The New Covenant: Why and How We Can Live Freely
I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33
God made a covenant with the nation of Israel at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. This conditional Mosaic Covenant (detailed in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) stipulated that the Israelites would receive God’s blessings if they obeyed Him but would be punished if they didn’t (see Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). Because they disobeyed and rebelled against the Law, their final judgment came with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bc. The Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were deported to Babylon, where they remained in captivity for 70 years.
However, God had not forgotten His people. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God made a new covenant with the Israelites. God said, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). According to this New Covenant, God’s law would be written on their hearts rather than on stone tablets (see Exodus 34:1). They would have the ability to live up to His righteous standards and enjoy His blessings because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
This New Covenant also made a provision for our sin. God said, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). By making this covenant, God was not overlooking our sin, nor was He forgetting it. God couldn’t forget it, because He is omniscient. “I will remember your sins no more” means “I will not take the past and use it against you in the future.” Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
In order for the New Covenant to be efficacious, a sacrifice would be required. Before His crucifixion, Jesus announced in the Upper Room that the New Covenant would be inaugurated through the shedding of His blood (see Matthew 26:27-28; Luke 22:20). The permanence of this New Covenant was underscored by the promise that the descendants of Israel would continue to exist (see Jeremiah 31:35-36). The power God displayed in creating the universe was the same power that would ensure the preservation of His Chosen People.
Although this covenant was made with Israel and Judah (see Jeremiah 31:31), the Church would also receive the benefits of it (see Hebrew 8:8-12). The New Covenant was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost when all the Jewish believers were gathered to celebrate the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of Passover week. Thus, the Early Church believers were all Jewish. John wrote, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), and the unconditional covenant God had made with Abraham ensured that “all peoples on earth” would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). As the book of Acts tells us, the gospel first came to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.
The Church has been grafted into the original “branch,” which is Israel (see Romans 11). All New Testament believers, both Jew and Gentile, live under the New Covenant that guarantees spiritual life and the forgiveness of sins. Consequently, believers no longer relate to God on the basis of the old Mosaic Covenant that required strict observance of the Law. The New Covenant is one of grace that calls for believers to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
questions to consider:
What were the terms and conditions of the Old Mosaic Covenant that God established with Israel?
How was the law a taskmaster that would lead us to Christ?
How are Gentiles included with Israel in the New Covenant?
How would you describe your relationship with God in terms of law or grace?
How have you personally struggled with legalism?