In this message we will continue to consider Jehovah's promise concerning the restoration of Israel. We will focus our attention on the crucial matter of the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 reveals that Jehovah, as their Husband, will make a new covenant with Israel. "Behold, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah" (vv. 31-32). This new covenant was enacted by the Lord Jesus when He was about to die on the cross for the accomplishment of redemption. As He was instituting His supper, He said, "This cup is the new covenant established in My blood, which is being poured out for you" (Luke 22:20). No doubt, the new covenant here is the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31. This new covenant is emphasized by Paul in Hebrews 8, where he quotes Jeremiah 31 in a very particular way.
In the entire Bible God made eight covenants with man, seven in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. The first was God's covenant with the created man (Gen. 2:8-9, 15-17), and the second was His covenant with fallen man (3:8-21). After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah (9:1-17). Later, God made a covenant with Abraham (12:2-3, 7-8; 15:4-18; 17:1-2; 22:17-18), and this covenant was repeated with Isaac (26:3-5) and with Jacob (28:13-15). The fifth covenant was made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai (Exo. 20—23); the sixth was made with those who were to inherit the land (Deut. 28—29); and the seventh was made with David (2 Sam. 7:8-16). The eighth covenant is the new covenant.
In the Bible, however, only two of these covenants are designated by numbers. The covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai is called the first covenant (Heb. 8:7, 13; 9:1), and the new covenant is called the second covenant (Heb. 8:7). After the new covenant, God will not make any other covenants, for the new covenant is the consummation of God's covenanting with His people.
The first covenant is called the covenant of law, and the second covenant is altogether wrapped up with God's divinity. The law is a portrait, a picture, of God, depicting Him. But the law is not God Himself. The Ten Commandments give us a full portrait of what God is, but they do not give us the person of God. In contrast, the content of the new covenant is God Himself.