God works with his people according to the Covenant he strikes with them, and we are aware of several such agreements in scripture. Each one was established by God, and entered into by his people, with each party being given a very clear picture of what is allowed, and the reward for abiding by the covenant, and the cost of throwing that covenant away.

In Jeremiah 31.31-34 we read of God’s Covenant with the Houses of Israel and of Judah; the fact that God’s people broke that Covenant, and we find the terms for yet a new Covenant with them. This new Covenant would be an internal agreement rather than a written document, and everyone will know the God of Israel in and through it.

The prophet writes: ‘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.’ This new Covenant will also be an agreement between God and the individual within the people of Israel, rather than with just the people of Israel as a whole.

Jeremiah continues: ‘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.’ Each one of Israel will know the God of the New Covenant as a person, and there will be a personal responsibility within that agreement.

The benefits of being in a Covenantal relationship with the God of Israel are far and away greater than all former Covenants. How is that? Listen as Jeremiah concludes: ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’ Here is forgiveness of sin PLUS God giving up his all-knowingness about sin. In the Covenant of the heart, forgiveness erases the record of sins. I will to be in a heart covenant with my God. LORD, FORGIVE ME, AND SET ME FREE!