2 Chronicles 33:21-35:19
Ministers of a new covenant
Tim Keller defines a covenant as ‘the solemn, permanent, whole self-giving of two parties to each other. It is a stunning blend of both law and love… a relationship much more intimate and loving than a mere legal contract could create, yet one more enduring and binding than personal affection alone could make.’
Paul writes, God has ‘made us competent as ministers of a new covenant’ (2 Corinthians 3:6). He contrasts this with the old covenant. Here we see something about this old covenant.
After Amon, who was an evil king who ‘did not humble himself before the Lord’ (2 Chronicles 33:23), Josiah became king at the age of eight (34:1). His faith came alive when he was sixteen years of age and ‘he began to seek the God of his father David’ (v.3). He cleansed Judah and Jerusalem of all the bad stuff and scrubbed the place clean (vv.3–7, MSG). He ‘repaired and restored the temple’ (v.10).
While they were doing so they ‘found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses’ (v.14). By looking at the old covenant they saw that ‘they had not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book’ (v.21).
God spoke to them through the prophetess Huldah (v.22). (Again, here in the Old Testament we see yet another example of a woman in a prominent position in ministry.)
In the hearing of the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, Josiah read ‘all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord’ (v.30). He ‘solemnly committed himself to the covenant: to follow God believingly and obediently; to follow his instructions, heart and soul, on what to believe and do; to confirm with his life the entire covenant’ (v.31, MSG).
The old covenant was a good covenant. But, it was written on tablets of stone. Even when the people did try to keep the law, it never lasted very long. The outward reformation lasted only as long as Josiah was there to enforce it. Ultimately, they failed to keep it (see Jeremiah 11–13).
The law shows us our need for a saviour. You can only keep God’s covenant when you receive forgiveness from Jesus and, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the law is written in your heart.
Lord, thank you that we are ‘ministers of a new covenant’ and that your law is now written in our hearts by the Spirit who enables us to walk in him and to minister in his power.
Sent from my SM-A715F using
JamiiForums mobile app