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The Promise Of A New Covenant Series
Contributed by Lynn Malone on Mar 28, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: A look at Jeremiah's promise to the nation of Israel of the coming new covenant.
It is really unfortunate that our bible is divided into âoldâ and ânewâ testaments, as though there is a disconnect between the two. We hear testament and we think of something akin to a will. Itâs like a last will and testamentâitâs about something that is supposed to happen after weâre dead. But, the word âtestamentâ when used in relation to the Bible means âcovenant.â Covenant is what weâve been exploring through this Lenten season. There really is no disconnect between the âoldâ and the ânew.â Iâve heard it said this wayââthe new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed.â Though we call it old and new, it really is one covenant. The persistent thread that runs throughout is the One who makes the covenantâGod. God is the covenant maker and God is the covenant keeper.
So, what of this promise of a ânewâ covenant that we read about in the prophecy of Jeremiah? If God is the covenant maker and covenant keeper, why do we need a new covenant? Perhaps a review is in order to understand the context. There are numerous covenants in the Old Testament. This series has covered a number of those covenants: Godâs covenant with creation through Noah, Godâs covenant with Abraham and Godâs covenant with the nation of Israel through Moses, which we know as the Covenant of the Law.
As we said earlier in the series, we tend to think of covenant more like a contract, but biblically, the idea runs deeper than that. This covenant God makes reads in the Old Testament like an ancient treaty that a prevailing king would offer to his recently defeated adversaries. The victorious king would offer his terms to the defeated in what was then called a suzerainty treaty. The victor would state, âIâm going to do this, this and this,â and then the treaty would say in relation to the defeated, âYou will do this, this and this.â Thatâs the form of each of the treaties weâve looked at over the past few weeks. The victorious king was maker of the treaty. It was not a contract between two parties. It was a one-way thing. All the second party had to do was be obedient. The obedience would lead to blessing.
Weâve seen over the past several weeks that the nation of Israel had a problem with being obedient. As a result, they missed all of the blessing. We know that before the ink was dry on the deal, the people were involved in all sorts of sinâŚincluding idolatry. They had no sooner been the recipients of the greatest miracle of salvation when God parted the Red Sea, than they started making golden calves to worship. The books of Exodus and Numbers record the nationâs inability to keep the covenant.
Fast-forward several hundred years to the sixth century B. C., to the prophet Jeremiah. He was a prophet to the nation of Judah, which was the remaining remnant of Godâs covenant people. The people, even several hundred years later, did what they had always done. They had forsaken God again. They were living in idolatry, greed and pride, and were neglecting the poor and widows among them. Jeremiah's prophecy is filled with doom and gloom and warnings to Judah. Jeremiah has even been called âThe Weeping Prophet.â He wept over the nation and its sins. He had the unenviable task of calling the nation back to God. The people wouldnât listen to Jeremiah, though. They ridiculed him. They beat him. They made fun of himâcalled him a bald little man! Finally God said, âHave it your way!â God allowed the Babylonians to attack, defeat, and deport them from their homeland for 70 years. That is the historical backdrop of Jeremiahâs account.
Donât be too hard on them, though. Weâre the same way. The disobedience started all the way back in the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. She and Adam yielded to the temptation, and itâs been downhill ever since. Someone said, âOpportunity knocks but once, but temptation bangs on the door every day.â Unfortunately, we like they, donât handle temptations very well.
Letâs face it. It was the âoldâ covenant that put them (and us) in that situation. The âoldâ covenant could only convict of sin. It could not convert one from that sin, or control the sin in oneâs life. So, God says, âYou know what? Iâm going to make a ânewâ covenant with my people.â When we say ânew,â we donât need to think He did away with the âoldâ one. He didnât discard the old covenant, but rather offered the new and improved version. Like the iPhone, right? Remember a long time ago when the iPhone 4s came out? It was the best everâŚuntil the iPhone 5 arrived. Hereâs the thing: the essence of the iPhone is the same, but something has been added to it that makes it better. Thatâs the kind of new Jeremiah is talking about. Thatâs the kind of new God is working in His covenant.