For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 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. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear (Hebrews 8:7-13 NIV).
In this passage of Hebrews, the author quotes Jeremiah to show that this new covenant being explained was not introduced for the first time by the Messiah, rather God foretold of this new covenant through the prophet Jeremiah. To give a synopsis of what the author of Hebrews is saying: What I have been talking about is what Jeremiah foretold. We Christians are not making this up in retrospect.
Around 2002, I did an intense ten month study of the book of Jeremiah. As someone who was not raised in a Christian family and who did not start studying the Bible until I was 23, I had everything to learn from this book. Having an interest in history, I was amazed as I personally verified the historical accuracy. And having heard the Old Testament was filled with “God’s wrath,” I was amazed to learn not only of the righteous justice of God, yet also of His patience and mercy.
In the first section of the book, Jeremiah the prophet keeps proclaiming statements from God, warning the Israelites, really to the point of pleading, to abstain from the wrong they are doing. Doing such a close study of the book, the repetitive warnings got tedious as God kept telling the Israelites in Judah to stop doing wrong. They were worshiping false gods along with many other sinful acts. Jeremiah gave them God’s warnings. Yet they did not listen. Then the day came. I remember where I was sitting when I read that passage in Jeremiah. God’s proclamation: the warnings are over. God said Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the majority of Israelites will be exiled. The end had come.
Yet in that same passage, where the just wrath of God echoed from Judah, God still offered mercy. Incredible. God told the people through Jeremiah that after the seventy years of exile in Babylon which the Israelites were going to experience, that He would bring His people home. God carried out with His promise! In 536 B.C. (some say 539 B.C. though I think that is inaccurate), after the first wave of exiles had been marched to Babylon in 605 B.C. and the third and final wave of exiles had been marched to Babylon in 586 B.C., King Cyrus gave a proclamation that Israelites could return to their homeland and rebuild their temple. That is why the book of Ezra is one of my favorite Old Testament books. It is about going home.
Remember the Mosaic covenant was that if the Israelites would obey the laws and decrees given through Moses, then they would live long and prosper in the land that God would give to them. Yet often the Israelites did not obey. Yet even during the time of Jeremiah, before the fall of the Southern kingdom of Israel, God was promising that He would restore Israel even though they in no way deserved it. God delivered the Israelites from exile because He loves the Jewish people, and all other people. And love is why He worked through the Mosaic covenant to lead to the New Covenant which would be offered by and through the Messiah, the Christ. And the core of that covenant would be the forgiveness of sins which was made available to all people through the substitutional atonement made by Jesus Christ on the cross. The forgiveness of sins does not come about by any of the godliness or the works of a person. The forgiveness is due to God’s mercy and grace. There is forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ!
At this very time in my journey, I write in the basement of a friend’s house. My circumstances: I am unemployed and my car died. That friend, and his great wife and daughter, have blessed me more than I can say by allowing me to stay with them while I look for a ministry position. Yet it is a reminder that I have no permanent home in this world. Not quite one year ago, God enabled me to leave the Denver metropolitan area to teach in a school in Appalachia. Leaving Colorado was one of the hardest things I have ever done, because I have friends there and because I lived there for sixteen years. Yet I knew going to teach in Appalachia was what I was supposed to do. The town where I lived, Lost Creek, simply had a post office, two schools, and scattered homes. I was sometimes lonely. (I did have incredibly personal times with God on early evening walks in the woods.) Yet despite the culture shock, I had hoped Lost Creek would be my new home. Yet then, God whisked me to Ithaca, N.Y. just before my car died, which was a blessing because I could not have made it at the Brethren mission in the rural area without a car. Now here I am in another unfamiliar place in upstate New York. It has been occasion to reflect on how I consider both Annandale, Virginia, and Denver, Colorado to be my hometowns, but I may never live in either of those two places again. And where will my home be two months from now? I have no idea. I have sent resumes to churches in numerous states. Will I feel at home there? Or will it be lonely like early times in Lost Creek. Yet I know I have a home in heaven. This is a promise of the new covenant. Just as the Israelites got to make that epic journey home in 536 B.C., all followers of Jesus will one day be home in heaven with the One who forgave our sins. During your days in this world, God may have you get extremely rooted in some community, or God may have you journey to various places, or God may have a variety of things for you during various seasons of your life. The journey of each person is unique, just as God made each person unique in some way. Yet thanks to the new covenant mediated by the Messiah, an eternal home awaits all who believe in Jesus. Jesus frequently began parables saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…….” Jesus promised His followers heaven.
And if you believe in Jesus, you also have blessings available in the present, wherever you live. Maybe you are unemployed like me at this time, or maybe you are encountering some other hardship or challenge. Being united with Jesus, you still have the love of God right here and now, a true love which can result in joy and peace. And you even have a mission to love other people, all of whom need the love of Jesus. And whatever your circumstances, you will also have challenges due to following Jesus! As you persevere, keep in mind that as the sun of this world starts setting, you will be headed for a glorious eternal home.
God bless you!
Hunter Irvine
