16. The Promised New Covenant

Long before Jeremiah spoke the words “new covenant,” Moses revealed that God’s people needed something only God could do.



Israel was commanded, “circumcise... the foreskin of your heart” (Deut. 10:16). 



Yet Moses later prophesied:



“The LORD your God will circumcise your heart... so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 30:6)



What they could not produce within themselves, God promised to do.



The LORD later speaks through Jeremiah:



“Behold, the days are coming... when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” (Jer. 31:31)



This New Covenant would be “not like” the covenant God made with their fathers — the covenant they broke (Jer. 31:32).

The prophets were weaving these promises together: a coming Servant, a promised King and Shepherd, an everlasting covenant, and God’s salvation reaching the nations (Isa. 49:6–8; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 37:24–26).



And what characterizes this New Covenant?



“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”



“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”



And at the heart of it all:



“They shall all know me... I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer. 31:33–34)



This wasn't merely a promise of changed behavior, but an inward work. God was promising intimacy: a people who would know him and belong to him. 



Then Ezekiel opens the promise even further:



“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.”



“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.”



“I will remove the heart of stone... and give you a heart of flesh.”



And then comes this astonishing promise:



“I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” (Ezek. 36:25–27)



Look at what God is promising!



Moses: God will circumcise the heart.



Jeremiah: God will write upon the heart.



Ezekiel: God will give a new heart and put his Spirit within.



What God commanded his people concerning their hearts, he promised that he himself would accomplish within them. 



Then Jesus comes.



On the night before his death, he takes the cup and declares:



“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20)



There is the fulfillment — in Christ.



His blood is poured out “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28), and Hebrews calls him “the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 9:15).



Then the risen and exalted Jesus receives the promised Holy Spirit from the Father and pours him out (Acts 2:32–33).



What God promised, he has accomplished in Christ! Hallelujah! 



But Jeremiah said the covenant would be made “with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” What, then, about Gentiles?



Paul says Gentiles were once “strangers to the covenants of promise.” But now, in Christ Jesus, those who were “far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:12–13).



Christ has made believing Jew and Gentile “both one,” reconciling both to God “in one body,” with both having access to the Father “in one Spirit” (Eph. 2:14–18).



Paul then says Gentiles are:



“...fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (Eph. 3:6)



Those once strangers to the covenants of promise are brought near in Christ: believing Jew and Gentile share in one body and one Spirit, and Gentiles become “partakers of the promise.” 



Look at what God promised.



A circumcised heart.

Forgiveness of sins.

God’s law within.

A new heart.
God’s Spirit within.

A people who truly know their God.



This is the New Covenant God promised.



And Jesus declared:



“This... is the new covenant in my blood.”



What God promised to do within his people, he has established through Christ — a forgiven people, made new from within, knowing their God and given his Spirit. 



What a promise.



And what a Savior!