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20. Walk in my statutes. Only those who have a heart renewed by divine grace can keep the law of God, “because the carnal mind … is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). The promise of enabling power through the indwelling Spirit was an essential feature of God’s everlasting covenant with man. This point Israel had failed to grasp. Men believed that salvation could be secured by their own efforts. They refused to submit themselves to “the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). They saw no need of a Saviour, no need of conversion. They completely spurned the experience that alone would enable them to keep His law.

I will be their God. God planned that the glorious experience here described should be realized after the return from Babylonian captivity. Because the returning exiles failed to fulfill the new-covenant conditions upon which their spiritual prosperity was based, the promise was never fulfilled. God’s promises are conditional. Nevertheless, that which God could not accomplish through the literal seed of Israel, He will accomplish through the spiritual seed (Rom. 9:11). The ultimate fulfillment of this glorious prospect will come at the close of the millennium (Rev. 21:3).