If you have been reading Jeremiah with us, chapter by chapter, then you will understand the breath of fresh air that comes in Jeremiah 31. In fact, as Jeremiah receives this revelation from God at night in a dream, he says, “I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me” (31:26).
We have seen glimpses of the heart of God early in Jeremiah but it is here in chapter 31 that you really see God’s heart for Israel and the reason why God is so angry with their sin. God is like a loving father with a rebellious, obstinate, destructive son. He is tough with Israel and sternly confronts and judges their sin but the whole time His heart is breaking. He would choose any other path if He could, but sin is not healed with a band-aid. It requires radical surgery.
Consider some of the words of God to His people:
I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness (31:3).
Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD (31:20).
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint (31:25).
Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD (31:28).
The greatest promise in Jeremiah 31 comes in verses 31-34 when God promises the nation of Israel a “new covenant.” It will not be like the Mosaic Covenant–the law–which the people of Israel broke time and time again. No, this time the law will be in their minds and written on people’s hearts. People will obey, not because some written code says so, but because they have a desire to obey out of a heartfelt love for God. Each person will have a relationship with God. They will know Him. And their sins will be totally forgiven.
Quite a covenant! It is the covenant of grace. The covenant that Christ instituted with His death on the cross. Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). Christ was the sacrifice that initiated this covenant. Through Him, we know God, our sins are forgiven, and the law of God is written on our hearts. Hallelujah!
One final note…this covenant was promised specifically to the nation of Israel but, in Christ, we who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us. Christ not only broke down the wall of sin between God and man but He also broke down the wall of division between Jews and Gentiles. We are grafted into the covenants of God through Christ’s death. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:13-14, 19). That is the beauty of grace.