Laws, the rules which restrict wicked behaviour, are written down – in Bible times they were engraved in stone, impressed into clay, or written on papyrus scrolls or animal skins. These documents allowed the rules to be read, transmitted, learned and stored; but they could not change anybody's inner desire to do right instead of wrong. The rules could only describe the crimes and their punishments; they had no power to make anybody righteous. So God, in Jeremiah 31:31-34, revealed what His new covenant would be like.

Firstly, it would be written on the minds and hearts of His people. It would not be a catalogue of things they must not do, with penalties if they transgressed; it would be a letter, full of love and grace, unpacking the personal relationship God was drawing them into in Christ Jesus. Through it they would know God's mind and heart, and desire to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9). Secondly, God would be like a Father with a family (1 John 3:1): He would be personally knowable. Through the work of Christ and the indwelling Spirit they would no longer be outsiders, trying to win His favour, but family learning to please Him.

Thirdly, there would be no hierarchy in God's family. The youngest and the oldest, the smallest and the biggest, the most important and least important, Jew or Gentile - would have an equal access to God (Galatians 3:28). Fourthly, God's new covenant would include complete forgiveness of all who trust in Jesus. Although the Lord knows everything, He would not bring their sins to mind ever again: the blood of Jesus would totally satisfy His justice (Romans 3:26).

The old covenant was obsolete after the resurrection of Jesus. After the fall of Jerusalem in AD70, and the destruction of the temple, the old law could not operate anyway (no altar, sacrifices or priests). And yet legalistic religion is the constant trap for the unwary or backsliding believer. It is so easy to think that if we do enough good, we can cancel out our sins and be pleasing to God. That is very religious but utterly false. Only the blood of Christ can cancel the handwriting of the law against us (Colossians 2:14). Why should we want to go back to obsolete legalism? The simple answer is that our pride is big enough to think that we can manage our relationship with God without His grace. Like Pharisees we may present ourselves and our good works to God, blindly forgetting that even our best efforts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). No, we need the new covenant of grace: we need Jesus. Come back to Him today, repent and be forgiven (Acts 3:19).