HEART TRANSFORMATION (3)

“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” – Jeremiah 31: 34b

Jeremiah prophesied most succinctly about the New Covenant HEART TRANSFORMATION: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer.31: 33-34). This passage is part of a collection of hopeful words addressed to exiled Judeans in Babylon, often called the “Book of Consolation” (Jer.31-33). Jeremiah’s exilic audience had suffered the traumatic loss of many venerable religious institutions, including the Davidic monarchy and Jerusalem temple. However, in the face of increasing uncertainty about the future, Jeremiah proclaimed the emergence of a new covenant with new ways of relating to God.

The Old Covenant of the Law between God and the people of Israel involved observing and obeying His ceremonial and moral laws. In contrast, the New Covenant of Grace embraces all who will come to know and believe in Jesus – Jews and Gentiles alike. It’s new because it is no longer based on following tradition and ceremonies, but on forgiveness of sins through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. The Law is about duty; Grace – the gospel – brings about regeneration.

Through regeneration, the heart is changed and given a new sense of purpose. Christ didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfil it. God began to write the law on the hearts of His people by the Holy Spirit, to align with His Will and be enabled to do His work. The covenant stakeholders now include all believers.  The articles of this New Covenant are essentially spiritual blessings: God‘s Spirit inclines the new covenant keepers to follow, love, worship, serve, and bring others to Him. God brings us into relationship with Himself, which was different from the old covenant where He was seen as being distant. Now God is real and active in lives, bringing an abundance of His knowledge among all people as they come to know Him in a real and personal way through Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah’s promise of a New Covenant is connected to Jesus’ ministry of transformation: “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the NEW COVENANT, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit give life” (2 Cor.3:6). Hebrews 9:15 says,  “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” This promise relates in particular with the institution of the Communion Table: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Lk.22:20; 1 Cor.11:25).

Furthermore, the new covenant is characterized by freedom and personal responsibility: Individuals are accountable for their own actions or sins, not someone else’s (vv.29-30). Although contemporary societies continue to grapple with the consequences of injustices committed centuries ago, the requirements of the old covenant stood outside of the individual; external teachings were passed on communally. By contrast, the demands of the new covenant reside “in” each individual, no matter their social standing – “from the least of them to the greatest.” This doesn’t however annul the collective relationship between God and men. The sole basis for the new covenant is God’s Grace and unmerited forgiveness: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (v.34). This covenant envisioned a new spiritual order, marked by a more direct relationship between worshipers and God.

God acts to bring newness into the world, beginning with changed hearts! He replaces the deeply engraved sinful heart with a new heart engraved with God’s Law, written in His own handwriting: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their HEARTS!