The New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-33
(31) "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
(32) not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
(33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Finally Jeremiah takes a turn for the positive. This is the hope that we have in Christ. God made a covenant with Israel, but they couldn't keep it. Here God promises to make a newcovenant with them. It seems to me that this was fulfilled in Christ.

I think it is unwarranted to see Christ all over the Old Testament. I've been exposed to teaching that does that. I suppose it is better to see too much of Christ than too little (so says Spurgeon), but I also want to be faithful to the text.

Even with that caution in mind I think this is a clear prediction of Christ. I also think that it gives warrant to the idea that the church and Israel are linked together. God made a promise to national Israel, but they blew it. Here God promises a new covenant through Christ. I love this promise:

Jeremiah 31:35-37
(35) Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name:
(36) "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever."
(37) Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD."

Clearly He speaks of things that cannot happen. Therefore, if we are part of the new covenant through Christ we are His and will be for eternity. As the old hymn says, "Alleluia! What a Savior!"