Day 7 – A New Covenant
JOHN 3:1-6
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if God were not with him.”
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked.“Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:1-6).
When a Jewish leader named Nicodemus covertly came to Jesus to ask important questions, the answers he received were mind boggling, startling. Jesus told him about things that people have never even considered. Nicodemus struggled to comprehend the magnitude of these declarations.
Reflection
- Why are signs (miracles) so important?
- What do they reveal about God?
- What is different about being born of the Spirit?
JEREMIAH 31:31-34
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers 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. “This is the covenant I will make with the house 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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘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” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
God promises us that a time will come when He will give His creation a new covenant. This covenant will even surpass the one given at Mount Sinai (see Exod.us24:12). This promise will restore the (now broken) relationship that was given to Israel in the original covenant (see Exodus 20:1-17). We have such a merciful God who forgives us.
Reflection
- Why would God make a new covenant with His Creation?
- What is the difference between the covenant God gave His children in Egypt and this new covenant God promises us via Jeremiah?
- Why does God tell Jeremiah He will not remember people’s sins?
