Teshuvah is more than emotion; it is a return to covenant relationship. At the foot of Sinai the people answered with one voice, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will hear” (Exodus 19:8; 24:7). After the Golden Calf that covenant was renewed through Moses’ intercession and the second tablets. The prophets never tire of calling the people back to the original commitment: “Return to Me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7).
Jeremiah announces a new covenant that the Lord will make with the House of Israel and the House of Judah—not like the covenant they broke, but one in which He will put His Torah within them and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31–34). Ezekiel promises a new heart and a new spirit, the removal of the heart of stone, and the gift of the Holy Spirit so that Israel will walk in the statutes of God (Ezekiel 36:26–27). These promises are first and foremost national; they address the two houses that together constitute the people of the covenant.
The Apostolic Writings declare that this new covenant has been inaugurated through the blood of Messiah (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 8:6–13). Yet the same writings insist that the covenants and the promises still belong to Israel (Romans 9:4) and that God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). The grafting in of wild olive branches does not replace the natural branches; it is meant to provoke Israel to jealousy and to hasten the day when the natural branches are grafted back in and “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:11–27). The personal experience of the new covenant in the heart of every believer is a down payment and a prophetic sign of the day when the same covenant will be written on the hearts of the entire nation.
Practice for Day 8:
Read Jeremiah 31:31–37 and Romans 11:11–32 slowly and prayerfully. Thank the God of Israel for the irrevocable covenants made with the fathers. Renew your own personal commitment to walk in His ways by the power of the Spirit. Then intercede specifically for the day when the House of Israel and the House of Judah are reunited under the new covenant, with the Torah written on their hearts and the knowledge of the Lord filling the land.
