Day 4: A New Covenant Is Coming

Written by Ben Guansing

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares 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. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Imagine being an Israelite whose country has been handed over to King Nebuchadrezzar. He took your leaders and a number of your people away into captivity to Babylon. The Temple where the people went to meet God has been violated and its contents were also carried off to Babylon. Why? How could God allow this to happen? Let’s look at what Jeremiah had spoken earlier in chapter 2. 

For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 2:13

This is what the Israelites were guilty of a number of times ever since God led them out of slavery in Egypt. It is what Adam and Eve did in the beginning of Genesis. This is what we are all guilty of doing time and time again. It is the natural inclination of our hearts. The default mode of the human condition. If we are honest, we see it in our own hearts and how we choose to live. I see it in my heart and life. The pursuit of different career goals with an “if only…” mindset that in the end didn’t work out, the interests & hobbies to distract myself, the trips to get those social-media photos. Trying hard to be somebody, to make a name for myself. Hey, look at me! If I could just have this or that thing or person, then I’ll be happy and satisfied. We try to minimize the true condition of our hearts or despair over it. However, hope is given by Jeremiah to the Israelites in the midst of their ruin and despair. Let’s break it down.

“Behold, the days are coming, when…” 

Look! In the future…God will do this for His people.

“... I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”

Look at how God describes their relationship! “I took them by the hand…though I was their husband.” A very personal and intimate relationship as husband and wife. Picture a husband rescuing his beloved from a despairing situation, slavery. He takes her by the hand, leading her away to a better place. However, Israel ends up breaking or rejecting the covenant relationship/agreement even though she was rescued from enslavement to Egypt. She forgets. 

Have you ever felt forsaken or forgotten by someone close to you? A spouse, a sibling, a friend? Conversely, have you ever forsaken or forgotten anyone?

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares 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.” 

Echoed in Ezekiel 11:19-20

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

“And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.”

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

They did not see how God would bring this about, but we have the privilege of seeing how this promise and hope is fulfilled in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

Prayer Prompts:

• Confess any “cisterns” that you’ve been turning to for personal fulfillment or personal identity instead of Him, the Fountain of Living Waters.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how He has written into your heart, how He has taken your heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. How He does so through the words of Jesus Christ spoken into our hearts. “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Day 3: The Suffering Servant

Anonymous

ISAIAH 53:1-6

Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

When you think about things that are beautiful, what comes to mind?  Do you think about a beautiful sunset?  Beautiful green hills all around us in the South Valley?  The beauty of a bride and groom?  A new baby or grandbaby? special moments spent with loved ones?  Or the beauty of watching professional sports, or of your young son‘s grand slam in his little league baseball game, or maybe the beauty of your daughter scoring the winning point in her last soccer game, or the beauty of her fine dance recital performance?  Do you think about the beauty of Spring/Easter season with all its lovely pastel colors and blooming flowers? These listed here are all beautiful, and I’m sure you could add your own beautiful thoughts.  

While we are thinking about beauty, I want to call your attention to beauty as it relates to what God’s Word has for us today in Isaiah 53:1-6, a Bible passage entitled, “The Suffering Servant.”  It is one of the most beautiful and precise prophecies about God‘s work through Christ Jesus that exist in the Old Testament that Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus was born. 

Isaiah prophesied how God‘s Servant would die for His people, carrying their guilt as His own to reconcile them to God. 

Isaiah begins this chapter writing that few will believe what he is about to prophesy.  “The arm of the Lord ” (the strength of the Lord Christ Jesus) would do a great work on earth, but it would be done in a way that few would expect.  

Isaiah prophesied that God‘s Servant, the coming Messiah Jesus, would be born “like a root out of dry ground.” He would not be beautiful or immediately appealing to most people.  He would be a man of sorrows, not unfamiliar with difficulty. 

He would bear our sorrows, but His people would reject him as smitten by God.  

He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.   

We are all like sheep gone astray; we have turned —every one — to our own way.   The Lord God has laid on His Son Christ Jesus our sins.  

Isaiah 53:4-6 is about Christ Jesus dying on the cross in our place. This is called “substitutionary atonement” (please don’t let these big words intimidate you!).  

This is the center of the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus.  Substitutionary atonement refers to Jesus dying as a substitute for sinners.  Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  

Romans 6:23 reads “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Not only was Christ the substitute for us, but also He was the atonement, meaning He satisfied the payment due for our sinfulness.   The prophecy is very detailed, and the crucifixion happened just as it was foretold “But He was pierced for our transgressions.  He was crushed for our iniquities.  The chastisement/punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds, we are healed.”  Notice the substitution — Christ Jesus paid the price for us! 

Thinking about beauty, our first thoughts would not turn to Jesus dying in our place.  Yet this is the foundation of our Christian faith.   Let’s look at these words in Isaiah that describe how he suffered.  He was despised and rejected by men, and not esteemed.  He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.   He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.  Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.  

This is the beauty.  We see the beauty and the blessings and the benefits of what Jesus did for us.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

In this passage Isaiah 53:1-6, we see the gospel message in the Old Testament.  It goes hand in hand with John 3:16  from the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” 

It is really simple, yet deeply profound.  Jesus Christ bore our sins and died for us.  

Are you bent on having your own way in life? Some people don’t look rebellious (like sheep that have gone astray)  on the outside, but their hearts are far from God.  Their rebellion is evidenced simply by the fact that they have tuned God out.  He has no say in their life.  The truth is Jesus died because of our sins.  Jesus came to a world of rebellious people who rejected Him and out of great love, He died for them. The fact is He died for us, too.  He took the punishment for sin that we deserved.

This Lent season, reflect on the beauty, blessings and benefits of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for you, that He suffered and died in your place so that you could have eternal life. You can turn to Him at any time, knowing that He knows what it is to be despised and rejected, to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.   Jesus knows all about you.  He loves you. He suffered and died for you. He wants to have a personal relationship with you. Will you humbly turn to Him, and accept His free gift of salvation that is offered through faith in Christ Jesus’ atoning work for your sins?  What a beautiful gift Jesus has given us — the gift of eternal life!  

In light of what Christ Jesus the Suffering Servant has done for you, will you respond by wholeheartedly surrendering your life and plans to Him, loving Him, following and serving Him each day?   

May God bless you as you reflect upon Isaiah 53:1-6 and Jesus’ ultimate gift given for you — He gave up His life so that you could be forgiven of your sins and have eternal life and peace in Christ Jesus.  What a BEAUTIFUL GIFT!!!! 

“Amazing love!  How can it be
that Thou my God should die for me!” 
(hymn “And Can It Be, That I Should Gain?” by Charles Wesley 1738) Let us pray.  

Prayer Prompts:

• Thank Jesus for taking the punishment for your sin, dying in your place, and giving you the gift of eternal life.

• Pray for a spirit of gratitude to characterize your day as you reflect on all that Jesus has done for you.

Day 2: The Weight of Our Sin

Written by Steve Ross

PSALM 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right[b] spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Oh the weight of my sin. Oh the weight of every sin, David sure felt it and he cried out to the Lord: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”

Have you ever felt the guilt or shame that comes with the conviction of sin?  For David it came when the prophet Nathan confronted him.  For us it often comes as we read Scripture where the Holy Spirit can reveal to us where we have sinned (Hebrews 4:12) or a brother or sister in the faith may confront us (Matthew 18:15).  See how David continues to plead with God:

“Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”

He pleads to not have the sin separate him from  God.  Sin will not separate us, because there is no condemnation in Christ.  Sin will however break the intimacy we experience with God.  We may feel that we are alone, that God is not responding. Oh the weight of sin!  But we don’t have to stay there and carry this weight.  David shows us the steps to take after mourning over his sin and  he moves to confession  in verses 2, 7, and 10 below.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

He doesn’t want you to live in guilt and shame.  We have an attentive God full of mercy and grace. He wants us to confess and ask for help to repent of our sin.  (James 4:8)  (Acts 3:19) (1 John 1:9).  Note the great promise of 2 Corinthians 4:17, “for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison”.  We can trade the weight of sin for the coming  weight of glory.

Prayer Prompts:

• Take time to examine your life, and confess any sins that God brings to mind.

• Thank God for his promise that when we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and that we can walk in hope that Jesus frees us from the bondage of sin.