I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

Jeremiah 31:27-32:44 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A New Covenant

 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. ²⁸ As I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

²⁹ “In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ ³⁰ But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

³¹ “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

³⁵ Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: ³⁶ “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

³⁷ Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.

³⁸ “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ The measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰ And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Amos 3:7 says:   Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.  Throughout the bible, we see the evidence of God speaking through His prophets. Many of the things prophesied have already come to pass. Jesus Himself, through His birth, His life, His death and resurrection fulfilled more than 400 hundred Messianic prophecies. Of course there are other prophecies, things revealed by God to and through His servants the prophets, which have not yet come to pass.

In today’s text Jeremiah spoke about the New Covenant approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ. The text says:     “Behold, days are coming,… In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”      In Luke 22:20, Jesus when He shared the last Passover with His disciples, said:   “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” We today, live under the covenant Jeremiah prophesied about; the covenant Jesus established in His blood.

It is important for us as believers to understand and believe what Jeremiah prophesied about the New Covenant that we live under.        “Behold, days are coming,… In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’”   Under the New Covenant in Christ, there is no longer generational guilt or condemnation for sin. In Christ, we are not responsible for the sins of our parents or previous generations. God says:  “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”   In Romans 8:15-17 it says:  You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.     When we are reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus and the cross, we become children of God. Our adoption breaks any inheritance of sin and condemnation that there may have been. Here’s the thing though, just because there is no guilt or condemnation from sins of previous generations, it does not mean that there are not consequences of and from that sin. Certainly sins of the parents can produce negative consequences for generations. Every action and every decision that a person takes or makes has consequences, not only for themselves, but for others.  Each individual must choose whether they will live in the inheritance of the past, paying the price for the sins of others, or live under the New Covenant, as a child of God.     Jeremiah 29:11-13 says:   I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  God’s plan for us and His promise to us is for a future of hope and good.

Regardless of what has happened in our past or even before we were born, each person must chose for themselves what their identity and so their inheritance will be.   In the text, God says:  Everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge… “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”     God chooses not to remember our sin. We too must choose not to be subject to what is past, but rather to seek God and come into alignment with the good plans He has for our future. God chooses to forget our sins and the sins of our heritage, but the devil will try to remind us of them and cause us to remain in and under their influence, guilt and condemnation. We need to understand all the ways that sin can affect us and manifest itself in our lives. Revelation 21:5-8 says:  “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But  the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”     The first two things listed which can cause death are the cowardly and unbelieving. Being fearful and doubting God is a sin as well as all the other things listed. If we live in fear, worry, doubt and anxiety about our future because of things from the past, we, by our own choice, continue in the inheritance and so the condemnation of the past.

Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name:  “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the Lord, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.     God’s promise for us and our inheritance in Him is as sure as the sun, the moon and the stars. Each day and night we can look at those things and remember His covenant promises.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. May I always look up to be reminded of Your everlasting promise. May I look forward to what You have promised and provided. If I look back, may it be only to the cross, where You forgave all my sins and reconciled me to the future You intended for me.   Amen.