Slices
Prepare
Ponder: what does the word ‘forgiveness’ mean to you, personally? Talk to God about this in prayer.
Bible passage
27 ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,’ declares the Lord. 29 ‘In those days people will no longer say,
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30 Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes – their own teeth will be set on edge.
31 ‘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.
32 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 broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,’
declares the Lord.
33 ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbour,
or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,’
declares the Lord.
‘For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.’
35 This is what the Lord says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar –
the Lord Almighty is his name:
36 ‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’
declares the Lord,
‘will Israel ever cease
being a nation before me.’
37 This is what the Lord says:
‘Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,’
declares the Lord.
38 ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.’
Explore
Jeremiah’s prophecy depicts the rebuilding of a nation that hasn’t even been destroyed and taken into exile yet, but the picture he paints is startlingly new. The Old Covenant agreed through Moses of ‘I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God’ (Exodus 6:7), is now up for renewal. This time, God’s people will know him for themselves, without the need of teachers or priests to teach them because ‘they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest’ (v 34).
Ever since then, Christians have seen these words as foreshadowing the coming of the worldwide church, where the kingdom of God promised by Jesus is ‘within you’ (Luke 17:21, KJV). So… why still have preachers and teachers, if we already ‘know’ it? Perhaps the answer lies in the next phrase: ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more’ (v 34b). And there we have it. Sin separates us from God and each other, which is why the Lord’s Prayer emphasises repeatedly asking God for forgiveness as we forgive others. It’s a hard lesson (often needing reminders from teachers, priests etc) but Jeremiah’s image of a restored kingdom of grace is waiting to be lived out by every one of us, today.
Respond
Have you a secret ‘sin’ that feels too hard to bring to God? Think again, bringing it to the cross. Christ is waiting there to meet you.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Jeremiah 49,50; John 18
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Mission Partner Artless. They are touring with their stage show Prodigal – a modern retelling of the parable through live cinema – and for their conference for Christian Creatives, ‘More than the Art’. Pray that Jon and Chris will always be in step with God’s will and never lose the heart of reaching people with the gospel.
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