The Restoration Of Israel – Jeremiah – Part 2 – Chapters 16 And 23 And 29 – I Will Gather And Raise Up Shepherds Series

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL – JEREMIAH – PART 2 – Chapters 16 and 23 and 29 – I WILL GATHER AND RAISE UP SHEPHERDS

We continue these studies in Jeremiah looking at the future glory of Israel in its restoration.

{{Jeremiah 16:21 “Therefore, behold, I am going to make them know - This time I will make them know My power and My might, and they shall know that My name is the LORD.”}}

This is a single verse but from Isaiah you may remember we looked at the way the prophets jumped from one time period to another abruptly from verse to verse. We have this time jump here, for the verse before ours is this – {{Jeremiah 16:20 “Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!”}} (which is set in Jeremiah’s current time); and the verse after ours is {{Jeremiah 17:22 “The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars . . .”}} (which is back to Jeremiah’s own time).

VERSE 21. Isn’t it wonderful that it is God who will be taking the initiative in the restoration of His people. He will MAKE them know. They are going to know His power and His might, and it is when they know and recognise that, then they will know the Lord their God. They will know that by repentance, and all this happens in the Tribulation for it is then they will see the wrath of God and be conscious then that this is His power and might, as their fathers did when they left Egypt so long ago in God’s deliverance. It will be the step of their deliverance and restoration in the coming day. This time they will know His power and might because it is unleashed at Armageddon and they will see it in His coming to the Mount of Olives. They will know their Messiah in that day. His name is Jehovah.

()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() ()

{{Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Jer 23:2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD. Jer 23:3 “THEN I MYSELF SHALL GATHER THE REMNANT OF MY FLOCK out of all the countries where I have driven them and shall bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. Jer 23:4 I SHALL ALSO RAISE UP SHEPHERDS OVER THEM and they will tend them and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.}}

As is often the case in prophetic writing, the problem is put and then God’s future plan will supplant that. Here, the problem is false shepherds (and that would include priests, elders, and prophets, and even the king), and God’s charge against them is that they have destroyed and scattered the sheep because they have not cared for them. They have been committing evil deeds, but God will hold them accountable for that. Leadership always carries great responsibility, and these false shepherds failed. How many likewise are failing in the churches? I like the way the NASB expresses verse 2. God will attend to the betrayers of His flock because they have not attended to the flock in the duty they had.

In verse 3, God will step into human history and gather all those scattered sheep, those who are redeemed and saved in the Tribulation, gathering them from all countries. He will bring them back to Israel (Isaiah focuses on that a lot), multiply them and make them fruitful. It was God who had driven them from their homeland because of their unrepentant idolatry, and it is God who will gather them back to their homeland because of His great love. Once gathered, He will appoint true and faithful shepherds, so that no more, will the sheep be afraid, terrified and missing. Those shepherds will be under-shepherds because the Lord is the Shepherd of the sheep, true both for the Church and Israel.

()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() () ()() ()

{{Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, THE DAYS ARE COMING,” declares the LORD, “when I shall raise up for David a RIGHTEOUS BRANCH, and HE WILL REIGN AS KING and act wisely, and do justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely, and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ Jer 23:7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ Jer 23:8 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”}}