SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2014
9:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Regeneration:
A New Covenant
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
31:31-40
Message of the
verses: From my very early years of
being a believer in Jesus Christ I can remember these verses as Jeremiah writes
about the New Covenant, a section of Scripture that is also seen in the book of
Hebrews as that author shows how this New Covenant is also for those in the
Church age.
“31 “Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant
which I made 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, although I was a husband to
them," declares the LORD. 33
"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of
Israel after those days,"
declares the LORD, "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. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD,’ for they will all
know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the
LORD, "for I will
forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
“35 Thus says the LORD, 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 hosts is His
name: 36 “If this
fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the
offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me
forever." 37 Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the
foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the
offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD. 38 “Behold,
days are coming,"
declares the LORD, "when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD from the
Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39
"The measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill
Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. 40
"And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all
the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward
the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it will not be plucked up or overthrown
anymore forever."”
I have to include the first paragraph of Warren Wiersbe’s
commentary because of how powerful it is:
“Any plan for the betterment of human society that ignores the sin
problem is destined to failure. It isn’t
enough to change the environment, for the heart of every problem is the problem
of the heart. God must change the hearts
of people so that they want to love Him and do His will. That’s why He announced a New Covenant to
replace the Old Covenant under which the Jews, had lived since the days of
Moses, a covenant that could direct their conduct by not change their character.”
It was during the long days in which the nation of Israel
was under the Old Covenant that they experienced revival on different
occasions. For instance there was a renewal
of the Old Covenant under Moses as seen in the book of Deuteronomy, as this
happened just before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land. Before Joshua died this also reaffirmed the
covenant as seen in Joshua 23-24, and when Samuel came on the scene he also
called the nation to renew their vows as seen in 1 Samuel chapter twelve. We saw revivals in Hezekiah’s reign and also
in Josiah’s reign, but none of these lasted, so can we conclude that there was
a problem with the Old Covenant? I think
not, but a problem with the people, and specifically the heart of the people.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The fact that the blessings didn’t
last is no argument against times of revival and refreshing. When somebody told Billy Sunday that revivals
weren’t necessary because they didn’t last, the evangelist replied, ‘A bath
doesn’t last, but it’s good to have one occasionally.’ A nation that is built on spiritual and moral
principles must have frequent times of renewal or the foundations will crumble.” I can had a hardy AMEN to that statement, as
I pray for revival in our country each and every day.
Now we will look at what is in the New Covenant and in some
cases see the differences between both the Old and New Covenants. First of all the New Covenant is not just a
renewal of the Old Covenant, but the reason it is called new is because it is
New. We can see from our text that the
New Covenant is inward for the Law of God is written upon the hearts of those
who accept this New Covenant, (More on that latter). The Old Covenant was national, with the nation
of Israel, while the New Covenant is personal as each person must put their
faith in the Lord in order to receive a new heart, as this new heart brings
about a disposition toward godliness.
The Old Covenant tried to control conduct, however the
New Covenant changes the character of the person who has it, for we see in
Romans 3:20 these words “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in
His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Now as we look at what Jeremiah writes about
the New Covenant we see “I
will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."” We may ask when will the Jews experience this
New Covenant, and the answer is that some, but few are experiencing it in the
Church age, but they will experience this more in the Kingdom age, the 1000
year reign of Christ upon the earth that is spoken about in the book of
Revelations and also seen in Zechariah 12:10-13:1.
Now for those of us who have already accepted this New
Covenant understand that it is because of Jesus Christ and His work on the
cross that we can experience the wonderful benefits of the New Covenant. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Because the church today
partakes in Israel’s spiritual riches (Rom. 11:12-32; Eph. 3:1-6), anyone who
puts faith in Jesus Christ shares in this New Covenant (Heb. 8:6-13;
10:14-18). It’s an experience of
regeneration, being born again into the family of God (John 3:1-21).”
Now as we look at verses 35-37 we see the permanence of
this New Covenant that God has made as he, through Jeremiah, tells that He is
in control and that nothing can stop this from happening and this must have
been a comfort to those who had been taken to Babylon. In verses 38-40 we see what will happen in
the future with the city of Jerusalem and as we look at Ezekiel chapters 40-48
we see an extended version of this.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is a song that expresses what I feel about being a part of this New Covenant and the son title is “A Family of God” and the chores goes as follows: “I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God-I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod; For I'm part of the family, the family of God.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live like I am, and that is a part of the family of God.
Memory verses for the week: Philippians 2:5-11.
5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Rebekah” (Genesis 24:15-19).
Today’s Bible question: “During Israel’s age of peace, prosperity and prominence, who was king?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/30/2014 10:46 AM
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