Slices
Prepare
Pray or sing: ‘Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,/ Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;/ Because Thy promise I believe,/ O Lamb of God, I come, I come!’ (From the hymn ‘Just as I am’, Charlotte Elliott, 1789–1871.)
Bible passage
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
‘The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbours,
or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.’
13 By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Explore
The ‘blame game’ is as old as Eden. Adam pointed a finger at ‘the woman you put here with me’ (Genesis 3:12, NIV); and she, in turn, accused the serpent. But whenever we point a finger at someone, three fingers point right back at us!
A superficial reading may suggest that the old covenant needed replacing because it was flawed (v 7a). But then we read, ‘God found fault with the people’ who ‘did not remain faithful to my covenant’ (vs 8,9). There were no design flaws in God’s covenant. The inauguration of a new covenant didn’t repudiate the old. The heart of the covenant remained unchanged; but the central focus of the new covenant is changed hearts (v 10). The goal is not merely compliance with laws, but a conversion to love.
Augustine said: ‘Love, and do what thou wilt: … let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.’* Only a love relationship with God (v 10c) can awaken in us the desire to be holy; only the indwelling Holy Spirit makes such holiness possible.
*St Augustine, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol VII, ed. Philip Schaff, Cosimo Classics, 2007, p504
Respond
Jesus said, ‘If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit’ (John 15:5b, NIV). How faithful and how fruitful have you been lately?
Deeper Bible study
‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.’1 I begin by letting these words reverberate in my heart.
Today’s reading focuses on the new covenant, a treasure chest of God’s promises and the obligations which they incur and enable. I take time to survey the 15 occurrences of the word ‘covenant’ in Hebrews: 7:22; 8:6,8,9,10; 9:4,15,20; 10:16,29; 12:24; 13:20.2 The first reference in the Bible to ‘covenant’ is God’s promise to Noah in Genesis 6:18; Hebrews 13:20 is the last reference in the New Testament. In the ordinary language of law, for example, ‘covenant’ means something like ‘agreement’, or ‘contract’, but in the Bible the word refers to God’s promise, ‘I will be your God and you shall be my people’.3 Moses read the ‘Book of the Covenant’ to the Israelites in Exodus 24:7; it was summarised on two stone tablets in Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:19 shows Moses breaking these tablets when he saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf; two new stone tablets were prepared in Exodus 34. These stories encapsulate the whole sorry history of Israel, which Jeremiah also experienced – the Israelites had broken and forsaken the covenant but – wonder of wonders – God is going to make a new covenant with his people because of his everlasting love.4
This is the focus of the delighted and long quotation from Jeremiah in today’s reading. In many European churches in the past it was possible to see the Ten Commandments written in stone, but it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to write these commandments in our minds and hearts and to give us (all of us, v 11, not just a priestly class) the power to fulfil them. Our world (and our lives?) are strewn with broken promises, which causes us to be suspicious of grace. Jesus is the mediator and the guarantor of this new covenant; the depth of his commitment is measured by his blood poured out for us.
‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.’5 For this, with all my heart, with all my life, I love you, Lord.
1 Luke 22:20 2 In Heb 9:16 and 17 this word is rendered ‘will’ 3 See Gen 17:7,8; Exod 6:7; Rev 21:2,3 4 Jer 11:10; 22:9; 31:31; 31:3 5 Luke 22:20
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Samuel 19,20; 1 Corinthians 8
Pray for Scripture Union
Mission Enabler Jenni Whymark provides support to the Jeremiah Project organised by churches in Portsmouth, which trains young people in leadership in church and community. They are planning an outreach event for summer 2020. Pray that as the young people meet tonight, they will be full of expectation at what God will do, even in the uncertainty of the current situation.