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The book of Jeremiah is an abstract of the entire Bible; Jeremiah’s prophecy indicates that only Christ can fulfill God’s economy and only Christ is the answer to God’s requirements in His economy; the picture portrayed by Jeremiah shows that we are nothing and that Christ is everything to us:
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Jeremiah speaks of Christ, in the fulfilling of God’s economy, being our righteousness and our redemption (23:5-6), of God being the fountain of living waters (2:13), of Christ being our food (15:16), and of Christ as the reality of the new covenant with all its blessings (31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12):
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On the one hand, we may say that the new covenant is synonymous with God’s economy, being the contents and substance of God’s economy—Jer. 31:31-34; Job 10:13; cf. Eph. 3:9:
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All the major items of the new covenant are the contents of God’s economy and His dispensing with both His judicial redemption and organic salvation to deify us for the building up of the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
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The apostles’ ministry is the ministry for God’s new covenant economy; it is the new covenant ministry that is centered on the economy of God—1 Tim. 1:3-4; cf. 2 Cor. 3:3, 6.
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On the other hand, we may say that the new covenant is the way that God fulfills, or accomplishes, His economy; 2 Corinthians reveals that the ministry of the new covenant is for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy—2:12—4:1.
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Christ is the reality of the new testament, the new covenant, the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given to us; therefore, Christ is the new covenant:
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The bequests are many, but all these many bequests are actually one person—the pneumatic Christ—Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12; John 20:22; Eph. 3:8.
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The bequests bequeathed to us by the Lord in the new testament are inexhaustible, and they are for us to experience and enjoy through the Spirit for eternity—Heb. 9:15.
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 31:31-32 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.The Bible shows us that the desire of God’s heart is to come into man as life and to be one with man. God has always liked to contact man, and in this contact He has made several covenants with man….In the Bible God made eight covenants with man, but He counts only two covenants: the covenant made with Israel through Moses and the new covenant, the covenant of life, which is considered the second covenant (Heb. 8:7). All the other covenants—the covenants with the created man, with the fallen man, with Noah, with Abraham, with Israel in the land of Moab, and with David—are considered by God as side covenants….If we study all these covenants thoroughly, we will see that God cares for only one covenant, the new covenant of life. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 255-256)
Today’s Reading
The content of the new covenant is the Triune God, who has been processed and consummated to become everything to God’s chosen people. This new covenant was promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Heb. 8:8-13), and it was absolutely, thoroughly, and completely fulfilled by the Lord Jesus when He established His table (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). In instituting the table, the Lord Jesus made a covenant with the New Testament believers.The most important part of the book of Jeremiah is the portion on the new covenant. Since Jeremiah spoke regarding the new covenant, this book, in a sense, is more important than the writings of Moses, which do not say anything about the new covenant. Although Moses prophesied very much concerning Christ, the covenant God made with Israel through him had nothing to do with Jesus Christ.
Whereas Christ’s ministry is a ministry of justification, Moses’ ministry was a ministry of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9a). Therefore, in God’s economy Moses’ ministry is not the central line. However, without the old covenant of the law made through Moses, Jeremiah could not have exposed Israel to the uttermost….Here we see that the function of the law, which is something on the negative side, is to expose our fallen condition and situation. This helps us turn to the source, to the fountain of living waters, which in the New Testament is Christ as the embodiment of God. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 256-257)
Christ enacted the new covenant (which became the new testament—the will) with His blood for the redemption of the transgressions of God’s people (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15)….He died for us according to God’s righteous requirements, and the blood He shed through that death was used to form a covenant. Even He Himself said that the cup of the Lord’s table was a symbol of the new covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11:25). He redeemed us back to God and qualified us to inherit everything of God. This is the new covenant. Actually, this new covenant is Christ Himself. In resurrection Christ became the bequests of the new testament and the Mediator, the Executor, to execute the new testament (Heb. 9:15-17). This implies that Christ is the covenant. When God gave us the Bible as a will, this meant that God gave us Christ. Christ is the centrality and universality as the reality of the new testament. When Christ is given, that means He is the covenant. We not only have the items of the new testament in our mind, but we also have the reality of this covenant, who is Christ, in our spirit….He is the covenant of God given to us, the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given us. (Life-study of Isaiah, pp. 338-339)
Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 39; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 46