The continuation of the subject with the Prophecy of Isaiah already done. Every Passage Examined
JEREMIAH – PART 5
Jeremiah 31:33 – “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel,’ declares the LORD: ‘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. Jer 31:34 They shall not teach again, each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Verses 33-34. A few details in a general sense are explained for the new covenant. It will be between God and Israel as was the Law. Note very carefully that “law” here is not a capital letter – “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it,” for the old Law was the old covenant, and this is God’s law that will operate in their beings and in their hearts. They will never forsake it. There will be a closeness of relationship, “their God; My people.”
It would be useful here to go and read the first three chapters of Hosea which speak of the marriage bond between Jehovah and Israel, and the abuse of it by the sinning nation. People will not need to teach their friends and neighbors about the Lord because every single one of them will know the Lord in that day. Israel’s great catalogue of sins is forever eradicated, and the very memory of them will forever be abolished. This is what true covenant relationship is all about.
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Jeremiah 31:35 – “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The LORD of hosts is His name: Jer 31:36 ‘If this fixed order departs from before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.’ Jer 31:37 Thus says the LORD, ‘If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,’ declares the LORD.”
Verses 35-37. There are remarkable conditional promises or guarantees stated here that will fix the existence of the Jews, the offspring of Jacob, forever. Before those promises are specified, verse 35 provided the foundation for them. That foundation is locked into the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The entire planet and universe are under the control of God and reflects His immense power. If God can create and control giant celestial bodies, then He most certainly can care for Israel. At the end of verse 35, you have the personal name for God and the nation – The LORD of hosts is His name. God confirms it all.
Verse 36 gives the first condition. God says that if the fixed order of the universe fails, or it can no longer be controlled by Him, then Israel will also fail. We know it is an absolute impossibility that God’s control will fail in creation, so it is an absolute impossibility that Israel will ever cease being a nation. The second condition is very interesting. It is a challenge to human ingenuity. What are the measurements of the universe? They talk about it expanding. They disagree. I can guarantee the human mind will never calculate it.
The second part connects with the earth: “the foundations of the earth searched out below.” I take that to include the exact makeup of the earth from surface to core and whatever tectonic movements may exist there. Many have some speculations but no affirmative evidence or conclusions. God says that if those measurements can be done, then God will cast off, reject Israel, and hold the nation responsible for all it has done.
In summary, God reinforces His coming covenant with might. As He has established the celestial bodies in fixed order, so that covenant will stand. Then comes a much bolder promise. If the heavens can be measured, then God will cast Israel away. Scientists cannot measure the universe. The more powerful telescopes become, the more they are finding, and the further out the universe extends. (Let the atheists create something like this. Atheists are fools. The Bible says so. Prov 14 v 1).
Attenborough is a fool because he has been privileged to see so many wonders of God’s creation, but refuses that there can ever be a God or mastermind of some description. If we can map out the planet Earth underneath us (that is what is meant by foundations), then God will cast Israel away. It will never happen. We know that can never happen. Israel will be secure forever more. Praise God. ISRAEL WILL STAND FOREVER, SECURE IN THE NEW COVENANT.
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Jeremiah 31:38 – “Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. Jer 31:39 The measuring line shall go out farther straight ahead, to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah, Jer 31:40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever.”
The essential part of this is what is underlined. That sentence places it in the start of the Millennium because there is no other time in history that you can use the words “anymore forever.” There are changes that will happen in the nation’s restoration, and just a touch of redesigning is given here. For more, go to Zechariah and read chapter 14 for some remarkable happenings in the Millennium. Verse 40 is the valley where the forces of Gog and Magog meet their end with total destruction detailed in Ezekiel 38 and 39. God will cleanse it and make it holy and forever.
Thus ends Jeremiah 31, the most informative chapter relating to THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL.
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Jeremiah 32:36 – “Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.’ Jer 32:37 ‘Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety, Jer 32:38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; Jer 32:39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them.”
This passage is set in the context of Jerusalem’s promised destruction under Nebuchadnezzar, but then in verse 36, the timeline changes and breaks into verse 37 that is at least 2,600 years into the future. The discussion of Jerusalem in verse 36 gives way to God declaring His great will for His people. The Lord’s anger and wrath and indignation dispersed the people far and wide throughout all parts of the earth as we know today.
There were three great cataclysmic judgments on Israel: the Assyrian campaign against Samaria/Ephraim; the Babylonian campaign against Judah; and the total destruction under the Romans in 70 AD. That resulted in today’s situation of a dispersed people, but verse 37 is again one of the plentiful promises of God’s gathering of His people from all over the earth to bring them back to their ancestral homeland. After He does that, they will live in safely. Some short-sighted views claim this was fulfilled when the Jews returned from the 70 years captivity, but that is utter nonsense because verse 37 ends with “and make them dwell in safety.” Israel’s sorrowful history disproves the “safety” matter.
Verse 38-39. These promises follow on after the ingathering and dwelling in safety. There is the intimate “family relationship” of “God and My people,” and that we have spoken about several times already. Verse 39 is God’s work of grace. It is what HE will do, and that makes it indisputable, for what God says, He will accomplish. “One heart” and “one way” will be unique for Israel because they have never agreed and always oppose God. How magnificent that will be when it comes about. They will fear the Lord, and that results in good for them and their children. It is the fear of the Lord that produces wisdom. Fear is a reverential respect (awe) and the honoring of the Person and glory of God, not some dreadful apprehension or cringing in distress and terror. No, there will be fear in the rightful sense, and joy.
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Jeremiah 32:40 – “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me, Jer 32:41 I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. Jer 32:42 For thus says the LORD, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.”
32 Verses 40-42. This is just a lovely passage, precisely put and all comprehensive. We have again this everlasting covenant mentioned, which we considered so carefully in chapter 31:31. One aspect of that covenant will be that God will not turn away from the nation, and they will not turn away from their God. The reason they will be faithful in the relationship is that God’s fear will rule their hearts. It is all encompassed by love and grace. That is their establishment, but then will come the blessings.
Have you ever thought about the emotions of God? It is too big to cover here, and one day I might post on that. However, in verse 41 it says that God rejoices, and He will do so. Rejoicing will progress into doing good for His people, and He will faithfully plant them in their own land. In other words, God will fulfill all His restoration promises. That verse contains an interesting phrase, “with all My heart and with all My soul.” How can we understand that? The whole desire and Being of God will be engrossed in the welfare of His earthly people when He establishes them.
We must be careful here, for I don’t think it is right to say God has a heart and a soul. Rather, it is an anthropomorphic statement that tries to tap the intensity of the connection God has with His people. His whole being goes out to them in love and grace and tenderness. That is the way God loves us, but how are we to love Him? – Deut 6:5 “and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
In verse 42 there is a summary of contrast. God, who brought all that disaster on the nation of (all) Israel over the centuries, is the same One who shall instigate ALL the good and promises He has stated over the centuries. The good He will bring in for His people will far exceed the disasters He brought upon them. The disasters were temporary in history, but the blessings will be permanent in eternity.
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Jeremiah 33:1 – “Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard, saying, Jer 33:2 ‘Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name. Jer 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”
Verses 1-3. The invitation of verse 3 was made to Jeremiah himself, but the substance of that verse is a universal one. We are all invited to call on the Lord. The purpose of verse 2 is to establish authority. The Lord is God, and the mighty Creator, so He will vouch for His word, and His promise will not fail. That was God’s introduction into a grand revealing of what lies ahead for the nation. Chapter 33 is another fantastic set of prophecies concerning God’s earthly people.
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Jeremiah 33:4 – “For thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the siege mounds and against the sword: Jer 33:5 while they are coming to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness:
“Jer 33:6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. Jer 33:7 And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and I will rebuild them as they were at first. Jer 33:8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me, and by which they have transgressed against Me. Jer 33:9 It shall be to Me a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear of all the good that I do for them, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.”
Verses 4-9. Verse 6 is another great time shift, for the two verses prior to this speak of the desperation of the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem against Nebuchadnezzar, so desperate that even the houses of the king were being broken up to help strengthen the defences. Then, from verse 5 in about 587 BC, verse 6 jumps across at least 2,600 years to the time the Lord heals and restores the nation. The great blessing will come in health and healing, peace and truth, and the restoration of their fortunes in verse 7, and cleansing from all their sin in verse 8, and Israel will become a name associated with joy and praise and glory and a testimony to the whole world as stated in verse 9.
The siege of Nebuchadnezzar is no mystery because its cause is the great wickedness of the Jews. They were corrupt in their dealings with one another; the leadership was wicked; Jehovah had been forsaken, and the people turned to the abominations of Moloch and Baal and Astarte and the Queen of heaven to whom they offered round sun cakes not unlike the Babylonian wafer host the Roman Catholic church uses in the mass. Verse 5 says that it is the wrath and anger of the Lord that will be displayed, but He has withdrawn His face from the people and their cries.
Verse 7 is lovely because God knows our weakness and the nation’s weakness when the Lord returns, so it is all about “I.” Messiah will do it all, and the “I” continues into verse 8. In fact, in verses 6 to 8, the “I” is used by God 7 times. Only the Lord can construct blessing and honor to His name. There is a real emphasis in verse 8 on just how vile Judah had become with the use of “iniquity, sinned, iniquities, and transgressed.” However, the Lord will not only forgive them but will abolish even the slightest trace of remembrance. He does the same for us. How compassionate and forgiving the Lord is!
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Jeremiah 33:10 – “Thus says the LORD, ‘Yet again there shall be heard in this place, of which you say, ‘It is a waste, without man and without beast,’ that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, Jer 33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for His loving-kindness is everlasting’; and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the LORD.
“Jer 33:12 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘There shall again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks. Jer 33:13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the LORD.”
Verses 10-13. This passage continues from the positive words he had in the last section where we saw so much of the action of God in restoring His people. The verses make the contrast of desolation and productivity. What was once forsaken and abandoned through the desecration of sin, will in the future see the joy of marriage, thanksgiving to the Lord, thank offerings for the Lord, restoration and the land as rest and delightful for man and beast. These verses present a pleasant scene of peace and joy when the Lord reigns over the land.
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END OF PART 5: RESTORATION OF ISRAEL FROM JEREMIAH