Hebrews 8:10-12

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more.”

God’s new covenant is now quoted. It is made ‘with the house of Israel’, the people of God now combined in one, with all differences broken down and incorporating all who are His (note how Israel and Judah are here now seen as one under the name of Israel). Any idea that there can be a house of Israel separate from the people of God is clearly false. God’s love was set on all Abraham’s seed, and Abraham’s seed are such as have been incorporated into Israel by faith, whether Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:0).

The basic premises of this new covenant are;

1) “I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them.” Instead of writing His laws on tables of stone as He did in the old covenant, God will write His laws in men’s minds and hearts by His Spirit (compare2 Corinthians 3:2-11; 2 Corinthians 3:2-11) unconditionally. Thus they will never forget them and will obey them from an inner impulsion. For the principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will make them free from the law of sin and death -- that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in those who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:2-3).

The idea behind this verse includes that of the new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17); of those who have been born of the Spirit and made full-grown sons of God (John 3:5-6; John 1:12-13; Galatians 4:4-6), having been made partakers of the divine nature, escaping the corruption of the world and of desires (2 Peter 1:4). It speaks of a new God-wrought beginning, a miracle of transformation.

All who are truly His can recognise in these words something of their own experience when on trusting in Him life began anew. They began to love His word, their perspectives on life changed, their desire was now to please Him, they delighted to do His will.

That this is not, however, uniquely limited to the new age is clear from Psalms 37:30-31, where it says, "The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of right judgment. The law of His God is in his heart." So also in Psalms 19:7-8 where we read, "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul... the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." God’s word has ever worked so in those who were His. It is rather the extent of His working that is in mind, the establishing of a whole people of God rather than a remnant.

2) “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” As a consequence of the Spirit’s work within them God will restore them so that they will recognise Him for what He is. They will once more acknowledge His sovereignty over them. He will be their God. And the result will be that in response to their faith and hope He will once more act as their God. He will be their God in that sense too. He will be their Lawgiver, their Counsellor, their Protector, their Guide, their Trek Leader. He will supply all their needs, deliver from all dangers, and bring them to everlasting blessing. He will be faithful and longsuffering, bearing with their frailties, never leaving nor forsaking them (Hebrews 13:5). And those who respond to Him will once more prove themselves to be His true people. The past failures will be forgotten and God’s new people will own Him and be owned by Him.

3) “And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them.” His people will not have to be taught to know the Lord by anyone, for they will all know Him truly as a result of the work of the Spirit.

The idea here is in the contrast of a so-called ‘people of God’ of whom many were ignorant of God, so that each sought to teach the other somewhat inadequately and weakly, leaning on teachers who were broken reeds, with ‘a people of God’ of whom all know the Lord, from the very least to the very greatest. The writer is probably here thinking of Joel 2:28-29; Isaiah 44:1-5 and their fulfilment at Pentecost (Acts 2:0), and such teaching as 1 Corinthians 2:9-16; 1Jn 2:20 ; 1 John 2:27.

In Old Testament days there was a constant looking to the priests and to the wise for help, while in general the people got on with their lives. That was actually their problem, that God became second hand. (There were, of course, always the exceptions, which included the prophets themselves). But this is in contrast with the openness of heart and mind in the New Testament days as the abundance of the Spirit illuminates the thoughts of even the most simple. Under the old covenant the priests stood between men and a knowledge of God, under the new the approach to God is direct and personal. The barriers are broken down. "They will be all taught of God" (John 6:45)

4) “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more.” And this will be because He has been merciful to their ‘iniquities’, (that which comes from the evil heart within); and has blotted out their ‘sins’, (that which constitutes a coming short of His glory (Romans 3:23)), from His memory. There will not only be temporary forgiveness, there will be permanent and total forgiveness and reconciliation.

And it should be noted that this signifies a deeper measure of mercy and forgiveness than was available under the old covenant, where wilful sins were excluded, for now even wilful sins will be forgiven on repentance. For Paul declares, ‘And by him all who believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses’ (Acts 13:39). The word ‘merciful, gracious’ is emphasised by being place first in the sentence after the conjunction. It includes an element of being propitiated. Compare Hebrews 2:17; Romans 3:24-25).