Last week, we explored the repetitive cycle God’s people often fell into - love given (by God), love rejected (by the people), and, finally, love accepted (through a covenant relationship). More importantly we saw how God sent His people the ultimate display of His love and affection – His one and only Son – Jesus Christ who is the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen.
In Hebrews 8:10, God proclaims the new covenant, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Today we know the new covenant centers around Jesus. We work from God’s love, NOT for it. The new covenant is based on God’s love – powerful, passionate, unchanging, unending, and unconditional. In the new covenant we find the best path for our lives created by the life and work of Jesus.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and David. When Jesus arrived on earth, the covenant relationship changed because Jesus’s death and resurrection removed the penalty and punishment of our never being able to live up to God’s law. Jeremiah 31:31-33 explains we can move on from the old covenant of Moses and live under the new covenant in personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is a grant relationship – one in which God does the work of forging the relationship because He loves us that much and He wants our love in return. Jesus was God on display, living out the love of His Father for all the world to see.
Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of “never ceasing love” – the One who was and is the love of God given to us and on display. John 3:16-17 tell us God’s love is for the entire world. Romans 5:8 tells us just how much “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The new covenant under Jesus is based on a new kind of law – the law of love. This week, may we thank God for Jesus – the greatest demonstration of His love – and may we thank Him for His great and unending love for us.