Jeremiah 31:31, commentary and pictures

Chapters 30 and 31 together record all that had been revealed regarding the restoration of Israel, and they were written in a book immediately after the exchange of letters with the Hebrew captives in Babylon. The verse promises that the Lord will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This covenant is different from the covenant made when God brought their ancestors out of Egypt, which they broke despite His faithfulness to them.

Under the new covenant God puts His law within His people and writes it on their hearts. Under it they belong to Him as His own people. Under it they know Him and receive forgiveness for their sins. The renewal points to a future restoration in which they are ransomed from the enemy's land and planted again in Zion with joy and no more sorrow.

The promise of return from Babylonian captivity is sure and plain, fixing seventy years for the desolations of Jerusalem. More than sixty years after they were written, in the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel prayerfully studied these chapters together with chapter 25 and understood from them the number of years for Jerusalem's desolations, holding the promise of return as certain even while perplexed about the two thousand three hundred years before the cleansing of the sanctuary. The promise offers comfort and encouragement that God will act for His people, so they can trust Him and wait patiently for His help.

Those baptized into Christ enter this covenant relation, pledging faith in Christ and death to their former life of sin, while the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit pledge strength for their new life. Life under the covenant requires putting away sinful conduct and living out righteousness through faithfulness to those vows. The new covenant includes the colored people of the South, who have souls to save and must be taught about Christ as their Creator and Redeemer.