Gluten Free & God Seeking: Insights From Jeremiah - Taking a Closer Look At the Two Covenants In Jeremiah 31:31-34

At the time of Israel's darkest hour, God told Jeremiah He's going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel. That obviously makes the law that God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai the old covenant. When I read the Life-Study of Exodus, I learned that God intended that the law would preserve fallen man, but more importantly it would cause him to see that he COULDN'T keep the law!!

Camping with family at Deception Pass Park

It touches me that even though Israel was stiff necked and idolatrous, God didn't give up on them. Over and over God's people failed to keep the commandments given to them on Mt. Sinai. God knew there was no way they could obey the law, but I learned from my reading that they needed to know that.

God's people then didn't have the New Testament so they didn't realize that the reason they couldn't keep the law was because Satan as sin dwells in man's flesh. Paul clearly saw this when he was writing the letter to the church in Rome.

. In Romans 7 Paul writes about how the commandment of God is holy, but he sees that there's sin in his body that frustrates him from keeping the law of God. God knew in eternity that His enemy would contaminate created man with his evil life. And throughout the Old Testament you can see throughout the history of God's people the battle between God and Satan.

           So way back in the book of Jeremiah and In the midst of utter degradation, God proclaimed to this prophet that one day He would make a new covenant with His people:

    Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
    Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.
    But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people,
    And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah, for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34

    The phrase "I will put My law within them" stands out to me, because as Witness Lee says this points to God's incarnation in the New Testament with the purpose of bringing us salvation. Did you notice how many times God says "I will" in this section in Jeremiah 31? This reminds me again that God has full trust in His divine life that's within each of us not in our self. Here are some excerpts from chapter 25 and on pages 178-182 that helped me to understand God's intention in making this new covenant:

"What kind of law can be put into people and written upon their hearts? ....In the new covenant God will put Himself into His chosen people as their life, and this life is a law....and through our regeneration this life is now within us to function as a law to us....Because the eternal life within us is a law, it controls, governs, regulates, and restricts us in everything" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Jeremiah. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1992, Print).

Other posts on the Major Prophets

Life-Study of Isaiah:

You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of Isaiah on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee. You can also read the online Life-Studies of Isaiah and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

How Can the Son in Isaiah 7:14 & 9:6 Be the Mighty God?
Seeing Christ as the Great Light in Isaiah 9:2
Why is Christ Called the Cornerstone in Isaiah 28:26?
Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Crucifixion Foretold - Part 1

Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Resurrection &Ascension Foretold - Part 2 of 2

Life-Study of Jeremiah & Lamentations: