#DailyDevotion Jesus Has Instituted The New Covenant He Promised In Jeremiah 31 In His Blood

November 16th
Read Jer 31:1–17, 23–34
Jer 31:31 “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) For 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. (34) 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 the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

As the Lord speaks these words, Israel aka Ephraim is already destroyed and sent into exile. Judah is well on its way to destruction and exile itself. Many from Jerusalem are already in exile in Babylon. It would seem too good to be true that not only Judah would return from exile but also Israel as well. But indeed, the Lord is true to his promises and is gathering his people to himself in the Church. They had broken the covenant with the Lord. They had broken it many times. As Peter reminds the Jewish Church in Acts, it was too difficult for them or for their fathers to keep.

So now the Lord is going to make a new covenant. Not only are those physical descendents of Israel called to be partakers of it, but all nations. It is too small a thing for the Lord just to redeem the Israelites. He now calls out to the nations to repent and become part of Israel in this new covenant.

In this new covenant, the Lord gives us his Holy Spirit. That is what is meant by placing the law upon our hearts. The law is naturally there anyway, but now he gives us power to keep it. More than that, we will know the Lord. From the greatest to the least of God’s people, those called by his name, they will all know the Lord. How will we know him? We know the Lord when we believe that he forgives us our iniquity and remembers our sins no more. Yes, that is the key to the new covenant, God’s forgiveness and forgetfulness.

So when Jesus institutes the new covenant with his supper, that is what we are being called to become partakers of. Jesus says, Mat 26:28 “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The author Hebrews says, Heb 12:24 “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” That blood of Jesus in the Supper and which covers us in baptism speaks a better word because that is word is “I forgive and I forget.” You are invited to be a partaker of this covenant.

Lord Jesus Christ, your new covenant speaks better than the old because it is your blood in which the covenant is sealed. Grant us faith in your blood which covers us in baptism and placed upon our lips in your supper that we might remember you forgive and forget. Amen.