Aug 21 Jesus’ Ministry Now: It’s better, “on earth as in Heaven”!
A Verse to Remember: But here’s the truth: It’s to your advantage that I go away, for if i don’t go away the Divine Encourager will not be released to you. But after I depart I will send Him to you. John 16:7 TPT
Gospel Story: Luke 9:51-56 Call down fire?
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 8:7-9 A Fault Finding Covenant Fails!
7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
8 But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah 9This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord
Reflection:
Ever have a relationship not go the way you had planned? It’s awful in the moment. But if we are fortunate enough to find the “plan” or shall we say the way of doing a relationship that works, we can look back at where we came from and celebrate. We want to be moving in the direction that “works” for God and for us!
From the beginning it appears God’s plan for relationship involved two very different covenants. Both glorious. One faulty. The second one “better”. Hebrews 8 quotes a good chunk from Jeremiah 31 to make this point. The first half of the quotation, our focus for today, draws our attention to the first covenant. It wasn’t working for the people. And it wasn’t working for God! God knew a better covenant was needed and this passage from Jeremiah says it’s on its way.
From the words of Jeremiah that we have above, I’d like to cut to the chase and suggest that the first covenant ends up being a fault finding covenant. No matter how glorious it might have been, this covenant didn’t cut it for the people or for God. You get a taste of that in our Gospel story above (Luke 9:51-56).
Do we, like the disciples, who also lived with Jesus, run the risk of blending the two? I think we do. But today let’s try to understand the first covenant, appreciate its value then do our best not to mix it with the new one. Perhaps easier said than done. Spoiler alert! Hebrews 8 wraps up by informing us that the “new” covenant makes the first one, obsolete (John 8:13). Covenant one does not mix with the new. We want to see the value and the fault of the first, but do life with God and others in the new way, because it’s better! THANK YOU JESUS!