 In the book of Jeremiah chapter 31, we read about a new covenant that God will make with the Jewish people in the messianic age. This new covenant is something that the Christian teachers, the missionaries, the Christian theologians throughout the ages, placed a lot of emphasis on the new covenant. In fact, the name of the Christian scriptures, the New Testament, is supposed to be a Greek translation of this new covenant from chapter 31 in the book of Jeremiah. Some Christians believe that the new covenant represents a new law. There's the Torah of Moses, the laws that God gave us through Moses, and then there's going to be a new covenant which they believe was ushered in, was inaugurated by Jesus, which is a different set of laws. Now, this is a terrible mistake because the word covenant and the word law are two different things. In fact, in the Jewish Bible, we have four covenants about the same law. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 69, Moses himself tells us about two covenants that God made with the Jewish people about the observance of the law, the covenant of his law, the law that God gave through Moses. The covenant means a commitment. It's a commitment of one party towards another, and vice versa. The two parties commit themselves to each other. The covenant is the commitment of the Jewish people towards God and God towards the Jewish people. And when we renew the covenant, when we have a new covenant, we have a new commitment, but the law is the same. In the second book of Kings chapter 11 verse 17, we have another renewal of the covenant by Yahyadah, the high priest, Joyadah, the high priest. He makes a covenant between the people and God, but again, there's not a new law. It's just a new covenant. It's a recommitment to observe the law of Moses. In the same book, the second book of Kings chapter 23 verse 3, Yahishio, King Josiah makes a covenant between the people and God. But again, this is a new covenant, but it's not a new law. So a new covenant does not represent a new law. A new covenant represents a new commitment, a renewal of the commitment between God and the Jewish people. But what is this new covenant all about? The truth is, is that Jeremiah chapter 31 is not the only place where the Bible speaks about this new covenant. The Bible speaks about the Old Testament. The Jewish scriptures speak about the new covenant in several places in throughout the scriptures. And I'll give you a list over here. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 through 10. Jeremiah chapter 3 verses 14 through 18. Jeremiah chapter 32 verses 36 through 44. Jeremiah chapter 33 verses 1 through 26. Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel chapter 11 verses 17 through 20. Ezekiel chapter 34 verses 20 through 31. And Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 1 through 38. Chapter 37 in the book of Ezekiel verses 15 through 28. Take out your Bibles. Do your homework. Look at all these passages together. And you will realize that the central features of the new covenant are of all these prophecies are return of the Jewish exiles, the planting of Israel in their land, a great blessing of abundance, the joy of God in bestowing that blessing upon the Jewish people, the affirmation of the unique position of Israel as God's nation, unity amongst the tribes of Israel, the beauty and the glory of Israel and her land, peace and security, and Israel's repentance. If you put all these chapters on the table, all these passages on the table in front of you, you will realize that the prophet is weaving a beautiful picture of glory of Israel, of closeness of Israel to God, and of blessing and abundance. And we believe that this will happen in its fullness in the Messianic age. Now, many prophecies that are supposed to take place, that are supposed to be fulfilled ultimately in the Messianic age were fulfilled in a minor format, in a miniature format with the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile. There was a return of the exiles, not the anticipated return, not the full return of all the Jews from all the four corners of the earth, but many Jews returned from Babylon to the land of Israel. There was a period of peace and security under the Persian kings that took place in the beginning of the return from the Babylonian exile. The land flourished again. So was there a new covenant, a renewal of the Jewish commitment towards God? And our teachers tell us that yes, there was a miniature format of the renewal of that covenant. And our teachers tell us that when the Jewish people returned from the Babylonian exile, God removed from their hearts the incentive, the desire, the allure, the attraction to idolatry. If you look in the biblical books all the way up until the return to the Babylonian exile, the book of Isaiah, the book of Jeremiah, the book of Ezekiel, most of the books are the 12 minor prophets, you will see that the primary rebuke that the Jewish people are receiving from the prophets that God is delivering to the Jewish people through the prophets is the sin of idolatry. But if you focus on the books that speak about the Jews after their return from the exile, the three last books in the 12 minor prophets that's Haggai, Haggai, Zechariah, Zechariah, and Malachi, you will see that even though God rebukes the Jewish people for various sins, but there is no rebuke for the sin of idolatry. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, again, there are certain rebukes against the Jewish people, they weren't perfect, they did wrong things, but it's stark in its absence. Up until that point idolatry was the main sin. And from that point on idolatry is not there. We believe that what happened was when the Jewish people were turned from the Babylonian exile, God took this incentive, this desire, this inherent desire, this attraction to idolatry that existed before, he took it away from our hearts. And that was the miniature format of the new covenant that we will experience in the messianic age. In the messianic age, all the negative inclinations will be removed from our hearts. God will create a new heart for us. That's what the prophets tell us. This happened in a miniature format back then in the times of Babylonian exile. But the ultimate fulfillment of the new covenant prophecies will take place in the messianic era, as the prophets foretold. And if we read what the prophets tell us, it's very clear what the new covenant is. It's a blessing for Israel. It's a blessing that sets Israel apart as an example for all the nations of the earth. It's not as the Christian church teaches an erasure of the distinctions between Israel and the nations of the world. It's not Christianity, of course. It's the messianic age envisioned by the Jewish prophets, which is a beautiful era of peace and brotherhood between all mankind, all mankind serving together, serving God together under the leadership of Messiah, the Jewish king, and under the leadership of the Jewish people who are the priests of God. And they'll be the priests of God in the messianic era.