Troublesome Topic: Something New!

Lesson 5 of 5

Several of the prophets communicated that this restoration would come about through the arrival and work of the Messiah. It was during this time that the people of Israel began to acquire the strong messianic yearning that we see present at the opening of the New Testament era.

Those who were more spiritually mature sensed that something needed to change. On some occasions that very idea was clearly expressed by the prophets: See! I will do something new! Now it begins to spring forth. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a road in the uninhabited wilderness, and rivers in the desert (Is. 43:19).

Included in the prophecies of the coming Messiah was the idea that, when He came, He would establish a New Covenant with God’s people. The passage that most clearly describes this New Covenant is in Jeremiah where we read:

Jeremiah 31:31

Translation

Look! The days are coming, says YHVH (read Adonai), when I will cut a new covenant with the house of ISRAEL and with the house of JUDAH,

Paraphrase

Give me your attention! This is important. THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD says, The days are coming when I will

establish a new covenant with the people who NEVER LET GO OF GOD, and with those that are full of PRAISE AND CELEBRATION.

Jeremiah 31:32

Translation

not like the covenant I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of EGYPT, my covenant which they broke, even though I was a husband to them, says YHVH (read Adonai).

Paraphrase

This one will not be like the covenant I established with their ancestors when I gently and carefully led them out of the LAND THAT IS BOUND BY SIN, that covenant which, by their actions, they caused to be null and void, despite the fact that I had a close and intimate relationship with them, says THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD.

Jeremiah 31:33

Translation

But this is the covenant I will cut with the house of ISRAEL after those days,

says YHVH (read Adonai), I will put my Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts

and I will be their ELOHIM and they will be my people.

Paraphrase

Rather this is the covenant I will establish with THOSE WHO REFUSE TO LET GO OF GOD after I have planted them back in this land, says THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD, I will put my instructions in their minds and write them on their hearts instead of on stones and parchment, and I will have a special relationship with them in which they will look to me and follow me as their CREATOR AND RULER and I will care for them and guide them.

Jeremiah 31:34

Translation

And every man shall not teach his neighbor, or every man his brother, saying, “Know YHVH (read Adonai)!” For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them, says YHVH (read Adonai). For I will forgive their depravity and remember their sins no more.

Paraphrase

One person will not need to teach his close neighbors or his close relatives saying, “Hey, you really need to follow THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD!” That won’t be necessary because everyone will already understand me and my ways, from the least significant to the most important, that’s what THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD says. This will be true because I will forgive them of their evil acts and I will not hold their guilt against them anymore.

A New Covenant was needed because the former one had been annulled, invalidated by the people’s rebellion. This New Covenant would have the same purpose as the last, expressed with the words, “I will their God and they will be my people.” The basic idea behind God’s initiatives toward man continues to be a desire for communion and intimate relationship.

We saw earlier how Hosea powerfully communicated to Israel the cutting off of the relationship—they were no longer considered the people of God. But, as is true in most of the prophets, there is a word of encouragement; God will not always be angry, He will once again show His grace. The meaning of each of Hosea’s children’s’ names will be reversed. We start once again with Jezreel, which means, “God plants.” God said,

Hosea 2:21

Translation

Then it will happen, on that day, that I will respond, declares YHVH (read Adonai), I will respond to the heavens and they will respond to the earth

Paraphrase

Then, at that time, this is what will happen, declares THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD, I will answer, yes, I will answer the needs and requests of the sky, and the sky will answer the needs and requests of the earth,

Hosea 2:22

Translation

and the earth will respond with grain, with fresh wine and with fresh oil, and they will answer, “JEZREEL!”

Paraphrase

and the earth will respond by producing grain and grapes for new wine, and olives for new oil, and all of them will shout “God deserves the glory because GOD HAS PLANTED (and produced the harvest)!”

The valley known as a place of fierce battles and a place of slaughter, will once again be known for what its name means, a place where God plants and, by implication, tends to what He has planted. The place where God once fought against his own people will again be the place where he tends to their needs like a conscientious gardener.

Now look at what God said about the other two children:

Hosea 2:23

Translation

and I will show compassion on LO-RUHAMAH, I will say to LO-AMMI, “you are my people” and he shall say, “you are my God.”

Paraphrase

But I will show love to the one who is NOT LOVED, and I will say to the one who is NOT MY PEOPLE, “You are my people,” and he will say to me, “Yes, You are my God.”

How amazing is the tender mercy and loving kindness of our God! Those who were rejected because of their sins are given a second chance, not because they deserved it, just because that is what God is like.

That is the kind of work the Messiah will do.

The next lesson in the full series on Covenants is: Learning to Wait

The next lesson in the medium and short series on Covenants is: Preliminary Questions about the New Covenant

Footnotes

1

“After those days” does not seem to make sense unless you look at the context. In this section He was communicating through the prophet that He would bring them back from captivity to their own land. Verse 27 says that He will “plant them,” reminiscent of one who planted a vineyard, which was a sign of prosperity and joy. Hence the paraphrase column includes the part about planting them in the land, which is drawn from the context of the passage.

2

When someone talked about writing the law on something, the hearer immediately thought about stone or parchment. Who ever heard of writing something on someone’s heart? It sounds painful! But God can do what no one else can do. And if His instructions are written on the heart they will never be lost or forgotten, they be lived out in every action of every day. Also they would not need anyone else to teach it to them or explain it to them, for they would already know it because it would be inside them. The original audience would have immediately seen some benefits of having it written on their hearts.