Fri June 5

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word covenant.

Reading

Hebrews 8:7–13—Superior New Covenant

Optional Reading

Jer 31:31-37

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

In Jeremiah, God promised a new and better covenant.
Now we see that Jesus is mediator of this new covenant.
Jesus makes and keeps the covenant for us.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

Why a new covenant?
What, if any, does God’s gracious covenant require of us?
What difference does it make to have the law on our hearts?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

Why a new covenant? Because the first one had flaws? Actually, the covenant didn’t have flaws, but the people with which it was made had flaws. Even God’s covenant, made in His covenant love, required a response. And the people in the Old Testament constantly responded badly. So, way back in Jeremiah, during the time of Josiah the King of Judah, God promised a new covenant—a better covenant.

In this new and better covenant, God promised to write His law, not on tablets of stone as He did with Moses, but on the hearts of His people. Further, as the RSB notes, the guarantee that it will not be broken is the grace mediated by Christ through His death and resurrection (Heb. 9:12–15; 10:1–4, 10–18).

Ryken summarizes the new covenant blessings in these words: the New Covenant is not a bargain between God and us. If that were the case, the New Covenant would be no better than the Old. Rather, the New Covenant is a blood bond between God the Father and God the Son on our behalf. Jesus Christ makes and keeps the covenant for us. We are in the covenant because we are in Christ.

The old covenant was glorious. But all along it was pointing to a new covenant to come. Now that the new has come, to hold on to the old is death, while the new gives confident life in Christ. What covenant are you holding on to?

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 105a, 111d

Prayer

Give thanks for God's covenant promises in Jesus.
Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.