"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My covenant though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my Torah on their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people." Jeremiah 31:31-33
What did God mean when He said that His "new covenant" would be to put Torah on our minds and write it on our hearts? How is this covenant different from the old?
This covenant is not actually "new" - it is "renewed." It is a renewal of the marriage covenant God made with His people at Mt. Sinai when He first gave them His teachings and instructions, His Torah (the "Law of Moses" or the ten commandments). He became a husband to His people Israel that day, and He guarded and kept them on their journey to the Promised Land. But His people broke that covenant by turning away from Him and worshiping other Gods, breaking His commandments. In this prophecy through Jeremiah, Yahweh is telling us how He will RE-NEW His covenant with us: by putting Torah on our minds and hearts.
How will this be? In the person and spirit of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, whom He sent to perfectly FULFILL the Torah. Yeshua lived it out for us perfectly while He walked the earth. He unraveled the mysteries of God's commands, and showed us that it is not ritual and religion, but relationship and LOVE. And now, those of us who believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel, have His spirit living within us! His commands are written upon our hearts and by His Spirit we greatly desire to keep them. We no longer want to look and smell and taste like the world - our minds and hearts now desire to obey God and be holy (which means set apart). As the apostle Peter said, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do." (1 Peter 1:13-16)
Our LORD did not do away with the Torah (the "Law") when Jesus came. In fact He Himself said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5;17-18)
The Torah is now written on your minds and hearts because the Incarnate Torah, Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus Christ),the One who wrote the commands upon stone at Mt. Sinai, and the One who fulfilled the Torah, LIVES IN YOU! He is in your heart and in your mind. He is the WORD, who was made flesh and dwelt among us. And the WORD is very near you! As Yahweh says, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. No, the Word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." (Deuteronomy 30:11, 14).
Now, my friends, we no longer have our God on tablets of stone - but on tablets of our human hearts! As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "You show that you are a letter from Christ...written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Cor. 3:3)
