There are too many people who backwash their own thoughts and ideas into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, people who add conditions of correct behavior or legalism. There is no room in the Gospel for anything but God’s good news of our salvation, but what if there is room for more fullness of joy? What if we’re missing delight that is possible with a wider and wiser understanding of God’s message in the Gospel? Jeremiah 31:31-34 is God’s message of hope that will come after destruction, and it is also a passage of scripture that, when interpreted with the correct view, will broaden and deepen our understanding of God’s focus and purpose of the Gospel with the reminder of God’s kingdom that is present today, and how His people are able to be a part of bringing that kingdom into greater view with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah’s prophetic word of the New Covenant is a stitch in the interwoven hope which God provides throughout the Bible, ultimately pointing to the establishment of His kingdom in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, in Holy Spirit dwelling in His people, and in New Creation. The goal of this forward-thinking joy is knowing who God is in His relationship with His people.
The message of the New Covenant came through prophecy, so it is helpful to have an understanding of how to read prophecy in order to grasp the truth spoken. Prophecy is defined as prediction, and although this definition is helpful to understanding what prophecy is, a more whole strategy for reading is seeking the purpose or function of prophecy, not merely the structure (Hill and Walton 509). Prophecy is a part of God’s creation, and as any creator or artist, God had a purpose for His design. The design of prophecy as shown in scripture starts with God choosing one of His people and calling them to the ministry of speaking His message. Following the calling, the prophet is faithful one word or action at a time, and although their words sound like they are aware of the specific events that will follow, they are no more aware than anyone else at the time of the message (513). The prophecy is not about the events themselves, rather it is about the whole message that God speaks. There is more to a letter then knowing about someone’s life, because it is a gift to whom it is given. It is a piece of who that person is, almost like they are sharing their journal and agenda. The same is true in reading prophecy, because it is a message given as a gift that contains the identity of the author, Yahweh. It reveals who God is by showing His agenda and the issues that He cares about, His passions (512).
Different categories of prophecy contain different pieces of God’s character, and Jeremiah 31 is considered to be a part of the Pre-exilic Aftermath Oracle category (510). The oracles offer hope following the exile directed to future generations who will experience the restoration. The specific events will not be experienced directly by the immediate audience, which provides evidence that the purpose of prophecy is not to predict but to provide a picture of God and His plan (510). If fulfillment of any prophecy is studied, many events will show an appropriate correlation to the prophetic word that even extends into eschatological times (514). This is found with Jeremiah 31:31-34. Many places through scripture show the actions of God lining up with His word from Jeremiah, and each of these instances are important to draw back to the original message of God in the promise of the New Covenant. It shows an interwoven hope, given by a Good God to not only His chosen, but the world which He loves. His revelation is for everyone, so that they may know a love that is irresistible and come to know God and respond to the grace He has for all. With that, we can now explore the context in which Jeremiah’s prophetic word is set.
The author of the book of Jeremiah is Jeremiah the prophet, who was called into a lengthy, abrasive forty-year ministry by God (534). God calls on him as a boy (Jer. 1:6), and declares that Jeremiah will be faithfully obedient through his ministry to Judah (Jer. 1:7). Jeremiah will go and speak to whomever God demands, and it is by God’s power that this will be done (Jer. 1:8). God puts His own words in Jeremiah’s mouth, and tells him of what the message will hold. It will be one of judgement, and it will not be well received by those listening (Jer. 1:9). There will be rejection of the truth that Jeremiah speaks, but this is God’s word and by God’s power it will be heard; therefore, Jeremiah will be protected from the harm of the listeners by the God of Israel for His own glory and for His people’s good (Jer. 1:18). The Lord says to Jeremiah, “They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you” (Jer. 1:19 NRSV). Jeremiah is open about this struggle to stay faithful to his harsh calling throughout his ministry, even cursing the day he was born (Jer. 20:14). This raw emotion gives way for the reader to know Jeremiah’s personality more intimately than any other prophet (Hill and Walton 534); therefore, the audience observes that he speaks out of obedience to the Lord. This audience is not only Judah, who he is speaking directly to, but also the postexilic people of God who read the written book of Jeremiah and us today who read it as a piece of the Old Testament (ESV 1364). God is sovereign over the spoken word of Jeremiah as He is sovereign over the story of His people throughout the Old Testament. The purpose goes beyond the prediction of the prophetic words. It is a unique special revelation of its own, and should be read with the intent that God desires.
Histo-cultural setting is a load bearing wall for the structure and function of prophecy; without it we would be left looking at a pile of rubble that may contain small pieces resembling the house that once stood, but will never be the full picture of a standing house. As previously noted, Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a Pre-exile Aftermath Oracle. This means the message was delivered before the exile, in this case the exile of Judah, and it contains hope of what will occur following the exile—the aftermath. The beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry directly followed the death of King Josiah, which marks the beginning of the fall of Judah (Hill and Walton 535). Jehoiakim came into power in Judah, but the nation was a vassal state under the control of Babylonia, and the people of Judah were being gradually deported leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and total exile (535). It was a melting pot of emotion filled with fear and hope (535). Jeremiah had a good understanding of the people of Judah while not being lured into their idol worship as a result of his just-close-enough proximity to Jerusalem, similar to living in Wheaton in comparison to Chicago, and could speak knowingly into their lives (ESV 1364). God’s judgement of Judah came as a result of, “all their wickedness in forsaking [Yahweh]; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands” (Jer. 1:16b NRSV). Exile was used politically by Babylonia to break apart Judah’s sense of identity found in the nation and ethnicity, and God was in control of this as punishment, but the Aftermath Oracles give hope for God’s healing and reconciliation of this brokenness (Hill and Walton 536). This is part of the New Covenant, that God will gather His people, and it does not end after the return to the land. This regathering is a thread through the eschatological view of scripture.
With the framework of the passage laid out, the message of these prophetic words can be explored theologically:
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: 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. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (Jer. 31:31-34 NRSV)
First, the Lord sets up His message saying He “will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31). Two points of notice are the adjective “new” for the covenant He will be making, and the specificity that it will be made with both Israel and Judah. In regard to the inclusion of both nations, this is an assurance to God’s faithfulness to all His people (Calvin). This prophecy is a global message to be spoken to more than just Jeremiah’s focused audience, Judah; hence, it is an assurance to Israel that they are not forgotten or forsaken, but have been a part of the covenant between God and His people from the beginning (Calvin; ESV 1366). Perhaps this shows correlation to a similar message in the New Testament, that both Jews and Gentiles are a part of God’s people, and they will be gathered accordingly (John 11:52). Paul reminds the Romans, regarding the Jews and Gentiles, that they should, “welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7 NRSV).
Then there is the idea that this covenant is new. In reality, this covenant, the doctrine, is not new (Calvin; Hill and Walton 539). But this message is meant to give hope to Israel and Judah who have seen over and over again that they cannot stay faithful to the covenant and the law, just as we experience today as not being able to stay faithful to God completely no matter how desperately we desire to do so. Verse 32 explains that the covenant was broken by adulterous people even after God gave them the unconditional gift of redemption from there oppressors in Egypt. If they were able to break the covenant in the wake of such a glorious event, how would that ever stay faithful to it? The newness brings a sense of relief to a distressed people, and it is true that there is something that is not like before (Calvin). The delivery method of God’s promises in this new covenant will shift to make it unbreakable.
God has never and will never stray from who He says He is; therefore, the covenant made with Abraham, a revelation of God, will remain constant even as it is seemingly expanded in the delivery method (Calvin; Hill and Walton 540). Verse 32 says, “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors…a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord,” but this does not mean it will be a new promise, rather it will have a new means of establishment (Calvin). God promised from the beginning, seen in Genesis 15:17, that He would not allow the covenant to fail. The Spirit of God walked down an aisle of split animals, performing a ritual that declares the one who walks will become like the animals if not fulfilled (Sproul). God is a promise keeper, and in order for the fulfillment of his promises, he had to introduce a new means of covenant keeping, so “[He] will put [His] law within them, and [He] will write it on their hearts…”. He will also, “…forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:32, 34). Dr. John Walton explains that, “Hebrews 8-10 shows us that Jesus Christ makes [the original covenant] conditions achievable and that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit actually accomplishes the objective” (Hill and Walton 540). The new means of the covenant would first of all be the washing away of sins in Jesus’ death and resurrection, then the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be the law written on our hearts, leading creation into the journey of sanctification before the complete revealing of Heaven on Earth (2 Corinthians 3). This is the Kingdom of God.
In John Calvin’s commentary of Jeremiah 31, his explanation of verse 31 begins that the passage clearly refers to the kingdom of Christ, because it is a passage that produces hope not found in the law and must point ahead to Jesus. If Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the message of the kingdom, what is the kingdom? Theologian Stanley Hauerwas recognizes that the exploration of the kingdom is not about when the kingdom is coming or has come, but rather it is about what the kingdom is; therefore, it is about how the kingdom is sovereignly ruled by God with grace, forgiveness, and mercy (82). The kingdom of God is the structure of His creation. It is not just the church, but it is the world (97). The world I am speaking of is not the world in terms of the flesh, but all of creation, sacred and desecrated (97). The church is a part of the kingdom, and it is God’s way of giving everyone a taste of the sacred kingdom unveiled (97). Imagine a plot of soil with no sign of life, but gradually there are few flowers that pop up through the dirt. Those flowers give the awareness that there is more to come, more flowers hidden under the dirt. The church is a first flower. It reveals the glory and joy that is to come. What is coming is not merely more flowers, but the entire layer of dirt will be blown away, revealing beautiful shalom that was unimaginable apart from the flowers that were precursors. It will no longer be a garden that you must return to repeatedly to eat your fill, but it will be a continuous feast in the presence of God, living at His table, living perfectly as God’s people in unceasing praise.
Maybe the message of the kingdom we are looking at in Jeremiah 31 is that yes, the kingdom of God was present yet veiled during the days of the Israelites, because there was a covenant with God already established. Then the real taste of the kingdom that is coming will first be experienced when Jesus arrives, making us holy and able to be in the presence of God. When in the presence of God there is no greater feeling of need than the need to praise His Majesty, which is the source of our joy and reason for creation. The message is also one of bringing His people together as they were meant to be, he is continually establishing His nation in the world today in preparation for the day when this nation will be the people who experience the shalom in the revealing of Heaven on Earth. But Jesus leaves. He rises from the grave and ascends to be with the Father, so who will teach the church how to live in accordance with God’s will and who will turn hearts to faith? He leaves us with a different form of the same presence, the Holy Spirit:
In [Christ] you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)
The Holy Spirit is a deposit until the complete unveiling of the kingdom and the means for writing the law on our hearts as declared in the new covenant, so it is an essential piece of the Gospel (Hebrews 10:15-16). Having the law on our hearts allows us to know holy from unholy, exposing our sin and convicting us of our need for a savior. It is an essential piece that creates a greater reason for worship, therefore fullness of joy, and is so often overlooked by the church today. The covenant is not yet fulfilled in totality, and our connection with the Holy Spirit is the connection with the hope in that total fulfillment.
The Holy Spirit is so often looked at as a gift, a sweet gift, which it is, but it is not a consolation gift to soothe our souls after Jesus’s death and resurrection. It is the promise of the Lord’s word being fulfilled, it is part of the beauty of the gospel, it is the gift that multiplies. It multiplies into other gifts of grace, faith, guidance, and assurance of our salvation (Rom. 8:16, John 16:13, 1 Cor. 12). If the goal of creation is to be in relationship with the Father, that is only accomplished through the Holy Spirit. The literal presence of God is in us (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit is the one that reveals to us the glory of the Lord by showing us who He is and is the one that teaches us what is good in the eyes of the Lord, so that we may live as the Church (Eph. 1:17). The Holy Spirit indwelling is everything in a world living after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel is Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We don’t realize that we side glace the Holy Spirit when looking at the Holy Trinity. We look past it as “oh, how sweet” when, really, God’s promise and purpose could not be fulfilled without the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to our hearts, we can only respond in love, because that is the only response that makes sense. We respond is worship. It is irresistible. Every work that God starts, He will finish, so we can live in the assurance that God will bring all His chicks under His wings through the work of the Holy Spirit sealing us (Matt. 23:27, Ephesians 1:13). God is in control of everything, because it is all for His glory. When he is in charge, redeeming and sealing us with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, He is the one deserving of praise, because we have done nothing to earn and deserve this salvation (Eph. 2:8-9).
If the Holy Spirit is so important in the accomplishment and fulfillment of God’s word, doesn’t it make you think that there must be more importance in our everyday relationship with the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is our connection to the Father, and that is our relationship with Him. The only way He is able to be praised His work done through us is if we are connected to him, having reason to say, “It was Him, not me.” Shouldn’t we utilize the sacraments and gifts that make the Holy Spirit’s implicit values explicit? It is all about God’s glory and making it more known. It is all about worshiping He who is worthy.
Let us lean into this forward-thinking joy and embrace the Spirit that is so graciously given to dwell in our bodies that are deserving of complete death. May we not forget the beauty of the gospel that we do not deserve. May we not forget that the Lord created us, bound us over to disobedience that He may show us mercy, and predestined us to be purchased out of the slavery of sin (Rom. 11:32, Eph. 1:5). He adopted us, washed our wounds with the blood of Jesus, and marked us with the seal of the Holy Spirit that we might witness a mere glimpse of the kingdom that is to come. A kingdom that will bring us to know Yahweh through our relationship with him, living in complete shalom, pure delight, completely satisfied, not lacking in any way (Rev. 19:9). As we read scripture, let us follow the thread of God’s kingdom hope so that we may see who God is, and we might live as a part of the church that allows the world to see what is to come. The veil will be whisked away, the glory of God will be like water covering the sea, and we will be living a life of worship forevermore.