“They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.” Jeremiah 32:38,39
One of the covenants that God gave to Israel, He declaring it to be a “new covenant,” was in no way a contradiction to any former covenant, but an amplified revelation of what God’s greatest blessing would be to man, and in him. In Jeremiah’s book, he writes the words of the Lord to Israel: “…I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (31:33) “No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they ALL shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (v.34) What is God saying to Isreal here, and to all who would truly believe in Him, and in Christ? It is that the work of salvation has its origin, its beginning only in God. Also, the very essence of salvation from sin, Satan, the world system and spiritual separation from God, is not just the communication and reception of the truth of God, and His working, but the very power to deliver one from the soul’s enemies by the Spirit of God. Jesus revealed this when speaking of knowing the truth and the truth setting one free. But then He would add that when the SON sets you free, you shall be free indeed. This new covenant, declared so long ago to Israel, would not only apply to a nation, but to the entire world, for God’s will, His eternal intent, is that ALL men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4)
When God gave to Moses the Ten commandments, it was a critical point in the history of the world, for in Moses’ hands now was inscribed in stone the revealed standard of God’s absolute holiness compared with the sinfulness of men. Though a blessed guide as to how man should live, its chief purpose was to drive men to seek the mercy and grace of God to be saved, and this by the declared, and coming Messiah. When Jesus came, not only would there be an amplification, clarification, and precise application of the eternal truths of the Law, but also, a more specific and vaster clear standard of God’s holiness, and man’s sinfulness. With the increasing greatness of the revelation of God came the deepening conviction of sin, and that working by God to not only drive lost souls to Christ, but to lead and draw out their hearts to this One who demonstrated and proved the love of God for them.
When the day of Pentecost came, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the promised Spirit of God, of Christ, was specifically poured out upon approximately one hundred and twenty of Christ’s disciples as they prayed, and worshipped, the world was changed. Not only would there be the objective truth of the Law, the revealed truth of the gospels and the blessed news of salvation by faith, and the revelation of God in the flesh, but there would be the fulfilment of God’s covenant to work wondrously, mightily in the hearts of men, not only by the Spirit of God being WITH them, but now being IN them. The Christ of creation, and of the Law of Moses, the crucified Savior of all men, and the resurrected King, had now come to dwell in the hearts of all believers, great and small. The covenants of the Old Testament, and the proclamation of the New Covenant in the precious blood of Christ, would have its realization and fulfilment in the anointing, baptism, and fulness of the Spirit. Christ by His Spirit had come to dwell in, reign over, and fill every saved, believing soul.
Dear Father, Fill us with Thyself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.