EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/31/2026 8:40 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The
Claim”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
5:20
Message of the verse: “Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend,
your sins are forgiven you.”
I will begin this evening’s SD by quoting the third
paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary on what is in the “Focus” this
evening.
“But forgiveness has always been the
offer of redemption, so it is also the message of the Old Testament. After Adan and Eve sinned, ‘the Lord God made
garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them’ (Gen. 3:21). Killing animals to provide those garments
pictured the ultimate sacrifice of Messiah, whose death would cover the shame
and guilt of sin. The Lord described
Himself to Moses as ‘the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow
to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness
for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin’ (Ex. 34:6-7; cf.
Num. 14:18). Nehemiah 9:17 calls Him a ‘God
of forgiveness.’ In Psalm 65:3 David wrote, ‘Iniquities prevail against me; as
for our transgressions, You forgive them,’ while in 86:5, he declared, ‘For
You, Lord are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all
who call upon You.’ In Psalm 103:12,
David depicted the extensiveness of God’s forgiveness when he noted that ‘as
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from
us.’ In 130:3-4, the psalmist expressed
his confidence in God’s forgiveness: ‘If
You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You
may be feared.’ Speaking of the promised
forgiveness in the New Covenant, God declared, ‘I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more’ (Jer. 31:34). Micah joyously exclaimed, ‘Who is a God like
You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of
His possession?’ (Mic. 7:18; cf. Isa.
55:7).”
I want to go back to the quotation
from Jeremiah 31:34, as there may be some confusion as MacArthur writes about
the New Covenant and so I did some digging to find out where that verse is
quoted in the New Testament and found it is in the book of Hebrews chapter
eight.
“ Yes
— Jeremiah 31:34 is quoted in the New Testament. The longest and
most direct quotation of this passage occurs in Hebrews 8:8–12,
where the author cites Jeremiah 31:31–34 in full to argue that the covenant
established by Jesus is “better” and “obsolete” compared to the old covenant
made with Israel through Moses Bible Odyssey+1.
In
Hebrews, the quotation is used to show that the new covenant inaugurated by
Christ fulfills and replaces the Mosaic covenant, offering a more perfect and
enduring relationship between God and His people. The passage in Hebrews
10:16–17 also alludes to the same idea, linking Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice
to the promise in Jeremiah 31:34 that God will “remember their sins no more’”
“
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Jeremiah
31:34 in New Covenant context? ► |
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How
does Jeremiah 31:34 fit into the context of the New Covenant? Jeremiah
31:34 “No
longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the
LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their
sins no more.” Historical
Setting: The Exilic Promise Jeremiah
delivers 31:31-34 while Jerusalem teeters on destruction (c. 587 BC).
Babylon’s siege signals covenant curses foretold in Deuteronomy 28. Into
this despair, chapters 30-33—Jeremiah’s “Book of Consolation”—speak of
restoration. Jeremiah
31:34 stands at the climax: Yahweh pledges a “new covenant” that
will eclipse the broken Mosaic covenant (31:32). Archaeological
discoveries such as the bullae inscribed “Belonging to Gemariah son of
Shaphan” and “Belonging to Baruch son of Neriah” (uncovered in the City of
David, 1975 & 1996) corroborate the historic milieu and specific
individuals in Jeremiah
36, underscoring the prophet’s reliability.” Now back to where I left off in
quoting MacArthur’s commentary. “The Old Testament likens God’s forgiveness
to His casting sins behind His back (Isa. 38:17), wiping them out (Isa.
43:25; cf. 1:18; 44:22) trampling them under His feet (Mic. 7:19), and
burying them in the depts of the sea (Mic. 7:19). |
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“Aware that
the paralyzed man had genuine, penitent faith, Jesus on His own divine
authority, extended full and permanent forgiveness to him. He did not necessarily understand the truth
that Jesus was God; people were forgiven in the Old Testament by
acknowledging that they were sinners, deserving of God’s judgment and unable
to save themselves, confessing and repenting of their sin, and throwing
themselves on God’s mercy. The
penitent tax collector is an example of how people were saved before the
cross: ‘But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even
unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God,
be merciful to me, the sinner!’’(Luke 18:13).
His humble repentance and faith in God’s grace and forgiveness
resulted in his justification (v.14).
After the cross and resurrection, there is no salvation apart from
believing in the only object of saving faith—the Lord Jesus Christ (John
14:6; Acts 4:12; 17:30-31; 1 Tim. 2:5).
As Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, ‘If you confess with your mouth Jesus as
Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will
be saved.’ It is because of Christ’s
sacrificial death on the cross that God can be ‘Just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus’ (Rom. 3:26).” There is much to think about in this
section that actually took three Spiritual Diaries to complete, so it is my
prayer that the Holy Spirit of God will use what is written in this SD to
bring salvation, and bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ. 5/31/2026
9:09 PM |
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