Chosen and Dearly Loved
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank You for the new covenant. Thank You for the blood shed on the cross to make this covenant of love possible!
Read Jeremiah 31:27-40
[27] “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. [28] Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. [29] “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ [30] Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes-their own teeth will be set on edge. [31] “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. [32] 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 broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. [33] “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [34] No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” [35] This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- the LORD Almighty is his name: [36] “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.” [37] This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD. [38] “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. [39] The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. [40] The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.” Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What does it mean for God to write the law on hearts?God’s judgment had meant that nothing could go right for his people, but now a new day had dawned (28,29). The God who decreed all the physical laws of creation (35) chose to make a new covenant (31), calling, loving, and blessing sinful people. Everything would change. The written word would no longer remain on stone or parchment but would be engraved on hearts and minds (33). This covenant would transform the relationship that broken people could have with their righteous God: the greatest to the least would know him for themselves (34). But has the Old Testament taught us nothing? What about Leviticus, Uzzah, and the ark (2 Samuel 6:6,7) or the barrier of the temple curtain (Exod. 26:33)? How could a holy God choose to bless wicked people (34)? How could a perfect God accept an imperfect people without betraying justice? The mystery was not made clear to Jeremiah’s hearers, and they must have felt the tension of the apparent contradiction. Their actions and lifestyles, no matter how repentant, could not justify the living God restoring them so graciously or being on their side.
Apply
God is for you. Journal about what this means to you. Identify lies you have believed that are contrary.
Closing prayer
God, You are good and gracious, full of tender mercy and willing to forgive. You desire to bless those You love.
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