| NEW COVENANT |

You remember God’s covenant with the people. God promised to bless the people with both a land to dwell and the promise of his presence among them. God also promised curse for disobedience. Finally, God promised forgiveness and redemption for repentance.

Jeremiah 31 and 32 present God’s new covenant. In many ways, God’s new covenant is the same as the old. At the heart of the covenant is the promise of Jeremiah 32:38, “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” What is unique about the new covenant is how personal it is. Where the first covenant promised to create a people who would take shape as a great nation, the new covenant people would be a people better identified by their faith. The people of the new covenant are the people whom God would give “one heart and one way.”

Old and New Testaments

You have probably noticed by now that the Bible is divided into two parts, the Old and New Testaments. The word testament means covenant. The Old Testament largely focuses on the Old Covenant that God made with Israel. The New Testament focuses on God’s fulfillment of the New Covenant that Jeremiah and some of the prophets spoke of. We will see in the coming weeks how the New Covenant is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, Jesus will say that the New Covenant is fulfilled through the blood of his sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:25).

Four Promises of the New Covenant

1) The Lord will write his law on our hearts. 
That is to say that the Holy Spirit would work in rebellious hearts to cause them to delight in the way of the Kingdom of God.

2) The Lord will be our God.
What a joy to be relieved of dead idols and the lies of Satan. God will be our God. He alone is both good and just. We want no other king.

3) We shall all know God. 
There will be no divisions. There will be no falsehood. There will be no unbelief. All will have intimate access to God and one another.

4) The Lord will forgive our sin. 
Without this, everything else is impossible. Without forgiveness, we would be an unholy brood. The covenant creates a new people, no longer marked by sin and shame but by grace and glory.