How does the new covenant offer so much more grace than the old? Is this worth exploring more? Let’s begin in Jeremiah 31.
Does God still show Israel grace and will He still be their God?
“At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when I went to give him rest.” (Jer 31:1-2 NKJV)
What kind of love does God show to Israel and how will He bless them?
Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines. Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there. The day will come when watchmen will shout from the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord our God.’” (Jer 31:3-6 NLT)
Why will the people of Israel sing and shout with gladness?
For Yahweh says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn. (Jer 31:7-9 WEB)
Does God promise to rescue the people of Jacob and will they come shouting for joy?
Listen to the Lord’s word, you nations, and announce it to the distant islands: The one who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them safe, as a shepherd his flock. The Lord will rescue the people of Jacob and deliver them from the power of those stronger than they are. They will come shouting for joy on the hills of Zion, jubilant over the Lord’s gifts: grain, wine, oil, flocks, and herds. Their lives will be like a lush garden; they will grieve no more.
Then the young women will dance for joy; the young and old men will join in. I will turn their mourning into laughter and their sadness into joy; I will comfort them. I will lavish the priests with abundance and shower my people with my gifts, declares the Lord. (Jer 31:10-14 CEB)
How will God provide for the dead? How will they come home from the enemy’s land, unless God has something planned beyond this life?
In Ramah a voice is heard, crying and weeping loudly. Rachel mourns for her children and refuses to be comforted, because they are dead. But I, the Lord, say to dry your tears. Someday your children will come home from the enemy's land. Then all you have done for them will be greatly rewarded. So don't lose hope. I, the Lord, have spoken. (Jer 31:15-17 CEV)
Would we exhibit the same humble, teachable attitude that Ephraim had when disciplined by God?
I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord. (Jer 31:18-20 ESV)
Is the way back to God clearly signposted? Will the land be so safe that a woman can stand guard?
Set up road markers for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours. How long will you turn here and there, faithless daughter? For the Lord creates something new in the land—a female will shelter a man. (Jer 31:21-22 HCSB)
Will God restore Judah and will they preach a message of comfort in the land?
This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “They’ll again speak this message in the land of Judah and its towns when I restore their fortunes: ‘The Lord bless you, righteous dwelling, holy mountain.’ Judah and all its towns will live together in the land, along with farmers and those who follow the flock. I’ll provide abundance for those who are weary, and fill all who are faint.” Then I awoke and looked around, and I had had a pleasant sleep. (Jer 31:23-26 ISV)
Did people believe that God punishes people for the sins of their forefathers? Is the truth that God punishes people for their own sins?
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. (Jer 31:27-30 KJV)
How will the new covenant differ from the covenant on stone, the Ten Commandments?
“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, but I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. “But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34 LSB)
How impossible is it for a mere human being to measure all that God has created?
This is what the Lord says, He who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—The Lord of armies is His name: “If this fixed order departs From Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the descendants of Israel also will cease To be a nation before Me forever.” This is what the Lord says: “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also reject all the descendants of Israel For everything that they have done,” declares the Lord. (Jer 31:35-37 NASB)
Did Jeremiah prophecy that there would be a rebuilt Jerusalem never again uprooted or demolished?
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. 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.” (Jer 31:38-40 NIV)
What is a major difference between the old covenant, the Ten Commandments, and the new covenant?
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. (2 Cor 3:7-9 NKJV)
What kind of cleansing does the new covenant offer compared to the old?
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. (Heb 10:1 NLT)
How does the new covenant offer so much more grace than the old? Is this worth exploring more? You decide!
