THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL – JEREMIAH – PART 7 – Chapters 32 and 33 – THE EVERLASTING COVENANT MEANS REGATHERING AND RESTORATION
Having ended the momentous Chapter 31 we move on. It amazes me that biblical teaching in so many churches has been reduced to 20 minutes of some placating message that is quite meaningless in the scheme of things. So many neglect the Old Testament entirely except for some “bible story”. The New Testament injunctions to study the scriptures meant to study the Old Testament for they were the early Church’s scriptures. It is little wonder that these great truths of Israel’s return and restoration are neglected at best and totally unknown at worst.
{{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.’
Jeremiah 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,
Jeremiah 32:38 AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, Jeremiah 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 2600 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 judgements 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.
VERSES 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 honouring 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,
Jeremiah 32:41 and 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.
Jeremiah 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.”}}
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? – {{Deuteronomy 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,
Jeremiah 33:2 “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name.
Jeremiah 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. Verses 1-3 are the introduction to wonderful truths this chapter contains.
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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,
Jeremiah 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:
Jeremiah 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,
Jeremiah 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,
Jeremiah 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,
Jeremiah 33:9 and 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 at His Second Coming detailed in Matthew 24 when He, Messiah Jesus, returns to the Mount of Olives. 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 honour 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, transgressed”. However, the Lord will not only forgive them but will abolish even the slightest trace of remembrance of their sin. 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,
Jeremiah 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.
Jeremiah 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.
Jeremiah 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.
The promise of restoration in verse 11 will transform the land and the people. God takes what is desolate and destroyed and makes it beautiful again. His earthly people Israel has been desolate and spiritually vacant, but when the Lord again takes them up after the removal of the Church as taught in Romans 11, He transforms them so the nation will live in joy and gladness.
All that will be possible because of this statement – “for the LORD is good, for His loving-kindness is everlasting.” His earthly people will know that in the future as the Church knows it today. It is universal for the character of God. God never works with Jew and Gentile at the same time. Now it is the Church that is in focus, but Israel is taken up after the Church goes home.
The wasted years will be redeemed and the nation established once more. The wastelands will yield abundant joy and blessings to the people. Great is the Lord who makes all things new. He did that for us when we were born again through the word of God. He will do it for Israel who also will be renewed through the living word of God.
