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New Covenant


          “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.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

          For those who maintain that those who call themselves Christians are bound by the Law of Moses, may I offer exhibit number one. God told Jeremiah that there was going to be a new covenant. As Hebrews 8 points out, the new covenant has made the old obsolete. That’s not saying it wasn’t a good covenant, just that God has replaced the old with one that is better. How do I know it’s better? Why in the world would God replace it if it wasn’t? If you offered someone a new contract that was the same as the old, would you be offering a new one? If it was worse than the old, why would either of you want to sign it? 
          Of course, if I made a contract, that contract would reflect my wishes, values, and demands. If I made a second contract, it would still reflect my wishes, values, and demands. It makes perfect sense that the New Covenant        would have a great deal in common with the old. The main difference that God explained to Jeremiah is that the law would be written on the hearts of the New Covenanters, and they would not need to be taught by other New Covenanters. This does not mean that every person will have the law written on their hearts. Not everyone will be a New Covenanter. But those who are will know God and will have His law written on their hearts.

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