Thoughts From Hebrews 8

" ... the new covenant is established on better promises.7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:

'The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.'

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13

           This passage from Jeremiah and the following one from Ezekiel always confuse me;

24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness" Ezek.36:24-29

           Are these prophets prophesying about the Holy Spirit coming on all believers, or are they giving an end time prophecy about the mass conversion of Jews during the end times? I've come to the conclusion of yes. I think these are dual prophecies that pertain and are fulfilled by both. First of all, if you interpret the end times in a premillennial fashion, Romans 11 says that we are living in a temporary hardening of hearts stage of Israel. they have a "heart of stone" and no matter how many prophecies were fulfilled that Jesus was the Messiah, they can't see it. God, therefore, is opening the hearts of gentiles, not replacing the Jews, but adding them to the vineyard. When this time is completed, God will take away their heart of stone and give them a soft heart and they will understand the truth.

          The other fulfillment is in regard to when our uncleanness is washed away (we are saved), we get a heart transplant. Our old, hardened heart becomes replaced by a born-again heart with the Holy Spirit living inside. No longer is our conscience hardened but we have an indwelling compass. We no longer have to fear God abandoning us for our evil behavior because He will never leave us. We no longer have to offer sacrifices at the temple because Jesus has offered His blood once and for all and we live in freedom not to sin but to obey without fear. We live in a time of grace not judgement. 

            It's sort of like this; when my 4 kids lived in my household, I feel like I was pretty stern and maybe a little hard on them. Why? Because I had 18 years to teach them how to be good adults but more than anything, to form a faith that stands on its own once they flew the coop. Then they left for college, none lived at home which I highly recommend for their independence and formation, and now they are married and on their own raising their own kids, and I can just enjoy "the Heck" out of them. I don't even give them advice unless they ask. I don't have to be mean, those days are over. Do you get it? In the Old Covenant, God was fiercely loving them by training them because they had to internal compass. They were his children. Though they were the "apple of His eye", they needed many harsh lessons. Once the time was right, the internalization of the truth and the Father's (and mother's) heart came inside and there was no longer judgement but freedom. Not free to be bad but free to live the truth they had been taught. 

          Aren't you glad you live now rather than then? Aren't you glad God allowed us to join His family? Live the abundant life in light of those two facts!