Creating a New Covenant
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Key Verse: “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.” Selected Scriptures: |
THE KEY VERSE IN THIS LESSON, is taken from the promise made by God to create a New Covenant for the nation of Israel. It is called a “better covenant” than the old Law Covenant because it will have a better mediator than was Moses. (Heb. 8:5-8) He was not able to give life to the people, but the better mediator—our Lord Jesus together with his church—will have the power and authority to give life to Israel and the whole human family under the New Covenant.
The scriptural reading that is also included in this lesson is taken from the twenty-ninth chapter of Jeremiah, and promises that the nation of Israel would be blessed after having returned from their seventy years of captivity in Babylon. To receive this blessing, however, they were given definite instructions, and they were to act accordingly to the Lord’s commands. We read, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:12,13) It would require diligent effort on the part of God’s children to realize the blessings that were promised.
The promise of a new and better covenant is also recorded by Jeremiah the prophet. This is a most important step forward in the plan of reconciliation and recovery from sin and death for Israel and the whole world of mankind. The account reads, “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. … 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 neighbour, 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.”—Jer. 31:31-34
This wonderful promise, made by God centuries ago, will soon become a reality. This cannot occur, of course, until completion of the faithful bride class. (Rev. 2:10) These will share in the mediatorship of this new and wonderful covenant for the poor groaning creation. At that time, the blood of atonement will become available to be applied—first for Israel, and then for the whole human family. Love will become the law of mankind, and the Divine law will be rewritten in the hearts of men and be manifested in the very thoughts and intentions of those who seek God and pray unto him for blessings and guidance.
Obedience and acceptance of the conditions of the New Covenant will be required by all. Past sins will no more rise up in judgment against anyone who strives to do God’s will under the terms of his special promise to all the families of the earth. Let us all pray that the blessings of this covenant will soon come to pass.