By Bryan D. Gill, D.Min.
Director of the Office of Faith, Learning and Vocation, Samford University
GOD’S PROMISE OF A NEW COVENANT
Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:14–20
Referring to God as “Father” may not sit well with some people. Sometimes people have a negative view of their earthly fathers. Whether a father is present but not seeking the Lord or he is absent and not a part of his children’s lives at all, people have valid reasons to pause when they hear God referred to as “Father.”
However, if we can see that “God the Father” should not be a projection of our earthly fathers onto God but rather the image of the perfect father, perhaps this term wouldn’t cause people angst and concern. God the Father keeps His promises and cares deeply for His children.
God will establish a new covenant unlike previous covenants. (Jer. 31:31–32)
God has always kept His side of the covenant. However, the Israelites failed time and time again while God remained steadfast. God never gave up on His people even though they failed Him over and over. This passage gives us a beautiful image of a father who loves unconditionally.
While the Israelites broke their promises and didn’t uphold their part of the covenant between them and God, God remained faithful. Even though the Israelites were unworthy of God’s favor, He vowed to make a new covenant with them because they broke the old one. God is the example of what a good father should be. He loves unconditionally and never gives up on His children.
Under the new covenant, we will live in forgiveness, fully committed to God in heart and mind. (33–34)
From the beginning — as far back as the Garden of Eden — God has desired a relationship with His people and has shown His love for us in various ways. There was no fathomable reason for God to desire this relationship other than the fact that He loves us unconditionally. There was nothing we could offer God that He didn’t already possess. There is nothing we can do for God that He can’t do for Himself.
Out of love, God created man and woman and allowed them to live with Him in a garden. Out of love, He delivered them from the flood on an ark.
Out of love, He made a covenant with Abraham to make him into a great nation. Out of love, He brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land. And out of love, God gave them a king. Yet the people of Israel still didn’t see how much God loved them.
When we trust in the completed work of Christ, we enter into the new covenant with Him. (Luke 22:14–20)
Like a great crescendo, all the times when God showed love for His people led to the events of the night when Jesus was betrayed. Beginning with the Last Supper as recorded in Luke, Jesus foretold His ultimate act of love for God’s children — His death. And through Jesus’ death, the new covenant would be established. Sin would be forgiven, and the relationship would be restored through God’s only Son, Jesus.
Everything before and everything after that night would point to Jesus — God’s ultimate way of showing His people love and restoring the relationship severed by sin.
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