I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…I will put My
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.
—Jeremiah 31:31, 33
When God made the first covenant
with Israel at Sinai, He said, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and
keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all
people” (Exodus 19:5). But Israel, unfortunately, did not have
the power to obey. Their whole nature was carnal and sinful. There was no
provision in the covenant for the grace that would make them obedient. The law
only served to show them their sin.
In Jeremiah 31, God promised to
make a new covenant in which provision would be made to enable men to live a
life of obedience. In this new covenant, the law was to be put in their minds
and written in their hearts, “not with ink, but with the Spirit of
the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:3), so that they could say
with David, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within
my heart” (Psalm 40:8). Through the Holy Spirit, the law and
the people’s delight in it would take possession of their inner lives. Or, as
we see in Jeremiah 32:40, God would put His fear in their hearts so that they
would not depart from Him.
In contrast to the Old Testament
covenant, which made it impossible to remain faithful, this promise ensures a
continual, wholehearted obedience as the mark of the believer who takes God at
His Word and fully claims what the promise secures.
Learn the lesson well. In the new
covenant, God’s mighty power is shown in the heart of everyone who believes the
promise, “They
shall not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:40). Bow in deep
stillness before God, and believe what He says. The measure of our experience
of this power of God, which will keep us from departing from Him, will always
be in harmony with the law: “According to your faith be it unto
you” (Matthew 9:29).
We need to make a great effort to
keep the contrast between the Old and New Testaments very clear. The Old had a
wonderful measure of grace, but not enough for continually abiding in the faith
of obedience. But that is the definite promise of the New Testament: the power
of the Holy Spirit leading the soul and revealing the fullness of grace to keep
us “unblameable
in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 3:13).
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