In the opening years of the sixth century B.C., the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, began his conquest of Judah and Jerusalem. In those sad days, the word of Lord came to the weeping prophet, Jeremiah. It was an indictment and a promise and a prophecy – all in one! God's indictment (Jeremiah 31:32): "The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant, which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." Israel had a history of covenant breaking. But, with that indictment of covenant breaking, also came a promise (and a prophecy): "Behold, days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." The Old Covenant was broken…but a New Covenant was on the way! Fast-forward 600 years, and the author of Hebrews revisited God's prophetic indictment and promise. He needed to remind his readers that God has a new and better covenant, built on new and better promises, mediated by a new and better High Priest! In Hebrews 8, our author moves from Christ's superior session (seated on the Throne of Grace, interceding for His people) to His superior covenant (build on better promises). To explain the New Covenant, he appeals at length to Jeremiah 31. It was a passage everyone would have recognize. Many of Hebrews' first readers had deep Jewish roots and they needed to be reminded that God promised to replace the Old Covenant (built on a law that can't save) with a New Covenant (built on God's promises of mercy and forgiveness and new birth). Let's unpack those promises through a series of questions: Why is it needed? (7-9); What does it offer? (10-12); What comes next? (13)
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