gift. And recognizing that, YES, you REALLY do need HIS help, for there is NO WAY you would qualify for this gift on your own merits. He is waiting with His arms stretched wide to accept ANY who would come to Him and receive the gift of salvation and forgiveness from sin. Will you take Him up on His offer? You will never regret it if you do!
Father God, THANK YOU for placing me in this time in history. I don’t know what our relationship would have been if I’d been born in bible days. I’m not of Hebrew descent so I probably wouldn’t have had one at all. That’s another AMAZING part of Your New Covenant! Jesus opened the way for ALL people to come to You. You did ALL the work to make our relationship possible. And Your Holy Spirit helps me do the work to keep it growing. THANK YOU FATHER! THANK YOU JESUS!! THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT!!! My God, My Master, My Savior, My Redeemer, My King, and My Comforter.
