The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
Hebrews 10:15,16
When the Marx Brothers made A Night at the Opera in 1935, it was an instant hit and classic. There are so many memorable scenes and gags that there’s not enough room here to even list the best ones.
But one of my favorites is the Contract scene[1] between Groucho and Chico. The legendary comedians are at their wacky best as they tear off strips of paper to remove parts that they don’t agree with. And, at the end, there’s Chico’s famous line, “There ain't no Sanity Clause!”
I bet there were times that you wanted to do the exact same thing with a contract. If you’ve ever bought a car or house, I know that you wanted to just rip parts of them out. There were things in those contracts that just didn’t make any sense. Or that you didn’t agree with.
Some friends of mine have had the painful, gut-wrenching experience of going through a divorce. If you’ve walked down that terrible and rocky road, there was lots and lots of paperwork. I know that there were times when you just wanted to physically rip parts out.
The writer to the Hebrews is reminding them that God’s prior covenant/contract was the laws of Moses. Here, he put down in a lot of detail how people were to come to him. Everyday people like you and me had to go through a priest to offer sacrifices. To ask forgiveness. To be healed. To repay and restore.
But God wasn’t done. There was something more that he wanted to do. Something more that he wanted to say. Something more that he wanted to change. God’s plan all along was to create a new contract. Here are four parts of that new covenant. That new testament. That new contract.
Make with them. The prior agreement with the Hebrews came through Moses. He was the representative between God and everybody else. But this time, no more people in the middle. No more priests either. This new contract will be directly between God and everyone who believes[2].
After that time. I know exactly what you’re thinking. Why in the world did God have to wait? Why couldn’t he just get on with it. Wouldn’t it have been faster for God to pay the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all our sins long ago? Faster, yes. Better, No. God did it at just the right time[3].
Put my laws in their hearts. God was going to make for himself a chosen race, a royal priesthood[4]. No longer dependent on priests, everyone would be able to personally look at his word for themselves. God would give his laws so they would penetrated into where we make our daily decisions of life.
Write them on their minds. He would also personally put his words into our minds where our thinking happens. Because no one writes for someone else, God’s hand will personally write his laws so we’d be able to think his thoughts, making balances, mature, and fully developed decisions for him.
We have to remember that when God does something, he never does a halfway job. He goes all the way. When he made the universe, plants, and animals, he made them individually good[5]. And after everything had been created, and he added Adam and Eve, his opinion went from just good to very good[6]. So, when it comes to bringing us back to himself, he pulled out all the stops.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Galatians 4:4,5
God’s perfect plan not only has a perfect timetable, but it has a perfect filling. It wasn’t just full; it was completely full. Nothing more could possibly fit in. Based on the way that God sees and measures things, it was fully full. Not one more second could make it any better.
But why? Why go to all this trouble? Answer: to buy us back. The whole point is for God himself to pay the price so that we can become his fully forgiven and restored sons and daughters of God. Even though we had broken God’s contract, he was willing to pay for us. To legally be completely restored and reunited with him. Now, that’s a contract worth signing up for. A contract we’re willing to follow all the days of our life. A contract that he makes and pays for is exactly what we need.
Noodling Questions
Describe a time that you wanted to tear up some written agreement.
How should having God’s words “written on our hearts” change our lives?
Explain why does God have to do the writing and not us.
[2] John 3:15
[3] Romans 5:6
[4] 1 Peter 2:9
[5] Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25
[6] Genesis 1:31
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