WWUTT 2519 The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-40)

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said that he was bringing a new covenant, not like the old one which passed away, but a new covenant that would never pass away.

It is the new covenant that we have in Christ, when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that we may press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We've been in Jeremiah chapter 31 for a few weeks now, and we've finally come to that portion that the chapter is most known for.

That is the new covenant that God makes with Israel and Judah, and we know from what is said in Hebrews chapter 8, this new covenant

God makes with his church as well. Not like the old covenant, which could be broken, but the new covenant will not be broken.

A new covenant sealed in Christ's blood. Let me read for you here to start off.

I'll go verses 31 to 50. Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, declares the

Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the

Lord. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their

God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying,

Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the

Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day and fix the order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.

The Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the

Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.

Thus says the Lord. If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then

I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the

Lord. Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the

Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate, and the measuring line shall go out farther straight to the hill of Gerob, and shall then turn to Goa.

The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook

Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be sacred toward the Lord.

It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.

Now we know that God is addressing Israel and Judah who have been sent into exile.

Israel was exiled by the Assyrians before the exile of the Jews to Babylonian captivity.

God is promising that he's going to bring them back together again, and they are going to be one. He is going to make a new covenant with them, and unlike the old covenant, this covenant cannot be overthrown.

So it is the Jews and Israel that God is addressing, or Israel as one.

And yet we understand that this new covenant is inaugurated in Christ, and it is given to all who believe in Christ Jesus.

So there's types and shadows that are going on here. There is a promise that God is giving that won't be fulfilled until Christ comes.

Let me read to you. I think it's good for us to read this and now keep it in mind in light of the teaching that we find in Hebrews chapter eight.

So let me start in Hebrews eight, verse one, and I'm going to go through the whole chapter. So I'll read the whole chapter to you here.

It's just 13 verses. Now the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the

Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, thus it is necessary for the priest also to have something to offer.

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

They serve a copy and shadow type and shadow of the heavenly things. For when

Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

For he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming declares the

Lord when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant.

And so I showed no concern for them declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days declares the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their

God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying, no, the

Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

Verse 13 and speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Now understand something and the reason why I read that so closely together with what we've just read in Jeremiah chapter 31.

This is a new covenant, meaning the old one has passed away. And if there is a new covenant and the old one that is obsolete is gone, it was being made obsolete when the letter was written to the

Hebrews. What is becoming obsolete is growing old and ready to vanish away, which did happen.

It happened with the destruction of the temple that would occur in AD 70. So everything that was old was gone.

Even that was anticipating the destruction of the temple that was coming, which Jesus himself prophesied, the apostle

Paul talked about. And of course it came to fulfillment in the Jewish Roman war that took place in AD 70 when

Titus led the Roman troops into Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed.

The stones were thrown down off of the temple mount. It was completely deconstructed just as Jesus had said would happen in the

Olivet discourse. So it came to pass. That was such a major event in world history.

It's one of those things that we probably don't think so much about because the temple did not exist in our lifetime.

There are certain people of a certain eschatological persuasion that believe that temple is going to be rebuilt again.

So they're anticipating the rebuilding of the temple. But we never have seen that temple in our lifetimes.

The Jews could not have comprehended the non -existence of the temple.

They thought if the temple was going to be destroyed, then that was going to be the end of the world. And yet Jesus prophesied that it was going to happen and said it would not be the end of the world.

But yet we even have here in Hebrews 8 that it's showing the previous covenant coming to an end.

And this new one has come through Christ. So again, here's the point that I'm making is that if the old one is gone and we have this new covenant, there is no longer a distinction between the house of Israel and Gentile Christians.

We're all one in one covenant. There's not two covenants. There's one.

The old one had become obsolete and passed away. So it's not an old covenant and a new covenant existing side by side.

There is only the new covenant. And the only way you can be in covenant with God, in a favorable covenant with God, is to believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. A covenant that was inaugurated by the shedding of his blood. And unlike the old covenant, this one cannot be broken.

Let's come back to Jeremiah 31, 31 and start reading there again. Behold, the days are coming, declares the

Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It's important for us to see that the church is

Israel because this covenant that God is making with Israel and the house of Judah is given also to the church, who is the

Ekklesia, the called out assembly of people. That word in Greek that's translated church in the

New Testament. Jesus saying in Matthew chapter 16, I will build my Ekklesia, my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

That same Greek word is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament for Israel.

So that word applies to both the church and to Israel. It's one of the reasons why when you read

Matthew Henry's commentary, that he will call Israel the church and he will call the church

Israel. You'll see those terms used interchangeably in Henry's commentary, and it's because he's recognizing that in the

Greek translation of the Old Testament and in the Greek of the New Testament, the same word applies to Israel and the church.

They are the Ekklesia. We are the called out, the ones that have been called out by God from the world to himself.

There is one people of God, not two. And so this covenant that's given to the house of Israel and the house of Judah is a covenant that God makes with his people through Christ.

It is not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the

Lord. Verse 33, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days, I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their

God and they shall be my people. So God's commands to us are not written on stone tablets outside of us.

His law is written on our hearts. As the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter three, do we overthrow the law by this faith?

By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. It is our desire to do good and fulfill the law that God has given.

Later on, Paul will say in Romans 13 that love is the fulfilling of the law.

So when you love your neighbor, you're not killing them, right? You're not coveting what he has.

You're not committing adultery with his wife. You love your neighbor and so fulfill those things that the law demands.

And we delight to do it because we want to serve God. We demonstrate that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ who obeyed the law perfectly.

He fulfilled the law. He accomplished by his perfect life the thing that we could not do in our lives.

We could not keep the law perfectly. We were going to sin at every point, but Jesus kept it at every point so that he becomes the perfect spotless lamb of God who dies on the cross for our sins.

All who believe in him are clothed in the righteousness that he has because he perfectly kept the law.

And so now we demonstrate that we have the righteousness of Christ when we live out those things that God has commanded us.

Our following his commands does not affect our salvation, but it's because we are saved that we show the righteousness of Christ that we have been given.

Because we've been saved, it doesn't make us saved. It's because we're saved. So where the

Lord goes on to say here, I will be their God. They shall be my people. That's definitely to the church.

Those words are repeated in Revelation chapter 22 verse 34 and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the

Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.

In first Peter chapter two, Peter says to the whole church that you are all a royal priesthood.

So we don't have priests who teach us and priests who must mediate on our behalf.

All of us can know the Lord through Jesus Christ. He is our high priest.

And as pointed out there in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter eight, he is not serving us on earth.

If he was on earth, he would not need to be a priest for us because there's already priests that are doing that.

But he is mediating a better covenant that is built on better promises. And he does this in the heavenly places on our behalf.

And so we all know God through Jesus Christ. From the least of us to the greatest, we all know the

Lord. There is no one who has greater favor in the eyes of God than another.

We have all come to the presence of God, have been reconciled to God, have fellowship with him because of what

Christ has accomplished on our behalf. And so we have this in verses 35 and 36.

Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.

The Lord of hosts is his name. This showing and giving exaltation to the

God who made all things and holds all things together. Verse 36. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the

Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from becoming a nation before me forever.

Now, understand here, Israel is the church. Remember what the apostle

Paul says in Romans chapter nine, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

So this cannot be about an ethnic people who have descended through a particular ethnic line.

And these are the people whom God will preserve to himself when some of those who were

Israel were not actually Israel. The nation that we are talking about here is a spiritual nation, and it is the nation of the church.

And God's people will never depart from before him. Again, Jesus statement in Matthew chapter 16,

I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And so this people that God calls to himself, his ecclesia, who will be his

Israel are a spiritual Israel who have been made children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul makes that point in Galatians chapter three. All who believe in Christ are therefore children of Abraham.

It is the children of faith who are the children of Abraham. And remember that in first Peter chapter two,

I go back to that chapter again, where Peter calls the church, not just a holy priesthood, but also a royal nation.

So the church is a nation. We are that nation who stands before God.

We are the Christian nation. You hear about Christian nationalism, right?

Making all the nations Christian. It would be great if a nation becomes Christianized, but the only true

Christian nation that exists is the church. And so going on in verse 37, thus says the

Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then

I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done declares the

Lord. Now, I believe that the nation of Israel as ethnic Israel still exists on the earth today to demonstrate that God is faithful to his covenant promises.

I believe that is the case. Their purpose now is to see how

Jews will come to faith in Jesus Christ and so be reconciled to God that way.

Not because they are Israel, but because Christ is Israel. See, Christ is really the true

Israel. We had read that previously in Isaiah 49 verse three. He said to me, you are my servant

Israel in whom I will be glorified. And by the way, that's talking to the

Messiah. When you read Isaiah 49 in context, it's the Messiah, the coming Messiah who's being addressed.

You are my servant Israel. So Jesus is true and faithful Israel. And according to Romans 11, all who are in Christ Jesus are grafted into Israel.

So whether they are born Jew or Gentile, we're all Israel, the people of God through Jesus Christ.

And that's who this covenant is being made with. Verse 38, behold, the days are coming declares the

Lord when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate and the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill

Gerab and shall then turn to Goa. The whole valley of the dead bodies in the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook

Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore.

So what does this paragraph mean? These three verses that close out Jeremiah 31.

Again, this is not talking about something physical, but it's talking about something spiritual.

Indeed, the city will be rebuilt for the Lord. The Jews, the Israelites would return again.

We're talking about types and shadows here. So he is addressing an actual ethnic people who will return from their exile back to the land and they will rebuild

Jerusalem. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook

Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be sacred to the Lord. But even this, this physical rebuilding of Jerusalem is pointing to, it's a type in a shadow that is pointing to a greater spiritual reality for the church is

Jerusalem. That's revealed in the book of Revelation. We are the new

Jerusalem. And so the Lord saying it shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever does not mean that these borders will not be broken down again.

Because when you go back up to verse 28, God had said, it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down to overthrow, destroy and bring harm.

So I will watch over them to build into plant declares the Lord. So that was in reference to judgment.

Therefore, same reference at the end of verse 40, it shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.

It will not perish under judgment. The new Jerusalem. So we who are the new

Jerusalem will not perish, but we will have everlasting life. John 3, 16 for God so loved the world.

He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

And remember in the context in which that was said there in John 3, 16, the previous example that had been given was from the book of numbers.

Just as Moses raised up the standard in the wilderness, the, the bronze serpent on the, on the post, just as Moses raised that up so that whoever looked at it would be healed of their snake bites.

So must the son of man be lifted up. Jesus said that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

And then the next verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only son,

Jesus came not just for the Jews. He came for all tribes, tongues, languages, nations, who would believe in him, the world of people who would come to faith in Jesus Christ and so become the people of God.

And this people will never perish from the earth. Even when

Jesus returns, he's making a new heavens and a new earth so that his people will inhabit where righteousness dwells forever.

So this is the promise of the new covenant made in Jeremiah 31 that we see fulfilled in Christ and all who are in Christ.

Jesus are in that new covenant, which God will never take away. As Jesus says in John 10, my father gives them to me and no one is able to snatch them from my hand.

We are in Christ forever. Heavenly father, we thank you for this good news that was spoken hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

And then he comes and fulfills what was prophesied about a new covenant dying on the cross for our sins, rising again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God.

But we have everlasting life, part of a covenant that will never come to an end.

It will never be removed from us. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God and will dwell with you forever.

May in this life we demonstrate by our lives that we belong to Christ. And it's in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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