(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“But they said, “We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your children, forever. You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, or have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land in which you live as nomads.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; and not to build houses for ourselves to dwell in. We have no vineyard, field, or seed; but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come! Let’s go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we will dwell at Jerusalem.’” Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words?” says Yahweh. “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment; but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and you have not listened to me. I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Every one of you must return now from his evil way, amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers;’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me. The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me.”’”
(Jeremiah 35:6-16)
“For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;” then he says, “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.” Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a great priest over God’s house, let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body washed with pure water, let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
(Hebrews 10:14-31)
Jeremiah took a group of people and brought them away from everyone else. No one could see what they were doing. There was no one watching. They were in total privacy. And then he asked them to drink some wine. No big deal, right? Not get drunk. Just drink. They refused because of a command an ancestor had given them. A command that marked the way they were to live, no matter what. They held to that. This wasn’t a God commandment. Just a human one. A restriction to keep them separate from those around them. And they were holding to it. Humans proving that humans can choose to honour a covenant and not let it go – even when there is no way for them to be ‘caught’. Yet the children of God weren’t holding to their covenant. They had thrown it away and were going against it. Humans COULD keep a covenant, but they weren’t. Because they were choosing to not do something that God proved COULD be done, they were being judged for their choice. The consequences were coming home to roost.
Jesus came to replace the system where priests sacrificed animals in order to cover sin with that blood. The priests and the sacrificial system were the physical example of a spiritual principle. Jesus brought the spiritual principle and made it physical as well. Jesus didn’t throw out anything else. He simply took the example and replaced it with the actual. The covenant was renewed to the actual. And it is a covenant that human beings can enter into and keep, if they choose to. Yes, there is restriction, but it is for our benefit and not to keep us from things. It is a shift of thinking, a renewal to thinking of GOOD things instead of a mix of good and evil. God never wanted to keep us from good. Only to let us live in ignorance of evil while still recognizing it as being anything not good. We have been given a chance to be in the renewed covenant and to keep it. In Jesus, both are possible and both are offered.
Summary
This is a humbling piece of scripture. We are shown in no uncertain terms that we CAN keep covenant. That it is a choice. It is a choice we CAN make. We CAN do it. Jesus has given us a chance to keep His covenant. To remember on a daily basis what it’s all about and to choose to keep it. Not for any arbitrary reason, but because it is the best thing for us. It is a great benefit to us. And it is freely offered. We need to think about this consistently because it is the basis for all our choices. All our behaviour, all our words, and all that we choose to put before our eyes and ears. It is the basis of what we choose to seed into our hearts and see harvested in our lives. We CAN keep covenant. We CAN choose to cooperate with God. Hand in hand. In humble submission. Full of thanksgiving.
Leave a Reply