Jeremiah foretold a time when God would make a covenant with the children of Israel which they would keep. Here are the characteristics of that covenant:
- Deep commitment: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts”
- Belonging: “and will be their God, and they shall be my people”
- Firsthand knowledge: “they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord”
- Forgiveness: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”
(See Jeremiah 31:33-34.)
King Benjamin’s people entered this kind of covenant relationship with God. After praying and receiving a remission of their sins (Mosiah 4:2-3), they testified that their hearts were changed, so that they had no more desire to do evil (Mosiah 5:2). They covenanted to obey God for the rest of their lives, and Benjamin told them that as a result of this covenant, they would now be called “the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7). He taught them that they would know Christ by serving Him (Mosiah 5:13-15).
Linda K. Burton testified, “We are the people Jeremiah saw.” Then she asked these questions: “Have we invited the Lord to write the law, or doctrine, in our hearts? Do we believe that the forgiveness available through the Atonement that Jeremiah refers to applies to us personally?” (“Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in Our Hearts?” October 2012 general conference).
Today I will choose to participate in the new covenant foreseen by Jeremiah. I will seek forgiveness for my sins, allow God to write His law in my heart, participate in the community of His disciples, and know Him by serving Him.
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