17 March • Fifth Sunday in Lent
Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Meditation
The cross is the perfect symbol of God’s new covenant and the gateway into a relationship with HIM. At the cross, the new covenant of our Heavenly Father is fulfilled. Incarnation is the divine strategy for Salvation!
We have seen that God has spoken to us, through Christ who has revealed to us the very nature and character of God and His purposes. Further, we have discovered that the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are matters of historical evidence.
We now need to focus on the meaning or purpose of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
Christ died to put away our sins. In this way, He dealt with the enmity between man and God, He put it out of the way. He made the way wide open for men to come back to God. It is this which is described by the term reconciliation entrusted to us, His people.
Truly, salvation is God's grace. It is the gift of freedom from our sins made possible by Jesus taking the punishment for our sins on the cross.
A whole new covenant of understanding, being, and outlook is opened for us who accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We become new people altogether—“the old has gone, the new has come in Christ! Indeed, the death of Christ for man’s salvation is the supreme revelation of God’s love with His new covenant. It “constraints” us, and holds us fast in allegiance to such a Saviour.
The importance of the task He entrusts to us becomes the very spring of our actions. Jesus died for all men, and His purpose was that their lives should no longer be lived for themselves, but for Him eternally.
How rich this passage is, leading to the fulfillment of His new covenant!
Prayer
Father, You make such a covenant with us, all because of Your steadfast love, faithfulness and compassion. We do not deserve it but are grateful for keeping Your promises to us. May we joyfully obey Your voice and be true to Your covenant. Help us to be faithful disciples and ambassadors of Christ.
Action
Observe the nature and importance of the new covenant He entrusts to us. We have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, accepted the forgiveness He offers and repent to be true disciples. Be the agent of the reconciliation and ambassadors of Christ entrusted with His good news.
Colonel Hary Haran
Territorial Commander The Salvation Army
Singapore, Malaysia & Myanmar and Thailand Territory
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