Day 25 | From Promise to Passion
The Promise: A New Covenant: A Promise Written on Our Hearts
The Promise
Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34 | A New Covenant: A Promise Written on Our Hearts
Throughout Israel’s history, covenants were made—and broken. Again and again, the people strayed. Again and again, they failed to keep the laws given to them. But through the prophet Jeremiah, God spoke of something new.
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah… I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jeremiah 31:31,33)
This was radical. The old covenant was based on external laws—commandments written on stone, sacrifices performed in the temple. But this new covenant would be different.
It wouldn’t be written on tablets—it would be written on hearts. It wouldn’t be about following rules—it would be about relationship. It wouldn’t require repeated sacrifices—it would be fulfilled in one final sacrifice.
This was a Messianic promise. A day was coming when God Himself would establish a new way for people to belong to Him. And this time, it wouldn’t depend on their efforts—but on His grace.
This is the covenant we live in today. A covenant where we are fully known, fully forgiven, and fully His.
Tracing the Promise:
Jeremiah’s prophecy wasn’t just about renewal—it was about transformation.
A new covenant – not just a revised version of the old, but something entirely different.
God’s law written on hearts – no longer an external list of rules, but an inward transformation by His Spirit.
A personal relationship with God – not mediated through priests or rituals, but direct, intimate access to the Father.
This new covenant would only be possible through the Messiah—the One who would establish it, not with ink, but with His own blood.
Respond:
How does this new covenant affect your relationship with God today?
What does it mean for you to have God’s law written on your heart instead of just following external rules?
How can you live more fully in this new relationship—trusting His grace, walking in His Spirit, and resting in His promises?
Tomorrow, we’ll see how Jesus Himself declared that this new covenant had arrived—and how He sealed it with His own life.
Let’s keep growing + going,
Em
It looked like the problem was that God's people kept breaking his rules, but really the problem was that they kept turning against him. Instead of making new and more rules (like the Pharisees), God instead mended the relationship by paying for their sin himself! It's astounding when we stop and consider that isn't it! God wants obedience, yes, but as an expression of relationship. What he really wants is for us to walk with him again... and he made that possible at the cross! 🙌🏻
I have a deeper appreciation of what God did in sending Jesus and I desire to prioritise the time that I get to spend with him.
It means no striving involved.
It means doing things empowered by love and not out of a sense of duty.
It means being empowered by being attentive to the Holy Spirit and learning to follow when the Holy Spirit convicts me in what is right and what is wrong.
I can live more fully in this new relationship through setting aside time to be still in his presence and allow him to speak to me through his word on a regular basis.