Jeremiah 31:31–34

Century after century passed, and no prophet or messenger said one more word about the new covenant. Had God forgotten it? Had Jeremiah raised false hopes? At last, in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, the Lord mentioned it to His twelve disciples alone, in a way that showed heaven had not forgotten it. He spoke of it as something to expect, something that would happen. But He did not say when. "The days are coming," Jeremiah had said. He spoke of the new covenant as certain, but the timing stayed deliberately open… It was not made before the cross, for the blood it will rest on was not shed until then. It has not been made since the cross, for God has not been dealing directly with Israel and Judah.

You could hardly say that the old covenant of law rested on promises at all, though some promises went with it. It rested instead on a bargain. Israel agreed to obey in everything, and God guaranteed certain blessings if they did. Israel broke that bargain almost as soon as they made it, by making the golden calf. The new covenant rests on promises, God's own promises, better than anything the law offered. That marks it off sharply from the old… God's "I will" is what makes it what it is. Everything depends on what God is going to do.

Israel had not kept the first covenant, so God set them aside. But Israel could not break the new covenant, because it did not rest on what they would do, but on what God would do. God would not set out His laws on tablets of stone, as at Sinai. He would put them in their minds and write them on their hearts too… and having remembered their sins at the cross, He would remember them no more.

Notice the added thought here… it is made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The ten tribes of Israel have wandered off. God knows where they are, if we do not, and the time is coming when the whole twelve tribes will be reunited. The staff will become one, God's royal staff in His hand again, when Israel and Judah will be one nation in the land under the terms of the new covenant.

It will be no dishonour to the law of Moses that God will establish a new covenant under the Messiah; in fact Moses himself predicted it. He foretold that the Lord God would raise up a prophet like himself — like him, yet greater than him (Deut. 18:15, 18). This prophet would be no greater if he did not bring in a new order of things, that is, the new covenant. Moses brought in the old covenant. Christ will bring in the new covenant.

I do not say that we Christians have the new covenant itself. But we do have the blood of the new covenant. We have the foundation the new covenant rests on. The new covenant itself assumes the land of Israel blessed and the house of Israel delivered, but neither of those has become true yet. The new covenant also assumes certain spiritual blessings: the law of God written in the heart, and our sins forgiven. We have received these spiritual parts of the new covenant now, along with other blessings that belong to Christianity alone: the presence of the Holy Spirit, and union with Christ in heaven, which the Jews will not have.

Even for the earth and Israel in the millennial day, the Messiah will be present. The new covenant will be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah in all its literal force. It will bring in such a blessed change that the prophet rightly contrasts it with the condition under Moses. It will be Jehovah undertaking, and therefore sure blessing, instead of a test to prove man's weakness and ungodliness.

And what shall we say of the tender, affectionate care expressed in these touching words: "When Israel was a child, I loved him... and it was I who taught Ephraim to walk — He took them upon His arms" (Hosea 11:1, 3). A mother holds her child in her arms as the object of her protecting love and care. She holds its arms when teaching it to walk. God dealt with His earthly people in the same way... But how unsteady and uncertain were their steps, stumbling all the way.

The covenant made with the people at Sinai was one of demand, presented to them on two stony tablets. If they met these obligations, they were to live. But they could not meet God's demand. So what was appointed to give life became death to them... They could not bear the word when God spoke it in their ears out of the devouring fire. As soon as Moses turned his back, they turned away from God, made a golden calf, and worshipped the idol.

Up to that time, since their redemption from the land of Egypt, they had been under grace. God had borne them on eagles' wings, and brought them to Himself... They accepted the condition offered to them, with death as the penalty for breaking it. From then on they stood on a new footing and relationship with God.

There were two sides to the old covenant — God's and the people's. The people broke their side of the covenant. This compelled God to break His — or rather, to find fault with it, as a way of relating to Himself that could do nothing for the people. There will be only one side to the new. In the old God said, "I will, if you will"; but in the new it is all "I WILL" on the part of God... He will put His law, not upon two stony tablets, but upon the hearts and minds of the people.

In Hebrews the quotation follows the Greek Old Testament, where the words are "I showed no concern for them." That is, they had lost divine regard because of their failure. It shows how the Spirit of God uses an Old Testament scripture and adds the truth according to His own wisdom, as He sees it is needed. Looking at the people, how true it was that God could not regard them as under the first covenant! And yet, under that covenant, God truly was a husband to Israel!

Israel only had the first covenant; Israel by grace will have the second. Israel lost their privileges and land under the old covenant. Under the new covenant, Israel will be restored and blessed more than ever, and for ever, in their land.

No doubt this is true of the Christian meanwhile, for the blood of the new covenant is already shed and ours by faith. But God will apply it to Israel and Judah as such, through His mercy.

You could hardly say that the old covenant of law rested on promises at all, though certain promises were attached to it. It rested instead on a bargain: Israel undertook to obey in everything, and God guaranteed certain blessings if they obeyed. The bargain was barely made before Israel broke it by making the golden calf. The new covenant rests on promises, those promises are God's, and they are better than anything offered under the law. That alone marks it off sharply from the old.

Here you have the new covenant, and it has two marks. The old covenant rested on the condition of obedience. What condition does the new covenant rest on? None at all on their part. Israel will gain no glory from the new covenant, but it has two features that go together. First, God writes His law in the heart instead of writing it on tablets of stone. That is new birth.

The old covenant written on tablets of stone stood as a witness against Israel, because it showed how far short they fell of God's demands. But the law written on the hearts and minds of Israel will show what Israel are for God. In the millennial day His earthly people will treasure God and His word in their hearts, and the will of God will govern their thoughts.

God will put His law within them and write it on their hearts, so that keeping it will be as natural to them as breaking it once was. They will come into the light of the knowledge of God with all their sins forgiven and even the memory of them gone. And all by an act of God's sovereign mercy.

God has taken a new way to bring about the obedience He looks for: by the work of Christ, which is the basis of it, and by the gift of the Spirit that followed the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not do it by writing His will in the book of the covenant in ink, or on tablets of stone with His own finger. Instead He has given us a new nature within, which, empowered by the Spirit of God, delights to do His will.

God will make the new covenant openly with Israel. It fulfils the promises He made to Abraham without conditions, 430 years before He gave the law. For this, God must gather Israel back to her own land, and He will confirm the covenant publicly at the same time as the millennial reign of Christ.

I do not say that we Christians have the new covenant itself, but we do have the blood of the new covenant. We have what the new covenant is founded on. The covenant itself assumes the land of Israel blessed and the house of Israel delivered, and neither of those is true yet. It also assumes certain spiritual blessings: the law of God written in the heart and our sins forgiven. Those spiritual parts of the new covenant we have received now.

As Christians, though the new covenant is still future and belongs to Israel, we already have these blessings in a deeper sense: Christ (not the law) is written on our hearts (2 Cor. 3:3; Rom. 12:2); we have a relationship with God and are 'a people for His name' (Acts 15:14).

You could hardly say the old covenant of law rested on promises at all, though some promises went with it. It rested instead on a bargain. Israel promised to obey in everything, and God guaranteed certain blessings if they obeyed. Israel broke the bargain almost as soon as they had agreed to it, by making the golden calf... God's "I will" is the mark of the new covenant. Everything turns on what God is going to do, and so on what Israel is going to be and have.

As I have said, it is no longer "if you will, I will." It is all "I will," "I will," "I will." And this is sure and everlasting. The blood of Jesus is the basis and expression of it.

This is an unconditional covenant that God has said He will make with the houses of Judah and Israel (Jer. 31:31-34). The cross laid the foundation for it... God has not yet made this covenant with Israel. But its principle, sovereign grace, is the principle He acts on now. It sets out the terms on which He is with His people, with the Lord Jesus as Mediator, through whom He secures all the blessing.

God will make the new covenant publicly with Israel. It fulfils the unconditional promises He gave Abraham, 430 years before He gave the law. For this, God must first bring Israel back to her own land. He will publicly confirm the new covenant at the same time as the thousand-year reign of Christ.

"They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest" — not "the greatest to the least" — that is, Israel will know God not nationally but individually. Is there not a great deal of truth in the new covenant? In the knowledge of God we have the love of God.

What two delightful truths are here! Forgiveness of sins for the conscience, and a new heart that can delight in God and walk in His ways! Because of this, no one will need to say, "Know the Lord." All His people will know Him and love Him... Israel will be born again as a nation, not just certain people in it.

Then they will serve Him and know Him with love and with understanding. He has pardoned all their iniquity, and He will remember their sin no more. The atoning work of our blessed Saviour, their Messiah, has put it all away, as Isaiah 53 says. Their sin was remembered at the cross in atonement, and now it will be remembered no more. It is not simply forgotten.

The words of Jeremiah were the words of the Spirit; his writings the writings of the Spirit. The witness of the Spirit to us is found in the written Word of God. The burden of His witness in favour of the believer is, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

"The worshippers once purged... have no more conscience of sins." That stands in contrast to the day of atonement, when God raised the question of sins every year (Lev. 16:34). But now He says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember" — not once a year but — "no more." Can you say, "The question of my sins has been gone into and settled between God and Christ on the cross; and God says, I will never raise the question of your sins again"?