The author takes the community of believers back to the time of their prophet Jeremiah. He knew that trouble was coming and it came. Babylon wiped out Judah, its cities and the people. Devastation and exile. People longed for their covenant of sacrifices, the temple and artefacts. But Jeremiah longed for the day of a new covenant when nothing could be lost again because something would be written in their hearts. The old covenant demanded a lot from people. It was the call of ‘if you do this then I will do that’. But the new covenant was simply this, ‘I will’. As we read these verses we can see how this new covenant carried the promise of uniting (Israel and Judah who previously were divided), enabling us to walk with God by placing the new covenant in our hearts and forgiving us for when we get life wrong. Let us read:
“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” (Hebrews 8 v 7-13)
This was not Moses carrying the demands for works but Jesus who fulfilled those works by His own work, not by the blood of animals but by HIS BLOOD.
I will make a new covenant, v8. God made it. It had nothing to do with the performance of man. It still hasn’t. This is not about how good you are but how good HE is.
I will establish, v10. God didn’t just make the new covenant but He established it. He made sure this was long lasting, a forever covenant, the old was always paving the way for the new. It is lasting here now in 2024.
I will put this new covenant in their hearts, v10. Trying to do the right thing is not the same as being transformed from within and allowing God’s law to work through our lives.
I will forgive and not remember their sins, v12. The old was hoping the good works outweighed their bad works, the new completely removes the bad, it is called forgiveness and blotting out sin completely.
I will make the covenant of works obsolete, v13. The old is out of date, the new is as important in 2024 as much as 33 AD.
Take one or all of these ‘I WILL’ promises and thank God for them and how it applies to you today.
Missions Paul 