JEHOVAH MAKING A NEW COVENANT
WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
Putting His Law within Them
The last portion we will consider is 31:33 and 34. "This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." In speaking of the new covenant that He would make with His elect, God said that He would put His law within them. This is not the law of letters—it is the law of life. If God’s law were not the law of life, He could not put His law into our being. The law that God puts into us is the law of His own life. The law is actually the life. This means that God puts Himself into us as life, and this life is the law that He puts into us.
God’s life, which is God Himself, is a law that regulates us. Just as a cat is regulated by the law of the cat life and a human being is regulated by the law of the human life, so are we regulated by the law of the divine life.
Writing His Law upon Their Hearts
In verse 33 God, speaking of His law, says that He will "write it upon their hearts." God not only puts His law within us, but He also writes it upon our hearts. To write here means to inscribe. God writes His law upon our hearts by moving from our spirit into our heart to inscribe what He is into our being. This indicates that in the new covenant God does not ask us to do anything, for in the new covenant He does everything.
They Being His People,
and All of Them Knowing Him,
from the Little One among Them
Even to the Great One among Them
Under God’s new covenant, Israel will be His people, and He will be their God. Today we, the believers in Christ, are God’s people, and He is our God.
In verse 34 God says, "All of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them." To know God does not simply mean that we know that God is triune and that He is holy and righteous. To know God is to live God, and to live God is to know God. For example, we may hate, but God loves. Thus, if we know God, we will live Him by loving others. Also, God is compassionate. To know Him is to live Him as the compassionate One. This is something that the elders in particular need to do. A compassionate elder is an elder who knows God. Furthermore, God is considerate. To know Him is to live Him as the One who is considerate.
We can know God in such a way only because He has put His life into us, and this life is just God Himself. This life is our inner life law with its capacity. As believers in Christ, we all, from the little one to the great one, have this capacity to know God by living Him.
(Life-Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
