Introduction
If
asked to think of passages in the Old Testament that foretell the coming of a new covenant, Christians regularly turn
to Jeremiah 31.31-34. After all, this is
the text that has the exact phrase, ‘new covenant,’ and it is the text that
Jesus references at the Last Supper (Luke 22.20; 1 Corinthians 11.25). Hebrews quotes the passage at length (Hebrews
8.8-12). Yet there are parallel texts in
Isaiah 59.20-21 and Ezekiel 36.25-28 (these are key verses in a longer
passage).
All
three texts are significant for understanding the New Testament itself. These passages help us to understand (1) the
continuity of the Law in the new covenant; (2) the role of Christ as redeemer;
(3) the underlying narrative of the restoration of Israel from exile for the
New Testament and for Christian perspective; (4) the understanding of the Holy
Spirit as God’s transforming power; (5) the understanding of Christians as a
righteous people of God; (6) the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s restored
people; (7) the Old Testament’s beginning of a Trinitarian theology; (8) the
distinction between a present age and an age to come (eschatology). The passage from Isaiah, moreover, (9) is
helpful in understanding several key aspects of a passage in Romans that is
always broken up into two sections but that should be read as a continuous
interpretation of Isaiah 59: Romans 3.15-26.
(We should not break this passage up at vv. 20 and 21.)
This
post takes note of the three texts in the Old Testament. Subsequent posts will explore the
significance of these texts in the New Testament. Here, we might note the origin of the new
covenant hope in Deuteronomy and the similarities and differences of the
passages in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
Three
New Covenant Texts
In
the following table, note the equivalent and alternative expressions used when
speaking of the new covenant, the covenant dealing with sin. (The translations are from the ESV.)
Isaiah
59:20-21 "And a
Redeemer[1]
will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,"
declares the LORD. 21
"And as for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the
LORD: "My Spirit which is
upon you, and My words which I
have put in your mouth, shall not
depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's
offspring," says the LORD, "from now and forever."
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Jeremiah
31:31-33 "Behold, days
are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, 32
not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they
broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the
house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be
their God, and they shall be My people.
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Ezekiel
36:25-28 "Then I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from
all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My statutes, and you will
be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 "And you will live in
the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
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Note
what the three texts have in common:
· These
are ‘new covenant’ texts
· The
context is a restoration of Israel from exile (due to their sins)
· God
is dealing with sin
· God
is doing something new
· God
is changing the inward character of the previously sinful people: (mouth,
heart, spirit)
· God
is reconstituting a people for himself
· God
is causing the people to follow His word, law, statutes, or ordinances
(different words for the same thing).
In Isaiah and Ezekiel, the divine
work of transformation involves a work of the Spirit. All three texts have in view a moral
transformation that causes God’s restored people to obey God from within
(mouth, heart, spirit).
Deuteronomy
The passages from Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Ezekiel pick up language from Deuteronomy’s covenant renewal. Deuteronomy functions as a renewal of the
covenant God made on Mt. Sinai with Israel when the nation came out of
Egypt. At the end of Moses’ life and as
Israel prepares to enter the promised land, the covenant is renewed. In Deuteronomy 30, we find a prophecy of a
future covenant renewal that would be necessary because Israel would, in fact,
break the covenant. The chapter
foretells a renewal of the covenant after Israel sins, is exiled, and is
restored from captivity. Then God would
circumcise their hearts (v. 6) so that His people might ‘keep all his
commandments’ (vv. 8, 10). His ‘word’
(the stipulations of the covenant) would be put in their mouths and hearts (v.
14). This anticipation of a new covenant
is not of a new set of commandments but of a covenant renewal that will involve
God’s restoration of His sinful people and His transformation of them. Only then will they obey His Law from the
heart.
Isaiah
59.20-21
Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the
context of the reference to a new covenant is the exile and return from exile
of Israel. Isaiah 58.12 says that a
righteous Israel, having turned away from her sins, will have her ancient ruins
rebuilt. The focus of both chapters 58
and 59 is on Israel’s sinfulness. Then
God steps into the impossible situation to establish righteousness (Isaiah
59.16-21). In the verses immediately
following Isaiah 59.20-21—in ch. 60—Isaiah characteristically attaches a
prophecy about the inclusion of the Gentiles to the promise of restoration for
sinful ‘Jacob.’ The nations will come to
restored Israel’s light (Isaiah 60.3). The
inclusion of Gentiles is not a theme in Jeremiah or Ezekiel.
From Isaiah 59, several important
theological themes for the New Testament are present and will be explored
further on. We have a description of
Israel’s sinfulness, the coming of God’s righteousness, the promise of the new
covenant, redemption from trespasses, mention of God’s Spirit being put upon
the people, obedience to God’s ‘word,’ His law, and the inclusion of the
Gentiles in God’s restoration of Israel.
References to the new covenant elsewhere in Isaiah call it a ‘covenant of
peace’ (Isaiah 54.10) and an ‘everlasting covenant’ (Isaiah 55.3; 61.8). Two of the servant songs mention the role
that a restored and righteous Israel will play as a light for the nations. In the first servant song, God says to Israel, God’s servant,
I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the
hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for
the nations’ (Isaiah 42.6).
In Isaiah 49, a similar promise of God’s redemption, care, and restoration
of Israel to the land is made alongside a promise to include the nations:
Isaiah 49:6-10 he [the LORD] says: "It is too light a
thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to
bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer
of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the
servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall
prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of
Israel, who has chosen you." 8
Thus says the LORD: "In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of
salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the
people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, 9 saying to the prisoners, 'Come
out,' to those who are in darkness, 'Appear.' They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind
nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by
springs of water will guide them.
Jeremiah 31.31-34
Prior to the new covenant text in Jeremiah, Jeremiah speaks of the exile of
the southern kingdom to Babylon. He then
turns to speak of God’s restoration of exiled Israel. Jeremiah also speaks of this new covenant as
an ‘everlasting covenant’ in another passage that includes themes of
restoration from exile, reconciliation as God’s people, moral transformation,
and blessing:
Jeremiah 32:37-41 Behold, I will
gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my
wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I
will make them dwell in safety. 38
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and
one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of
their children after them. 40
I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from
doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they
may not turn from me. 41 I
will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in
faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
In Jeremiah 50.5, the two kingdoms of Israel
(northern) and Judah (southern) join together and join to the LORD in an
everlasting covenant.
Ezekiel
While Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel envision a
new covenant of God with His people, the content of the covenant is not
new. That is, the stipulations of the
covenant are not changed. The new
covenant is really a renewal of God’s existing covenant with Israel. What is new is the ability, by God’s grace,
to abide by the ordinances of the covenant.
This first involves God’s providing redemption in Zion for the
transgressions of Jacob (Isaiah 59.20) or, as Ezekiel elsewhere puts it, God’s making
atonement for His sinful people:
Ezekiel 16:59-63 "For thus
says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised
the oath in breaking the covenant, 60
yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will
establish for you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you
take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as
daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant
with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, 63 that you may remember and be
confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone
for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD."
In this passage, the original covenant’s
commandments remain, just as the original, covenantal relationship between God
and His people remains. The difference
is in what might be called God’s forgiving grace (atonement) and transforming
grace that make the renewed covenant something that the people now keep. The rebellious will be purged according to
the terms of the original covenant (Ezekiel 20.36-38). As in Isaiah, the covenant is also called a
‘covenant of peace’ and an ‘everlasting covenant’ (Ezekiel 37.26). Ezekiel 37.27 says that God will set His
sanctuary in their midst forever and so His dwelling place will be with them
forever. This involves God’s sanctifying
Israel (v. 28). Finally, Ezekiel sees
God’s re-establishing His covenant with Israel as a testimony to the nations of
Himself (v. 28; cf. Ezekiel 36.23, 36, 38).
This reads as more of a declaration of God’s identity to the nations
through His actions than a mission to them, or an inclusion of them, as in
Isaiah.
Conclusion
The promise of a new covenant in Deuteronomy 30
hangs over the history of Israel right up to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel. It is both a negative,
predictive judgement about their repeated failure to live in obedience to God’s
covenant with them—His gracious covenant
of making them His treasured possession—and a positive promise that God would
make atonement for the sinful people, even including the sinful Gentiles in a
new covenant. This new covenant would
also provide God’s own righteousness (Isaiah 59.16-19), Holy Spirit, and a
transformed heart or spirit. In this
way, God’s original purpose for Israel would be fulfilled. Without the message of the New Testament, the
Old Testament reads like a failed promise, an empty hope, a forgotten yearning
for something better by a people that faced one failure and destruction after
another. But with the good news of Jesus
Christ, the Old Testament reads as a true promise that has been fulfilled. Jesus offers this new covenant in his own
sacrificial death on the cross. He is
Isaiah’s Redeemer that came to Zion to turn Jacob from transgression. He is Ezekiel’s means of atonement for Israel’s
sins. He is the one who gives the Holy
Spirit (Ezekiel), who transforms hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Jeremiah),
and who puts God’s words in the mouths of those who turn from sin to obey God’s
commandments (Isaiah). With his
redemption of a sinful Israel has also come the inclusion of the Gentiles in
God’s plan for sinful humanity.
[1] The Septuagint (Greek translation
of the Old Testament) reads, ‘The one who redeems Zion will come and turn
godlessness from Jacob’ (my translation).
The Hebrew reads as the English translation (ESV) has it here. Note that ‘redeemer’ is go’el (laeêAG), a well-known image in the Old Testament. Isaiah applied this image to God: God is the Redeemer of Jacob (or Israel or
Jerusalem) Isaiah 44.23; 48.20; 49.7; 52.9. So also Isaiah 59.20.
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