| Church School Lesson: The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants |
"The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants"
October 26, 2025
Background: Jeremiah 31:1-40; John 1:17; Hebrews 8:7-13;
Print: Jeremiah 31:29-34; John 1:17;
Key Verse Jeremiah 31:33; Devotional: Psalm 103:17-22
Jeremiah 31:29-34 (ESV)
29 In those days they shall no longer say: “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
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 For 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.
34 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 sin no more.”
John 1:17 (ESV)
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 31/John 1 (Commentary)
31:1-30 Jeremiah 31 is one of the greatest mountain peaks of the Old Testament, encompassing both the glorious restoration of Israel under Jesus her Messiah and the prophecy of the new covenant that was inaugurated in his death and resurrection. The bulk of the chapter (31:1-30) is a beautiful prophecy of God’s Father-love for Israel and his tenderness in restoring the nation both to her land and to himself. Jeremiah received this prophecy as he slept (31:26).
Israel will be rebuilt and praise the Lord their God (31:4-6). He will gather them from the nations (31:8, 10), and they will be filled with joy (31:12-13). As the Lord was the one to uproot and to tear them down, so he will be the one to build and to plant them (31:28). Jeremiah depicts Rachel, the wife of Jacob (see Gen 29:28), weeping for her children, the people of Israel who had gone into exile. But God promises future joy, for the children will return. . . . There is hope (31:15-17). Similarly, Matthew sees “Rachel weeping” at Herod’s massacre of the children as he sought to slay the young Jesus (see Matt 2:16-18). But, again, this grief will one day turn to joy when many Jewish people receive their Messiah during his millennial reign (see Rom 11:25-27).
31:31-34 This section includes the glorious promise of the new covenant. This new covenant that God will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah will be unlike the one he made with their ancestors, a reference to the Mosaic covenant (31:31-32). The blessings of the Mosaic covenant were conditioned on Israel’s obedience, but Israel failed to keep its side of the agreement: they broke the covenant (32:32). Therefore, God brought down curses on the people.
But under the new covenant, God will put his teaching within them and write it on their hearts (31:33). Israel broke God’s law—not because there was something wrong with the law—but because there was something wrong with their hearts. The law revealed their sinfulness and their inability to keep it. It showed their desperate need to have renewed hearts. God promised a new relationship with him that was so rich and dynamic that the people wouldn’t need to have his law written on stone tablets. It will be inscribed on their hearts.
The church partakes of the benefits of the new covenant. The author of Hebrews quotes this passage from Jeremiah and points to its fulfillment in Christ (see Heb 8:7-13). On the night he was betrayed, Jesus gave the cup to his disciples and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). The cup represented his blood, poured out on the cross, for the forgiveness of sins. By means of Jesus’s sacrifice, God is able to say, I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin (31:34). In the Communion ceremony, Christians are told to partake of the cup “in remembrance of” Christ and the new covenant instituted by his atoning death (see 1 Cor 11:25-26).
We as believers are living under the new covenant. But the day is coming when the people of Israel will also follow their Messiah, Jesus Christ (see 31:31). From their standpoint, the provisions of this covenant are still future, to be fulfilled when Jesus returns. When he comes to rule on David’s throne in his millennial kingdom, their hearts will turn to him (see Rom 11:25-27).
The law was given through Moses. This was a good gift to Israel, revealing God’s righteous character and his will for their lives. The problem was that the law couldn’t enable people to keep it. It highlighted their sin but couldn’t transform their sinful hearts. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (1:17).