Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34 on biblegateway.com
Verse 31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Verse 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. Verse 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 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. Verse 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Devotion
They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD. What a promise the LORD makes to all the sons and daughters of Abraham and Sarah! In these last days this promise has come to embrace all humankind, for are not all "one in Christ Jesus"? Sweet words are many in Scripture, but perhaps sweetest is "all:" "Come to me, all you who labor." "God has imprisoned all in disobedience that he may be merciful to all." "I will draw all people to myself." "I make all things new."
Yet—how shall we all know the LORD? It is by coming face-to-face with God's own word made flesh, Christ Jesus, through the means of grace. Surely, we long to know about God, but only because we have come to know him in his grace, mercy, love and presence. And strangely, even as in Christ we know our God, in Christ we know ourselves as we all shall be.
Prayer
Heavenly father, pour out your Holy Spirit on the whole creation, so that all people may repent and believe the Gospel. In Jesus' name. Amen.