Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #12 - The Hope of the New Covenant

In our last post we listed the six references that mention the hope of Israel's restoration.  We have already given some general comments and observations on these verses, but now we want to spend the next several weeks in looking at these passages in more detail.  Several recurring themes appear in connection with the promised hope of Israel's restoration:  God's Covenant, Israel's Conflicts, Israel's Contrition, and Israel's Conversion.  We may find all of these themes represented in Jeremiah chapter 31.  Clearly, Israel is portrayed as being in a time of great crisis and conflict:  "Thus saith the LORD:  A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not" (Jer.31:15).  The context, of course, is that of the captivity of Israel.  Rachel, the deceased mother of Joseph and Benjamin and the tribes that descended from them, is pictured as bitterly weeping for her slain and captive people at Ramah, the place at which the exiles were assembled before their deportation to Babylon.  This mournful weeping of Rachel was also typical and prophetical of the weeping of the mothers of Bethlehem whose infant sons were slaughtered by Herod shortly after the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:18).  The very existence of Israel has been threatened numerous times and continues to be threatened by their enemies to this very day.  But in that time of seeming hopelessness and threatened extermination, the voice of the LORD promised hope to the nation:  "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.  And there is hope in thine end (i.e. your future), saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border" (Jer.31:16,17).  Clearly this is a prophecy and a divine promise that the dispersed nation of Israel will return to their own land.  This promise is made repeatedly in this one chapter:  "Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel ..." (vs.4); "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth..." (vs.8); "He that scattered Israel will gather him..." (vs.10); "And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, saith the LORD" (vs.28).  But there is MORE!  MUCH MORE!  The hope of Israel is more than a return to the land, it is the hope of a return to the LORD!  Such a hope is centered in the New Covenant promised in this same chapter, verses 31-34 (please read these verses for yourself).  God is not finished with Israel!  One day they will come into the blessings of the New Covenant provided for them in Christ Jesus which was ratified forever by the shedding of His own blood (see Hebrews 8:6-13 and 10:14-18).  In this covenant, which is received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is found:  1) An inward change - "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"; 2) An intimate relationship - "I will be their God, and they shall be my people"; 3) An indwelling knowledge - "for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them"; and 4) An individual cleansing - "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer.31:33,34).  Israel as a nation has not yet entered into this covenant of hope, but the promises of the New Covenant are fully provided for in Christ Jesus and may be individually received by either Jew or Gentile today.  God longs for His people to return to Him!  Hear his voice of grace to those in the wilderness of sin:  "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer.31:2,3).  Hear his voice of grief over His erring children: "For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD" (Jer.31:20).  And hear His voice of great pleading: "How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?" (Jer.31:22).  Have you responded by faith to His offer of hope and forgiveness?  Trust your heart and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be grafted into the covenant promises of Israel's Messiah - the hope of the New Covenant!