Jeremiah 31:33, commentary and pictures

God promises a different arrangement from the one broken after the deliverance from Egypt, to place the same ten-commandment law once engraved on stone inside the mind and heart when His people are delivered and restored. In that inward placing the mind, soul and thoughts become the repository of His precepts, and He pledges to be their God while they become His people, a relation entered by faith rather than by natural descent. He does this work through the Holy Spirit and through Christ, who create a ruling principle of holiness within, bringing thoughts, affections and desires into obedience. With that renewal comes full forgiveness that puts sin away and remembers it no more, and a personal knowing of God from the least to the greatest. Without this inward writing there is never true obedience, but when its principles live within they uproot selfishness and shape character to God's own, making willing, joyful keeping of His law the rule of life.

Covenant Words and Setting

The promise is of a new covenant, different from the covenant made when God brought the ancestors out of Egypt, which they broke. The words "after those days" point to the Lord renewing His covenant relationship with His people when they are delivered from their enemies and restored to Zion.

Jeremiah was told to write the restoration promises of chapters 30 and 31 in a book soon after the exchange of letters with the elders in captivity. More than sixty years later, in the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel studied this record together with Jeremiah 25. He was perplexed over how the seventy years of captivity related to the twenty-three hundred years before the cleansing of the sanctuary, and from them he understood the number of the years for the desolations of Jerusalem.

The law put within is the same law once engraved on stone. It is the ten commandments that hedge against transgression, given from the beginning and spoken at Sinai. It is the great law of love, revealed in Eden and proclaimed at Sinai, and the new covenant does not replace or change it. The law is the tree and the gospel its blossoms and fruit; the law remains the standard of righteousness by which all will be judged, while God's grace makes obedience and the fulfillment of righteousness possible.

The "inward parts" and heart mean the mind, soul, and thoughts. The heart is the repository where God's precepts, principles, and thoughts are deeply placed. The covenant is made with the house of Israel, with the mutual pledge that God will be their God and they shall be His people. Natural descent from Abraham does not itself secure the promise, and those baptized in faith in Christ enter this covenant relation.

How God Writes Within

God writes His law within through the Holy Spirit, placing the principles of His word deeply in the heart so that they take root, transform the life, and develop His attributes and character in His followers. It is the same law once engraved on stone that is now written within when the heart is renewed. It is not to be merely heard or understood as words, but the understanding, will, and affections must yield to God's word until through the Spirit its precepts become principles guiding daily life.

Christ writes God's law in the hearts and minds of those who come to Him in faith. That inward work creates a divine principle of holiness that rules the soul, enlightens the understanding, and captivates the affections. When the Spirit produces new life through faith in Christ the heart and mind are renewed, and thoughts and desires are brought into obedience to Christ so that the person delights to do God's will. As the heart is subdued through union with Him and the power of His grace, this impressing of the law within removes the dross of character and brings even the thoughts into subjection, with a sanctifying, refining, ennobling character shown in spirit, words, and actions.

The renewed heart is brought into harmony with God's law by grace rather than by trying to establish one's own righteousness. People accept Christ's righteousness, His blood atoning for sin and His obedience accepted for them, and through that grace the renewed heart obeys the law and bears the fruits of the Spirit. Having His Spirit, believers walk as He walked. This inward acceptance of the law is the secret of genuine sanctification, for God's law is the rule of life.

Those who are baptized in faith in Christ and pledge to die to their former life of sin enter into covenant relation with God, in which He places His law within and writes it on their hearts, claiming them as His people and pledging to be their God. Their new life is to show that inward work through the fruits of righteousness and faithful living. By the work of the Spirit God renews His relationship with sinners so that He is their God and they become His people and treasured possession, formed to show His praise. The soul drawn by God's love to Christ is graciously received through faith in His pardoning love and presented to the Father as chosen to be saved, with forgiving love exercised toward them and His joy bestowed upon them, held as His peculiar treasure formed for Himself to show forth His praise.

Forgiveness and Knowing God

The covenant carries with it the promise that all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. This universal knowledge belongs to those with whom the law is placed within and written on the heart, so that He is their God and they are His people. It stands in contrast to the former covenant made when their fathers were brought out of Egypt, which they broke.

With that knowledge comes forgiveness of iniquity, for God will pardon wrongdoing, put away sin, and remember sin no more. This ends the yearly remembrance of sins under which sin seemed ever to call for a fresh sacrifice. The sinner who comes in contrition and repentance is accepted just as if innocent, his sins covered. That favor is not secured by natural descent, for separation from God through sin brought bondage and judgment.

The assurance of inward law, personal knowledge of God, and forgiven sin gives comfort and encouragement. The inward writing is joined to drawing near to God and living in conscious awareness of His presence. He will help His people, and they may trust Him and wait patiently for Him to act.

Obedient Transformed Life

Without the law written on the heart there is never true obedience, for outward solemnity and fear are not enough. Israel proved this after deliverance from Egyptian bondage when they heard the law spoken at Sinai amid thunders and lightnings and thick cloud and trumpet and smoke and quaking, yet within days doubted and murmured and demanded something present to depend on in place of Moses, having Aaron make a golden calf proclaimed as God with great enthusiasm, when full trust and gratitude for deliverance would have placed them on vantage ground to glorify God. Mere profession or agreement with the truth is not obedience, for the truth must enter the heart and reform the life and character.

True obedience is more than outward observance such as Sabbath-keeping alone, which will not save the soul. The principles interwoven with every one of the ten commandments must be honored and obeyed in the individual, practical life, beginning at the very first principles. When the law is thus put inside and written on the tablets of every soul and heart, this willing obedience heals the church, supplies her lack of moral power and spiritual efficiency, creates a pure and holy sentiment in all institutions, and changes the spiritual atmosphere for the better.

God's law is the transcript of His character and the standard of righteousness. When its principles become living principles in the life through the Holy Spirit taking root in the heart and transforming the life, they develop God's attributes and shape character so that His character shines through and is reflected in conduct. When Christ abides in the soul the heart is filled with the holy graces of His Spirit, which become visible in the person's life and features, showing the excellence of resolutions through conduct that reflects God and supporting holiness without lowering what God requires in practical character building.

This inward work uproots selfishness and covetousness and also envy, hatred, strife, and love of the world, and plants righteousness. It makes just dealing, mercy, and humble fellowship with God a person's pleasure, expressed in lives marked by love, obedience, and service through Christlike character and works of mercy that make the law's power visible to the world. A life so shaped by God's words and law becomes a powerful witness that convicts the world.

Those in whom the law is written lay aside their own will and seek to do God's will, so their lives give living testimony amid widespread evil that God's law governs them. God writes His precepts and principles within the converted in heart, mind, and soul, bringing mind and will and thoughts and desires into obedience to Christ. This makes joyful obedience an expression of willing submission, not bondage, so the obedient delight in His law and their words and conduct reflect the Saviour living within them.

The inward law is the great law of love, revealed in Eden and proclaimed at Sinai, which binds people to God's will in service and directs them away from following personal inclinations, which would lead into Satan's ranks. Christ embodied this obedience and bore its yoke in humanity, calling followers to the same principle of love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity in patient, wise, and willing service. As the heart is subdued through union with Him and the power of His grace, character's dross is removed and even the thoughts are brought into subjection. The result is a sanctifying, refining, ennobling character shown in the spirit, words, and sanctified actions expressing God's love and pity, requiring heart service with the law written in mind and soul and heart, the truth of the Word accepted and practiced with the love of Christ received into the heart and acted out in the life, the whole heart converted with Christianity taking the helm and Jesus enthroned in the citadel of the soul.

Keeping the inward law, the ten commandments that hedge against transgression, brings God's special blessing, life, happiness, health, peace, and joy, and the law converts the soul. With Christ abiding in the soul His love leads to obedience, and perfection of character is attained only by becoming familiar with His Word. The divine law is supreme authority, to be obeyed above human rulers whenever human commands conflict with it. A sound creed or inherited faith cannot correct the natural heart, for few realize the guile lurking there, and unless it is cleansed evil will appear in the life; the whole heart must be given to God, brought into conformity to His will and cleansed from all defilement with willing, earnest, self-denying effort shaped by love for God and others. Righteousness must be made a part of life and the heart sanctified by the power of truth with the pure image of truth stamped upon it, for without this truth remains only outward profession kept in the outer court, and love stays tame and superficial with no controlling power over reason, while truth as it is in Jesus illuminates the soul to do good.

Truth must not remain merely heard, understood, or professed outside the soul, but must enter the heart and reform life and character. Studied with the mind free from worldly distractions, God's Word deepens knowledge of God and its truths become part of the soul, planted and stamped within as an abiding, indelible, ineffaceable principle that controls the life and enables wise and faithful sharing with others. The inward change is carried into everyday life and appears in gentle words and courteous conduct showing the transformation, with holy graces of the Spirit filling the heart when Christ abides within.

Covenant Witness and Application

The Sabbath is the sign of the covenant, marking those whose lives are shaped by the law written within as they submit to the divine will and make His commands the rule of conduct. Keeping the commandments and remaining in covenant relation are essential to receiving His blessings, for the true Sabbath distinguishes those who serve God and trust Him as Creator, and turning from His commandments denies that He is their God and they are His people. Those recognized by Him as His people are thus known by loyalty expressed in honoring Him openly in life.

This inward keeping of the law in the mind and heart is connected with the seal of the living God, which is the Sabbath. The mind must be kept free from worldly cares and distractions so that present truth and the law remain there, and this preparation is needed to stand in the time of trouble.

Sabbath-keeping Adventists are honored as depositaries entrusted with God's law printed in the mind and written on the heart, made inwardly their own so that He is their God and they are His people. Its truths are vital and test the world, not merely known outwardly but held inwardly, and therefore carry responsibility rather than indifference. That honor calls for active work in carrying its warning message and its truths to those who have not heard them.

Every soul sanctified by the Spirit looks to God for himself and does not look to other human beings to be told duty. The divine Guide prepares the heart for divine light, and the Holy Spirit puts the law and writes God's thoughts deeply in the inward parts and heart. Those alone who have the law so written are Christ's living epistles, written by the Spirit of the living God on the heart, not with ink on stone.

The law written on the heart marks those taught through the revelations of His Spirit, giving keen discernment so they are not easily deceived. Their lives give living testimony amid widespread evil that God's law governs them, as they lay aside their own will and seek to do His will. When the law becomes a living principle within, bringing mind and will into obedience to Christ, it uproots selfishness, covetousness, envy, and love of the world, and plants righteousness expressed in just dealing, mercy, humble fellowship with God, love for God and others, Christlike character, and works of mercy. A life so shaped by God's words and law becomes a powerful witness that convicts the world and makes the law's power visible.

When the gospel is proclaimed through human agents, the Lord opens blind eyes to see His statutes and writes His law in the hearts of the truly penitent. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, this work leads believers to unity, love for God, and obedience to His commandments. This renewal prepares believers for translation.

The law must become the rule of life for the young, who must yield their wills entirely to God and learn from Christ in order to obey truth and serve Him acceptably with needed knowledge and wisdom. Sabbath-school teaching is unfinished until there is evidence that lessons have reached the heart and influence the life, rather than being merely understood intellectually or accepted outwardly. Perfection of character as required by God, in accord with obedience to His law and with health and happiness, peace and joy, comes only by becoming familiar with His Word, which teaches the way to that character and to knowing God with forgiveness of iniquity and remembrance of sin no more.

God's requirements must be written on the heart by the Lord Himself, for appeals alone cannot bring this about unless God speaks to the soul. That inward work gives a sense of responsibility and privilege to serve as missionaries, including in one's own community.

The law cannot be written on hearts of those unclean in person, clothing, or homes, for cleanliness is necessary for a life that honors God. The heart is the repository of His law and is to be pure and holy, and the lips that speak holy truth are to be sanctified. The heart-written law must be obeyed in practical fidelity, so receiving the affections of someone married to another is wrong and brings distress to the spouse, and each must answer to God for such actions.

God's special people have His law written in their hearts and show loyalty by obeying it, representing Him on earth. Sin separates them from Him and dishonors His name, giving occasion to reproach His law and people, so their great light and profession as His chosen make warnings and reproofs especially necessary. The claims of the law must be imprinted on mind and heart to lead to loyalty, and efforts to rescue those fallen into degradation avail nothing without this inward acceptance.

Principles impressed by God's Spirit on the mind and written on the heart are then expressed in spoken and written instruction as light given by God.