The aftermath of Solomon’s reign leads the nation into a massive split. There are two different kings and two different kingdoms, one half of the nation totally abandons the promises of God, and the other inconsistently lives by God’s covenants. Yet God sends prophets to draw them back to Himself. Each prophet declares judgment is coming for their national idolatry and sin, and yet within each prophets writings we find words of hope and a future restoration to God that is all by virtue of His grace and mercy. Jeremiah is the key text to look at here as we uncover that God has a “new covenant” in store for His people.
God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah to declare to the nation of Israel that there is a future of rejoicing and reunion that is coming for them. He writes:
28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD. 29 In those days they shall no longer say: “‘ The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31 “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, 32 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. 33 But 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. (Jeremiah 31:28-33)
So God will make a new covenant, one different from the covenant made with Israel when God brought them out of bondage in Egypt (the covenant which they broke). This covenant will confirm that this rebellious nation is God’s people and He is their God, it is a covenant written on their hearts. The suggestion of this text is that there is a covenant coming that will no longer be broken by the people. This comes about, the prophet Ezekiel tells us, because God transforms the very heart of a rebellious people. The prophet says:
24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:24-28)
Note that the text states that God will give the people “the land I gave to your fathers,” this connects the “new covenant” very clearly with the old. What makes it new, then, if it is still connected with the “old covenant”? The fact that there will be obedience. God will give them a new heart and will “cause” them to walk in obedience. This brings us, then, to the New Testament.
Pastor Dave Online 