No More Sour Grapes

“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”                         —Jeremiah 31:33

Growing up in the rural areas of Armstrong County, my brothers and I always seemed to be sampling questionable wild foods. There was that time we cooked on a campfire the pigeons we shot from a neighbor’s barn with our pellet guns, but more related to this article, there were those chokecherries and wild grapes. The deep purple nearly inedible chokecherries would pucker your entire mouth dry. We also spent time swinging on wild grapevines like Tarzan. The wild grapes, although not as bitter as chokecherries, still made you wonder how animals could tolerate them.

There was a saying in old Israel, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29). It was used as a complaint, a cry of injustice to God. The current generation considered their poor circumstances as punishment for the sins of their parents. Today, people use the saying of crying sour grapes whenever they feel an injustice has been directed toward them.

God spoke through Jeremiah about the coming day of salvation through Jesus Christ. “In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge” (31:29-30). The message seems at first to be one of judgment, but as we read further, we find it to be a message of forgiveness and hope.

Persons will no longer be judged by the shortcomings or sins of their parents, but by a New Covenant God will make and has made today in Jesus Christ the Messiah. Historically, Israel rejected God, broke the Mosaic covenant, and was sent into captivity. Truly, the children suffered greatly for the sins of their parents. God announced a new day, through Jeremiah, Isaiah, Joel, and other prophets, where forgiveness would be offered and God’s laws would be written on our hearts.

Jesus Christ established the New Covenant by His sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). Forgiveness of sins can now be preached to all because Jesus took our punishment and paid the ransom for our souls with His very lifeblood. God puts His laws into believers’ hearts by the outpouring and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would be God in us and would teach us, remind us, and show us the future. As believers, we walk by faith and are led moment by moment by the Spirit’s direction.

We all have a past, baggage good and bad, from our upbringing and the mistakes our parents and families have made, but, by the grace of God, we no longer need to be controlled by it. In Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness. Through Jesus’ shed blood, we can begin again under a New Covenant with God. God promises to fill you with His Holy Spirit and write His laws within you. The past is past. Today is your day. There are no more sour grapes. How you will live today is up to you. You may choose to be bound by your past or live fresh and new in faith under a New Covenant. God loves you and has set you free. Walk in faith, today.