WEDNESDAY, 8 MAY 2024
TEXT:
Jeremiah 31:23-37
23:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them
back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once
again use these words: ‘The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred
mountain.’
24:
People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move
about with their flocks.
25:
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
26:
At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
27:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals.
28:
Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy
and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares
the Lord.
29:
“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30:
Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their
own teeth will be set on edge.
31:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with
the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32:
It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I
was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,”
declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34:
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the
Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their
sins no more.”
35:
This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who
decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its
waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name:
36:
“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will Israel
ever cease being a nation before me.”
37:
This is what the Lord says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the
foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the
descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.
(New International Version Holy
Bible)
TOPIC:
FROM THE OLD COVENANT TO THE NEW COVENANT
Jeremiah
received a revelation about the restoration of Judah to their homeland.
According
to this vision, Israel would be restored and united under the leadership of God
in the 'New Covenant' which is different from the one God made with their
forefathers.
We
can say that the prophecy had more than one fulfilment. The first part was
fulfilled when Judah was restored home from the Babylonian captivity.
However,
its greater fulfilment came through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection which
reconciled not only the believing Jew but the Gentile who believes in Him as
Saviour and Lord.
This
prophecy will find ultimate fulfilment in the last days of this age when we
will see a massive turn of the Israelites to Jesus as their true Messiah and
Redeemer.
The
Old Covenant will be replaced because of its inadequacy to finally save us. So,
in Jesus we have this New Covenant.
QUESTION:
If God had not expressed His grace to humanity through the New Covenant, what
would have been your hope for living?
PRAYER:
Glory and honour to the Lord God Almighty for the New Covenant which has
brought us salvation by faith. Hallelujah.
Remain
Blessed
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