Ascension Lutheran Church

Our text is from the book of Jeremiah, one of God’s faithful Old Testament prophets. Jeremiah served through the reign of the last king of Judah to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. When Jeremiah first spoke these words of our text, all that was left of the nation of Israel was a tiny part of Judah in the hillsides around Jerusalem. The majority of the Jews had turned away from God. Jeremiah was sent to call them back to God in repentance, and to assure all the Jewish people that God had not forsaken His gracious promise of salvation in the coming Messiah.

In our text the Lord speaks of “the covenant I made with … the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, … the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” Another word for “covenant” is “testament.” The old “covenant” refers to the way things were during the time of the Old Testament before Jesus came. The old “covenant” was a conditional, two-sided covenant. On Mt. Sinai God had told His people, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people” (Ex. 19:5). “If” the Jews remained faithful to God, He would keep their nation as His people.