Jeremiah 31
-Israel’s mourning will be turned
into joy as God becomes their Lord again, and He makes them His people. God has
loved them with an everlasting love and appeared to them from afar, building
them up again from their deportation and giving them cause to celebrate
extravagantly back in the Promised Land (Jeremiah 31:1-6). The LORD tells them
to praise Him with gladness and shouts for His saving work in the regathering.
Even the blind and lame will return, the woman with child, a great company will
again be present in the land. With weeping they will come with the overflowing
emotion of the ingathering, and by supplication God will lead them. They will
have all the resources they need to sustain themselves again on a straight path
with no stumbling because God is their Father (Jeremiah 31:7-9). “He who
scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock
(Jeremiah 31:10).” The LORD, Himself, has ransomed and redeemed His people from
a strong enemy, and the people will return with joy on the height of Zion,
radiant over the bounty of the LORD. New grain, wine, and oil will flow, the
herds will be young and plentiful, and their life will again be like a watered
garden with no languishing forevermore (Jeremiah 31:11-12). There will be
dancing of marriage festivities with young and old together as their time of
mourning will be over and joy indeed will reign. The priests will have souls
filled with abundance, and God’s people will be satisfied with His goodness
(Jeremiah 31:13-14). The rendering of lamentation and woe, which Matthew picks
up on with the slaying of the young at the time of Christ (Matthew 2:18), at
this point and time in the prophecy will be forgotten. For the LORD tells them
to restrain their voice from weeping now and their eyes from tears. Their work
will be rewarded as they return from the land of the enemy into the hope and
destiny of God’s chosen people. Repentance is a big part of this transformation
as we see in Jeremiah 31:19. God’s instruction caused them grief, shame, and
humiliation as they bore His reproach, but God has not forgotten His children
and will always yearn for them with His heart and give them mercy by His very
own declaration (Jeremiah 31:15-20). God does not want them drifting forever in
the futility of their own deceptions and false ways of their own mind. He
desires faith and dependence on Him, which will bring the comeback (Jeremiah
31:21-22). God’s refreshing Word continues with restoration of the people’s
fortunes as they bless the LORD of righteousness on His Holy Hill (Jerusalem).
They will dwell in unity and be generous with pleasant-sweet sleep and rest
(Jeremiah 31:23-26).
-Jeremiah describes the New
Covenant in Old Testament prophetic form in the remaining verses of the
chapter. These are future events, partially fulfilled in Christ’s first
incarnation and the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer. God is
watching over His people to discipline them with plucking up, breaking down,
overthrowing, destroying, and bringing disaster, but He will also oversee their
building back up and the planting work in the rebirth of their nation. In this
time, they will take on their own responsibility for iniquity. The days are
coming when the LORD will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel (which
will be opened up to all the nations) and the house of Judah. This covenant
(promise, testament), inaugurated in the work of the Messiah will not be like
the one which He made with the ancient fathers in the days of Moses when they
came out of Egypt. This covenant was broken even though God had been a faithful
husband to them. In the New Covenant, God will put His law within believers and
on their heart (not stone tablets like the Mosaic Covenant). He promises in
this dispensation to always be their God and they His people. They will have
Him as their teacher because of a true and lasting relationship in which they
will “know” Him. From the greatest to the least their iniquities will be
forgiven by faith in the righteous One of Israel, and He will remember their
sin no more! This is a guaranteed promise of the Creator to His nation and
people. He will NOT cast them off even though they have transgressed His ways.
The city (Jerusalem) will be rebuilt, and “it will not be plucked up or
overthrown anymore forever (Jeremiah 31:27-40).” *Application* Jeremiah’s
prophecy is reassuring and accurate as we see the rebirth of Israel in our
modern times. The best is yet to come! The fact that one day, God’s people will
return to Him and their true Messiah, Jesus Christ, is exciting news (Zechariah
8; 12:10)! While Christ has already made atonement and initiated the New
Covenant in His blood (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20), there remains a
time of restoration that will show that God is indeed good and compassionate
towards His people and all who receive Him as their Savior.
Verses to Memorize: Jeremiah 31:16, 33
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