Eye Openers (Part 11 of 0)

The New Covenant (2) – Part twelve

In this article, we conclude our study of the new covenant. In particular, we discuss the new covenant prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Jeremiah’s Prophecy of the New Covenant

Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant is probably the best known. It is beautiful Hebrew poetry:

  1. a. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
    b. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
    c. Not according to the [old] covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
    c. because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
    b. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    a.     after those days, saith the Lord;
  2. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:
  3. and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
  4. and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
  5. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 8:8-12; cp. Jer. 31:31-34).

Each of these five promises is significant. The New Testament helps us to understand their meaning.

A new covenant

Promise one emphasizes this is a new covenant, not the first covenant given at Sinai, the covenant Israel had so quickly broken. Hebrews points out, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old” (Heb. 8:13). The new covenant is a better covenant based on better promises (Heb. 7:22; 8:6).

God’s law in our hearts

With promise two God tells us that He will make us like Christ, who prayed, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psa. 40:8; cp. 40:6-8; Heb. 10:5-18).

This promise likely alludes to circumcision, which was the token of the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). Of course, literal circumcision is not important. Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised (Rom. 4:9-12). Furthermore, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God…In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (I Cor. 7:19; Gal. 5:6; cp. 6:15).

Instead, we are commanded to circumcise our hearts. “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked” (Dt. 10:12-13,16). “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart” Om 4:4). “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:28-29).

In scripture, the heart is the mind, the way of thinking. So to circumcise the heart means to cut off the mind of the flesh, to replace carnal thinking with spiritual thinking. “In [Christ] [we] are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11).

Though circumcised outwardly, Israel did not cut off fleshly thinking (Jer. 9:26; 6:10; Acts 7:51). Their heart was fat, their ears were heavy, their eyes were shut (Isa. 6:9-10; Mt. 13:10-17; Jn. 12:37-43; Acts 28:23-29).

But there will come a time when God will circumcise Israel’s repentant heart. “If they shall confess their iniquity…if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land” (Lev. 26:40-42). “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse…and thou shalt call them to mind…and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice…with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then…The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (Dt. 30:1,2,6). See Ezekiel 36:24-28 also.

Let us join David in his prayer of repentance, “Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10).

My people, their God

Promise three is one of the most prolific promises in the Bible (see Bro. Whittaker’s Bible Studies, Ch. 12.03, pp. 271-273). It goes back to the covenant with Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee…I will be their God” (Gen. 17:7,8). Circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14) was the sign they were God’s people.

This promise is reiterated in Leviticus, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Lev. 26:12).

Paul cites it, “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them…and I will be their God, and they shall be my people…And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (II Cor. 6:16,18).

And the promise will be fulfilled in New Jerusalem, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God…He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev. 21:3,7).

All shall know me

The writer to the Hebrews helps us understand promise four. “They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know (ginosko) the Lord: For all shall know (oida) me, from the least to the greatest” (Heb. 8:11; Jer. 31:34 LXX). This quotation from the Septuagint uses two words for “to know;” in contrast, the Hebrew text uses the same word yada in both places. The difference between ginosko and oida is important: oida comes from the Greek word for “to see” and means to know by sight, to know perfectly or fully; ginosko, on the other hand, means to know by learning about, to get to know, to begin to know. The following examples from the New Testament illustrate the distinction.

Jesus challenged the Jews, “Ye have not known (ginosko) him [God, my Father]; but I know (oida) him: and if I should say, I know (oida) him not, I shall be a liar like you: but I know (oida) him, and keep his saying” (Jn. 8:55). The Jews had not even begun to get to know the Lord. Jesus, on the other hand, knew him perfectly; to say otherwise would be a lie.

At the last supper, Jesus explained to Peter, “What I do thou knowest (oida) not now; but thou shalt know (ginosko) hereafter” (Jn. 13:7). Peter did not fully understand why Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet, but he would come to understand later.

Now back to the new covenant in Hebrews 8. When believers would teach their neighbors and family, “Know (ginosko) the Lord,” they would be saying, “Get to know the Lord, begin now, learn about him.” Indeed, we should do this now. But then, when the new covenant comes to fruition, we will no longer need to teach anyone about the Lord, because “all shall know (oida) me.” That is, God’s presence will be so obvious that everyone will know Him fully, everyone “from the least to the greatest.”

God’s mercy, sins forgiven

Promise five is essential to our salvation. Jesus called attention to this promise at the last supper, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt. 26:28; I Cor. 11:25).

God declared His character to Moses at Sinai, “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exo. 34:6-7). Immediately, Moses asks God, “Pardon our iniquity and our sin,” and God responds, “Behold, I make a [new] covenant” (Exo. 34:9,10).

The covenant through which sins are forgiven goes back at least to Abraham. Abraham’s faith was counted to him for righteousness, and this promise was established in a covenant (Gen. 15). After Abraham demonstrated his faith by offering Isaac, God promised a blessing to all nations through Christ, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16). Peter tells us this blessing is the forgiveness of sins, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindred’s of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:25-26). Paul tells us the same thing, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [make righteous, forgive] the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:7-9).

Ezekiel’s Prophecy of the New Covenant

Ezekiel 37:15-28 is another prophecy of the new covenant. It has many parallels to the new covenant prophecies in Jeremiah 31, Leviticus 26, and Genesis 17. Here we list some of the more obvious connections.

  1. Israel and Judah reunited — Ezekiel is told to take two sticks (one for Judah and one for Israel) and join them together to make one stick. The Lord God explains, “I will make them one nation in the land…one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (37:22). Ezekiel is expanding on the new covenant promise, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31).
  1. No more idols — “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions” (27:23) alludes to Jeremiah’s, “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake” (Jer. 31:32), which recalls the golden calf episode.
  2. Sins forgiven — “I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them” (37:23), just as Jeremiah had said, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember no more their sin” (Jer. 31:34; cp. Exo. 34:6-7,9-10; Mt. 26:28; Heb. 10:17-18).
  3. My people, their God — “They shall be my people, and I will be their God” (37:23,27; 34:24; cp. Jer. 31:33).
  4. David, prince and shepherd — “David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd…my servant David shall be their prince for ever” (37:24; cp. 34:23-23). So the new covenant includes God’s promise to David (II Sam. 7).
  5. Walk, observe, do — “They shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, to do them” (37:24), just as Abraham had done, “The Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect…because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 17:1; 26:5), as Israel had promised to do (Exo. 19:8; 24:3,7). This was God’s promise to Israel, “If ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do them,” then He would fulfill the new covenant (Lev. 26:3-13).
  6. The promised land — “They shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt” (37:25), that is, the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be fulfilled (Gen. 12:1,7; 13:14-17; 15:18-­21; 17:8; 26:3; 28:13; 35:12; Lev. 26:42).
  7. An everlasting covenant — “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them” (37:26; cp. 34:25) recalls the Abrahamic covenant, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant” (Gen. 15:18; 17:2,7; cp. Lev. 26:6; Jer. 31:31-34).
  8. I will multiply — “I will multiply them” (37:26), as God had promised to Abraham, “I…will multiply thee exceedingly” (Gen. 17:2; cp. 22:17; 35:11; 1:28; 9:1,7).
  9. Tabernacle with them — “My tabernacle also shall be with them” (37:27) echoes the promise, “I will set my tabernacle among you” (Lev. 26:11; cp. II Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3; Jn. 1:14).

This concludes the present series of studies dealing with aspects of scripture that open our spiritual insight into the revelation given by God for our upbuilding.