The New Covenant-Part One

This is a chapter from my book, Creating The Israel of God. Available on Amazon.

31. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.[Jer. 31:31-34]

The Lord said through His prophet Jeremiah, that the days would come when He would make a New Covenant with the house of Israel. A new one was needed because they had broken the first [v.32]. More will be said later about the reason for the need of this new agreement.

There are several truths stated in verses 32-33, that we should lay hold of before we move forward. They are as follows:

This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel [33]— This new covenant will be made with the house of Israel, and no one else.

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt [32] — Just so there is no misunderstanding, the New Covenant is made with the same Israel God brought up out of Egypt. It is also stated that this New Covenant will be different from the one made at Sinai. The Sinai covenant had a fault, which the New Covenant would not have.

My covenant they brake [32] — The covenant He made with Israel when they came out of Egypt, they broke. The verb, “brake,” is causative and perfect. Huh? Israel was the cause of the covenant being broken, and it remained in a state of brokenness. It could not be repaired.

Although I was an husband unto them [32] — This covenant the people broke was a marriage contract. God saw Himself in the role of a husband, with Israel as His wife. However, she broke that marriage covenant. When a wife broke a marriage contract or ketubah, typically it was due to unfaithfulness. She went out and played the harlot. God put away the Northern Kingdom, Israel, by giving her a bill of divorcement [Jer. 3:8]. To the Southern Kingdom, Judah, Israel’s sister, He said,

14 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD. 15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. [Ezek. 16:14-15, ESV]

In Ezekiel 16:35, the Lord lays out the numerous charges against Jerusalem (Judah), and calls her a harlot.

Hebrews Quotes From LXX

Before we get too much further, we should address the source of the quote from Jeremiah, as found in Hebrews 8. The text of Jeremiah quoted in Hebrews is a little different from the Jeremiah 31 text in the KJV. In Hebrews 8:9, we read,

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. [KJV]

This is not taken from the Hebrew text of Jeremiah, but is quoted from the Greek text of the Old Covenant (LXX). In the LXX version of Jeremiah 31:32 (actual LXX reference, 38:32), we read,

Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord. [LXX]

The Hebrew text of Jeremiah 31:32 states the people broke the covenant. Here, in the LXX, it states the people “abode not in my covenant,” or “they continued not in my covenant.” The idea in both phrases is the people did not remain in covenant, but removed themselves from covenant status, or failed to persevere in the covenant, hence, they broke covenant with God.

The Lord responded, “I regarded them not.” This term, regarded, means to make light of, to be careless, or to neglect. To put this in more modern usage, the Lord is saying, “I could not take them seriously.” The people did not take their part in the covenant seriously. In response, the Lord could not take them seriously either. They made light of His covenant, so He made light of them.  We will see that this was the major fault of the Sinai Covenant.

Digging Deeper

This new covenant would not be like the covenant He made with their fathers when they came out of Egypt[v.32]. He informs them that this New Covenant would be a different kind of covenant. It would not just be new, but far superior to the Sinai Covenant.

In the New Testament, there are two Greek words used to describe something as new. It is either new in time (neos), or new in kind (kainos). As stated earlier, the word used to describe this newness (kainos), means new as to form or quality, of different nature from what is contrasted as old. The Hebraic word used for new in Jer. 31, ḥādāš, holds the same basic meaning as the Greek word. Hadas denotes the state of being different, new, and superior to a previous state.

The Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes the importance of this superior quality of newness of the New Covenant. In Hebrews, the writer uses the Greek word, Kreittōn, in describing the New Covenant. The root of Kreitton means, stronger. It is by definition, more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous, more excellent.

The point here, is that this New Covenant is not new, just for the sake of something different. It is new because it is superior to, more functional, and of a more excellent quality than the Old. In the New, God has created a way forward for His people that will continue to provide for them throughout eternity. It will never become out-dated, as Sinai had. It will remain useful and advantageous as long as Christ lives, which is FOREVER!

Roderick Campbell, in Israel and The New Covenant, states,

“The new is the true, not merely in the sense of veracity and reliability, but because it is the reality or realization of what had previously been revealed in promise, or symbol, or shadow, or type. Jesus is the true High Priest, the true King, the true Mediator, the true Bread of Life, the true Vine, the very Truth itself. The old was true, but the new is true in a far more enduring, realistic and satisfying sense.” (p. 31)

The New Covenant is Israel’s way forward to be the blessing to mankind that God intended in the Messiah. God tells them when He would make this New Covenant. This covenant will be made with Israel “After those days.” What days is He referring to? If we look at the context leading up to this prophecy of the New, we will see He is referring to the days after they return from their Babylonian captivity. He promised to make this New Covenant with them after the end of their captivity in Babylon.

We have much the same message in Ezekiel 36:24-28.

24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

As in Jeremiah, Ezekiel prophesied that after their captivity in Babylon ended, God would bring them back to the land.

All the OT prophecies of a return to the land were fulfilled in Israel's return by decree of the Persian King, Cyrus, in 536 BC.

According to Ezekiel, God would sprinkle clean water upon them, making them clean. This is an obvious reference to the new birth which would be required to enter the kingdom of God [Jn. 3].

In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, He was explaining the spiritual birth required to see or enter into the Kingdom of God. Perhaps to assist Nicodemus in understanding, Jesus said,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [Jn. 3:5]

There have been many different theories about what Jesus meant by being born of water: ⁽¹⁾physical birth and ⁽²⁾baptism - just to name a couple. These do not make sense in the context. I believe the simplest explanation is found in the translation of the conjunction, and.

This conjunction is the Greek word, kai, which has a wide range of applications. One of those applications is emphatic, rendered as even. This makes the most sense in this context. With parts of speech like a conjunction which have many different meanings, context must always determine usage.

Jesus was informing Nicodemus unless you are born of water, even the Spirit, you will not see the kingdom. In the world of the New Testament period, water was used as a symbol for the Spirit.

37 -- In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) [Jn. 7:37-39]

John explains the meaning of Jesus' saying, so that there was no misunderstanding. Jesus wasn’t offering people a drink of water. He was offering to give Himself and His Spirit at the appropriate time, i.e., when He was glorified. The statement above is very similar to the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well [Jn.4:13-14, ESV].

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Paul alludes to this same usage in his letter to Titus,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [Titus 3:5-6, ESV]

Water can also symbolize a cleansing of the Spirit by the Rhēma Word of God, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it(the ekklesia) with the washing of water by the (rhēma) word.” [Eph. 5:26] The rhēma word is a word spoken by a living voice. Hence, this is God speaking to His Ekklesia by His Spirit empowered Word. Suffice it to say, the sprinkling of clean water in Ezekiel is referencing God’s cleansing them from their sin. He then explains the effects of this clean water.

“He would then give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them.” After this washing with clean water, He would take away their stony hearts and give them hearts of flesh. Their stony hearts were the cause of them breaking their first covenant. The transition from stony hearts to hearts of flesh is seen in His placing His Spirit within them, creating a new “clean” heart [Ps. 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”]. This is just one way in which the New Covenant is different and superior to the Old.

His Spirit within them would cause them to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments. This is in essence, exactly what we find in Jeremiah’s description of the New Covenant.

First of all, it would be a covenant whose laws would not be written upon tables of stones, as at Sinai, but written upon hearts of flesh. This was done by the giving of His Spirit to His people. The Spirit who dwells in the hearts of His people would be the Law-giver Himself, while also empowering them to walk in it [Ezekiel 36:27, “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”]. We will say more about this in a later chapter.

Secondly, it would be a covenant wherein all who participated, would know the Lord. It would not be as the old, wherein they would need to be instructed to know the Lord. They all would know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. Again, this can only point to knowing the Lord through the new birth from above. It is only by being born of God that one may know Him.

John states it this way,

1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Christ came unto his own people, but as a whole, they did not welcome him. However, as many as did receive or welcome Him, to them He gave the right or privilege to become the children of God. How was this privilege given?

Was it given by natural lineage (of blood)? No, your parents cannot transfer or bestow this right upon you. It is not an ancestral right. It is not a matter of DNA.

Was it given through your own desire or effort (the will of the flesh)? No, it cannot be attained by any measure of human effort, skill, or law keeping.

Was it conferred upon you by decree (the will of man)? No, it could not be awarded nor decreed by any earthly authority. An example of this is when the Roman Emperor Constantine decreed Christianity the official state religion of Rome, supposing thereby, to make all his subjects “Christians” by royal proclamation.

So how was this right to be called the children of God given? It could only be given by being born of God by His Spirit.

As we have seen up to this point, Jeremiah tells us the New Covenant would be different and superior to the Old. It would be superior because its laws would be written upon the hearts of the people, and it would be of such nature that all those in covenant would know God, from the least to the greatest. This type of knowing comes from an intimate experience with God through Christ.

The New Covenant promised to Israel was to be made after they returned from the Babylonian captivity. The Messiah was to be the Messenger of the Covenant to Israel and a light to the nations. Christ came to confirm and fulfill the promises God made to the fathers. He did.

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [Rom. 15:8] [see also Isa. 49:6;Mal. 3:1]

The New Covenant is the height of fulfillment for Israel. God can do nothing greater than what He has done in the New. Many did not believe His Words as found in the Law and the Prophets. Instead, they followed the teachings of the Pharisees with regard to the Messiah. This led them into a ditch. However, God is willing and able to save them from this Rabbinic ditch if they are willing to call out to His Anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth.