In these studies in the second half of the book of Jeremiah,  we will see God’s word coming through Jeremiah and being rejected again and again. We will see the difficulties of Jeremiah but also the way he is saved through it all. Jeremiah is God’s reporter on the spot, in the midst of one of the most tumultuous periods in Israel’s history.

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, and the particular theme, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

Promise of a New Covenant:

Jer 31:31-40  

³¹ “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.
³² 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.
³³ “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.
³⁴ 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.”

³⁵ This is what the Lord says,

he who appoints the sun
    to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
    to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
    so that its waves roar—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:
³⁶ “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
    declares the Lord,
“will Israel ever cease
    being a nation before me.”

³⁷ This is what the Lord says:

“Only if the heavens above can be measured
    and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
    because of all they have done,”
declares the Lord.

³⁸ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

A. Find Out

1. What is God going to make? v.31
2. What previous covenant had Israel broken? v.32
3. How will the new covenant be different? v.33
4. Why won’t they need to teach each other? v.34
5. How long will Israel continue to exist? v.35,36
6. What does the Lord promise about Jerusalem? 38-40

B. Think:

1. Why was it necessary for God to make a new covenant?
2. How was it going to be different from the old one?
3. How did the Lord convey that  the future nation would last for ever?

C. Comment:

In the midst of this time of destruction, upheaval and turmoil the Lord speaks further hope for those in Israel who were concerned about such things.

He first says He will be making a new agreement with the future people of God (NB. v.36 “descendants of Israel”). This new agreement or covenant will be necessary because the old one made at Sinai (see Exodus 19) was broken by Israel.  The Lord said “IF you obey me fully…. you will be my treasured possession” (Exo 19:15). They had not obeyed and that agreement  was thus nullified, and now God was releasing them from His care and protection.

However, from them He would yet bring a new nation of God that would be different from the previous one in that the Law would be on their hearts (v.33). This happened at Pentecost when the Lord put His Holy Spirit in every responder to Him. Such a nation is now a world wide nation that will continue on the earth until the Lord winds up the earth.

D. Application:

1. The Lord has placed His Holy Spirit in each one of us who has been born again to establish an intimate relationship with Him whereby we know Him and His Law.  Worship Him!
2. Have we understood that when the Lord winds up one period of history it is to herald in a more glorious one.  Praise Him!