Jeremiah Teaches Personal Religion

JEREMIAH 8:4-6—The title of today’s lesson is true in the sense that the attitude of a nation toward God is determined by the individual righteousness of those who make up the nation. This was true with Israel. Jeremiah had been sent to Israel with a message calling for repentance, but “no man repented him of his wickedness,” and this individual sin of the people spelled doom for the nation.

Israel continued in sin because the people allowed themselves to he deceived into a false sense of security by lying prophets. They were a backsliding people, and continued to be so because they held fast to the deceptions which blinded them to their own unrighteousness. Thus was the way prepared for the downfall of the nation in 606 B.C., when their last king, Zedekiah, was taken captive to Babylon.

JEREMIAH 31:29-34—This is more of a prophecy than it is a lesson on personal religion, although it does point to a time when each individual will be held accountable to the Lord for his own righteousness or lack of righteousness. The proverb of the fathers eating a sour grape and their children’s teeth being set on edge has a wide application in the experiences of the human race, father Adam being the first to sin and by heredity inflicting the result of his transgression upon his children.

The Apostle Paul explains that by one man’s disobedience sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death has passed upon all men because all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12,19) This is Paul’s way of describing in literal language what Jeremiah illustrates by the proverb of the sour grape as it has applied in times past, and still applies today.

But Jeremiah assures us that this will not always be true, that a time is coming when each individual who transgresses the divine law will himself be the one to suffer, and that the result of his own sin will not be passed on to his offspring. This complete reversal of human experience is to be brought about during the Millennium, through the administration of the laws of Christ’s kingdom, the result of adamic sin having been set aside by the redemptive work of Christ.

And that will be the time also, when the Lord, in fulfillment of this promise, will “make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” (Verse 31) Those who imagine that this foretold New Covenant arrangement was inaugurated by Jesus at his first advent should note well the context in which it is presented, for it is clearly shown to be one of the Lord’s arrangements which will become effective only with the establishment of the messianic kingdom.

The promise is that this New Covenant will be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This prophecy was given following the division that occurred in the nation of Israel, when the ten tribes became known as Israel, and the two tribes as Judah. But God did not recognize this division so far as his covenant promises were concerned, for almost every prophecy which was made pertaining to the nation after the division occurred specifically mentions both Israel and Judah. It is a mistaken notion some have that God from that time on began to deal differently with Israel than with Judah.

The New Covenant arrangements will not be limited to Israel and Judah, although these natural descendants of Abraham will be the first to have the blessings of the kingdom offered to them. Ezekiel 16:60-63 reveals that Gentiles will become associated with Israel and will be blessed together with them under the New Covenant arrangements.

The making of the New Covenant with Israel and the world will be a work requiring the thousand years of Christ’s reign, for it involves the writing of God’s law in the hearts of the people. This is one way of describing a work of restitution that will take place in the hearts of the people.

Adam was in covenant relationship with the Lord before he sinned. There was no written law at that time, but being in the image of God, the divine law was a very part of Adam’s being. So it will be with restored Israel and the world at the close of the thousand years of Christ’s reign, and thus they will have entered into full covenant relationship with God.

As Moses was the mediator of the covenant given at Sinai, so Jesus will be the Mediator of the New Covenant. The church of Christ will serve together with him as mediators or, as the apostle states it, “able ministers of the new testament [or covenant].” (II Cor. 3:6) The preparatory work looking toward the inauguration of the New Covenant began with the first advent of Jesus. It will be his blood that will seal that covenant, and each one of his followers is being trained for the high position of joint-heirship with him in administering the terms of that covenant, but the covenant itself will not become operative until this preparation is completed.

When the work of making the New Covenant is complete, the knowledge of God’s righteousness and glory will fill the whole earth, and no one will need to say to his neighbor, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know him. What a glorious day that will be, and may the hope of its coming inspire us to greater faithfulness in showing forth the Lord’s glory!

QUESTIONS

What was the final result of Israel’s continued disobedience?

How is the truth of the sour grape proverb stated in the New Testament?

When will the New Covenant be made with Israel and Judah, and will Gentiles participate therein?

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