“I
Will Be Their God,
And
They Will Be My People.”
But in fact the ministry
Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is
mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on
better promises.
For if there had been
nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for
another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming,
declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and
with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their
ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they
did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares
the Lord. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after
that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them
on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer
will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because
they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will
forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
By calling this covenant
“new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated
will soon disappear.
Hebrews
8:6-13
There are times when we
want to do something to earn the grace of God! He, on the other hand, does not
hold anything against us.
We may still feel sad
about our past, but we need to trust His promise and believe His grace and
forgiveness is real through faith in Jesus Christ. This news should lead us to
thankfulness and the assurance faith brings. When God forgives, He forgets.
Grace
and forgiveness are unearned gifts.
Our
Daily Bread – June 8, 2017