Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“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.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Devotional: The prophet Jeremiah foretells the coming of a New Covenant – one that replaces the covenant that the people of Israel could not keep. For centuries they engaged in a pattern of obedience, disobedience, enslavement, deliverance, and back to obedience again. They simply could not, in their humanity, be faithful to their faithful God.
But God knew this. And in His grace, He made provision for that by promising a New Covenant. One that would not require the harsh observances of the law. But one that would write the law in their very hearts.
Reflect:
- Upon hearing from Isaiah, the prophet, how do you think the Israelites perceived this coming New Covenant?
