Read at the article
on “New Covenant” taken from the Bible Overview Course book:
New Covenant
Much of the hope expressed by the Israelite
prophets during the exile period (a bad time for the Israelites!) centred
around the expectation of a “new covenant.” This new covenant, it was hoped,
would not only fulfil the as-yet unfulfilled commitments of the Mosaic covenant
but would somehow go beyond them, marking a new era in God‘s relationship with
his people. This covenant would succeed where the Mosaic covenant had not. Not
only would God forgive his people’s sins – although he would – but God would
also empower his people to finally keep their side.[1]
Key passages in this regard are Jeremiah 31:31-33
and Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:27:
“The days are coming,” declares the
LORD, “when I will make a new
covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be
like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to
lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband
to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the people
of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their
minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my
people.”
“I will give them an undivided heart
and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and
give them a heart of flesh.”
“And I will put my Spirit in you and
move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Thus, it was anticipated, at the heart of this new
covenant would be an outpouring of God’s Spirit not just on the anointed few
(as was currently the case) but on all:
“And afterward, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will
dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men
and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)
Central to this Spirit outpouring would be the
long-awaited Messiah for whom the Spirit would be not just “a source of his own
outstanding righteousness, but also…of his immense influence for righteousness,
exerted in his fiery cleansing of Zion.”[2] Isaiah 11 is
particularly significant in this regard, where it is prophesied that:
“A shoot shall come out from the stock of
Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and
might...His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord...with righteousness he
shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth...Righteousness shall be the
belt around his waist...The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall
lie down with the kid...and a little child shall lead them...They will not hurt
or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Also in the mix were prophecies about a mysterious
suffering servant who at the time was probably taken as representative of
Israel as a whole. Few, if any, connected this suffering figure with the
expected Messiah. It was only with the benefit of hindsight that this link
became clear.
“Surely he took up our pain and bore
our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds
we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to
our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah
53:4-6)
The ultimate hope of this new covenant was renewed
relationship with God. You see taking Ezekiel’s hope passages as an example,
his climax is not that God’s people obtain new life, although they do (37:5,
14). It is not that they can re-enter their land, although they can (37:12,
14). It is not that their enemies will be destroyed, although they will (38-39).
Rather, the climax is that in their renewed city, the Lord will be there
(48:35).
This is challenging for us, living after this new
covenant has been realised in Christ (albeit there are now and not-yet elements to this). Do
we see salvation from death as the primary motive for responding to Christ? Or
is it the abundant blessing that comes with this new life: the promise of a
land free from the curses of sin, a body free from illness and pain? Or are we
aware that, as for the nation of Israel, the restoration we await is but a
stepping-stone to something greater? For God’s desire is not simply that we
have life, but that we have it with him.
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