I Will Write My Torah on Their Hearts
10: 15-18
I will write My Torah in their hearts DIG: What does the prophecy of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 show? Where was the First Covenant written? How did that work for the nation of Isra’el as a whole? Where did they end up? Why does the B’rit Chadashah need to be written on both the heart and the mind? Why can God forget the sins of the righteous believer? How far is the east to the west? Why was a Levitical offering now no longer necessary for the righteous of the TaNaKh?
REFLECT: How do you feel when you hear that God will remember you sins and wickedness no more? Does that mean you can sin all the more? Or are you grateful and wanting to please your heavenly Father all the more? What offering did Jesus make for you? How do you feel about that? What can you tell others?
The insufficiencies of animal sacrifices are continue to be compared to the sufficiency of Messiah’s sacrifice. His sacrifice is shown to be better in seven different ways.
Seventh, Yeshua’s sacrifice is better because it fulfills the promise of a New Covenant: And the Ruach ha-Kodesh also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant which I made with them after those days,” says ADONAI; “I will write my Torah on their hearts, and write it on their minds” (Hebrews 10:15-16 CJB quoting Jeremiah 31:33 CJB). In other words, the new sacrifice had to be made and it had to be effective because YHVH promised in His Word that it would be. Although the New Covenant was indeed new, it was not a new revelation, but the fulfillment of an old one. Now that it had been revealed, the Jews, more than any other people, should have welcomed it with open arms. The promise was not only Jeremiah’s, but also the very witness of the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
He then adds, “And their sins and their wickedness I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17 CJB quoting Jeremiah 31:34). In verses 16-17, the Spirit of God quotes Jeremiah 31:33-34. In Chapter 8, the Ruach quoted this in more detail, but now he does not need to quote the whole passage because he wants to point out only two things here: First, under the B’rit Chadashah there is no remembrance of sin, and secondly, there is no more consciousness of sin. For that reason, under the New Covenant, there is no more need for the Levitical sacrifices. This should have been the final proof that the Jewish unbelievers would need to embrace Yeshua as Messiah for He fulfills the promises that the prophet Jeremiah had written about.
Those Jewish unbelievers within the congregation (to see link click Ag – The Audience of the book of Hebrews – Group Three: Unbelieving Jews) were in checkmate. They had to make a decision one way or the other. It was if the Holy Spirit was saying through the human writer, “Look, you cannot accept the teaching of your own beloved prophet Jeremiah and yet reject the B’rit Chadashah that he prophesied about.” To accept Jeremiah was to accept Jesus Christ; to reject Jesus Christ is to reject Jeremiah (not to mention all the other prophets who spoke of the Messiah) and to reject the Ruach ha-Kodesh Himself.268
This provides the conclusion to the entire discussion: Now where there is forgiveness for these, an offering for sins is no longer needed (10:18 CJB). This is the last, decisive word on the matter. Since Jesus brought perfection and complete forgiveness, sin, as far as ADONAI is concerned, cannot even be remembered; what further need is there for the Levitical sacrifices? The very fact that those Jewish unbelievers within the congregation have already had their sins paid for, there was no further need for an offering for their sins. The work of sacrifice was done. There will be no more. Why would anyone want to go back to the Levitical sacrifices, which were never finished and never effective. To reject Jesus Christ would be to abandon all hope of ever having their sins fully forgiven . . . ever. With this statement, the writer concludes the first major part of the book, which primarily dealt with the theological issue and provided some practical application.269
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:9). Salvation – glorious and perfect salvation – is promised in the First Covenant and purchased in the New Covenant.270
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