A New Way To Know God

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Opening Prayer

Father, I ask that you would so write your Word on my heart that its power may be seen in my life, to the glory of Christ my Lord.

Read Hebrews 8:7–13

^[7] 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 neighbor, 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 ^[13] By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Meditate

The New Covenant is a better covenant because, as we are told here, it is based on better promises. They are the promises of grace (7,8), of change (10), and the promise of forgiveness (11,12).

Think Further

The core of today’s passage is a lengthy quote from Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31–34). Through the prophet, the Lord observed how the Old Testament way of reconciliation with God by means of animal sacrifices (the Mosaic covenant) had proved ineffective (9). He promised to replace it with a new and better covenant. Why is this new way of relating to God so much better than the old? In addition to the fact that it would be founded on better promises (6), three further reasons are given. First, God would put his laws deep inside people, within their minds and hearts (10). No longer would God’s Law be written on stone tablets, enclosed in the Ark of the Covenant, kept hidden in the Holy of Holies, accessible only once a year and only by the high priest. Now it would be immediately accessible to every believer. As a result, inward transformation would become possible.

Second, there would therefore be no more need for intermediaries to convey knowledge of the Lord (11). The problem of the blind leading the blind would be ended forever. Third, the new covenant would offer free and full forgiveness of sin. God would blot out the sin of his people, he would “remember their sins no more” (12), not even once a year. Thereby every individual believer would be established in personal relationship with Almighty God. The age-old covenant promise would become a reality, standing firm for ever: “I will be their God, and they will be my people” (10b; see also 1 Pet. 2:9,10).

As we have seen, Jesus came to inaugurate, mediate and guarantee that better covenant. The establishment of the new covenant in Christ renders the old covenant “obsolete” (13). It is not an alternative route to God for those who prefer it.

Apply

What are the privileges you experience living under the new covenant?

Closing prayer

Lord, I don’t under the whys and ways of Your grace. I stand in awe and thanksgiving before You, asking for the grace of Your presence and touch.

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