October 19 - October 25: God's Law in the Heart (8)

JUDAH, FROM ISAIAH TO EXILE (September - November 2025)

Unit II, Jeremiah and the Promise of Renewal (5 lessons)

God's Law in the Heart (lesson 4 of 5)

Daily Bible Meditations by Andrea Pozo

Sunday, October 19, 2025 — Joel 2:28-32

The promise of salvation is given to all mankind, not only to a limited group of people. Every single one of us who chooses to accept His plan for our salvation, is saved! As if that incredible reality were not enough, in the time we spend here waiting for the return of our Lord, we will see His power displayed in our lives. We may all experience the power of the Holy Spirit in different ways, whichever way the Lord deems adequate for us. His creation will also display wonders in anticipation of the Day of the Lord. What an amazing God we serve.

Monday, October 20, 2025 — Ezekiel 36:25-35

How do you feel when you have done something that displeases the Lord? It is not enough to stay away from what is evil because “you have to.” The Lord wants you to ab-hor even the memory of your past sins. How can we react like that towards what our flesh used to desire? The Lord has a process: first He will cleanse us, tear down our idols, and after He gets rid of the filth, He will transform our hearts. Once our new hearts are in place, His Spirit will abide in us and we will abide in His statutes and ordinances. After the Lord has transformed us, we will see His hand transforming our surroundings to His liking as well.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 — Deuteronomy 10:12-21

How close to the Lord should I be? I need to cling to Him (v.20). He loves me and He wants me to love Him back, more than anyone or anything in this world. We love Him with everything that we are— heart and soul; obeying and serving Him will come as a natural response to love. When we get to know Him, we can only be amazed by who God is and therefore, the respectful fear we feel in His presence is understandable. After all, “the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the a-wesome God” (v.17).

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 — 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

What a relief it is to know that we do not need to meet any human-made standards to be adequate. Some of us have gone through life feeling way less than adequate, because we do not measure up to what society says we should be. Under the New Covenant, however, I am a letter of commendation, written by the Spirit of the living God— my adequacy comes from Him. I do not need to be commended by others, or even by myself. I am an open letter, where people can read about Christ in me.

Thursday, October 23, 2025 — 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Exodus 34 tells us about what happened to Moses when he came down from the mountain after spending time with the Lord and receiving His commandments. Moses´ face glowed so brightly after he had been in the presence of the glory of God, he had to put a veil over his face to keep from frightening the people. However, over time, this glow in his face faded. There was glory in the Law written in stone, but now the Spirit is within us and that surpasses the former glory! This glory will not fade away; His righteousness “excel[s] in glory” (v.9).

Friday, October 24, 2025 — 2 Corinthians 3:12-17

As adequate servants of the renewed covenant, we will see the glory of God! If the glory of God was visible in Moses´ face when he was carrying the Law written in tablets of sto-ne, how much more will we see His glory in our life when the Law is written in our hearts? Now, we can let the glory of the Lord in us be seen by others; we do not need to wear a veil like Moses did! We are free to display with boldness the beautiful glory of the God we serve. The Spirit of the Lord is in us; we are free!

Sabbath, October 25, 2025 — Jeremiah 31:27-34

The tenderness and love of God towards us never ceases to amaze me. God designed a covenant between Himself and His people. He determined the terms and conditions—they would obey, He would be their Lord, they would be His people. Israel broke the covenant (v.32), but instead of discarding them all together, the Lord renewed His covenant — taking His people back when they did not deserve it. In these “renewed vows” with His people, the Lord tells us that it is not up to us anymore; He will transform us from within, and His Law will be written in our hearts. He will continue being faithful as He al-ways was, and our disobedience will now be covered by grace though the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Scripture Passages:

Study: Jeremiah 31:29-34; John 1:17

Background: Jeremiah 31:1-40; John 1:17; Hebrews 8:7-13

Devotional: Psalm 103:17-22

Key Verse:

“I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33b).

Heart of the Lesson:

People often blame others for their bad or evil behavior. What compels us to accept responsibility for our own behavior? God told Jeremiah that the people would be without excuse because, “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart,” therefore God would forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Questions for Studying the Text:

1. Why do you think people struggle to accept responsibility for their bad behavior? What is required for that to happen?
2. Jeremiah wrote of God’s intent to restore His people. If you were in exile reading this message, which of the promises would you most take to heart? How can you become more consistently faithful to God in response to His unfailing faithfulness?
3. What was Jeremiah’s point in quoting and correcting the common saying about “sour grapes” (v.29-30)? What does it teach about personal responsibility and why is that im-portant (see also Ezekiel 18:1-4, 20)?
4. How is the “new covenant” described in verses 31-34? What are its key features? Compare this with what the author of Hebrews wrote about the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13; 10:14-17)?
5. How does God’s promise to “forgive their wrongdoing” (v.34) mark a turning point in the relationship between God and His people? How was Jesus Christ central to that change (John 1:17; also Romans 3:21–26; Galatians 3:19–25)?
6. In what ways do you see the promise of the new covenant fulfilled in your own spiritual journey? How can you help others understand that forgiveness and inner transformation are part of God’s plan for all believers?

Understanding and Living by Fabian Loachamin

THOSE TIMES

Maybe all generations have gone through this: while the young ones want to impose their new ways of living, new styles of clothing, music, and even beliefs, the older genera-tions try to relive the “good old days.” There are trends of nostalgia for all the stuff we had in the past and “old things” come back into our lives in the form of vintage memorabilia.

It can be nice to have our good memories back, but have you considered how often you would want to relive the past? As a good defense mechanism, God allows us to forget some of the dreadful things we experienced and recollect some of the good. It is like pho-tographs; we all cling to pleasant moments, but very few people keep pictures of sad or devastating moments.

God commands us to “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV). He, in His infinite wisdom, teaches us not to be stuck in the past, but to see the new things He is doing for us.

CHANGED MY MIND

Jeremiah 30-31 is part of the so called “Book of Consolation” (chapters 30–33), which follows Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles telling them to settle down for an extended stay in Babylon (Jeremiah 29). Here we read about one basic theme: salvation after judgment. The time of redemption will be a time of joy. Jeremiah’s commission had been: “Today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10, NIV). Jeremiah 31 seems to indicate that his mis-sion had shifted to the building and planting phase—God’s restoration.

Sometimes we tend to believe that we can change what God has ordained through prayer and fasting. This would mean that we have some leverage over Almighty God, and that is not accurate. We must understand that those epic moments in the Bible, when God seems to “change His mind,” were all part of His plan to bring us back to Him—to change our ways, our minds, and our hearts. Our God did not change His mind when He gave Nineveh another chance just because everyone prayed; no, He saw their change and cry for forgiveness and let them live. Using prophets like Jeremiah, our Lord sent a message of repentance. Then, when disobedience persisted, He sent a message of submission to His justice. Israel and Judah did not change their ways and received the judgement of being destroyed and expelled from their land.

I KEEP MY WORD

Up to chapter 29, Jeremiah’s emphasis had been on judgment. But beginning with chapter 30, there is a marked contrast. He spoke about the restoration of the land and the return of the people to it. Jeremiah’s message had turned to one of encouragement. In chapter 31, God mentioned about 15 times that He would do something; therefore, it would be done. God is not like me; in all my years in this planet I have broken my promi-ses many times. I do not know if you have, but one thing is certain: “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19, NIV).

In the phrase, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (v.3), ponder over the word “everlasting”. We know little of what that means. Love is mentioned here as well. What is love? The only explanation I have for why God loves us is that it is not about what He sees in us, but solely because of who He is. The apostle John wrote, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10, NIV). Please just meditate on this: “I have loved you with an everlas-ting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again” (v.3-4, NIV). Yes, judgment fell upon them; but God loved them with an everlasting love, and He would bring them back to the land. He loved the Israelites and still judged them. It will be the same will us. And so, although He judged them, He said, “‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd’” (v.10, NIV). That is our Lord; He loves us and He will rebuild us after the judgment.

RENEWED

When you think of computers or cellphones, every so often, they need an update. This does not mean you need a new one. The phrases “new covenant” and “renewed covenant” are often used interchangeably, though the specific meaning can vary depen-ding on the theological perspective. Both refer to a change or update of the original covenant between God and humanity, as opposed to a replacement or re-establishment of the previous covenant, because, as we said, He is not a human to change His mind. It does not make sense saying that our omniscient God could have made a mistake and therefore had to re-do His promises and commandments. He wanted to make something akin to what we know as a vow renewal, not discarding the covenant or the person, just making it stronger — a reminder of what was promised before.

Beginning with verse 31, God described this renewed covenant that He intended to make with all of Israel. This renewed covenant would be the same as the one given to Moses on Mount Sinai with a major difference. This time, the covenant must be engraved on the hearts of the people, not on cold tablets of stone far removed. Through Jesus Christ, our patient and loving Father gives us a chance of fulfill our part of the covenant in the proper way. “I am your God, and you are my people” is known as the covenant formula.

The covenant is always the same: a heart-based relationship with God and heart-based obedience to God’s Law. The renewed covenant was necessary because sinful humanity broke covenant with God. Verse 34 says that their sins will be forgiven. This was made possible through the work of Jesus, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). This covenant will never be chan-ged or abrogated. Just as we cannot change the course of the moon or eliminate it from space, so His covenant with His people cannot be changed. Have the certainty that God will empower you, His people, to keep your end of the agreement.

Hints for Teaching:

Lesson Goals:

1. Interpret the promise and implications of the renewed covenant.
2. Cherish the transformation that comes from a heart relationship with God.
3. Adopt and practice a rule for life that comes from the heart.

Teaching Activity:

Write the phrase “Know the Lord” in the center of a poster or whiteboard. Have learners brainstorm and add words that reflect experiential knowledge of God. Then read Jeremiah 31:34 and compare this kind of knowing with just knowing about God. Watch the video “Jeremiah” at bibleproject.com. After watching this and considering the difficult situations Jeremiah went through in his life as a prophet of the Lord, explore this question: Did Je-remiah know about God, or did he have a relationship with God? Ask participants to draw or write down what it means to them to have “God’s Law written on the heart.” www.bibleproject.com an. Überlegt danach, welche schwierigen Situationen Jeremia in seinem Leben als Prophet des HERRN durchmachen musste und beschäftigt euch mit der Frage: Kannte Jeremia Gott oder hatte er eine Beziehung zu Gott? Bittet die Teilnehmer einen Text zu verfassen oder ein Bild zu malen, was es heißt, „Gottes Gesetz im Herzen eingraviert“ zu haben.

Looking Back:

We were challenged to take responsibility for breaking our covenant with God. Next, we will be inspired by Jeremiah’s courage to speak truth in the face of adversity.