Thursday, December 19-Joy

  Jeremiah 31:31-34  

“stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Luke 21:28b 

This call of Jesus follows an identification of the End Times when “People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world…” (Luke 21:26f).  Apprehension of what is coming on the world is an apt description of our world today. 

How do we “stand up and lift up” our heads in a day of chaos, war, suffering and injustice . . . a day when we want to withdraw and hide?  A part of the answer is found in a prophecy of a new day and a “New Covenant” to people who, like us, were full of apprehension about the future recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

 More than a restatement of the old covenant inscribed on stone tablets identifying a code of conduct for their nation and instructions for making annual atonement for their sins, this new code identified New Provisions for living holy lives:

• God will write His law in their minds and write it on their hearts (v. 33b)

• Forgiveness for sins (v. 34b)

• God also promised: “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

 In this Advent season we are reminded “that Christ Jesus is the mediator of this “New Covenant” and those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that Jesus has died as a ransom to set us free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

 In this Advent Season,

• Write out apprehension regarding the state of our nation that tends to distress you.

• Accept affirmation that as a follower of Jesus you are called to receive God’s promised eternal inheritance.

• Cultivate joy through your faith in God.

STEVE GROSVENOR