The question hanging over the Lord’s promise of salvation remains. It is the same dilemma Jeremiah presents at the end of his prayer inJeremiah 32:25. How will the Lord return the people of Israel and Judah to the land when they are about to experience his devastating judgment because of their disobedience and idolatry (see Jeremiah 32:26–35)?
The answer here is the same as in Jeremiah 31:31–34; the Lord will make a new covenant with his people. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
This is the relationship promised in the old covenant, but something new is going to happen to make sure that the relationship is not just restored, but never again broken. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
The words one heart and one way,
given to them
speaks of a total commitment to the Lord and obedience to him which comes from people who fear
the Lord. When speaking of this new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31–34 the Lord spoke of writing his law on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), and they will know
the Lord. Here the writing of the law on their hearts is described as the Lord giving them one heart and one way
and knowing the Lord is described as fearing him. It is the same new covenant relationship described in different ways. This new covenant is only possible because the Lord makes it possible. The only way these people—who are about to face the Lord’s judgment for continually breaking the old covenant due to their hardened hearts (see Jeremiah 31:32)—can be saved is through the Lord transforming their hearts so they come to know and fear Him. He is indeed the Creator God for whom nothing is too hard
(see Jeremiah 32:17, Jeremiah 32:27). The Lord, and only the Lord, is able to overcome the problem of sinful human hearts.
This new covenant will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
Fearing the Lord and knowing him leads to a good life, the way life was always meant to be. And this new covenant will be permanent; it will be an everlasting covenant.
Covenants are always supposed to last forever, but Israel’s disobedience brought covenant curses. But the Lord’s work in the hearts of his people, and the forgiveness of their sin (Jeremiah 31:34) means that this new covenant will only bring blessings forever1. The new covenant rests entirely on what the Lord will do and he "will not turn away from doing good to them.” The Lord will remain completely faithful to his covenant promises, and, says the Lord, I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me.
The Lord will ensure that his people also remain totally faithful to him and the covenant by forgiving them and changing their hearts2.
This new covenant is rooted in the original covenant the Lord made with Israel through Moses. It is striking that the Lord says in Jeremiah 32:41 that he will do good to his people with all his heart and soul.
When Moses renewed the covenant with the generation that was about to enter the land the Lord made it clear to Israel that being his covenant people meant they were to love him with all their heart and soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). This meant that the people would need to circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn
(Deuteronomy 10:16). Clearly, this was not something the Lord’s covenant people would ever be able or even willing to do. And so even in the old covenant, the Lord promises to one day do it for them (Deuteronomy 30:6). It is this promise that the Lord is now fulfilling through the new covenant that he will make with those he brings back from exile. This will bring about a future in which the covenant relationship between the Lord and his people will be fully and finally realized forever. The Lord will bring about a people who know what it is like to not only be fully loved by him, but to love him fully3. Under the new covenant, the relationship between the Lord and his people will be completely sustained by the Lord’s initiative, and not dependent on the people’s ability to be faithful to the Lord (Jeremiah 7:23; Exodus 19:5)4. The people’s loving obedience will indeed flow out of the Lord’s gracious forgiveness of their sin and miraculous intervention in changing their heart. Never again will anger and wrath
be a part of the covenant relationship (see Jeremiah 32:31), but only the good
of blessings from the Lord.
39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.