Text: Jeremiah 33:31-34
Old and New Testaments
The Christian Bible is commonly divided into two major sections: the Old and New Testaments. The word “testament” comes from the Latin testamentum meaning “a will” and in Christian usage can also be traced back to the Greek word diathēkē meaning “covenant.” Literally, then, the Christian Bible identifies the two parts as the Old and New Covenants.
That there are two things termed Old and New implies that there are two things that are somehow different. In Christianity, the change that happens in the new is the introduction of Jesus Christ. In some of the Christian circles I’ve been a part of and grew up in, the Old Covenant is frequently synonymous with the Covenant of Law, founded at the giving of the Hebrew Law at Sinai. The New Covenant is frequently identified as the Covenant of Grace which was initiated at Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
This notion of a covenant of law and a covenant of grace isn’t wrong but it is not a complete picture. And the traditional explanations of how law and grace are related to the covenants, at least how I’ve commonly understood them, may not be entirely accurate.
We heard the reading from Jeremiah 31:31-34 a few minutes ago. This is the longest continuous text in the Hebrew Scriptures that is found in the Christian Scripture (Hebrews 8:8-12). Individual verses and shorter phrases are also found scattered throughout the New Testament. The New Testament authors must have seen something in these ancient words from Jeremiah that resonated with their new experience in the light of Jesus.
Observations and Questions
As I read Jeremiah, I observed a few things.
First, the initiator of the old and new covenants is the same: it is God and this God does not change between the two.
Second, the content of the covenant is the same: it is still something about God’s instructions and God’s relationship with the other party to the covenant.
Third, the reason a new covenant is necessary is not because God changed or because the contents of the covenant changed, but because the people broke the first one.
The passage also raised some intriguing questions:
First, what then, changed between the old and the new covenants?
Second, if the new covenant, where the instructions are inside the people and written on their hearts, is better than the first covenant, why didn’t God do that from the beginning?
Third, if everyone supposedly knows God in their hearts then why all the contradictions about God and how do we decide what is right or wrong about our knowledge of God?
If I dealt with each of these points individually, we might be here for quite a long time. Rather, I think that by taking a step back and looking at the broader picture and context, I will be able to address multiple points simultaneously.
First, the initiator of the old and new covenants is the same: it is God and this God does not change between the two.
Second, the content of the covenant is the same: it is still something about God’s instructions and God’s relationship with the other party to the covenant.
Third, the reason a new covenant is necessary is not because God changed or because the contents of the covenant changed, but because the people broke the first one.
The passage also raised some intriguing questions:
First, what then, changed between the old and the new covenants?
Second, if the new covenant, where the instructions are inside the people and written on their hearts, is better than the first covenant, why didn’t God do that from the beginning?
Third, if everyone supposedly knows God in their hearts then why all the contradictions about God and how do we decide what is right or wrong about our knowledge of God?
If I dealt with each of these points individually, we might be here for quite a long time. Rather, I think that by taking a step back and looking at the broader picture and context, I will be able to address multiple points simultaneously.
The Covenant at Sinai
The first stop we will make is at Sinai, with the Hebrews just coming out of Egypt with Moses as their leader and prophet. And then we will jump forward to how the author of the letter to the Hebrews, many years after Jesus left the earth, explains the significance of Jesus in the new covenant.
I think we are all familiar with the basic story of the giving of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, at Sinai. The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, reach Sinai and there, God speaks the Commandments, and Moses receives a copy on tablets of stone. But that isn't the entire story. There are a few interesting details about this story in the book of Exodus that are relevant to this morning’s message.
I think we are all familiar with the basic story of the giving of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, at Sinai. The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, reach Sinai and there, God speaks the Commandments, and Moses receives a copy on tablets of stone. But that isn't the entire story. There are a few interesting details about this story in the book of Exodus that are relevant to this morning’s message.
Exodus 20:18-21 (CEB)
18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” 21 The people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness in which God was present.
Notice what just happened. God has spoken directly to the people, but they did not want God speaking directly with them. God first attempted to establish a direct relationship with all the people, but the people rejected it. Instead, they asked for a mediator to communicate to them on behalf of God. They asked Moses to be the intermediary, and Moses accepted the role.
A few chapters later in Exodus, another interesting narrative is found.
A few chapters later in Exodus, another interesting narrative is found.
Exodus 24:1-3, 9-12
Covenant at Sinai
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and worship from a distance. 2 Only Moses may come near to the Lord. The others shouldn’t come near, while the people shouldn’t come up with him at all.”
3 Moses came and told the people all the Lord’s words and all the case laws. All the people answered in unison, “Everything that the Lord has said we will do.” ...
Covenant meal with God
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw Israel’s God. Under God’s feet there was what looked like a floor of lapis-lazuli tiles, dazzlingly pure like the sky. 11 God didn’t harm the Israelite leaders, though they looked at God, and they ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there. I’ll give you the stone tablets with the instructions and the commandments that I’ve written in order to teach them.”
We see how Moses becomes the mediator, carrying messages from God to the people, and the people’s response back to God. We see God communicating to Moses and giving him instructions and commandments to take back to the people. We also see in these texts that Moses is the primary mediator, but there will be others who also are part of a system of carrying messages between God and the people. A system of religion and accompanying services and sacrifices was established to help mediate and God to the people. This was codified into a set of laws.
To summarize this first part then: God wanted a direct relationship with the people. The people rejected that arrangement. Moses became the mediator between God and people. God codified how mediators and mediation of God’s nature and will to the people would function. This is the Old Covenant. Yes, there is a strong presence of law, but the foundational reason for the covenant is God’s desire to have a relationship with humankind and love them, and for the people to respond back in love.
The rest of the Old Testament is a story about the failure of the people to live up to the covenant. Priests and prophets came and went. Some tried and were marginally successful, but none succeeded fully. Many were downright antithetical to God’s nature.
The New Covenant
Hebrews 1:1-4
The Son is God’s ultimate messenger
1 In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. 2 In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. 3 The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. After he carried out the cleansing of people from their sins, he sat down at the right side of the highest majesty. 4 And the Son became so much greater than the other messengers, such as angels, that he received a more important title than theirs.
Hebrews 9:15
Christ’s death and the new covenant
15 This is why he’s the mediator of a new covenant (which is a will): so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance on the basis of his death. His death occurred to set them free from the offenses committed under the first covenant.
The problem with the Old Covenant wasn’t the originator – God – or its contents – God’s desire to have a relationship with humankind. The problem with the Old Covenant was that all of its mediators were flawed. It was what the people wanted, but in a way, it was broken from its very inception. It was God accommodating the people’s desires, because God does not force his way. He allowed the people to try out their way until they were more ready to hear from God directly.
When that time came, God sent Jesus Christ to be the final and perfect mediator. Final and perfect because Jesus is God incarnate showing to the world who God is and what God is like. Jesus’ relationships with his family, friends, strangers, and even enemies is how God relates to people. Nothing more can be said or shown beyond what Jesus demonstrated.
The originator and content of the New Covenant are the same as the Old: God originates it and it is God’s invitation to us to be in fellowship and relationship with God.
So why is it often equated with or spoken of as the Covenant of Grace? It has to do with the very last part of Jeremiah’s passage: “I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.”
Forgiveness of sins is not for God’s benefit, but for ours. God’s love for us is not contingent on God’s forgiveness of us or on our confession or repentance.
But guilt is a powerful force. Perhaps one of the most powerful and destructive in terms of relationships. We need to know that God forgives. A God who initiates the offer of forgiveness, regardless of offenses committed, is a God of grace. Not only does God forgive, but God does not keep a record, an accounting, of sins. We don’t have to work our way to a certain level before God wants to have a relationship with us. Every single person stands on the same level with God, and God wants to be a positive part of every single person’s life. That is grace.
Was there no grace in the Old Covenant? There certainly was. The very preamble of the Ten Commandments shows God’s grace in initiating the deliverance of God’s people out of slavery. The very fact that God initiated a covenant shows that God’s grace remains the same throughout eternity.
The difference is Jesus, the only perfect mediator and revelation of God. When Jesus was lifted and crucified, he still offered forgiveness to those who mocked him, to those who tortured him, and to those who nailed him to the cross. There was no hint of anger or desire to seek revenge in Jesus’ words and actions on the cross. This is how God responds to sin. God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness were fully demonstrated through Jesus at the cross. This is the vital lesson of the cross. This is what the body and blood of Jesus means.
When Jesus asks us to love our neighbors and enemies, to only seek to do good for others: that is the heart of the gospel. That is the heart of the covenant. Both old and new. The eternal covenant.
When that time came, God sent Jesus Christ to be the final and perfect mediator. Final and perfect because Jesus is God incarnate showing to the world who God is and what God is like. Jesus’ relationships with his family, friends, strangers, and even enemies is how God relates to people. Nothing more can be said or shown beyond what Jesus demonstrated.
The originator and content of the New Covenant are the same as the Old: God originates it and it is God’s invitation to us to be in fellowship and relationship with God.
So why is it often equated with or spoken of as the Covenant of Grace? It has to do with the very last part of Jeremiah’s passage: “I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.”
Forgiveness of sins is not for God’s benefit, but for ours. God’s love for us is not contingent on God’s forgiveness of us or on our confession or repentance.
But guilt is a powerful force. Perhaps one of the most powerful and destructive in terms of relationships. We need to know that God forgives. A God who initiates the offer of forgiveness, regardless of offenses committed, is a God of grace. Not only does God forgive, but God does not keep a record, an accounting, of sins. We don’t have to work our way to a certain level before God wants to have a relationship with us. Every single person stands on the same level with God, and God wants to be a positive part of every single person’s life. That is grace.
Was there no grace in the Old Covenant? There certainly was. The very preamble of the Ten Commandments shows God’s grace in initiating the deliverance of God’s people out of slavery. The very fact that God initiated a covenant shows that God’s grace remains the same throughout eternity.
The difference is Jesus, the only perfect mediator and revelation of God. When Jesus was lifted and crucified, he still offered forgiveness to those who mocked him, to those who tortured him, and to those who nailed him to the cross. There was no hint of anger or desire to seek revenge in Jesus’ words and actions on the cross. This is how God responds to sin. God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness were fully demonstrated through Jesus at the cross. This is the vital lesson of the cross. This is what the body and blood of Jesus means.
When Jesus asks us to love our neighbors and enemies, to only seek to do good for others: that is the heart of the gospel. That is the heart of the covenant. Both old and new. The eternal covenant.
Benediction
I close now with the benediction found at the closing of the letter to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 13:20-25
20 May the God of peace,
who brought back the great shepherd of the sheep,
our Lord Jesus,
from the dead by the blood of the eternal covenant,
21 equip you with every good thing to do his will,
by developing in us what pleases him through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory forever and always. Amen.
