God’s Enduring Love
Jeremiah 31:3-4
Richard Tow 8/21/16
Intro
Our text this morning is Jer. 31:3-4. “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 4 Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.’”1
That word came to Israel at a time when they were captives in Babylon, far from home. They were despised and belittled by the captors. Their hopes and dreams had been shattered. Their joy was gone. They had lost everything. In Psalm 137, we get a vivid picture of the despondency they must have felt. They are sitting down at the rivers of Babylon. As they thought about the way things used to be, as they reflected back on their homeland, they began to weep. They had lost their homes; they had lost their place of worship; they had lost their freedom. They were known for their celebrative songs of worship; but they their harps upon the willow trees. Instead of giving them sympathy, the Babylonians mocked them. Now their captors want them to sing one of the grand old songs of Zion. But they couldn’t do it. There was no celebration in their hearts, only pain. Psalm 137:4 “How shall we sing the LORD's song In a foreign land?”
That’s context in which Jeremiah gave this word to Israel. It is a word of encouragement and hope that these people desperately needed. “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 4 Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.’”
Three things God wants His people to know:
(1) The kind of love He has for them. “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love”
(2) The way He has drawn them unto Himself. “Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
(3) The plans He has for them. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.”
I. The kind of love God has for His people is “an everlasting love.”
A. Is not up one day, and down the next.
It is steadfast and consistent. It is not an emotional response. We use the word love in our society for many different things. We love God. We love our dog. We love a certain kind of fabric. We love ice cream. The world often confuses lust with love. Instead of saying, “I want you for my pleasure” they say, “I love you.” Perhaps the same problem existed in Jeremiah’s day. At any rate, it was necessary for God’s people to know that God’s love for them is “an everlasting love.”
B. It did not begin with something they did.
It was not based on their performance. Just as a new mother loves her child the day he is born—before he has ever done one thing right or one thing wrong, God loves His children because they are His children.2 That new born baby messes in his pants, disturbs Mom’s sleep at night, and contributes nothing to the finances of the household—but none of that matter. Mom and Dad gladly change the diapers, warm the formula, and pay the bills. “Love covers a multitude of faults.”3 Real love prevails over everything else. Real love “never fails.”4 And if an imperfect human can love like that, think of the love an infinite God is capable of having. God told Israel that He did not choose them because they were more in number than any other people. In fact, they were the least of all people. But it was simply because He loved them and would keep His oath to their fathers. Deut. 7:9 "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” God wants His people to know the consistency and stability of His love for them.
God’s love for you is based on who He is; not who we are. “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal 3:6). Rom. 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That tells us a lot about the nature of God’s love toward us. It’s not as fragile as you might think. It persisted even when Israel was unfaithful to Him. It did not fail, even when Israel did fail.5
C. It began before the foundation of the world.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” It was always in the heart of the Father. “God is love.”6 It is His nature to love. And love always seeks expression. Love delights in benefiting the object of its affection. Love motivated the Creator to create. God created out of a heart of love. In love, He predestinated us to be His children. Eph. 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” The “in love” is actually associated with verse 57 so that the passage reads “in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons….” There is a lot about predestination we cannot explain. But one thing we can know is that God planned it “in love.”
No human being can completely reconcile predestination and freewill. But we do know that God does not live in the confines of time. Time was created for the sake of man. God graciously lets us take on life one day at a time. There are enough challenges in each day to keep us well occupied.8 But God is not limited by time. He lives above time. It’s not just that God knows what will happen; He is in it already. From our perspective it is future; but He is the great “I am.” He lives in the eternal now!9 Knows the choices we will make; but gives us the freedom to make those choices. When Paul discusses all this in Romans 9-11 he overflows with this conclusion (Rom. 11:33) “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” I can’t fully reconcile predestination with freewill.10 What I can do is accept the revelation of Scripture as it is given. Deut 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” “…in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons…” “by Jesus Christ.”
Notice how each verse in the Eph. 1 passage emphasizes it is only possible “in Christ.” No one can stand in God’s favor outside of Christ.11 So notice carefully in Eph. 1:3 He has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Eph. 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him….” Verse 5 “in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ….” Verse 6 “by which He made us accepted in the Beloved …” which again is a reference to Jesus. Every verse in that passage makes it clear that it all comes to us “in Christ” or not at all. “I have loved you with an everlasting love”
D. It is a love that always seeks our highest good.
At this point in Israel’s history, they may have been tempted to think God had stopped loving them. Their circumstances were painful. Their prayers were not being answered. They were captives in a foreign land. Mal 1:2 “‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. ‘Yet you say, 'In what way have You loved us?'” This doesn’t feel like love to us! In our text, God saying, “I love you even if it doesn’t look like it and doesn’t feel like it. I am seeking your highest good in everything I do.12 It was God’s love that put Jonah in a fishes’ belly. It was God’s love that put Israel in this furnace of affliction.13 All their trials had a purpose. Yes, they needed to respond in humility. But God was at work turning their hearts back to Him. In their prosperity they had forgotten God and gone their own way. In their hardship they would find Him a “very present help in trouble.”14 Their troubles did not mean that God had rejected them. It did not mean that He had stopped loving them. It was, in fact, an expression of the Father’s love. It was God calling them to Himself. “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.” I have always loved you. I am drawing you to myself even now.
II. The way God draws His people to Himself. “Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
A. God draws us by showing mercy. The Hebrew word translated “lovingkindness” is often translated mercy. It occurs 26 times in Psalm 136; once in every verse. It is part of the phrase “For His mercy endures forever.” The Psalm begins in verse 1 with these words, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”15 God’s dealings with us are full of mercy. God draws us to Himself through the mercy He shows to us. Someone has distinguished grace and mercy in this way. Grace is God giving you what you don’t deserve. Mercy is God not giving you what you deserve. Jeremiah went through severe troubles along with his countrymen.16 He felt the pain and sorrow along with everyone else. But in the midst of all those trials he wrote “Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’" (Lam 3:22-24). We can hope in the Lord because He is merciful.
B. God draws us by His undeserved kindness toward us. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. He causes His sun to rise on both. Even the wicked are recipients of His goodness.17 He is good to people who are not good. Ps 145:9 says, “The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.” That is something that should turn people to the Lord. Instead of taking all that for granted, the right response would be gratitude toward the Creator.18 In Rom 2:4 Paul asks people the question, “…do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” The design of God’s generosity toward people is that they might see the light and repent. For He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
C. God draws us by seeking us out. Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The love of God compelled Jesus to come. The love of God compelled the Father to send Him.
15 Also notice that he Hebrew word translated “forever” is the same one that’s translated “everlasting” in our text in Jer. 31:3. Psalm 136 was probably sung with the leader singing the first line of the verse and the congregation singing “For His mercy endures forever.” Perhaps this is something God wants His people to get well established in their hearts. In Eph. 3:17 Paul prayed that believers would be “rooted and grounded in love….” Understanding God’s “everlasting” love for us provides foundation for us to “go on to maturity” (Heb. 6:1 NIV) and “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God is actively seeking the lost. He is actively drawing people to Himself. He does it with amazing patience and tenderness. Watch the Lord draw Peter back to Himself in John 21. He cooks him breakfast. The Resurrected Christ cooked breakfast for friends who had forsaken Him in His greatest hour of need. John 21:16 “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” The Greek word Jesus used was “agapao.” Peter is so broken and unsure of himself, he answers “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You"; but uses the weaker word “phileo” for love. Jesus gently restores and recommissions Peter. What would I have said to the friend who had denied me when I needed him most? “Hey, thanks for nothing! Where were you when I needed you?” There was none of that from Jesus. There was no condemnation toward Peter. He drew Peter “with lovingkindness.” “…I have loved you with an everlasting love” (a redemptive love; a love that seeks us out even when we’re going the wrong way).
Maria’s husband died when Christina was an infant. The young mother refused opportunities to remarry. Instead she got a job and focused on raising her daughter. Their home was one room on a dusty street on the outskirts of a Brazilian village. Now that Christina was 15 years old, Maria thought her worst years were behind her. Her salary as a maid had barely provided the food, clothing, and shelter they needed. But now Christina was old enough to get a job and help out. Christina was a beautiful girl with olive skin and brown eyes. She could have had her pick of husbands. But Christina was not interested in settling down and raising a family. She dreamed of trading her dusty neighborhood for the exiting avenues of the big city. Just the thought of that horrified her mother. Maria tried to tell Christina about the harshness of life in the city. “People don’t know you there. Jobs are scarce and life is cruel. If you went there how would you make a living?” That’s why her heart broke when she woke up one morning to find her daughter’s bed empty. Maria knew immediately where Christina had gone. She knew what she must do to find her daughter. She quickly gather up a few clothes, threw them in a bag with all her money, and ran out of the house. On her way to the bus stop, she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures. With her purse full of small black and white pictures, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She knew what desperation would drive her to do. So she began her search in bars, hotels, nightclubs—any place with a reputation for street walkers and prostitutes. At each place she left her picture—taped to a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. It wasn’t long until both the money and pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. Maria wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
A few weeks later her daughter, Christiana, was descending down hotel stairs. Her face was weary and tired. Her eyes no long danced with youthful zeal. Her laughter was gone. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her place at home. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christian’s throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small picture. Written on the back was this compelling invitation: “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.” And she did.19 This is the kind of love God has for His children. This is the kind of love that leaves the 99 and seeks out the lost sheep. This is the kind of love the sweeps the house looking for the lost coin and embraces the prodigal son on his return.20
D. But God also draws us through His rod of correction. That too is an expression of His lovingkindness. Heb. 12:5 "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." That passage goes on to say that God’s correction in our lives is evidence that we are truly His. If we can live in sin with no correction, it is a bad sign.21 It is strong evidence that we are not one of His children. The correction is always administered by the Lord to turn us from destruction back to Him. This is exactly what was happening to Israel at the time God spoke our text to Jeremiah. They were under the chastening hand of God. They were in danger of thinking God had totally rejected them. But God had not rejected them. They were experiencing a disciple that was designed to bring them back to God. So God wants them to know the consistency of His love toward them: “…I have loved you with an everlasting love; And the nature of their current experience: “Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Then He tells them—
III. The plans God has for His people.
A. They are shockingly good plans of restoration. Jer. 31:4 “Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.’” The same people who hung their harps on the willow trees in Babylon, will one day be dancing in the streets of Jerusalem. The same people who could not muster a song of Zion in their land of captivity will rejoice with tambourines. Follow with me in Jer. 31:4 as we read more about what God will do for His people. “You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. 6 For there shall be a day When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.'" 7 For thus says the LORD: "Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel!' 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there. 9 They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn. 10 "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.' 11 For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. 12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the LORD --For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And they shall sorrow no more at all. 13 "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, And make them rejoice rather than sorrow. 14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD."
B. Let me take a few moments to explain the fulfillment of all this.
(1) There was a partial fulfillment of these promises when Cyrus made his decree and these Hebrew captives returned from Babylon to their home after 70 years of captivity.22
(2) The complete fulfillment of it will occur at end times. Jeremiah 30 talks about some of these things and ends the chapter by saying, Jer. 30:24 “In the latter days you will consider it.” The first verse in Jer. 31:1"At the same time," says the LORD,"I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people." There is an end time fulfillment of all this that has not yet occurred. But even now we see the fig tree (Israel) putting forth leaves (Matt. 24:32). In our generation the regathering of Israel has begun. It is being fiercely fought by that old Dragon, the Devil. But God’s promises are yea and amen. Everything God has promised the nation of Israel will come to pass.23 We live in awesome times. The greatest evidence that the end is near, is the regathering of Israel in their homeland.
(3) The way God works in the nation of Israel is a lesson for each of us as well. We can legitimately apply these passages to our own lives and still know they will be fulfilled in the nation of Israel as well. Have you ever thought about how much of the Bible uses God’s dealings with Israel to teach us how things work? There are over 23,000 verses in the Old Testament. There are less than 8,000 in the New Testament.24 Most of those verses in the Old Testament reflect, in one way or another, God’s dealings with Israel.
Why so much volume in Scripture about Israel? Because the principles taught in God’s dealings with Israel work in our own lives as well. In 1 Cor. 10:6 Paul tells us that Israel’s experiences are there as an example for our instruction.
What is the instruction from our text?
1. God chastens those He loves. Israel disobeyed God and went into captivity. If we live in disobedience we go into captivity. We find ourselves in trouble. We find ourselves in bondage.
2. God’s love toward us continues. It is an “everlasting love.” It is not there one day and gone tomorrow. “His mercy endures forever.”
3. Therefore God continues to reach out to us and draw us to Himself. With cords of love and mercy He tugs on our hearts.25 He calls us out of darkness into light. He restores our fellowship with Him.
4. He restores His blessings upon us. His times of discipline do not last forever.26 When the discipline has done its work on our hearts, the rejoicing can begin. Ps 126:1-3 “When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." 3 The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad.”
Pray
NOTES:
1 All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
2 Rom. 9:10-11
3 1 Peter 4:8
4 1 Cor. 13:8; this chapter describes the kind of love God has for His people.
5 Jer. 31:20; Hosea 11:7-9
6 1 John 4:8
7 Eph. 1:4 (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
8 Matt. 6:34; for a discussion of “aion” in Heb. 11:35 see Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 1974) pp. xxii-xxiii.
9 Ex. 3:14; Mal. 3:6; John 8:56-58; Heb. 13:8. C. S. Lewis wrote, “Almost certainly God is not in Time…He does not ‘foresee’ you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him.” Mere Christianity, (New York: HarperOne, 1972) pp. 166-171.
10 For now we “know in part” (1 Cor. 13:9).
11 Acts 4:12; 1 John 5:11-12
12 Rom. 8:28
13 Isa. 48:10
14 Ps. 46:1
16 Although he did not go to Babylon, he was with those who fled to Egypt (Jer. 43:6-7).
17 Matthew 5:46
18 Romans 1:21
19 Stories for the Heart, compiled by Alice Gray (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1996) pp. 145-147.
20 Luke 15
21 1 John 3:6 Ampl. “No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin….”
22 There was a partial fulfillment (Jer. 31:15) when Jesus was a child (Matt. 2:16-18).
23 Rom. 11
24 “How Many Chapters and Verses Are in the Bible?” Retrieved 8/10/16 at http://www.deafmissions.com/tally/bkchptrvrs.html.
25 Hosea 11:4
26 Isaiah 57:16
