God’s Covenant is a Gospel Covenant.

You’ve heard those words before. But what do they mean? We will approach this through the back door.

There are certain things in life that you can only understand by way of contrast. You cannot know what spring is, until you’ve experienced a tough winter. You don’t really appreciate a Porsche until you’ve spent five hours in a Maverick. You cannot revel in community until you’ve languished in loneliness.

That’s how it is with Gospel. You cannot know what Gospel is unless you understand what Law is. For those of you who missed church last week, you’re in luck. Today’s Old Testament lesson shows us the contrast between Law and Gospel.

At the close of the second Book of the Chronicles (or Annals), we find the Hebrew people living in exile, in Babylon (…