THE LORD REVEALS HIMSELF - JEREMIAH 31:31-34

December 1, 1999

Have you ever noticed that when people get together for parties that they associate with people they know? There are many times when my wife and I attend wedding receptions that we know very few people. We are often seated with people that we don't know from Adam. We try to get to know these people as we engage them in conversation and ask them about where they live, what they do, their family and other information about themselves. It is also interesting that when there are a good number of people that we know at a wedding reception, we will usually sit and visit with those people rather than attempting to get to know strangers. Why is that? You feel comfortable with people you know. They know you. You can be yourself. You don't have to pretend that you are someone that you aren't. You have things in common that you can talk about. You can be open and honest with those you know.

Christianity is a religion which is based on a relationship. It is not a religion of all kinds of rules and regulations. It is a relationship with the Lord our God. Now to have any type of meaningful relationship it is vital that we know the person. During this Advent season as we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, we want to know who this child is that was born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. As we get to know Jesus better the sermons this Advent will focus on KNOWING THE LORD. We will examine three different prophecies from the pens of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The prophecy that we focus on today is from the prophet Jeremiah. As we examine the prophecy before us THE LORD REVEALS HIMSELF . We see I) How The Lord Makes Himself Known and then rejoice in II) The New Covenant He Has Made With Us.

HOW THE LORD MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN

How do you get to know someone? The people we know today were at one time strangers to us. How did we get to know these people? We got to know these people by spending time with them. We talked to them. We listened to them as they told us about themselves. We observed them. We learned their personalities, their peculiarities.

The people of Israel got to know the Lord by his direct intervention in their lives. They saw and experienced the great things that he did for them. Think of the time of the exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. The people saw the Lord send the ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. They personally experienced his mighty power as he parted the Red Sea and allowed them to cross on dry land and they saw him drown the King of Egypt and his army in the waters of that sea after they were safely on the other side. They experienced the Lord providing food for them in the wilderness with the manna and the quail. At Mt. Sinai they were terrified by the voice of God as he spoke to them. They felt the mountain quake and saw the smoke and lightning and they heard the voice of God speak. It was such a terrifying experience that they told Moses to have God speak to him and he in turn could speak to them.

How has the Lord made himself known to you and me? Just as he made a covenant or promise to the children of Israel, he has also made a promise to us. As the Lord says through the pen of Jeremiah, "The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them." (vv.31-32) The Lord revealed himself to Moses and the children of Israel in the covenant he made with them at Mt. Sinai. He has revealed himself to us in the new covenant which he has made with his people. We also have come to know the Lord through our experiencing his activity in our personal lives. It was the Lord who adopted us as his precious and holy people in our baptism. It was the Lord who has given us the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us by his power. We have gotten to know the Lord by the new covenant that he has made with each of us.

THE NEW COVENANT GOD HAS MADE WITH US

Just what is this new covenant that God speaks about? First we need to understand that the way of salvation, of getting to heaven, has always been the same for both the Old Testament people and we of the New Testament. That has not changed. The people of the Old Testament were saved by trusting in the Savior who was to come. We of the New Testament are saved by trusting in the Savior who has come.

Yet there are differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. The old covenant was pointing people to the Savior who was to come. God set up all kinds of laws and regulations to set his people apart from the rest of the world. These laws were to put a fence around the Jews because they were God's chosen people. From them was to come the seed of the woman who would destroy the power of the devil and set us free. The people under the old covenant were to offer sacrifices daily for the forgiveness of their sins. This was to remind God's people that the forgiveness of sins comes through the shedding of blood. The sacrifices of animals continued daily for centuries until Christ came. Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice of himself on the cross on Calvary. He shed his blood for you and me and for all people of all time.

This new covenant is totally different from the covenant that God made with the people of Israel on Mt. Sinai. It has no laws nor regulations. It has nothing which is required of us to do. It has no special group of priests that have to offer sacrifices for the people's sins. In fact, we are all priests before God and have direct access to our heavenly Father. It is a new age. As the Lord says through Jeremiah, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel at that time. I will put my law in their minds ad write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (vv. 33-34) The new covenant announces a salvation free and done for all people. It is free for the asking and is offered to all.

When the good news about Jesus is announced people know the Lord, they know the way of salvation.

That new covenant was made to each of us personally on the day of our baptism. On that day the Holy Spirit was given to us, the forgiveness of sins was granted to us and the faith to believe that was provided to us by our God. In our baptism we are assured that God forgives our wickedness and remembers our sins no more. What comfort and peace we have because of what God has done for us.

But God doesn't stop there. He continues to share that forgiveness with us in the meal that he established on the night he was betrayed. Remember Jesus said, "This is my blood of the new covenant." Every time we participate in the sacrament of holy communion Jesus personally comes to each of us and says, "Here is my body given for you. Here is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins." The Lord does not want to leave us doubting and unsure of our eternal destiny. He continues to bring us forgiveness and peace with him. We belong to him. We are his own. We is his is also ours.

Do you know the Lord? Of course you do. How did you get to know him? He introduced himself to you through his Word and Sacraments. He adopted you as his special and holy child. And he keeps you as his child and an heir of eternal life through his Word and Sacraments.

The God we worship is not unknown to us. We know him and he knows us.

Amen