Day 10
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 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. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31.31-34
“I will put my law within them,” says the Lord. That is the promise of the Spirit. When God pours out the Spirit on all flesh as promised in Joel 2, the new covenant is placed with in us. This is not a covenant that removed the people of Israel from God’s promises, nor does it abrogate the demands God makes on our lives, rather it is a fulfillment of the promises made from the beginning. In our baptism, we are brought into this covenant and God’s mission is our mission. We are led out of the old Egypt, God’s law is put in our heart, and we are sent to reconcile the world to God.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
St. Augustine's Chapel 