Slices
Prepare
Pray: ‘Holy Spirit, please write your truth in my mind and on my heart today. Amen.’
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13 By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.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
I am reminded daily to upgrade my gadgets or update apps. If I don’t, I miss out on the improvements the software engineers or manufacturers have made.
Through Jeremiah’s prophecies (vs 7–12; Jeremiah 31:31–34), God told his people of a covenant ‘update’ that would make the old covenant obsolete. God’s old covenant was good but limited in its effectiveness. God’s new covenant would achieve everything the old one could not.
Under the old covenant, God’s people were called to be holy, set apart in relationship to their holy God. They failed. That is why sacrifices were required to cover their sin. Yet animal sacrifices did not do the job effectively because the high priest had to offer them day after day, year after year. God’s new covenant, sealed by Jesus’ blood (7:22; see Luke 22:20) offers us a complete amnesty of our sin (v 12).
Now there is no hierarchy, with some closer to God than others (v 11). Everyone who trusts Jesus is welcomed into the presence of God to know him as he knows us (v 10). And now God works by his Spirit to make us holy from the inside out, transforming our minds and hearts into the likeness of Christ (v 10; Romans 12:2).
Respond
How is God using your current circumstances to make you aware of his presence and grow you in holiness?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Jeremiah 42,43; John 16
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the Scripture Union Leadership team as they continue to discern God’s plans for the movement. Ask that God will bless each of them as they make important decisions and seek to lead their teams with purpose and clarity.
