Jer. 31-32
God gives some beautiful promises regarding the restoration of His people. Because God’s people in the Old Testament are representative of all of His people today, these promises are applicable to us. They tell of our restoration when we return to Him through Jesus Christ. They also tell of the day when we will rest secure in Him for all eternity. It is a hope worth holding fast to and living out. It is the hope that we have in God’s new covenant with us – the very one we have been reading about in Hebrews.
God spoke of this new covenant through Jeremiah, saying, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people….for they shall all know me…. I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer 31:34). We no longer need the priests to reconcile us to God; we no longer need the rabbis to teach us. Through His son, Jesus, God has planted His truth and His ways – His law – in our hearts with His Holy Spirit. We don’t have to fear breaking this covenant, because it does not depend on us. All we have to do is embrace it.
God reiterates this again in Jeremiah 32:39-41. He promises to rejoice in and never turn away from doing good to His people. And He promises to, “put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from Me” (Jer 32:40b). So by putting His Spirit in us, He even helps us to hold fast to Him and His eternal promise for us. How great is our loving God!
Heb. 8
As it turns out, this chapter in Hebrews covers the exact same passage I just wrote about from Jeremiah 31. The writer of Hebrews also points out that the entire Old Testament system – from the Tabernacle, to the priests, and even to the law itself – was a shadow or a copy of the real thing. And the real thing is Jesus Himself. He embodies all of that. Jesus is God’s plan for the redemption of the world. God gave us everything that came before Jesus so that we would recognize Him when He came, know our need for Him, and be assured of the hope that we have in Him. Amazing.