LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 11 – THE COMING DAY OF ISRAEL'S GLORIOUS RESTORATION UNDER ONE SHEPHERD
PART 11 - Jeremiah 3:14-18
CHAPTER 3
[A]. THE GLORIOUS DAY OF ISRAEL'S RESTORATION – YES IT WILL HAPPEN!
{{Jeremiah 3:14-18 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ THEN I WILL GIVE YOU SHEPHERDS AFTER MY OWN HEART, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding, and it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD,’ and it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again. At that time THEY SHALL CALL JERUSALEM ‘THE THRONE OF THE LORD,’ and ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE GATHERED TO IT, TO JERUSALEM, FOR THE NAME OF THE LORD. Nor shall they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north TO THE LAND THAT I GAVE YOUR FATHERS AS AN INHERITANCE.”}} ?
Go read Genesis – here it is!! {{Genesis 15:18 “On that day the LORD made A COVENANT WITH ABRAM, saying, “To your DESCENDANTS I HAVE GIVEN THIS LAND FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT AS FAR AS THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES:”}}. Is anyone going to write this off as an allegory or replace God’s promise with one of your imagination? From the Nile to the Euphrates will be Israel's territory in the Millennium. In other words, from the River to the River, not some satanic distortion of “from the River to the Sea.”
Before we proceed with this, I want to make it clear that I hold to the literal truth of scriptures. When God promises something will happen, it will. When God sets out clearly what is going to happen with Israel and the Jews, it will. There is nothing more dishonest in the scriptures than to take the great promises of God and treat them like an allegory and wash them away in some sewer. What God said He will bring about. This applies to Israel absolutely.
Let me ask you people who hold to Covenant Theology and Replacement Theology (a legitimate term – I don’t like supersessionism), here is a prophecy given in Isaiah – {{Isaiah 52:13-13 “Behold, My servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”}} Now apply your allegory to this and say, maybe it is speaking of the Church that undergoes suffering. Is that correct?
Here is another – {{Isaiah 53:10 “The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”}} Apply your Replacement Theology and say this verse means the great persecution of the Church. Maybe it is the time of Titus crushing Jerusalem in AD 70? You pick and choose, eliminating Israel, following the Roman Catholic, allegory approach.
The verses we have here and many more in Jeremiah look forward to the great restoration of Israel that God will bring about when the Church is raptured away and the last week of Daniel’s 70 weeks will be enacted. Don’t pick and choose. The LORD says He will do it, THEN HE WILL DO PERFECTLY. I make no excuses for any of this.
These verses are looking to a glorious future. The theme of God’s forgiveness and restoration now looks down the years, way beyond the current matters that the prophet deals with, with the nation. The writings of the prophets are marvellous, but they do take wisdom and correct division to slot visions and messages (sometimes burdens) and verses into the correct chronological order. Prophet writings can jump all over the place, and in a matter of a few verses, can cover thousands of years. This is so clear, and an example in Joel chapter 2, very clearly demonstrates that point. “Rightly dividing the word of truth” also applies to the writings of the prophets.
Israel will be restored and the Jews converted. They will be the ones who will seek the Messiah who will suddenly come to His Temple, and will come to His own at the battle of Armageddon to deliver His people. Then He gathers all the Jewish saints, and they come from all over the world, and He gathers them gently, all His precious ones, and will settle them in the land. Our verses above clearly teach that!
Both major and minor prophets contain verses that are full of the restoration glory of Israel, and we will see some of those strongly in Jeremiah, for this tender, loyal prophet writes much on Israel's future restoration. The olive tree will have the natural branches grafted in again (Romans 10-11) and the restoration of Israel will be glorious. Often the prophets looked beyond their current situations, down the path of 2500 years or more to the great fulfilment of the work God was doing in the fullness of time. We need to very careful with key words in the Prophets, words like “Then”, “After this”, “At that time”, “In the last days”, “In those days”, “In the latter days”, “in that day”. They are usually the signals that the time being spoken of, is not in the prophet’s day but way down to the future, most often, at the end of the Great Tribulation and the start of the Millennium. They nearly always concern God’s earthly people, the Jews, in restoration and blessing.
Israel’s blessings are always in the land, never in the heavens, for it is the Church that has the heavenly blessings. The land is for Israel. When God blessed the Jews, He blessed the land. When they sinned, he judged them but always in the land, droughts, failed crops, etc., and the worst judgement was when God expelled Israel from the land. When God restores the Jews in a coming day the land will be so blessed that the mountains drip sweet wine and the land will produce abundantly. The growth is so productive that the planter will overtake the reaper.
In verse 14 they are addressed as “faithless sons” and all their history has shown that to be true. It was only a matter of weeks before the company redeemed by the Passover lambs of Exodus 12, turned to idolatry at the very time Moses was receiving the word of God in Sinai. The Jews will continue as faithless sons right up to the point when the Holy Spirit takes them up during the Great Tribulation to bring them out as a faithful, loyal company to Jehovah their God, to a restored Israel which is the message here in Jeremiah.
The “Then” of verse 15 is wonderful, for Israel will have, for the first time, shepherds who will care for their flock in the fear of the Lord, dispensing proper knowledge and understanding. That will be a time of blessing beyond description. We know that in the Millennium the knowledge of the Lord will be as the waters that cover the sea. {{Habakkuk 2:14 “(For) The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”}}. At present it is the exact opposite.
Israel’s faithful shepherds will be filled with the Holy Spirit. How glorious. Ezekiel speaks of the faithless shepherds that inhabited Israel/Judah in his day, and these men will be sorrowfully accountable one day because it was through them the people perished for lack of knowledge as they turned to idols. Shepherds had a high responsibility and they failed. God spoke strongly against Israel’s shepherds –
(a). EZEKIEL 34:1-4 THE HYPOCRITES OF THE SHEPHERDS EXPOSED AND CONDEMNED
{{“Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “WOE, SHEPHERDS OF ISRAEL WHO HAVE BEEN FEEDING THEMSELVES! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost, but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”}}. What gross hypocrites. They used their advantage to prosper themselves. God HATES false judges and false shepherds. They will be judged severely.
(b). EZEKIEL 34:5-6 THE FRUIT OF THE EVIL SHEPHERDS’ FAILURE – THE RAVAGING OF THE FLOCK
{{THEY WERE SCATTERED FOR LACK OF A SHEPHERD, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”}}. God says, “MY flock” and these false shepherds will be held accountable. The shepherds and rulers of Israel in the time of the prophets will face great judgement one day.
(c). EZEKIEL 34:7-10 THE SHEPHERDS JUDGED AND CONDEMNED. GOD WILL DEMAND AN ACCOUNT FROM THEM!
{{Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: “As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock - therefore, you shepherds, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD: ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I shall demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep so the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I shall deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.’”}}. “Hear the word of the LORD – God’s voice is firm and final.
(d). EZEKIEL 34:11-15 THE LORD WILL GATHER HIS FLOCK AND WILL SHEPHERD HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
{{Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I MYSELF will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I WILL BRING THEM OUT FROM THE PEOPLES AND GATHER THEM FROM THE COUNTRIES AND BRING THEM TO THEIR OWN LAND and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I WILL FEED MY FLOCK AND I WILL LEAD THEM TO REST,” DECLARES THE LORD GOD.}}. That passage is consistent with so many Jeremiah passages that talk about the Lord gathering His people from every nation to bring them into the land in great blessing. That will happen just after the Second Coming.
(e). EZEKIEL 34:22-24 THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WILL BE THE CHIEF SHEPHERD OF HIS SHEEP, ISRAEL
{{“Therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another. Then I WILL SET OVER THEM ONE SHEPHERD, MY SERVANT DAVID, and he will feed them. He will feed them himself and be their shepherd, and I, the LORD, will be their God, AND MY SERVANT DAVID WILL BE PRINCE AMONG THEM. I, the LORD, have spoken.}}. David here is the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is David’s descendant. God will ensure the most tender Shepherd, the Good and Chief Shepherd reigns over them. That will be in the Millennium.
This Ezekiel passage matches Jeremiah 3:15. What a glorious time it will be when the Bridegroom of the Church will also be the Shepherd of restored Israel. Ezekiel was disgusted with the nation’s shepherds, God more so, for shepherding demands a great responsibility. Jeremiah frequently speaks of shepherds as we will see, but a parallel passage to the Ezekiel one is found in Jeremiah chapter 23. Far too many are unfaithful, and in today’s churches there are so many in positions as so called pastors and ministers, vicars, priests and reverends who are no better than the false shepherds of Israel. Look out, for God will judge you. On the other hand, how wonderful it is to have in the fellowship, men who are true shepherds, and who feed the flock with the best of the word of God that they themselves have mined from the word, and delight in setting out the spiritual meals before the sheep. These are the men who will always be vigilant in guarding the flock, who love the flock, prepared to lay down their lives for the welfare of the sheep. How many have a shepherd’s heart today? Why, not many I feel.
Then in verses Jeremiah 3:16-18, God draws the veil to reveal the glories of the future. We mentioned earlier the key phrases you look for that immediately move you to the future for Israel, and each verse here begins with two of those phrases – “in those days” (16 and 18) and “at that time” (17). The view God is giving is of blessed Israel in the future after the Tribulation has ended, and the Lord Jesus Christ reigns from Jerusalem when He will be King over the whole earth (Zechariah 14:4, 9, 16-17).
A person may have a photo of a loved one that is kept close as a reminder of a precious relationship. It is the means of recall. God instructed Moses in the building of the Ark of the Covenant, and when the Tabernacle was finished, God dwelt among His people in the display of His glory. He was pleased to dwell with His people Israel. The Ark of the Covenant served as the “photo” for Israel of the Lord’s presence, yet absent at the same time. Verse 16 tells us that when Israel has multiplied (and it will, for God will bring in all the redeemed Jews from all over the world), and is settled in her land, then there will be no reminder of the Ark. In fact, it won’t even be mentioned; it won’t even be recalled in the memory; they will not miss it, and it shall never be made again.
What this means is that there will never be any need anymore, of the “photo”, for the True Ark will be dwelling in their midst. The Lord Jesus Christ will be in presence among them. He is the Shepherd of Israel. A similar thought applies to the church today. The blessed Saviour has given as memorial to us, the Lord’s Supper which is the reminder weekly of His body and blood given sacrificially for us. As long as we are here we remember Him in these symbols but there is coming a day when in His presence, we have no more need of this memorial because we shall see Him as He is. His scars will be the reminder of His passion eternally, and the current bread and wine will be forgotten and not be missed.
Another beautiful, future truth is contained in verse 17. There are two main themes in this verse. The first is that Jerusalem is where the Throne of the Lord will be, and all nations will gather to it. This will be in the Millennium when the One upon the Throne is the King of Israel. {{Zechariah 14:16-17 “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths, and it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”}} This is when the Lord Jesus Christ rules over the earth and all will be peace and goodness. Isaiah chapter 11 is one of the many descriptions of conditions at that time. The second theme in this verse is very pertinent. Israel shall never more walk after the stubbornness of its evil heart. Heart is singular for it is one nation, an accumulated willfulness from a single national departure from what is good. Israel and Judah were stubborn to the extreme, a condition addressed frequently by all the prophets. It is as if the whole contamination was one, one evil heart. However in the restoration in the Millennium, all that will be gone, forever blotted out never to be recalled again. God is good to Israel. God is good to us.
Verse 18 deals with the ingathering of the Jews who are saved during the Tribulation when the Lord begins to graft back in the natural branches of the olive tree (see Romans 10 and 11), and all the descendants of Jacob will be one, (They were divided into Israel and Judah, though at the time of Jeremiah, only Judah remained), restored and settled in their land forever. Isaiah also mentions this – {{Isaiah 11:13 “Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart and those who harass Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah and Judah will not harass Ephraim.”}} Just so many of the prophets deal with this restoration that I have prepared a separate appendix on this matter. Some of these postings are in my series on SermonCentral called “ESCHATOLOGY, RAPTURE, BIBLE PROPHECY and CURRENT AFFAIRS”.
However in this verse the focus is on the gathering from the north and the settling in the land given to Abraham and confirmed many times thereafter as the inheritance for Jacob. In a broad sense the “land of the north” will cover all points of the northerly compass from the north-west taking us to western Europe, to the north-east which is northern Asia and the Russian federation. Of course we know that the Jewish saints will come into Israel from all over the world as indicated by this verse – {{Isaiah 11:12 and He will lift up a standard for the nations and will assemble the banished ones of Israel and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”}} - but I will just mention one reference related to the north – {{Isaiah 11:16 “There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left, just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.”}}
