“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)
Jeremiah looked forward to a time when all peoples would be gathered into the Kingdom of God, not just Jews. Those chosen would include the disadvantaged, the weak, and the despised from all nationalities and tongues. They would be united by their tears of repentance as well as their acknowledged need for the Lord. These are the ones the Lord has redeemed. These are the ones with whom He would make a New Covenant. This covenant would be different from the Mosaic Covenant, which the people of Israel and Judah had never been able to keep consistently.
Now we who have placed our faith and trust in Jesus are the beneficiaries of this New Covenant. We have done nothing to deserve or merit it. It is all God’s work. In the New Covenant, God’s Law of love is no longer external but internal marked primarily by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Lord inscribes His Law in the heart, mind, and will. External written codes are removed as is the need for any human mediator for Jesus is the mediator. He enables us to resist temptation and walk in obedience. He helps us respond in obedience as He gives us His love, mercy, and unconditional forgiveness of our sins.
And we do need Jesus as mediator for we are as weak and vacillating as the children of the Old Covenant. We are surrounded by as much temptation and idolatry in the 21st Century. As we are humbled in the knowledge of our weakness we are ever aware of our need for the Lord’s help. Humility helps us to look at ourselves and our weaknesses realistically. It helps us treat our fellow Christian pilgrims with compassion as well as to extend mercy and kindness to all the wretched sinners still enslaved to Satan.