God's new deal

When US troops captured the Pacific island of Okinawa towards the end of WWII they found it in a state of moral and social collapse. But as they gradually advanced through the island, they came to the village of Shimbakuku. There they were greeted by two men - one carrying a Bible.

The soldiers entered the village cautiously, but were amazed to find everything neat and tidy, in contrast to the almost total chaos elsewhere. Why? 30 years earlier a missionary had stopped in Shimbakuku on his way to Japan. He didn't stay long and just two people, the old men, had become Christians.

He left a Bible, urging them to shape their lives by it. Following the Bible alone, others became Christians and the whole community was transformed. So the soldiers found no jail, no brothel, no drunkenness - just humble, contented people.

The war correspondent who first brought this story to light was Clarence Hall. He quoted his dumbfounded driver who said: 'So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old men who want to live like Jesus! Maybe we're using the wrong kind of weapons to change the world.'

The God of the Bible is able to make all things new, transforming lives. Jeremiah 31 says that at the heart of this transformation is the new covenant (verse 31), the 'new deal' which Jesus Christ brought between God and man. What are we told about the new covenant?

Its continuity (verses 31-33)

'The time is coming' declares the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel ...' (verse 31).

A covenant is God's promise according to which he administers the relationship between us and himself. God established this new covenant, after a series of previous covenants.

After the Fall of mankind, when Adam sinned, God gave a covenant to Noah. He promised never again to flood the world, guaranteeing seed-time and harvest. Later he made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make him a great nation and through him all the nations would be blessed. Later, as Abraham's family grew into a nation, he rescued them from Egypt, and through Moses entered into a covenant with Israel, referred to in verse 32. The ten commandments were central and as Israel obeyed God they would be blessed more than any other nation. Others would ask: 'Who is their God?' Later still, God refined that promise and made a covenant with King David, that his house, his kingdom, would endure forever.

This series of covenants is not ad hoc. It is not God trying one thing which doesn't work out so he tries something different. Rather, this series of covenants is the development of an overall plan of salvation for mankind. These covenants progressively unfold and build up to 'the new covenant'. All have the same stated aim: 'I will be their God and they will be my people' (verse 33). And from our privileged historical perspective we can look back and see how Jesus, the descendant of Abraham, of the nation of Israel living perfectly according to the Mosaic law, of David's royal house, has brought blessing to all the world through his everlasting kingdom. So there is continuity between these covenants.

But obviously, there are differences. 'It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers' (verse 32). For example, verses 29 and 30 tell us that under the new covenant people would no longer say, proverbially, 'the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth have been set on edge'. What's that about? The Mosaic covenant was a covenant with the whole nation. When things happen at a national level, individuals often bear the brunt of decisions taken by previous people in previous times. For example, Mrs. Thatcher decided to privatise the railways. A government 20 years ago ate the grapes, and got the cash. But our teeth are set on edge; we have inherited the chaos. Jeremiah was preaching at a time when the nation of Israel faced God's wrath over its failure to obey him. But often those failures went back to the bad decisions and sins of their kings, of previous generations. The new covenant will not be like that. It continues the same ultimate goal of knowing God, but it deals with us more as individuals (verse 30).

Its superiority (verses 33, 34)

Why is this new covenant better than the old one of Moses, where people ended up under God's anger?

The internalisation of God's law: 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel... I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts' (verse 33). Some think the ten commandments have little relevance today, even for Christians. But that is not true. They were written directly by the finger of God on to tablets of stone, showing their enduring validity. (All other Mosaic laws, ceremonial, civil and sacrificial, were temporary necessities flowing out of those ten commandments until Jesus came). This verse says that what God wrote on stone tablets in the covenant with Moses, God would now write on his people's hearts.

Here is the first superiority. The new covenant is not just an external code, telling us how to live. Those ten commandments are written into us; not just into our consciences, so we know what is right, but into our hearts so that we begin to love what is right. So if all those ten commandments are taken as promises - You shall have no other gods except the LORD, You shall keep the Lord's Day holy, You shall not commit adultery, etc. - then we rejoice. We say 'Yes!' from our hearts. We are not perfect but we do love God and want to live God's way. That's the mark that you really are a Christian.

That series of previous covenants proved that this is what was needed. Some people think that the trouble with the world is other people. 'If God got rid of all the bad people then all would be well', they say. But God did just that in the days of Noah, but the world grew no better because sin is in us all. Others might say: 'Well yes, but we're not that bad. If we are educated with right and wrong spelled out clearly, people are reasonable enough to choose good.' God did that through Moses, giving the best laws imaginable to Israel and promising a reward for keeping them. But they still went astray because each of us has a rebellious heart. Our problem of sin is heart deep. But here God truly changes us. In the new covenant, he writes his law, internally, on our hearts.

Ordinary people in Britain today are worried for their children. They see the drugs, the decay and violence. New drug laws, and more sex education will not cure it. What is required is a new heart through Christ.
The anointing of God's Spirit: 'No longer will a man teach his neighbour... saying, "Know the LORD", because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest' (verse 34). The Mosaic covenant was with the nation. God spoke to the people through priests like Samuel and prophets like Moses, and kings like David. These men knew God directly through his Holy Spirit and God spoke through them to encourage Israel to walk in his ways and 'know the LORD'. Israel could only 'know the LORD' through these men, who had the Spirit.

The nation at large had a real know-ledge of God, but it was at a distance; it was 'once removed'. It was not personal. In God's temple his glory shone. Yes, God dwelt in their land, but not with each person individually. So the prophets, priests and kings had to teach them to 'know the LORD'. But here is the second superiority of the new covenant. Under it there would be a personal, individual knowledge of God, for everyone. In a sense all the Lord's people become prophets because the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts. This is the great meaning of Pentecost! Through Jesus, the Spirit is poured out. By the Spirit of adoption we know God as Father!

The experience of God's forgiveness: 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more' (verse 34). How is it that the holy God can draw so close to us, when we are such moral messes? It is because under the new covenant our sin is truly taken away.

Under Moses's covenant the priests offered sacrifices for sins, but the sacrifices did not actually remove them (see Hebrews 10). However, a great change was coming. All the animal sacrifices did not ultimately achieve anything. Their real function was to point forward. But when Jesus was crucified as the sacrifice for our sin, our forgiveness was truly procured. 'When this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God... because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy' (Hebrews 10.12-14, and then Hebrews goes on to quote Jeremiah 31). On the basis of Jesus's death there is real forgiveness.

Using medical terminology for a moment, the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant at this point might be described as the difference between palliative care and a cure. Palliative care just alleviates symptoms. It might extend life a bit, but is not able to provide a remedy. The patient is still dying. That's the Mosaic sacrifices. But Christ is the true cure. He is the all-powerful antibiotic, the true antidote for the poison of sin.

Here is the God-given, rock solid basis for a totally new beginning in life. This is a far better covenant.

Its perpetuity (verses 35-37)

How do we know that this covenant will not go the way of other covenants and be superseded by something else? Through Jeremiah God gives us two great assurances from creation in verses 35-37. Think of the covenant with Noah. Only if the world passes away or you can ever measure the universe can you conclude that the new covenant no longer applies.

'But hold on', says someone. 'All this is great, but it only seems to be for Israel (verses 33 & 37). It seems there is no room for us Gentiles.' But go back to the Christmas story. 'Where is he who is born King of the Jews?' ask the wise men. Go back to the cross, and the sign written: 'Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews'. If Jesus is your king, then you are part of God's true Israel. These things are for you.

JEB
I am indebted to Dr. Joseph Pipa for the main headings of this article.

Jeremiah 31.27-37

Its continuity (verses 31-33)

Its superiority (verses 33, 34)

Its perpetuity (verses 35-37)

John Benton

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