“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers… because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them…” Jeremiah 31:31-34
I’m constantly getting notices that some “privacy policy has changed” or some other contract in very tiny print has been revised. Frankly, I don’t usually pay much attention. The new deal seems about like the old deal.
In our lesson, God says that his new covenant will be different from the old one. Should this be something we care about? Should we maybe read the fine print of God’s new covenant?
How would it be changed? Under the old covenant (the Old Testament), God was like a husband to Israel. He loved them. He rescued them from slavery and led them to a land of their own. He said he would be their God and they would be his people.
That sounds like a pretty good deal. But then, when they were unfaithful to him, what would the old covenant require? It would mean divorce. It would mean that God should reject his bride and abandon her.
Under this new covenant what would you expect God to do differently? We might say he needs a covenant with some “teeth in it.” We’d suggest some consequences for straying in order to make it stick.
Instead, God says he will write his law on the hearts of his people. He will love them even more, and bring them even closer to himself. Best of all, he will forgive them for their unfaithfulness, and he will be faithful in spite of them.
This new deal sounds like it’s worth reading about. The next time you get a notice of a new contract, open your New Testament. Your heavenly Father has a better deal.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we know that we owe you our obedience. Lord, we pray, stir up our hearts so that we may add love as well, and cherish you as dearly as you cherish us. Amen.