The New and Better Covenant

Thursday morning, May 29, 2008
Yesterday, I received a call from a friend, who was questioning me about Jeremiah 31, the portion of it where God says that He will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Earlier he had read an article I had written in which I indicated that the new covenant was a covenant between God and Jesus, unlike the old covenant, which was a covenant between God and Israel. Simply stated, in the old covenant God said that He would do His part, provided that Israel would do her part; but in the new covenant He said that He would do His part and our part and we would simply be the beneficiaries of His grace and mercy.
From a casual look at this Jeremiah passage, it appears that God made this new covenant between Himself and Israel, not between Himself and Jesus, as I had indicated; however, things are not always as they appear. Look at what is actually said: “’Behold days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when 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,’ declares the Lord.’ But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I 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 and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; NASB).
You see, this New Covenant was, indeed, made with Israel (True Israel, i.e. every believer, be he Jew, Gentile, or South Georgia Red Neck) but it was a covenant between God and Jesus and for good reason; otherwise, it, like the old covenant, would fail. The success of the New Covenant depends not upon our performance but upon His faithfulness. When He took us out of the equation and replaced us with Jesus, He guaranteed the success of the covenant. Remember: the Old Covenant had weaknesses (see Hebrews 8:6-7 and forward), not the least of which is this: Israel could not hold up her end of the bargain, not to mention that we (Gentiles) were excluded from it!
This new and better covenant has better promises, primarily because God and Jesus are the ones making the promises (neither of whom can lie), not man (who cannot keep a promise!), AND we (Gentiles) are included in the covenant!! Hallelujah!!
Yes, God made the New Covenant with Israel (True Israel) but, thankfully, the covenant itself is between God and Jesus—they made the promises, even the promise never to remember our sins again!!
Because he asked, I thought you might want to know, as well!

Blessings,

Mac