Wedding Vows
Jeremiah 31:31-34—“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 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,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.“…I will be their God, and they will be my people…For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
On their wedding day, a man and woman make promises/vows to one another. They make a covenant. A two sided covenant. Both of them promise to keep the promises made that day.
Marriage is a lot like the covenant the Lord made with his people long ago at Mt. Sinai. God basically said, “If you do this, this, this and this…and don’t do that, that, that and that…then I will bless you, keep you safe, bring you into the Promised Land and make you into a great nation that will never end.” It took less than 40 days for the people of Israel to break the covenant when they made the Golden Calf and bowed down and worshiped it. Throughout their history, the people would act like an unfaithful spouse again and again. By the time of the prophet Jeremiah, God had had enough. The covenant was broken. The marriage was over. And for 70 years Judah would sit in exile. For 70 years they would be divorced from God as a nation.
What went wrong? Was there something wrong with the covenant God had made with them? No. God made it, therefore it was perfect. The problem was that God made this covenant with sinners. So God needed to make a new covenant and this time God would do all the work. He promised to make a one-sided covenant that depended only on him! A covenant, not of the law, but of the Gospel. It’s the covenant of the promised Savior who would come to forgive and forget all their sins!
Every time we sin, we are like unfaithful Israel. We betray his promises of love and care. But the One who knows all things, choses not only to forgive, but also forget our sin! How can he do this? Because he punished his Son, our brother, in our place. That’s the only reason why. It’s not because you try harder than other people. It’s not because you’re better than other people. It’s only because of his almighty power and amazing grace that he forgives and forgets, so that when he looks at you, he only sees his perfect, beautiful bride! That’s how great his love is for you!
The Lord has kept his promise. He has made the new covenant that depends only on him and his grace. It is a covenant that cannot be broken. He has made promises to you, promises to bring you into his eternal home which he has made yours through the sacrifice of his Son, our brother, Jesus. Rejoice in these perfect wedding vows he has made to you, and trust that he will keep them all the way until we join him in the great marriage feast of the Lamb in heaven!