Year 3, Day 84: Jeremiah 31

A Rare Voice to Israel

We haven’t heard Jeremiah say much about Israel in this whole book.  Okay, well, that isn’t quite true.  We’ve heard the name Israel fairly frequently.  But most of the times that it was said in the past were in this expression: the God of Israel {or some derivation}.  We’ve heard the name Israel often in reference to God.  We’ve not heard many proclamations at all regarding the nation of Israel.

Jeremiah gives us a full-blown prophecy meant to be spoken to the nation of Israel.  Remember, these people are already in captivity.  They were taken off into captivity by the Assyrians over a century before this prophecy was given.  Here is another moment of grace.  God could have abandoned faithless Israel.  Instead, He reaches out to them in the midst of their captivity and promises some hope.

Eternal Love

God declares something special to Israel.  Even though they were not faithful, God was faithful.  God’s love for them endured through the rejection.  God’s love for them endured through the turning and the disobedience.  God’s love endured for them through the rebellion and the captivity.  No matter how bad they were, God still loved them and longed for the day that they would be called back home.

Look specifically who it is that the Lord says that He will call home.  The analogies God makes to the people of Israel are the blind, the lame, and the pregnant.  These are three groups of people that in ancient days were utterly helpless.  These groups of people depended upon the mercy of others.

God compares Israel to the blind since they refused to see Him even though He sent prophets among them to tell them about God.  God compares them to the lame because they refused to go out and do anything about their faith.  They were so self-absorbed that they never got up to fulfill God’s calling them as His chosen people.  God compares them to a pregnant woman because they have born much strife and agony – yet they are about to give birth to a new thing when God calls His people out of captivity.

God also speaks to them about their joy.  God uses images of His bountiful goodness: grain, wine, oil.  All of these demonstrate a good harvest under the provision of God.  God uses images of pasture: flocks and herds and watered gardens.  All of these demonstrate safety and security.  There will be dancing and merrymaking.  Their mourning will be turned to joy.  All of these things come about simply because God’s love is greater than His wrath.  They endured captivity; God will show His love to them once more.

Peace Amidst Suffering

Jeremiah then gives a very poignant message.  Jeremiah tells the captives to not weep and shed tears.  He tells them to settle into the work of captivity, for there is a reward for such work.  There is a hope in things to come.  They do not need to weep and wail and mourn, for the Lord has not forsaken them entirely.  The time will come when God will bring them back to the land.  As Jeremiah says in verse 20, although God may speak harshly against “Ephraim,” He has neither forsaken nor forgotten them.  In fact, we hear that God’s heart still yearns for Him.  There is every reason to work today; there is a future with God tomorrow!

A Message for Judah

Jeremiah 31:23-30 gives us a return to Jeremiah’s prophetic messages to the land of Judah.  There will be a day when Jerusalem will be called a holy hill once more.  There will be a day when the people of Judah shall dwell together.  In fact, there will be a day when the people of Judah and Israel even dwell together.  The broken nation that has suffered individual exiles can be restored only through the power and the grace of God.

In those days, children will no longer eat the sour grapes of their fathers.  In other words, people will not be in exile for the disobedience of their ancestors.  In the future that the Lord is creating people will suffer the fate and judgment of their own actions.  There is a day coming when every person will die for their own sin.  {Now, there’s a happy thought to end a section of happy prophecy, right?}

New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31 begins one of the greatest sections of the book of Jeremiah.  This section talks about the New Covenant.  It is a time when people will no longer have to be taught to be obedient because we will have God dwelling within us to be our teacher.  We won’t have to study the Law because God Himself will carry His ways within us!  How lucky are we to live within that age!  How lucky are we to look forward to the age when we will know God so fully that sin will be utterly cast away from us!

When the Lord dwells within us, He cannot be plucked up or overthrown.  When the Lord dwells within us, the world can do its worst to us but they can never take away God within us.  When the Lord dwells within us, we shall be sacred to Him.

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