What is the new covenant according to the Prophets? Jeremiah 31:31-33 tells us plainly:
“gt; “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant… It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors because they broke my covenant… This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel: ***I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”***
Christians typically understand this to refer to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when the believer receives Christ. However, this interpretation fails when we examine **WHEN** the Prophets said this new covenant would be enacted.
Repeatedly the Prophets tell us that it would take place **upon Israel’s return from Babylonian captivity.** The idea was that God would bring his people out of captivity and then put his laws on their hearts so that they would enjoy prosperity in the land. There are plenty of passages that allude to this but to take one example, let’s look at what the book of Ezekiel has to say. (Ezekiel purports to be written during the Babylonian exile and a major theme of the book is Israel’s return from this exile). Speaking of the new covenant, he says in [Ezekiel 36:](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2036″amp;version=NRSVUE”amp;interface=amp)
“gt; **24** I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land… **25** I will sprinkle clean water upon you… **26** A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you… **27** I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my laws… **28** Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors… **29** I will save you from all your uncleannesses…
**33** ***ON THE DAY*** that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt.”
That last verse is crucial. In this passage the writer says that **IN THE SAME DAY** that God cleanses Israel from her sins and puts his laws in her heart, this would also be the same day that he brings them back into their land so that their towns can be rebuilt and re-inhabited. Now of course the word “day” here does not designate a 24-hr period. But to say that something will take place in the same “day” is just to say that the events will occur in close proximity to each other.
So we’ve seen now that this new covenant (i.e. God’s laws being written on Israel’s heart) would take place in the same “day” as their return from Babylonian captivity (i.e. same time period, in close proximity to). The problem for Christianity should now be obvious: Israel returned from Babylonian captivity in 538 BCE… and the Christian new covenant did not occur until *at least* 30 CE. That is a nearly 600-year gap! That can hardly be said to take place in the same “day” that Israel returned from Babylon. Thus, if the prophet Ezekiel is correct, Jesus is not the fulfillment of the new covenant.
**TLDR: The Prophets teach that the new covenant would take place concurrently with Israel’s return from Babylonian captivity. Since the Christian new covenant does not occur until nearly 600 yrs later, it’s highly unlikely that Jesus is the fulfillment.**
If Christians want to be coherent with their scriptures they have to reject the New Testament and follow the Old Testament only
It also says that the new covenant would result in no longer needing instruction in how to obey God’s laws. Instructing people in what they think God wants is one of the central functions of churches. Clearly Christianity is not the new covenant described by Jeremiah.
Yeah, we told them that. So they rewrote our scripture so it felt less awkward.
**OBJECTION**
One potential objection I anticipate is that “a day is like a thousand years with the Lord,” so from God’s point of view, the new covenant can be said to take place in the same “day” as Israel’s return from captivity. The problem with this — aside from the fact that it renders the phrase “on this day” superfluous and utterly useless to us — is that it ignores the very reason why these 2 events are connected in the first place.
The departure from Babylon is portrayed in the Prophets as a “second exodus.” Just as the Israelites’ departure from Egypt signaled the beginning of the first covenant, their departure from Babylon would likewise signal the beginning of the new covenant. That is precisely WHY the events are temporally connected. You lose that connection when you separate the events by nearly 600 years and call it a “day.”
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