God’s solution to the urge to sin (Jer 31:27-40)

How can lasting change happen? How can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past? If we do not buckle up in the car and then fly through the windshield in an accident, we are likely to remember to put on our seatbelt for a long time to come after that. However, memories fade and we may forget how bad the consequences were. For Israel, the question is acute. They have broken God’s covenant and the exile teaches them a harsh lesson of the terrible consequences of sin. Yet, the human heart is fickle and what if in the future they turn back to their old way of life again? Where will it end and what if God says at some point, enough is enough? The question of how lasting change can happen surfaces not only in Jeremiah, but also in his younger contemporary, Ezekiel’s preaching (Ezek 36:24-28).

A new reality, a new relationship

Not only is the question about how to avoid this happening again, but also whether it will ever end. The exiles felt that the punishment was unjust because the accumulated rebellion of the previous generations fell on their (the descendants’) head, while the fathers got away without repercussions (Jer 31:29).[1] Will this kind of pain continue with the consequences always catching up with the innocent, one generation passing on its guilt to the next? God’s answer is that how justice works and consequences are allocated in the present will give way to a new reality in the future (Jer 31:30). Even more importantly, God’s new relationship with His people will ensure that the terrible mistakes of the past will not be repeated. The new covenant will still be based on God’s will as expressed in the Law, but He will enable obedience by writing His law on the people’s heart (Jer 31:33). In other words, they will internalise God’s will, so that doing it will come naturally, flowing out of an attitude turned towards God even as their sins were etched onto their heart earlier and directed them to respond to God with rebellion (Jer 17:1).

Knowing God and doing His will

Since what God requires will be ingrained in their very being, they will know the Lord in that deep and intimate way at the heart of a true relationship (Jer 31:34). God’s will reflects God’s nature, so the more His people do His will, the more they will understand who He is. Conversely, the more deeply they know Him, the more they will act like Him (Jer 9:24; 22:15-16). Thus knowing God and doing His will mutually reinforce each other. Such knowledge will also be grounded in God’s forgiveness (v.34) because God’s grace that so generously forgives reveals the heart of God and His character in a tangible way. Further, forgiveness removes our sins that separate us from God and blind us to His reality, so the way is opened up for the relationship. Moreover, God reassures His disheartened and suffering people that His commitment to them is as solid and consistent as the created world in its ordered ways (Jer 31:35-37).

God’s enduring commitment

To the question of how these promises have been or will be fulfilled, I shall return in my next post, but now it is worth pondering the heart of this passage. When we are confronted with the state of our heart, the lie that is engraved on it to distrust God and seek our fulfilment in something other than Him, we are likely to despair. Can a leopard change its spots (Jer 13:23)? Or as Paul puts it, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?’ (Rom 7:24). God’s answer in Jeremiah is, ‘I will’. We cannot change our heart, but God can – and only He can – enable us to live for Him and to know Him deeply. Although the prophet could not know, as Christians we do that such renewal and forgiveness came at the cost of God trading places with us in Jesus Christ, taking on our punishment. How solid and enduring His commitment is to us! Thank God for His amazing grace!

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[1] A similar point is made in Ezekiel 18:1-32 quoting the same proverb, though there the principle of justice – each generation suffers for its own sin – is argued to be operative already in the run-up to the exile and in the aftermath of disaster, whereas Jeremiah’s prophecy puts the fulfilment of this in the future. Both are true in that the exilic generation was not innocent and deserved the exile on their own account, as well. However, the implied argument of the exiles in Jeremiah is also valid, namely that their generation bore the brunt of the consequences in a way the previous generations did not. Although we hear individual responsibility emphasised in these passages because we are attuned to individualism, scholars agree that in their original contexts these texts address generations rather than individuals (Ezekiel uses the singular father and son as representatives of their generation). However, they came to be associated with individual responsibility in later times and this makes sense. After all, if the principle of justice should apply to generations, then ultimately the logic of this dictates that it should also apply to each individual within a generation. For a further reflection on corporate responsibility see my post on intergenerational punishment.

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