JEREMIAH | Lesson 5 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah 31.31-37

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ The focus of our lesson will be on ch 31.31-37 which is the definitive and clearest proclamation of the New Covenant in the Old Testament. However, we should ‘soar above it’ and put it in its contexts. There are many contexts which we must understand in order to fully appreciate this text.

2/ To begin with, more immediately, chapters 30-33 form a ‘booklet within the book’ of Jeremiah. Jeremiah itself is a ‘book,’ but there are other distinct ‘booklets’ within the larger book. Bible teachers call these chapters ‘The Book of Consolation’ because they contain a distinct series of messages from Yahweh that deal with His promises to reconcile, restore, and renew His covenant with His people. That’s why I’ve chosen to title this lesson as I have. If you go back to the opening chapter of this ‘Book of Consolation,’ ch 30.1-3, you will see this theme clearly announced:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. ³ For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

3/ This passage is also the most succinct announcement of the two most prominent themes developed in the Book of Jeremiah:

• Judgment and Salvation
• Destruction and Deliverance
• Captivity and Liberation
• Exile and Return from Exile

These twin themes were given to Jeremiah from Yahweh in ch 1.9-10:

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

The message of the New Covenant is one of the clearest expressions of the ‘to build and to plant’ mission Yahweh gave to Jeremiah. In fact, in ch 31.27-28, Yahweh repeats this very commission to Jeremiah to remind him of the fullness and completion of His purposes:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 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.

5/ To take even a higher up ‘bird’s eye view,’ this ‘booklet,’ chapter, and section is a pivotal announcement which will find its ultimate and climactic fulfillment in Revelation 21.5: And He who was seated on the Throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ From the beginning of the creation and our fall into sin, when we had broken everything God had created perfectly, God covenanted with Himself to ‘reconcile, restore, and renew’ everything back to a more perfect state than it was even in the original creation / see Romans 8.18-23. He will complete all this redemptive covenant purpose and plan when He unveils it in the New Heaven and New Earth: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. / Revelation 21.1.

6/ AND, looking at it from our perspective, we have to understand that this New Covenant that Yahweh is announcing will find its perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ and His Gospel. The Hebrews writer quotes this very passage in the longest Old Testament quotation found in the New Testament [Hebrews 8.6-13]:

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

⁸ For He finds fault with them when He says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
⁹ 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.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the LORD.
¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the LORD:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹¹ And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹² For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The very fact that the Hebrews writer chooses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to quote the entire passage shows in itself just how pivotal and seminal this Old Testament witness is of Christ who was to come. Jesus Himself clearly understood His exclusive and indispensable role in bringing in this New Covenant and making it effective. And He did so through His substitutionary redemptive death on the Cross. As He said when He instituted the Lord’s Supper at the last Passover meal [Matthew 26.27-29]:

And He took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the[new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

NOTE also how Jesus referred to His blood of the New Covenant as that redemptive sacrifice that would ‘make all things new’ in ‘that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’

7/ And so, with those contexts in mind, let’s make some notes from this announcement of the New Covenant that Yahweh will make for the salvation of His people.

I /Reconciliation, Restoration, Renewal     

1/ Not only are all these graces found in the New Covenant announcement, they are also interspersed and woven all throughout the Book of Jeremiah, and especially in this ‘Book of Consolation,’ chapters 30-33.

2/ Keep in mind, Jeremiah’s prophecies were delivered before the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the final deportation into exile to Babylon. Even at the same time Yahweh was pronouncing judgments and destruction upon Judah for their idolatrous and adulterous rebellions and faithlessness to His Covenant, He was also announcing way ahead of time that He would reconcile, restore, and renew them.

3/ And much of this message is contained in the ‘seventy years’ pronouncements Yahweh had made / see ch 25.1-14 & 29.10-14. He threatened … and then delivered on His threats … that He was going to use Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to punish them for all their disobediences and betrayals of His Covenant He had graciously bestowed on them / there are so many of these ‘cause and effect’ references throughout Jeremiah, but note especially ch 30.12-15.

4/ BUT, He also repeatedly promised that He would reconcile them back to Himself through their confession of their sins and repentance from them; that He would restore them back to His favor and to their land; and that He would renew His Covenant of love, peace, and grace with them.

• Reconciliation: Yahweh repeatedly couched and phrased His relationship with Israel in terms of love and marriage – which it was / see, for example, Hosea. Or, He would speak of His Covenant with Israel in other familial terms like ‘father and son.’ “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Israel is my firstborn son’” [Exodus 4.22]. And so, here in this ‘Book of Consolation,’ Yahweh employs both familial expressions: ‘…for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn’ [ch 31.9] and, speaking of His New Covenant, ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, 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 Yahweh.’ [ch 31.31]. So when this reconciliation is made through the New Covenant, it will be a reconciliation back to the loving, familial relationships He had established with them from the beginning. Again, these relationships and their reconciliation are more fully drawn out in the Book of Hosea. This reconciliation will be fulfilled in the ultimate relationship: “At that time, declares Yahweh, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people” [ch 31.1, 33 & 30.22].
• Restoration: Yahweh promises to restore Israel back to their land when He breaks the yoke of their captivity in Babylon, sets them free again [like He did in the Exodus – even better / see ch 16.14-15 & 23.7-8], and returns them to their homeland / see again ch 30.1-3. He will also restore the physical blessings of the covenant such as peace, prosperity, and fruitfulness / see ch 30.8-10, 18-22; 31.5-14, 24.
• Renewal: This renewal will be accomplished and effected through the New Covenant. As we have said before, this New Covenant which can be kept only by Jesus Christ is the means and power by which God will, in the end, ‘make all things new [renewed].’

II / The New Covenant   

1/ Yahweh Himself will make it. Yahweh’s covenants are made with Himself. They are made with us in that we are recipients of the grace and benefits of His Covenant. But Yahweh doesn’t consult with us, negotiate with us, bargain with us when He makes His Covenants of Grace. See Ephesians 1.1-14.

2/ Yahweh will make His covenant ‘with the house of Israel and the house of Judah’ in the sense that they will be the recipients and benefactors of His Grace. Israel and Judah could not have and would not have kept the New Covenant Yahweh will make with them any more or better than they had kept the one He made with them when He brought out of the land of Egypt, …which they broke. As we shall see, THAT is the preeminent grace of the New Covenant – the very ability, desire, and will to keep it and treasure it. Although the immediate recipients of this New Covenant promise were the returnees from the Babylonian exile [‘the house of Israel and house of Judah’], we know now from our perspective on the coming of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, ‘the house of Israel and the house of Judah’ are the re-constituted ‘Israel’ ‘in Christ.’ See Romans 2.28-29; 9.6-8; 2 Corinthians 5.17; Galatians 6.16; Ephesians 2.11-22; et. al.

3/ Israel broke the first [old] covenant Yahweh had established with them at Sinai and re-confirmed at Moab; and they would have broken this one, too … had it been up to them. Thus, we see Yahweh’s commitment and promise to ‘make a New Covenant’ only with the One who could and would keep it – Jesus Christ. Though Jesus Christ is not specifically named, we know this covenant is made with Him. This is evident by all the references to ‘David’ as their coming King. This can be none other than ‘the Son of David,’ Jesus Christ. For example:

• ch 23.5-6: Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
• ch 30.9: But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
• ch 33.15-18: In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.

4/ The ultimate grace and blessing of the New Covenant is the putting away of our sins: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Christ accomplished this by His full, complete, satisfactory, and once-for-all sacrifice of Himself. “It is finished!” When we are justified through His righteousness and born again, made alive, regenerated and renewed by His resurrection – then and only then can we relate to God as intimately and personally as the New Covenant provides.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall by 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 Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  

5/ This is not to say that no Old Testament believer enjoyed these same graces and benefits. They did. There never has been two ways to be saved: by your works of obedience under the Old Covenant and by grace through faith in Jesus Christ under the New Covenant. There has never been but one salvation, and one way to be saved, and one sacrifice worthy and sufficient enough to put our sins away so that God would remember them no more. Even Old Testament believers were regenerated, born again, and given new spiritual hearts when they trusted Yahweh and believed in the sacrifices He had provided for their sins. But their very faith also was ‘the gift of God’ / Ephesians 2.8-9. But their faith which was granted and credited to them was, in the mind of Yahweh, faith in the Christ He would send in the fullness of time to establish this New Covenant by which all are saved who are saved … whether under the Old Covenant or the New which Christ ratified by His death and resurrection / see Romans 3.24-26 & Hebrews 9.15. Under the Old Covenant, believers’ iniquities were forgiven prospectively; when Christ came and died, their iniquities were forgiven retroactively.

6/ The blessings of the New Covenant are just as sure as the created orders. When Yahweh guarantees the New Covenant will be as secure, fixed, and sure as the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night … if the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, He is promising us that His love and grace will never be canceled. Even these promises anchor the New Covenant in God’s purposes to make even these things new.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.

~Frederick Lehman