THE NEW COVENANT

ìëBehold, days are coming,í declares the Lord, ëwhen I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the
covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I
was a husband to them,í declares the Lord.
ìëBut this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after
those days,í declares the Lord, ëI will put My law within them, and on their
heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor, saying, ìKnow the
Lord,î for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of
them,í declares the Lord, ëfor I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I
will remember no more.í
ìThus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order
of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its
waves roar; the Lord of Hosts is His name: ëIf this fixed order departs from
before Me,í declares the Lord, ëthen the offspring of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation before Me for ever.í  Thus says the Lord, ëIf the heavens
above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out below,
then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have
done,í declares the Lord.î (Jer. 31:31-37)

Eight times in this brief passage of seven verses, the text of the New
Covenant is confirmed as the direct, explicit word of the Lord.  Six times we
are told that these words are trustworthy because so ìdeclares the Lord.î
Twice we are admonished, ìThus says the Lord.î  God wants us to know that
every word is important, and that every word will be fulfilled.
The text - Godís Words - makes it very clear that a new covenant is promised
to the Jewish people.  The text also makes it clear that nothing will prevent
God from establishing this new covenant which He has promised to the Jewish
people.  The words themselves cannot be understood in any other way.
God gave the promise of the New Covenant during some very dark days in the
history of the Jewish people.  Destruction, captivity, and exile had already
overtaken those living in the northern kingdom of Israel.  The same judgment
had now come to those living in the southern kingdom of Judah.
The unfaithfulness of the people of Israel had brought judgment from the God
of Israel.  (Please see ISRAELíS SIN AND GODíS FAITHFULNESS.)  In their own
land, they had chosen to follow the idolatrous ways of the Gentiles.  So God
had removed them from their land to go and live among the Gentiles.  God had
warned His people before they even entered the land that He would do that.
(cf. Lev. 26, Dt. 28)
 Through the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and through the exile
among the Gentiles, God was bringing the ultimate judgment upon the Jewish
people as a whole for breaking the Covenant of the Law.  As Daniel prayed in
exile: ìIndeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not
obeying Thy voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath
which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned
against Him.  Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us
and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under
the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to
Jerusalem.  As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come
on us.î (Dan. 9:11-13)
While that calamity, that ultimate judgment, was falling upon the whole house
of Israel, God promised that He would yet establish a new covenant.  This new
covenant would bring the Jewish people into right relationship with their God.
Since God makes it clear that He will fulfill this promise, its terms are very
important.
To begin with, the New Covenant is made by God with ìthe house of Israelî and
the ìhouse of Judah.î  The promise is given in the midst of judgment on those
ìhouses.î  It promises restoration.  ìëFor, behold, days are coming,í declares
the Lord, ëwhen I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.í
The Lord says, ëI will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their
forefathers, and they shall possess it.íî (Jer. 30:3)
God made a covenant ìwith their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt.î  The people that God brought out of
Egypt are the ìfathersî of those with whom God makes the New Covenant.  They
are the children of Israel, the Jewish people.
It is necessary here to ask some simple questions, because of the pivotal
theological importance of understanding this text, and because of the
traditional ways in which the text has been ignored.  To what is God referring
when He says, ìthe covenant which I madeî?  He is referring to the Covenant of
the Law which He made with all Israel at Sinai.
Did the fathers of the Jewish people keep the Covenant of the Law?  No, that
is why God speaks of ìMy covenant which they broke.î  Was God unfaithful to
Israel?  No, He says, ìI was a husband to them.î  (Please see ISRAELíS SIN AND
GODíS FAITHFULNESS.)
God did not forsake His people.  He promised to make the New Covenant with the
same people whose fathers broke the Old Covenant.  Which people is that?
There is only one possible answer: the Jewish people.
The Lord told Jeremiah, ìThe house of Israel and the house of Judah have
broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.î (Jer. 11:10)
Nevertheless, God promises them a future restoration: ìAt that time they shall
call Jerusalem ëThe Throne of the Lord,í and all the Gentiles will be gathered
to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor shall they walk anymore
after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah
will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land
of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.î (Jer.
3:17-18)
The New Covenant is a declaration of Godís faithfulness despite Israelís
unfaithfulness.  It brings restoration - restoration to the land and to the
Lord.  It creates a holy people for a holy God.  It is a covenant that is for
the benefit and well-being of individual Jews, but the covenant itself is not
made with individuals.  It is a corporate covenant.  It is made with the house
of Israel and the house of Judah.
How sure is Godís promise to the Jewish people?  The Lord directly challenges
any who think that He might ìcast off all the offspring of Israel for all that
they have done.î  First, He identifies Himself as the Creator and Controller
of all things - ìThus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and
the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the
sea so that its waves roar.î
Then He declares that His faithfulness to Israel is as sure as the ìstatutesî
of Creation and the covenant that He made with Noah: ìWhile the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease.î (Gen. 8:22)  It is even surer than that.  Those who
want to see God ìcast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have
doneî must measure the heavens and search out the foundations of the earth.
Not an easy task, to be sure.  God is declaring His eternal faithfulness to
Israel ñ îthe offspring of Israelî will not ìcease from being a nation before
Me forever.î
The Lord follows this declaration with specific promises concerning physical
Jerusalem. (Jer. 31:38-40)  Through the fulfillment of the New Covenant, God
will restore the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to Himself.  The
promise is as sure as God Himself.
Indeed, more than any other designation, the Lord refers to Himself as ìthe
God of Israel.î He calls Himself that hundreds of times throughout the Bible.
Nor should we forget the numerous times He calls Himself, ìShepherd of
Israel,î ìRock of Israel,î ìFather to Israel,î ìStone of Israel,î ìKing of
Israel,î ìMighty One of Israel,î ìHoly One of Israel,î ìGod in Israel,î ìGod
over Israel,î ìGod to Israel,î ìGod for Israel,î etc.  He also tells the world
that He is ìGod of Jacob,î ìHoly One of Jacob,î ìMighty One of Jacob,î
ìPortion of Jacob,î etc.
This is the way that God wants to be known.  That is why those who know Him
can say, ìThe Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.î
(Ps. 46:7, 11)  That is why He Himself says to Zion, ìFor your husband is your
Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of
Israel, who is called the God of all the earth.î (Is. 54:5)
Godís identity and integrity are bound up in His relationship with Israel.
King David prayed, ìAnd what one nation on the earth is like Thy people
Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for
Himself, and to do a great thing for Thee and awesome things for Thy land,
before Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed for Thyself from Egypt, from nations
and their gods? For Thou hast established for Thyself Thy people Israel as
Thine own people forever, and Thou, O Lord, hast become their God.î (2 Sam.
7:23-24)