June 04, 2025 | Be God's Family
The New Covenant in Jesus
Scripture: Hebrews 8:7-13(NIV)
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
“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.
9 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 did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 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.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Devotional
“To everything turn, turn, turn,
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven”
Tell me you didn’t just sing those familiar words? The lyrics are based on Ecclesiastes 3 and point us to an idea that is reflected in today’s passage – that, in Jesus, there is a new season, a time for a new covenant under heaven.
The first covenant was established to teach and guide the Israelites in the ways of God – how to live, how to treat others and how to follow and worship the one, true God. God was leading them, “by the hand”, as parents lead and teach their children. However, the Israelites weren’t faithful to God. They failed to live up to their end of the covenant. So, God “turned away from them”, which in Hebrew means to neglect or ignore them. Notice, however, God never left them.
But the first covenant was not God’s ultimate plan for His people. Rather, it was something that pointed to an even greater plan. The author quotes the prophet Jeremiah, showing that, through Scripture, it was always God’s plan to establish a “new and improved” covenant. Keep in mind that Jeremiah was promising a new COVENANT, not a new LAW.
While the first covenant was between God and Israel, because of Jesus, the new covenant is offered to ALL people. It’s offered through grace. John Wesley said, “the covenant of grace doth not require us to do anything at all . . . (for) justification but only to believe in him” (WJW, 1:207) Believing in Jesus as our High Priest, all people have direct access to God. We are offered a personal and intimate relationship with God.
The new covenant offers total transformation. We are made brand new. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) And because we are made new, we will carry God’s covenant in our hearts and minds, not written in stone. It will become part of our innermost being, shaping our emotions, our longings and our behaviors.
The old system of continual sacrifice is no longer necessary. Jesus has offered the once and for all sacrifice and has paid the debt for our sins. And best of all “(God) will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34b) Not only will God forgive us, but God will no longer remember our transgressions. Hallelujah!
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)
Poem
I Will, I Will, I Will
Jeremiah 31:31-34
“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. 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.”
Jeremiah 31:33b-34
The Greater to the Lesser
“I will, I will, I will…”
Vows, promises, full guarantees
New covenant fulfill
The Lesser hears the Greater
“I will, I will, I will…”
Unable to match faithfulness
The best response—be still
