The new covenant brings a spiritual change. It is a covenant that does not require new
tablets on which the Lord will write a new law but on new people, on the
tablets of whose hearts will be written the Law of God. This new covenant requires new people, those
whose desire it is to keep the Law as though it were part of their being rather
than something external to them. The
interpretations of the Law were many and filled many volumes and there were a
variety of interpretations depending on the rabbinic school to which one subscribed. Rabbis were necessary to guide the laity in
the proper way. In the new covenant
there is still a place for teachers but the people can also have direct access
to the very spirit of God that He might bring enlightenment and understanding. God can speak to us directly on issues of ethics
and morality and we can learn from one another.
We know because He teaches us by the indwelling Spirit.
The Pharisees had to be completely puzzled by Jesus' words,
"I came not to call the righteous but sinners." Before He said that, though, He told them to
go and learn what it means that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. Certainly, that was a well-known truth from
the prophets and it seems quite arrogant of Jesus to tell scholars of the Bible
to go and learn what that means.
Clearly, He is saying to them that they have failed to comprehend it by
asking their questions of the disciples concerning His presence among tax
collectors and sinners. Their knowledge
was forensic and scholarly but it had taught them nothing about the heart of
God, they knew the Law apart from the law giver. John's disciples have not fully comprehended
even John's message, they have not come to follow Jesus, they are still looking
for the coming of the kingdom. They
haven't realized how new things really are.
Paul says we are to be imitators of God. That was always the intention. The Jews were to extend mercy to others as He
had shown mercy to them. The words that
begin the commandments are, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." From the start, the Law was predicated on
God's love and mercy shown to the nation.
His own self-declaration to Moses on the mountain was that He was
merciful and loving and forgiving, and that was after the episode of the golden
calf! Mercy and love were the only
reasons they were still in covenant after all their apostasy and whoring after
other gods. We begin at the cross,
beholding to fullness of the love and mercy of God and we are never meant to
forget just how amazing grace is. The
new covenant is written in Jesus' blood on our hearts.
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