There are several books in the Old Testament dedicated to specific prophets. There are major prophets and minor prophets. For the purpose of our overview we are going to focus on just one major prophet. All of the prophets were sent by God as covenant watchdogs. Not only did they remind people of the conditional agreement referred to now as the old covenant where Israel was required to keep their end of the agreement but they also spoke of the day when God would make a new covenant that would fulfil the promises made to Abraham. The prophet Jeremiah said…

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [Luk_22:20; 1Co_11:25] Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.

(Jeremiah 31:31-33 AMPC)

Notice that God says that this new covenant would not be like the “covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” Why would the new covenant not be like the old covenant? God specifically says the reason “my covenant which they broke, although I was their husband.” Most of the old testament is the story of Israel breaking that covenant and yet God stays faithful to them. The prophet Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute as a picture of how God had married Israel and yet Israel kept running around with “other Gods.” Prophets were used to get people’s attention and remind them of God’s goodness. When Jesus finally came hundreds of years later he said…

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate (abandoned and left destitute of God's help)…”

(Matthew 23:37-39 AMPC)

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