Jeremiah 31:31-34
An Intensely Personal Relationship

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt -- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

New Revised Standard Version

This passage from Jeremiah sets the foundation for our hope on the beautiful, intense, personal relationship that God wants to have with each of us. The prophet describes this relationship as a contrast to the Jewish teachings of his time, but the fulfillment of what God had always intended.

Every actively participating Jewish man could recite the following passage, which is in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

How greatly the people in Jeremiah's time had distorted these instructions! Even though many complied with the outward signs of scriptures hung on doorframes and worn on arms, few had the scripture on their hearts. Many taught the precepts and rules to others, but few shared the love that has always been the foundation of the relationship that God wants with His people. Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the official God of the Hebrew people, but it was much more sophisticated and pragmatic to acknowledge the beliefs of surrounding people, and politically wise to go along with those religious practices. No wonder God's words convey pain in the image of a rejected husband.

So, Jeremiah gave us a promise from God that went beyond the old order. God's relationship is not only with a nation, but with every individual. God's Word is no longer on arm bands and door frames, but God writes it on our hearts and minds. We should no longer expect to learn about God only from other people, because God instructs us, and we all can know God directly and personally. This passage so clearly describes the relationship that Jesus came to earth to fulfill that it is quoted in chapter 8 of Hebrews.

There is nothing to separate us from God! God doesn't care what we don't know, what we haven't read, what we haven't received... or what sins we've committed. God's love, and God's desire for a deep, intensely personal relationship with each of us, can only be thwarted by our unwillingness to accept it.