Fifth Sunday in Lent: Old Testament, Jeremiah 31:31-34                            

Jeremiah 31:31-34

We have a phrase as Christians that we throw around quite a bit. It comes in the form of a question more times than not and this is it: Do you know the Lord? It rolls off most of our tongues and it is so common that the thought isn’t much engaged. We’re primed to wait for a positive response so we can continue with other things that come after knowing. You know. The really important stuff. Like growing. Now don’t get me wrong. The Lord desires that we grow. But that only comes because the knowledge of the Lord that the Bible refers to is so much more than a casual familiarity. The kind we might cite when we say we “know” our mail carrier or our doctor. Knowing in the Scripture is often akin to the intimacy of husband and wife. “Adam knew his wife.” We all know (excuse the pun) what that is referring to.  Knowing in the Bible speaks to depth and that depth is prefaced by one thing: God’s forgiveness.

Our Old Testament text above speaks of the “work” God will do for His people when He moves them from the gifts and blessings of the Old Covenant to the greater promises of the New.  And in the middle of His instruction, the Lord says, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more” (Jer. 31:34). Did you catch that? The knowledge of God is intimately connected to God forgiving His people. And that isn’t true of just the front end of the relationship. It’s for every step.Yes, there was a day when we were received into the realm of His forgiveness, but that is also provided every day, every moment. Constant cleansing, forgiveness and then the sweet fellowship that follows. All because we know Him and He knows us. And we’re forgiven. God be praised!