I finally realized how counter-cultural Jeremiah’s statement actually was. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah saying that the Lord will write his laws into the hearts of his people. He will write them in their minds.
This is the covenant I will make with them
Hebrews 10:16
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.
Within the book of Jeremiah, he actually goes on to finish this covenant statement by saying “I will be their God and they will be my people.”
This should have been a pretty heavy statement if you were an Israelite reading the words of Jeremiah.
Why?
Because the Jews already had the laws of God written down. Moses had taken the words of God and written them down. The laws were, in fact, written in stone. From a human perspective, it doesn’t get much more permanent than that.
And yet, Jeremiah is now saying that his words – God’s words, God’s laws – are going to be written into his people’s hearts, into his people’s minds. Neither God nor Jeremiah are simply referring to the Israelite people any longer. God is referring to the people who truly have God’s word living within them, both within their hearts and their minds. Through the Holy Spirit, they would receive God’s laws living within them.
This is a brand new kingdom. He isn’t just referring to the kingdom of Israel any longer, he is referring to a whole new kingdom, the kingdom of God. It is this group of people who will be the ones who will carry God’s word, and it is this people who will have God as their God and they will be his people.
But who are these people? If we back up into the verse before, it says that the Holy Spirit testified through Jeremiah:
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this.
Hebrews 10:15
So it is those who have the Holy Spirit who are the ones who will receive these laws. The Holy Spirit writes them on our hearts and minds. The Holy Spirit is he who is doing this work. It isn’t a written law. It is the law that lives by the word. Or even better said, it is the law that lives by the Word, with a capital W.
Jesus Christ, himself, is the Word of God and those who have been saved and live with Christ as both their Lord and Savior have been purchased out of the kingdom of darkness to come into the kingdom of God. These people are the ones who have received the law of God written on their hearts and minds.