Monday - Jeremiah 31 - The Promise of a New Testament

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AS the Old Testament flawed? Of course not! Its purpose was (and is) precise (see Galatians 3:6-25, Romans 5:13, 20 & 7:7-14). Its purpose was to describe holiness, and to show all of us how impossible it is for any of us to attain to God's holy standard. In other words, God never imagined that He might actually bring life to sinners through the Law of Moses alone, nor by any expansion of it.  The Law is a vehicle of justice and righteous wrath. Jesus Christ is the vehicle of God's grace, through His righteous Son. The Old Testament expresses God's transcendent holiness, with signs of the method of His mercy intertwined.  The New Testament expresses God's incarnate mercy, with reminders of His holiness entwined. But the main point here is that the New Testament was neither a surprise nor was it an afterthought (Jer. 31:31-40). In fact, the Seed of the woman was promised long before the dawning of Sinai (Gen. 3:15 & Jer. 31:22).

What is the key newness of the New Testament anyway though?  To some extent the difference is success. The people of God weren't "of God" (they weren't godly) very often in the Old Testament record. But the New Covenant guarantees that they will be His people in both name and at heart by the time all of the New Testament has played itself out (Jeremiah 31:1). The spiritual rest that Israel never found in the OT will be full through the NT (Jeremiah 31:2 & Hebrews 4:1- 11). Through Christ, faithful worship can be carried on consistently, bringing pleasure to the heart of God (Jeremiah 31:6-7 & John 4:23-24), whereas the inadequate and intermittent worship of the elect nation in the OT brought great frustration to His heart (Isaiah 1:13 & Amos 5:21). The great emphasis of the OT is what men can't do and therefore hasn't done; the emphasis in the NT is on what God can do and has done (Jeremiah 31:8-14). Moses' Law should bring us to our knees, making us to weep in humble exasperation and abject weakness. The law of Christ lifts us up to dance and sing with holy exultation and spiritual strength (Romans 8:2).