Jeremiah 31:31-34 – We are New Covenant people.

The covenant God made with Israel through Moses ended with a curse. It was not that covenant was bad, but that man’s sin had made it look bad. The Old Covenant was ruined by the sinfulness of man because of the inability to obey the stipulation of the covenant.  The people of Israel were unable to enjoy the close relationship God intended to have with them because of their unfaithfulness. So in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God declared that He was going to make a new covenant with them.  

This New Covenant, God said, would be unlike the old one made at Mount Sinai. How would this one be different from the old one? There are three key elements in this new one. Firstly, God promised that there will be reconciliation.  Whether from Israel or Judah, the people will be reconciled with Him. They would be one people belonging to God. There would only be one new covenant people of God. This is ultimately brought about by Christ. In Him Paul asserted in Galatians 3:28 that  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul went on to say that if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to the promise. So the New Covenant in Christ ensures that all believers in Him become the redeemed, reconciled people of God.

 

Secondly, in the New Covenant God promised regeneration.  Unlike the old, this new covenant would not be carved on stone but engraved on the mind and written on the heart. God would bring about the transformation of every one of His people from within each one. Now we understand why Romans 12:2 urged us to yield and allow God to transform us from within. Because New Covenant people are people whom God wants to transform from the inside out.

 

Thirdly, the New Covenant  promised possession.  God said, “I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” God wants a mutual relationship. We each belong to Him and He is to us. In Christ, our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored What a privilege! Remember what Christ said in John 15:15? “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”. And as friends, God brings us directly into fellowship with Himself.

 

Therefore, we must live as the restored, reconciled, and renewed people of God. No longer should we stay conformed to this world but instead be transformed by the renewal of our mind so that we can live the perfect will of God.