As Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant in chapter 31, he notes that there has been a problem in the old covenant–not a problem with the covenant itself, nor a problem with the covenant’s God, but a problem with the covenant people. Though God was a husband to them, they were a wayward wife. They were not faithful. Yet, God offers a response, a new covenant.
God not only offers the law as a word from the outside, but he sets the hearts of his people apart such that they obey it.It’s crucial to note, of course, what is new is not entirely new. God takes the law, the Torah, the instruction from the old covenant, and he drives it home deeper as it were. He writes it upon their very hearts. This fits with teaching from Deuteronomy 30 where God not only offers the law to them as a word from the outside, but we are told there that he will circumcise their hearts. He will set their hearts apart such that they obey the law, and they do it.
Notice, though, it is writing the law. It is writing that which is already given, that which is old, in fact, internalizing it upon God’s people’s very heart such that it is what they desire. It is what they love. It is what they cherish. It is the love of God that they know and love; the God they are united to.
There are two other blessings we see here. We see that all will know God. You will not have to say to your brother or neighbor, “Know the Lord,” for all will know the Lord. You will have what might be called a fully regenerate community.
Third, we see that there will be real forgiveness of sins. He will remember their iniquities no more. Of course, we see New Testament texts speaking of the initial fulfillment of these promises. Hebrews, for example, speaks of how that sacrifice to end all sacrifices has been offered. Jesus, having made purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Father.
We look forward to a time where God’s people will be pure and unmixed; genuine and true in every respect.The New Covenant has been inaugurated. Of course, we see that the new covenant hasn’t yet been fulfilled. The church remains a mixed multitude. There are wheat and tares. There are sheep and goats. All of whom seem to follow the Lord, to honor the Lord, to worship the Lord, and even to do mighty works for the Lord, as we read in Matthew 25.
We live in this time between the times, as we speak of in biblical theology: a time of the already and the not yet, where blessings of the law being written on the heart and of atonement being offered are true and real and we can bank on them and rely on and look back to their accomplishments; yet, we look forward to a time where we will, without any hindrance, follow the law ceaselessly. We look forward to a time where God’s people will be pure and unmixed, where we will be genuine and true in every respect, and where the sheep and the goats will be separated, as it were.
We live in the time and season of the new covenant. We also live in a time that we have to call “an overlap of the ages” where we have tasted of the heavenly things, but we long for the wedding feast of the Lamb. We live in a time of faith, not of sight.
