Faith for the Future

MEMORY SELECTION: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” —Jeremiah 31:33

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 32:8-10, 13-15; 33:12, 14-16

FOREMOST in Jeremiah’s mind was Israel’s captivity in Babylon. He prophesied the nation’s destruction and warned of the impending calamity that was to befall them. He also prophesied that the children of Israel would one day return to their land of promise. Then God’s promise would come true and his laws of righteousness would be written in the hearts of the people.

At that time all men will be given an individual opportunity to gain the blessing of life; for “in those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”—31:29,30

This is a reference to father Adam, who ate the “sour grape” of sin and plunged his progeny, the entire human family (“children” in the prophecy), into death. Jeremiah shows that this situation will be changed in due time. The outworking of the divine plan promises the recovery of the human family from the ravages of sin and death. When Christ’s kingdom is established, no one will die because of father Adam’s sin. At that time the only ones who will have to die will be those individuals who willfully transgress the divine law. This is a promise, not only for the children of Israel, but also for the whole world of mankind.

The transgressions of Adam and the human family were laid upon our Lord Jesus, who died to eradicate all sin from the world. When Christ’s kingdom is established, every member of the human family will have ample opportunity to demonstrate his own obedience to the law of God under favorable conditions. Those who choose righteousness will gain everlasting life.

The New Covenant is the arrangement whereby God’s law will be administered by our Lord and his church, the faithful members of his bride, who have proved their worthiness during the present Gospel Age.

The memory selection contains a portion of that New Covenant of promise. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”—31:31-34

This foretells a time when the human family will be restored to fellowship and harmony with God. Adam once enjoyed that perfect relationship. In due time the image of God will again be reflected in the hearts and lives of mankind, even as it was in Adam when he was created and before he was disobedient.

The New Covenant is an expression of God’s law of love, which will gradually be written in the hearts of men during the kingdom reign of Christ and his church. The diffusion of knowledge and light at that time will reach every part of the world, and it will not be necessary for any to say, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know him “from the least of them even unto the greatest.”

In the midst of the most trying and difficult circumstances in connection with Jerusalem’s captivity, Jeremiah, as the prophet of God, foresaw a day when the purposes and plans of the divine program would triumph in the hearts and minds of the children of Israel. A more far-reaching prospect, however, inspires our confidence in the divine plan to usher in times of blessing for all the families of the earth.

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