(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)
People enter into many covenants or contracts over the course of life, some more significant than others, from a marriage covenant to a building contract. These voluntary agreements between parties usually involve paper work and the signing of documents.
After the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria in 722, King Hezekiah in the south was able to initiate religious reforms in Judah, preventing the same fate for the Southern Kingdom. When his son Manasseh assumed the throne, the new king reversed those reforms, setting the Southern Kingdom on an irreversible course to its own demise. Even the significant efforts by the next administration under King Josiah could not stop the downward spiral. As the situation grew increasingly worse, the faithful were wondering if this might spell the end of God's involvement with His people. The Lord responds to their concern through the prophet Jeremiah, assuring them that He has not given up on them, that His original plan for them is still on track, and that He has guaranteed their future prosperity. An important part of that plan will include...
* LI. The Foremost Constitution
...which is...
The situation in Jeremiah's day is also spotty, and Israel as a nation has not been behaving well. As of late, most of the kings, priests, and people are engaged in idolatrous practices God abhors. To make matters more difficult, the Babylonian military is expanding into the region, conquering all in its path, and God will not stop that advance when it reaches Judah. The faithful minority in Judah is concerned, watching as these unpleasant events (both domestic and foreign) worsen, these faithful are wondering where this will end. The unfaithful majority in Judah, having brought the country to the brink of ruin, are evidently unconcerned about where this will end. Nevertheless, there is great uncertainty. Will the nation survive, or will it go the way of the Amorites, whom God destroyed when their sin reached "its full measure" (Gen 15:16) in Canaan? Jeremiah speaks to the faithful, assuring them that God is by no means finished with His people, despite the current state of affairs. To be sure, there will be difficult times ahead, but eventually God will restore them, and under the auspices of a new contract, a better contract, because....
Under the previous covenant, most people understood their responsibilities solely through what was written in the law. They were compelled by a document from God. Under this new arrangement, the Messianic covenant,3 people's understanding will be innate.4 They will be impelled by a devotion to God. He says, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts."5 How will this be possible?
God refers to this same transformation later through the prophet Ezekiel, during the Babylonian exile,6 when people's hopes are at an all time low.7
This is a description of regeneration, an act of God that follows man's repentance and faith. Under previous covenants, there was no prerequisite that a person must be saved before he could participate. While some people—like Abraham, Moses. David, and others—were saved and possessed the new heart and new spirit Ezekiel describes, most people were not, which is what led to the national apostasy in Jeremiah's day. Most people had only a superficial relationship to God, one they acknowledged when it was convenient but abandoned when it was inconvenient. So, one of the features of this new contract is that recipients will possess the indwelling of God's Spirit,8 and the Spirit will motivate their obedience.
Paul talks about the Spirit's motivating work in his letter to believers at Rome. Contrasting the sinful mind with the Spirit-led mind, he says...
How does God work? Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe His method similarly.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel live in a society where most people do not serve the Lord. As the situation grows increasingly worse, faithful individuals may wonder if the divine plan is completely off track. Through these prophets, God assures His people that is not the case. What the few who are loyal to God have experienced on a small scale—the Spirit's regeneration—will happen one day on a large scale, and the task of the faithful is to get that message out by manifesting the change God had wrought in their lives to others. Later generations might not know any of this if not for the public testimony of this faithful remnant.
You also live in a society where most people do not serve the Lord. You, however, like the faithful in Israel, have experienced this same internal transformation. At times, you may wonder if the divine plan is completely off track. Despite appearances, that it not the case. God is quite in control and will send His messiah to set things straight. The task of the faithful, of you, is to get that message out by manifesting the change God had wrought in your lives to others. For all the faithful, Jew and gentile, those who have experienced this transformation by the Spirit, the work of God may be internal, but the witness for God must be external. Later generations may not know any of this if not for the public testimony of you, a faithful remnant.
The New Covenant Jeremiah describes is the same covenant Jesus recognizes at his last Passover seder with the disciples. It is an agreement, though, that will not go into effect fully until the Messianic Age. At this point in history, while some in Israel enjoy its provisions, most in Israel still operate under the Mosaic covenant.
In chapter 33, Jeremiah describes the Messianic Age when God's people will again be in their land and under the rule of a good king.
According to another prophet, Zechariah, the Messianic Age will follow a most difficult period for the nation (even more difficult than the Babylonian exile), when hostile, gentile forces will again threaten to destroy it. At that time, when all appears lost, God will intervene through the messiah.
The sixth covenant, which Jeremiah and, later, Ezekiel describe, is a new kind of agreement, and so it is called a New Covenant. Unlike previous agreements, this one is only for those who are already in right standing with God, those who are saved. No one else will take part in it. So doing, your Lord will make an inclusive covenant with Israel.
This promise of the New Covenant highlights the enduring quality of God's commitment to His people, a feature that should be encouraging to you even as it was encouraging to Israel. ...Keep in mind the historical setting for God's promise:
What should be encouraging to you is knowing that God's commitment to His people endures, even when they do not serve Him as they should. Your allegiance to God may never decline to the same low point Israel's did, but you may still wonder if something you have done has threatened to derail His good intentions for you. If you are concerned about that possibility, it is not too late. Do what you can to correct the situation, and remember: God did not give up on Israel, and He will not give up on you. He remains committed to His people, and that includes you.11
The faithful had experienced in Jeremiah's day what the whole nation will experience in the messiah's day, when God implements fully The Foremost Constitution.
Having considered The Foremost Constitution, we will look next at The Foremost Conceptualization, when Ezekiel presents a portrait of God, in Ezek 1:26-28.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
The new school librarian decided that instead of checking out children's books by writing the names of borrowers on the book cards herself, she would have the youngsters sign their own names. She would then tell them they were signing a "Contract" for returning the books on time. Her first customer was a second grader, who looked surprised to see a new librarian. He brought four books to the desk and slid them across to the librarian, giving her his name as he did so. The librarian slid the books back and told him to sign them out. The boy laboriously printed his name on each book card and then handed them to her with a look of utter disgust. Before the librarian could even start her speech he said, scornfully, "The other librarian we had...could write."People enter into many covenants or contracts over the course of life, some more significant than others. The most significant is when they enter into an agreement with God, as His people do with The Foremost Constitution.
After the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria in 722, King Hezekiah in the south was able to initiate religious reforms in Judah, preventing the same fate for the Southern Kingdom. When his son Manasseh assumed the throne, the new king reversed those reforms, setting the Southern Kingdom on an irreversible course to its own demise. Even the significant efforts by the next administration under King Josiah could not stop the downward spiral. As the situation grew increasingly worse, the faithful were wondering if this might spell the end of God's involvement with His people. The Lord responds to their concern through the prophet Jeremiah, assuring them that He has not given up on them, that His original plan for them is still on track, and that He has guaranteed their future prosperity. An important part of that plan will include...
* LI. The Foremost Constitution
...which is...
- The pact of God (Jer 31:33-34)
Jer 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."From the beginning, God has allowed man considerable freedom to determine his own path. Some, like Enoch, chose to serve the Lord.1 It says in...
Gen 5:24a Enoch walked with God....Others, like Lamach, chose to serve themselves, often to the extreme. He says in...
Gen 4:23 "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech [will be avenged] seventy-seven times."Since then, God has sought out the faithful and has made several agreements with them, agreements called covenants.2 These covenants got progressively narrower in scope with each instantiation.
- The first agreement God made with all mankind through Noah.
- The second agreement God made with a portion of mankind through Abraham.
- The third covenant God made with part of Abraham's descendants through Moses.
- The fourth and fifth covenants God made were narrower still, with the priestly caste through Phineas and with the royal house through David.
The situation in Jeremiah's day is also spotty, and Israel as a nation has not been behaving well. As of late, most of the kings, priests, and people are engaged in idolatrous practices God abhors. To make matters more difficult, the Babylonian military is expanding into the region, conquering all in its path, and God will not stop that advance when it reaches Judah. The faithful minority in Judah is concerned, watching as these unpleasant events (both domestic and foreign) worsen, these faithful are wondering where this will end. The unfaithful majority in Judah, having brought the country to the brink of ruin, are evidently unconcerned about where this will end. Nevertheless, there is great uncertainty. Will the nation survive, or will it go the way of the Amorites, whom God destroyed when their sin reached "its full measure" (Gen 15:16) in Canaan? Jeremiah speaks to the faithful, assuring them that God is by no means finished with His people, despite the current state of affairs. To be sure, there will be difficult times ahead, but eventually God will restore them, and under the auspices of a new contract, a better contract, because....
1. Your Lord will make an internal covenant with Israel (Jer 31:33).One way this new contract is better than previous ones is not that it relies on some different precepts but that it resides in a different place. The New Covenant is not manifest chiefly in a legal contract from God the people possess but in a lasting commitment to God the people express. The terms of the New Covenant are, in fact, the same as the terms of the previous covenant (called simply, "my law"), but motivation to keep those terms emanates from a different source.
Under the previous covenant, most people understood their responsibilities solely through what was written in the law. They were compelled by a document from God. Under this new arrangement, the Messianic covenant,3 people's understanding will be innate.4 They will be impelled by a devotion to God. He says, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts."5 How will this be possible?
God refers to this same transformation later through the prophet Ezekiel, during the Babylonian exile,6 when people's hopes are at an all time low.7
Ezek 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.Again, the terms of this New Covenant are essentially unchanged (again simply, "my decrees and...my laws"). What does change is what motivates people's compliance, which emanates from "a new heart and...a new spirit." Your Lord will make an internal covenant with Israel.
This is a description of regeneration, an act of God that follows man's repentance and faith. Under previous covenants, there was no prerequisite that a person must be saved before he could participate. While some people—like Abraham, Moses. David, and others—were saved and possessed the new heart and new spirit Ezekiel describes, most people were not, which is what led to the national apostasy in Jeremiah's day. Most people had only a superficial relationship to God, one they acknowledged when it was convenient but abandoned when it was inconvenient. So, one of the features of this new contract is that recipients will possess the indwelling of God's Spirit,8 and the Spirit will motivate their obedience.
Paul talks about the Spirit's motivating work in his letter to believers at Rome. Contrasting the sinful mind with the Spirit-led mind, he says...
Rom 8:4 ...the righteous requirements of the law [are] fully met in us, who...live...according to the Spirit.... 7 [T]he sinful mind....does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.... 9a You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.... 14 [And] those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.Elsewhere, Paul identifies the Spirit as the agent of regeneration.
Titus 3:5b [God] saved us...by the washing of regeneration...by the Holy Spirit,The Spirit's work of regeneration and motivation is what enabled Old Testament saints to keep the covenant Jeremiah describes here.
How does God work? Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe His method similarly.
- Through Jeremiah (31:33b), the Lord says, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts."
- Through Ezekiel (36:26a), the Lord says, "I will give you a new heart....and move you....to keep my laws."
Jeremiah and Ezekiel live in a society where most people do not serve the Lord. As the situation grows increasingly worse, faithful individuals may wonder if the divine plan is completely off track. Through these prophets, God assures His people that is not the case. What the few who are loyal to God have experienced on a small scale—the Spirit's regeneration—will happen one day on a large scale, and the task of the faithful is to get that message out by manifesting the change God had wrought in their lives to others. Later generations might not know any of this if not for the public testimony of this faithful remnant.
You also live in a society where most people do not serve the Lord. You, however, like the faithful in Israel, have experienced this same internal transformation. At times, you may wonder if the divine plan is completely off track. Despite appearances, that it not the case. God is quite in control and will send His messiah to set things straight. The task of the faithful, of you, is to get that message out by manifesting the change God had wrought in your lives to others. For all the faithful, Jew and gentile, those who have experienced this transformation by the Spirit, the work of God may be internal, but the witness for God must be external. Later generations may not know any of this if not for the public testimony of you, a faithful remnant.
The New Covenant Jeremiah describes is the same covenant Jesus recognizes at his last Passover seder with the disciples. It is an agreement, though, that will not go into effect fully until the Messianic Age. At this point in history, while some in Israel enjoy its provisions, most in Israel still operate under the Mosaic covenant.
In chapter 33, Jeremiah describes the Messianic Age when God's people will again be in their land and under the rule of a good king.
Jer 33:16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.' 17 For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices."
19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 "This is what the LORD says: 'If You can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. 22 [But] I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore."This is a very strong assertion on God's part and will be a radical change from the situation in Jeremiah's day, when both the monarchy and the priesthood are in decline. How will it happen? When will this new king appear?
According to another prophet, Zechariah, the Messianic Age will follow a most difficult period for the nation (even more difficult than the Babylonian exile), when hostile, gentile forces will again threaten to destroy it. At that time, when all appears lost, God will intervene through the messiah.
Zech 12:9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Zech 14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem....This event will cause a national repentance10 when, as the apostle Paul says, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26a). It is at that point, conditions will improve immensely and enable the full implementation of the new contract Jeremiah describes, when...
2. Your Lord will make an inclusive covenant with Israel (Jer 31:34).Another way this new contract is better than the previous one is that the recipients are no longer divided. All earlier contracts were open to people regardless of their spiritual condition, whether saved (regenerate) or unsaved (unregenerate). This covenant is better because, with "all Israel...saved," it will reflect a basic level of commitment that is common to every person. Then, the contract only a few in Israel followed to that point will become the rule all in Israel will follow from that point. Moreover, the national transformation will usher in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity under the messiah's reign.
The sixth covenant, which Jeremiah and, later, Ezekiel describe, is a new kind of agreement, and so it is called a New Covenant. Unlike previous agreements, this one is only for those who are already in right standing with God, those who are saved. No one else will take part in it. So doing, your Lord will make an inclusive covenant with Israel.
This promise of the New Covenant highlights the enduring quality of God's commitment to His people, a feature that should be encouraging to you even as it was encouraging to Israel. ...Keep in mind the historical setting for God's promise:
- Israel's allegiance to God is at an all-time low,
- Idolatry is at an all-time high,
- The number of those who remain faithful is now too small to stave off judgment, and
- A ruthless enemy is about to invade the land.
What should be encouraging to you is knowing that God's commitment to His people endures, even when they do not serve Him as they should. Your allegiance to God may never decline to the same low point Israel's did, but you may still wonder if something you have done has threatened to derail His good intentions for you. If you are concerned about that possibility, it is not too late. Do what you can to correct the situation, and remember: God did not give up on Israel, and He will not give up on you. He remains committed to His people, and that includes you.11
The faithful had experienced in Jeremiah's day what the whole nation will experience in the messiah's day, when God implements fully The Foremost Constitution.
Having considered The Foremost Constitution, we will look next at The Foremost Conceptualization, when Ezekiel presents a portrait of God, in Ezek 1:26-28.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)
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Jim Skaggs