The New Covenant

Oh, What A Savior Written By: Bekah Rooker

 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (English Standard Version)

I often wonder what the hearers of this prophecy might have been thinking. “A New Covenant” “…His law within them and written on their hearts…”  How could this be? What type of animal could die so that I could have this privilege. We are granted the knowledge of knowing that it was Jesus who would give his life. That He is our assuredly  but for those in Jeremiah’s time there would have been know way of knowing that this was even a possibility. For “…all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest…” It was only the priest or prophets who were able to know God. Hear God’s voice or speak for Him. Now it is being declared that ALL will know Him. Again, we have to understand that it must have been a strange thing to hear this, but God had Jeremiah proclaim it anyway. He had many scribes over the centuries to write these words down. So that when Jesus came on the scene there would be no doubt that God had this as his plan. 

The best part: forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. To be completely forgiven. To not have that sin be held against you as to why you can not know God or be disqualified for being His. Think about that: Through Jesus we are forgiven and He has chosen not to remember our former life. This truly is a new covenant with much better promises then we can even truly grasp. Oh, what a Savior! Oh, what a price He paid for me. 

Lord, I do turn away from the sin that so easily creeps up on me. On the outward sin of not loving my neighbor as I should be also the inward sins of selfishness and greed. I can do NOTHING without your Grace and Mercy. All I can do is be grateful and receive what you did on the cross. 

Father, I thank you for the New Covenant. I thank you for coming up with this plan and idea because I’m pretty sure we could have never thought of it ourselves. We are mere humans and yet You think of us. We have truly nothing to give You that even compares to all you have given to us. My entire life seems like such a ridiculous exchange for all you did. But I give myself to you today. I am not my own, you purchased me. Now I vow to live my life for you and to please you in all I say and do.