The Day Has Come

“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 out of Egypt, my covenant that they broke…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.” Jeremiah 31:31-33

In order to have proper context for this new covenant of which the LORD speaks, let’s go back to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Moses is in the middle of his farewell discourse to the people of Israel. The people are on the verge of finally entering the Promised Land, and the covenant from Genesis 15 is being renewed.

In this chapter, we are given a study in contrasts. On the one hand, in the opening verses of chapter 28, we see blessing after blessing for those who, as verse 1 says, “faithfully obey the voice of the Lord, being careful to do all his commandments.” From city to field, from fruit of the womb to fruit of the ground, from war to weather, the people who listen, obey, and follow the Lord will be blessed. Happy. Secure.

And yet, for every one verse about blessing, there are four about curses for those who disobey. 

Deuteronomy 28:15 says, “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall overtake you….” And the list is extensive. From city to field, from fruit of the womb to fruit of the ground, from war to weather, from bodily harm to relational discord- the consequences of disobedience are far-reaching and disastrous.

And this is the place we find ourselves in Jeremiah. Instead of obedience, the people overall (and especially their leaders) have chosen disobedience. Instead of choosing life and good, they’ve chosen death and evil. Because of this, the Promised Land has been conquered by godless nations, and they’re headed towards exile.

The sin of the people is so blatant and deep that earlier in Jeremiah (17:1-3) we’re told it’s written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, engraved on the tablet of their heart. Instead of God’s Word there, written on their hearts, it’s their sin. It’s seen in their hearts but also in the altars they’ve set up to false gods, and judgment has come.

But like always with our gracious God, the judgment isn’t the end of the story. 

In Jeremiah 31, the LORD promises a new and better covenant is coming- one where, instead of sin, the law is within the people and written on their hearts. 

As people who are living after the earthly ministry of Jesus, we know now that the day has come. The new and better covenant has come. For those who are united to Christ, the law is within us and written on our hearts.

Hebrews 8 helps us understand Jeremiah 31. While speaking of Christ as the better and greatest high priest, the writer of Hebrews also talks about the new and better covenant. The writer tells us that if the first covenant was faultless or sufficient, there wouldn’t have been a need for a new covenant. Just the fact that God said a new covenant was coming meant that the old one wasn’t good enough. This isn’t because God needed a do-over; it’s because this new and better covenant was the plan all along. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, and the imperfect, temporary high priests could never adequately intercede for us. None of it was ever good enough- it only ever pointed to the need for Jesus!

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:3-18).