NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD

[Steven S. Billings]

Rev. Steven S. Billings
Lent 5
Sermon
3-29-2009

Jeremiah 31:31-34

³¹ “Behold, days are coming,” says Yahweh, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was husband to them,” says Yahweh. ³³ “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will pit my law within them and I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. ³⁴ “And no longer shall a man teach his neighbor and a man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” says Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

You will hear yet this morning the words of Jesus: “This is the new testament in my blood.” But listen to those words carefully: not a new testament, but the new testament. In order for Jesus to say that, the disciples must've known that the new testament was coming. Indeed, they did. Today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah is one of the key passages that speak about it. This morning, I want to look at this text and see what it teaches us about the new testament Christ has established.

Jeremiah, in contrasting the new covenant with the old, first describes the new testament by saying what it isn't, and then goes on to say what it is.

One of the things the new testament is not is that it isn't a covenant made with Israel alone. The Old Covenant was made with the Children of Israel, and that included all Israelites, believers and unbelievers alike, everyone who was delivered out of the land of Egypt. It was comprised of laws - laws which governed the religious, political, social, and home life of every citizen. Acts fifteen describes this covenant as a yoke - a burden which neither their forefathers nor the Jews at the time were able to bear. In Galatians five Paul calls it a "yoke of bondage."

But the new covenant is not just made with the Israelites; it's a covenant with “the house of Israel and the house of Judah,” which means to say, all the people of the earth.

At the time, Israel and Judah were separated. Israel had been taken into captivity by Assyria to the north. Later, Judah would fall to the Babylonians, who, in the meantime had conquered Assyria. The result of this was that the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah were reunited in captivity, so that when they returned, they came back together. Listen to what Jeremiah had written earlier: “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.” “Out of the land of the north” refers to their eventual return from exile and bondage. Hosea adds: “It shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’” So, Israel would return from the land of the gentiles, but not by themselves; their presence in Assyria and Babylon would lead the gentiles there to worship the one true God, so that those who at one time were not God’s people, would become God’s people through faith in the Holy One of Israel.

Another thing that the new testament is not is that it isn't a covenant that can be broken. The old covenant could be broken - and was! You see, the old covenant was law. It was a covenant in the usual sense of the term today: an agreement between two people. The old covenant was an agreement between God and Israel, and each agreed to do certain things - like a marriage. In fact, a marriage is a good description of what God did with this people. He loved them, loved them as a bridegroom loves his bride. And He cared for and provided for His people. But it was a covenant, and as a covenant, it needed both parties to keep it for it to be valid. Israel did not keep the covenant. She was unfaithful. She worshiped idols. She did not keep the law.

And this is where we need to make a distinction between covenant and testament. In a general sense they're very much the same, but not in a legal sense. Legally, a covenant is two-sided, but a testament is one-sided.

A testament is like a will. It's not a contract between two parties; it's a document issued by one party, stating what that one party wishes to do. In the case of a will, it lists what the person intends to be done with his belongings after his death. In the case of the new testament, it lists what God intends to do with that which is His, namely, His righteousness and justice. He intends to give it to us on account of His Son. Those to whom the belongings are given in any will or testament have the right of refusal, but they cannot change the will. I may not appreciate the gaudy lamp I inherit from rich old Aunt Gladys, but I can’t say: “Give me the Cadillac instead.”

The only time a will can successfully be challenged is when the testator is proven to have been mentally incompetent when issuing the will, and we can hardly say that of God, now can we. Barring that, the will has to be honored precisely as it's written, to the letter, which means that if rich Aunt Gladys is in her right mind and wants to leave a million dollars to her pet frog Myron, the money has to go to the frog, like it or not. All you can do is hope you're in the frog's will! Anyway . . . since we know God to be in sound mind, we know there's nothing that can break His testament. The Jews couldn't break it, we can't break it, no one will ever be able to break it.

Well, enough about what the new testament isn't. What about what it is? One of the things it is, is that it is a testament written on our hearts. And this is done for everyone who's part of the New Testament, not just a few. God is the God of every member of the New Testament, as Jeremiah goes on to say: "'And no longer shall a man teach his neighbor and a man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' says Yahweh."

Now, does this mean that we're no longer to teach one another? Of course not, but the essence of the teaching is different. Before, members of the old covenant needed to teach one another the basic fact of trust in the Lord. Not all of them were believers. But now, in the new testament, all members are believers, from the least to the greatest, from baptized infants to those standing at the threshold of eternal life. We don’t teach our children their need to know the Lord. Instead, we simply teach them about the Lord who has called them. We don’t say: “You need to know God. If you don’t, you’ll go to hell.” Instead, we say: “This is God. He’s the One who keeps you from going to hell.” See the difference?

There’s one final aspect of this new testament that really wraps it all up. The Old Covenant was Law; the New Testament is Gospel. The Lord says in our text: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

So, maybe you’re wondering how you get to be a member of the New Testament. Herein lies the primary motivation behind the Reformation; it's what Luther struggled so to teach the world.

Contrary to what the Church had been teaching for years, to become a member of the New Testament requires no work on your part, no self-acquired holiness. The sacrifice of this New Testament in not one that needs to be repeated, but it's the sacrifice pointed to by all the prophecies of the Old Testament. All that's required for membership in the New Testament is the forgiveness found only in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that forgiveness is lavished on us when we hear God’s Word, when the water of God’s approval is poured out on us in Holy Baptism, and when the body and blood of our crucified and risen Savior are implanted within us through His Holy Supper. Through the means of grace God writes this New Testament on our hearts and we become His people.

The two testaments are quite different. The Sinai Covenant demanded perfect obedience. The New Testament offers eternal salvation. The Sinai Covenant was written on tablets of stone. The New Testament is written on our hearts. The Sinai Covenant was made with the descendants of Israel. The New Testament is made with all believers, Jews and Gentiles alike. The forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament was based on a hope in future events. The New Testament forgiveness is based on an accomplished reality.

Beloved, we can find no greater reality than the one Christ offers us again today. For here, the reality of God’s kingdom, indeed its very essence, is placed within our own flesh and blood as we eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. Christ makes a New Testament with us, , a covenant, a promise - and we consume it, making His promise ours, and making us His. May your participation of the Lord’s Supper strengthen and preserve you steadfast in the one true faith to life everlasting. In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.