Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34,
John 12:20-26
This issue of “new covenant” is not as complicated
as some folks may think. A covenant, in simple
terms, establishes the conditions of a relationship, whether between two
people, or two nations. It was always
given by the superior party, and would be accepted, without negotiation or
change, by the lesser party. With God,
He offered Abraham, as an example, a promise of land (the Promised Land) as a
home for his descendants for all time and that his family would consist of
“many nations” (Genesis 17:1-8),
and in return, the people were to obey, follow, and honor God, also for all
time.
This may sound pretty straight forward to us, but
the problem is that no one, with a few possible exceptions, has ever
been able to stay true to our part of the agreement! This has, I’m sure, caused the Lord a great
deal of angst, for His greatest reason in creating the covenant in the first
place, was, I believe, to bless those who followed His word for their lives!
The problem that we have created for ourselves is
that one small word of failure – “sin”.
So in the newness of covenant that God made for us, He offered a word of
hope, the word that we know as “forgiveness”. Of
course, He never withdrew His expectation for obedience, but now, when we fail in
living up to His way, we have the opportunity to seek the Lord’s forgiveness
and begin again. But the one part of the
covenant that has never, and will never be released, is faith.
God created the path to “forgiveness”, and became
that path for each of us, by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Without a justifying faith in Jesus, there is
no forgiveness, and without forgiveness, there is no fulfillment of the promise
for an eternal Home. And as part of that
codicil, the Lord also opened His promise to anyone who would come to
Him by faith.
We still haven’t done a very good job of keeping our
side of God’s way, but just how far will God go in helping us throughout this
life?
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34
The Lord will never abandon
His covenant – it is far too important to Him that we have the opportunity to
see eternity through Him. Last week we
considered the healing that God brought to the people of Israel who had been bitten by
those poisonous snakes in Numbers 21: 4-9. And in John 3:14-15, Jesus compares
Himself to the healing that came through that bronze replica that Moses was
told to put on a pole. How much more
could God possibly do for us without sacrificing the divine love that He has
for each and every one of us sinners? As
we read though the Hebrew texts, it would almost seem that God had withdrawn
His covenant from the people over and over again, but the truth is that to show
the people just what their life would be like without Him, He simply held back
on the grace that they had always enjoyed, and they suffered for their
lack of faithful living.
Divine love for humanity
required that God would install His commandments, not only in our minds, but in
our hearts. The point being that we
would not only know His law, but would accept, and claim, and love His
ways. But even at that, He allowed “free
will” to function in how faithful we would be in choosing between the way of
Earth, and the way of eternal Hope. This
entire approach to living a relationship with our Almighty God was unique for
both Israel and Judah, in that it would no longer be based solely in whether
they kept the commands of their Jehovah God, or whether they failed miserably
in the way they lived their life.
Forgiveness of sin would be
the key to this new way. And why should
this work out for the better? Because
first, people would be able to actually know God, and not simply stand
in constant fear of what He might do to them at any given moment of time. And having a familiarity with the Lord and
His ways is the very thing that should inspire us to live faithfully. And secondly, the fact that God doesn’t keep
a running record of our sin means that the sheer volume of our abject failure
to stay true to His word isn’t going to condemn us. It will only be the intentional and
unrepentant acts of disobedience that will pull us down into judgment.
But what is the best part of
this “new covenant”? It will be in the
fact that this new relationship will be personal, and intimate, and uniting,
not only in the Lord, but with each other through Him. It comes in the final sentence of verse 33 –
“I will be their God, and they will be my people.” And it is this promise that makes everything
complete and right.
Read
John 12:20-26
With
the coming of Greeks to seek out Jesus, we begin to see just how far this “new
covenant” will go. These were, in all
likelihood, believers, even though they had never converted to Judaism. And as we read of non-Jews beginning to come
to Jesus in faith, we see that the availability of salvation for all who
believe is finally becoming a reality.
And as the new covenant begins to take hold in the lives of all
humanity, this becomes the mark of glory for Jesus’ life.
When
Jesus offers the parable of planting a seed, it is about His life that will
soon be taken, and the seeds that will come from His death are about us. The Lord is teaching us that His death will
be the source of salvation for all who believe, and that His resurrection to
new and eternal life will be the promise of that same life for all who believe
and trust in Him.
And
when He begins to talk about our own lives, whether we love them or hate them,
and whether we will lose them or gain them, He is referring to our faith and
what faith will do for our eternity. If
we prefer the humanity of this life, with all that it involves – the joys,
pain, struggle, self-determination, betrayal, sin, death, - then the pleasures
of this earth are all of the glory that any of us will ever know. But if we hate those things that burden us, and
divide us and break our spirits, and instead look to the Lord for guidance and
hope in this life, we will quickly understand that this life is nothing when
compared to the one that awaits us in Christ Jesus!
But
not only is faith the key to God’s reward, it also opens our eyes to the truth
behind both forms of life. Faith
and trust in the word of God makes all the difference between our living in
darkness - finding our own way, with tripping and stumbling and falling causing
more wounds and scars than we have time to count, or on the other hand, living
in the Light of Christ – discovering God’s truth and love and compassion, and
hope, as well as the divine promise that can only be ours through our walk with
Jesus.
And
that last verse tells it all. If we are
to serve in the name of Jesus, it must also be in the way of Jesus, and
never in the way of Earth! I know that
I’ve testified before to that truth, that when I finally came to the conclusion
that unless I’m where Jesus is and wants me to be also, that no matter what I
do, and how wonderfully faithful it may appear to be, it will add
nothing – absolutely nothing - to my salvation in the long run.
This
new covenant that God has put in place should humble and inspire us all. He has put Himself on the line to make
eternity a possibility for all of humanity. Israel had been charged with reaching out to
the world in faith, but they never seemed to get a good grasp on who their Lord
God Jehovah actually was for themselves!
But now, through the words that the prophet Jeremiah has shared with us
today, we can know our God in a personal way through faith in the one and only
Son, that He sent to show us the way to heavenly glory!
The
new covenant of God not only brought the Son of God into our lives, but it also
sent the Spirit of God to continue to guide us, and challenge us, to inspire
us, to teach us, and remind us of the difference between having the salvation
that Jesus brought, versus the life that we used to develop on our own. And what a difference there is between the
two!
And
God has done it all, with us on His mind and in His heart. Give thanks for Him and His way, that we can
be His through all that He has done on our behalf.
