My mom and dad were decent people and my childhood, compared to some, a walk in the park. Nevertheless there were issues. Nothing so big it couldn’t be talked through, but that was the rub—we didn’t. It just wasn’t part of our family culture to repair conflict. We escalated, boiled over, yelled, stormed, stomped out, and then buried it. Marriage counselors say every escalation alerts us to “a conversation we need to have.” My parents and I, particularly my dad and I, needed to have some conversations.

The lack of resolution and repair gave birth to a seed of bitterness in my heart. I distinctly remember Dad walking through the door after work to greet each of us with a puckered-up, somewhat-wet kiss. I’d wipe it off, disgusted. The resentment had an enduring, inflexible quality, like a piece of furniture so heavy it becomes a permanent fixture. I left for college at 18, coming home only briefly for vacations. Dad and I were like aquatic trees, distant above the surface, but tangled together at the roots under the murky water.

Then I experienced a change of heart. Some of it may have been the time away from home; it’s easier to forgive from a distance. But a large part of my change of heart was spiritual. I came to understand God’s forgiveness toward me, and the sheer relief of that lifted burden made protective anger unnecessary. My own shame and guilt uprooted took with them any guilt and shame I would impose on another. Forgiving Dad happened effortlessly and nearly unconsciously. No more wiped-off kisses. No more distance. Only tender love.

Some say don’t forgive unless the person apologizes. I disagree. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” The outflow of my forgiveness for others uses the same door as the inflow of God’s forgiveness for me. The door opens, and grace comes and goes freely. Now, that doesn’t eliminate accountability. Justice and forgiveness can exist side by side. But that’s a discussion for another time. Let’s just soak for a few minutes in the fact that God’s grace can dissolve long-standing heart-tensions.

Jesus told us to forgive if we have anything against anyone. Are there people in your life you haven’t forgiven? Is it because you’ve confused forgiveness with trust and reconciliation? Or have you seen forgiveness as incompatible with accountability? Remove these stumbling blocks and see forgiveness as a simple choice to release resentment toward the other. And then, forgive.

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At the time when the southern kingdom of Judah was about to end and the people taken into Babylonian captivity, God announced through His prophet Jeremiah the “new covenant.” This is the first time this notion is expressed in the Bible. However, when the 10-tribe northern kingdom of Israel was about to be destroyed (some one hundred fifty years before the time of Jeremiah), the idea of another covenant was mentioned again, this time by Hosea (Hosea 2:18-20).

Read Hosea 2:18-20. Notice the parallel between what the Lord says there to His people with what He said in Jeremiah 31:31-34. What common imagery is used, and, again, what does it say about the basic meaning and nature of the covenant?

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At moments in history when God’s plans for His covenant people were hampered by their rebellion and unbelief, He sent prophets to proclaim that the covenant history with His faithful had not come to an end. No matter how unfaithful the people might have been, no matter the apostasy, rebellion, and disobedience among them, the Lord still proclaims His willingness to enter into a covenant relationship with all who are willing to repent, to obey, and to claim His promises.

Look up the following texts. Though they do not specifically mention a new covenant, what elements are found in them that reflect the principles behind the new covenant?

Ezekiel 11:19

Ezekiel 18:31

Ezekiel 36:26

The Lord will provide “a heart to know that I am the LORD” (Jeremiah 24:7, RSV). He will “take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19, RSV), and will give “a new heart” and “a new spirit” ( Ezekiel 36.26-27). This work of God is the foundation of the new covenant.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Read Jeremiah 31:31-34 and answer the following questions:

1.Who instigates the covenant?

2.Whose law is being talked about here? What law is this?

3.Which verses stress the relational aspect that God wants with His people?

4.What act of God in behalf of His people forms the basis of that covenant relationship?

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It is clear: The new covenant is not something much different from the old covenant made with Israel on Mount Sinai. In fact, the problem with the Sinai covenant was not that it was old or outmoded. The problem, instead, was that it was broken (see Jeremiah 31:32).

The answers to the above questions, all found in those four verses, prove that many facets of the “old covenant” remain in the new one. The “new covenant” is, in a sense, a “renewed covenant.” It is the completion, or the fulfillment, of the first one.

Focus on the last part of Jeremiah 31:34, in which the Lord says that He will forgive their iniquity and the sin of His people. Even though the Lord says that He will write the law on our hearts and place it within us, He still stresses that He will forgive our sin and iniquity, which violates the law written in our hearts. Do you see any contradiction or tension between these ideas? If not, why not? What does it mean, as Romans 2:15 puts it, to have the law written within our hearts? (Matthew 5:17-28).

Looking at the verses for today, how could you use them to answer the argument that somehow the Ten Commandments (or, specifically, the Sabbath) are now made void under the new covenant? Is there anything at all in those texts that makes that point? On the contrary, how could one use those texts to prove the perpetuity of the law?

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 5:17-28; Hosea 2:18-20; Isaiah 56:6-7; Hebrews 8:7-8; Hebrews 10:4; Matthew 27:51.

Memory Verse: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31, RSV).

A cartoon in a magazine years ago showed a business executive in an office standing before a group of other executives. He was holding a box of detergent in his hands, showing it to the other men and women. He proudly pointed to the word New that was displayed in large red letters on the box, the implication being, of course, that the product was new. The executive then said, “It’s the ‘New’ on the box that is new.” In other words, all that changed, all that was new, was simply the word New on the box. Everything else was the same.

In a sense, one could say that the new covenant is like that. The basis of the covenant, the basic hope that it has for us, the basic conditions of it, are the same as what was found in the old covenant. It has always been a covenant of God’s grace and mercy, a covenant based on a love that transcends human foibles and defeats.

The Week at a Glance: What parallels exist between the old and new covenants? What role does the law play in the covenant? With whom were the covenants made? What does the book of Hebrews mean by a “better covenant”? (Hebrews 8:6). What relation is there between the covenant and the heavenly sanctuary?

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 5.

Sunday–>

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drcTND9axP4&w=560&h=315]

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