“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you”
(Ezek 36:26, NKJV)
In his Ad Tabiol (section 7) the historian Jerome draws an interesting parallel between what had happened on Mount Sinai during Israel’s first “manifestation of spiritual identity” and the new covenant church’s first “manifestation of spiritual identity” – “There is Sinai, here Sion; there the trembling mountain, here the trembling house; there the flaming mountain, here the flaming tongues; there the noisy thunderings, here the sounds of many tongues; there the clangor of the ramshorn, here the notes of the gospel-trumpet.” Indeed – both these events mirror another in the formulation of a People, the birth of a nation (Israel) and the birth of a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God” (1 Pet 2:9-10).
The covenant at Sinai was not sustained, and thus God had to use his feasts to complete the cycle (Isa 29:1) by leading in a new covenant. The necessity of a new covenant is beautifully elucidated in the light of the old covenant’s failure, and then prophetically mapped out in Jer 31:31-33 – “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, 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 in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Please note: the law is now no longer an external element, but it is written on their hearts. And the Holy Spirit is the agent that mediates this covenant. John 16:13 – “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.” Another beautiful declaration is found in Ezek 36:23-28 – “And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
Remember: the tabernacle in the wilderness was a model for the repaired creation as it had been in the time of innocence, a model of restoration. The feasts are thus part of this process of restoration of creation, within the brokenness of our everyday lives!
- Sela: Ensure that you have been filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Read: Deut 19; Ezek 45 (important within the context of this teaching); Micah 7.
- Memorize: Micah 7:11
- For a deeper understanding: Read C.S. Lewis’s classic The great divorce.
