Start with Scripture:
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OBSERVE:
Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem in an extremely difficult time. Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had long before been swept away by the Assyrian empire in 722 B.C. But now a new “bully” had arisen, the Babylonian empire. The Babylonians actually invaded Judah and Jerusalem three times between 597 and 582 B.C.
Poor Judah, the Southern Kingdom, was wedged between two mighty superpowers: the Babylonians and the Egyptians. And the kings of Judah vacillated between throwing their lot in with Babylon or Egypt.
It was in this context that Jeremiah was trying to warn the king and the people that destruction was coming. A big part of the reason for that is that they have been guilty of idolatry, oppressing the poor, and seeking security in false alliances.
Jeremiah accuses his people of having broken the covenant that God had put into place at Sinai: Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’” (Jeremiah 11:6-8).
But here’s the good news – God will make a new covenant between himself and his people. Jeremiah uses the image of marriage to describe the relationship between God and Judah – I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
This imagery of marriage between God and his people is used often by the other prophets as well, especially Hosea – but it’s not necessarily a happy image. In fact, the people of Israel have been unfaithful to their divine “husband” and the covenant has been broken.
Hence the need for a new covenant. Only this time the covenant won’t be an external set of laws. Instead, God says, I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
This law will be internal. And God will once again “marry” them. In other words, this law will be based not on external do’s and don’ts, but on relationship. The people will know the Lord in their own hearts and minds, and their previous sins will be forgiven.
APPLY:
It’s easy to see why New Testament writers apply this passage to the New Covenant introduced by Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:6 suggests that this New Covenant is the Covenant of the Spirit at work in our lives: not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The external law, written by Moses, can tell us what holiness and righteousness are, but that law does not make us holy and righteous. Only the inner law, written on our hearts through the Spirit, completes God’s saving work. And it is all God’s Spirit that accomplishes this, not human works righteousness.
Paul points out that the Mosaic law had only a fading glory, because it could not deliver glory but only condemnation. But the ministry of the Spirit brings true righteousness, because it comes from the Lord: the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
RESPOND:
The promises of God aren’t new. They have been attested to long ago: that righteousness is received by faith (Genesis 15:6); that the Spirit writes his law of love on the heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34); that this Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28-29).
So, God is changing me from the inside out rather than the outside in. My relationship with him isn’t based on how well I keep the list of do’s and don’ts, but on what God is doing in my life through his Spirit. Rather than trying to clean me up on the exterior, he is cleaning me up from the interior.
God has performed heart surgery in my life, and now is completing the work that he has started.
Lord, by my faith in Christ you are already rewriting the “code” in my heart. From legalism and self-righteousness, may your Spirit make you known to me more deeply, and may I live out the law of love in my life. Amen.
PHOTOS: The background photo: “Vapour trail heart” by audi_insperation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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