THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL – JEREMIAH – PART 11 – Chapters 33 and 46 and 50 – THE EVERLASTING COVENANT OF SECURITY AND PEACE
We have reached the final study in this examination of Jeremiah’s teaching on the Restoration of his earthly people in the latter days. The prophet wrote about things he did not see and probably did not understand when it applied to the future. These are indicated by the use of phrases such as “In that day”, and “At that time,” etc., and by the context of the writing.
The great body of evidence from the prophetic writers dovetails perfectly, each complementing the other and each supplying just a little extra. The inspiration of the bible is remarkable.
The LORD will restore His people Israel in spite of the Islamic efforts to destroy the nation of Israel, assisted by the United Nations. God will restore His earthly people, the Jews, in the land in spite of some church teaching that the Lord has finished with Israel, and the promises for Israel are contorted in weird applications to the church, which is a disgrace really against God. God has not abandoned His people. Let us wrap up the remainder of the book.
{{Jeremiah 33:17 For thus says the LORD, ‘David SHALL NEVER LACK a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, Jeremiah 33:18 and the Levitical priests SHALL NEVER LACK a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to prepare sacrifices continually.’”}}
The skeptic may come along and say, “Well David’s throne ended when the last king was overthrown by Babylon in 587 BC.” That is partially true, and for 2 500 or more years no one has sat on David’s throne on earth, but symbolically One does sit on that throne in heaven. David’s “final” Son owns that throne and will own it forever. He will sit on the earthly throne of His father David as King of the Jews and King of Kings. He (Jesus-Jehovah) will rule as King over the whole earth.
{{Zechariah 14:9 “AND THE LORD WILL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” 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.”}}
In Matthew the ancestral line of Jesus goes back to Abraham, then through David, and this is to establish His Kingship. However that is the line of Joseph, the paternal line, but of course, Jesus was not from Joseph, and Matthew is careful to indicate that, {{Matthew 1:16 and to Jacob was born JOSEPH THE HUSBAND OF MARY, BY WHOM WAS BORN JESUS, who is called Christ.”}} The genealogy given by Luke returns to Adam, but it also carefully goes through David’s line, making the Saviour, a descendant of David through Mary. {{Luke 3:31-32 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of NATHAN, THE SON OF DAVID, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon.}} Because Christ is the eternal King, David will never lack a Man to occupy His throne.
In VERSE 18, the reference to Levitical priests is confined to priests from the tribe of Levi. Jesus descended from the tribe of Judah, and is a Priest but according to the order of Melchizadek, and in that respect, He remains a Priest forever. How then do we understand the Levitical reference? It says the Levitical priests will never lack a man and then outlines the function of those priests, which are the offerings and sacrifices. The time must be in the Millennium and beyond that, otherwise the “never lack a man” would be invalid. Ezekiel covers the Millennial Temple in great detail. These offerings and sacrifices would definitely include praise, and praise offerings, and maybe memorial offerings, but not the brazen altar for sin as it operated under the Law, for the Antitype was sacrificed at Calvary. Exactly what these offerings and sacrifices entail for Israel in its restoration, will be clear in the Millennium.
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{{Jeremiah 33:19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Jeremiah 33:20 “Thus says the LORD, If you can break My covenant for the day, and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, Jeremiah 33:21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’”}}
VERSES 19-22
When God repeats something, it means we must note that pertinent fact and take it to heart. God stated in Jeremiah 31 verses 35 and 36 that as the universe is fixed and under His control, then the covenant with Israel and all the promises for Israel will stand. It is impossible for the omnipotent God to have His universe, or the physical laws that He created, to fail, and that is the basis for His steadfast promises and prophecies for Israel not to fail.
The same facts are here stated but in a different format. In VERSE 20 it is the rotation of the earth and the revolution of the moon that are considered and if they fail to function as God intended, then so will His covenant fail, the one made with David so that a son will always be on his throne. Likewise, so too shall the appointed Levitical priests not fail. VERSE 22 is interesting because in its original form, it was given to Abraham for his descendants. Now it is being applied to David and the Levites. I think it means the same, an increase in descendants.
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{{Jeremiah 33:23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Jeremiah 33:24 “Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the LORD chose, He has rejected them?’ Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight. Jeremiah 33:25 Thus says the LORD, “If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, Jeremiah 33:26 then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I WILL RESTORE THEIR FORTUNES and will have mercy on them.’”}}
Verses 23-26
God raises with Jeremiah what the people are saying. This is just an earlier form of social media where people spend time on idle gossip and chatter, all experts in their own eyes but ignoramuses in God’s sight. The intelligentsia were certain God had rejected His people because they split in two, and because they were not one nation, then they must have been set aside by God. Man does not see as God sees, for with the Lord, His covenant has not been set aside, and only if the scientific principles that control day and night fail, only then, would God’s great covenant promises fail. It will never happen.
The descendants of Jacob and the line of David have not been rejected, and all the promises made to Abraham about 4 000 years ago will stand, and the culmination of those draws very close. God will restore the FORTUNES of His earthly people, and that does not mean treasures of gold, etc. but it means peace, joy, righteousness, productivity and possession of the land forever. They will be the recipients of God’s mercy and it will remain unbroken forever. Israel will have its land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Among Christians, only the stubborn-hearted unfortunately, do not want to recognise the restoration of Israel so clearly defined constantly in the prophets. They have schemed to try to negate Israel’s glorious future outlines from Genesis to Revelation. I wish honesty would prevail among all those who trash Israel’s promises and negate the nation. Satan does that; why should those who profess to be His followers do the same?
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{{Jeremiah 46:27 “But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear, nor be dismayed, O Israel! For see, I am going to save you from afar, and your descendants from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return and be UNDISTURBED AND SECURE, with no one making him tremble. Jeremiah 46:28 “O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the LORD, “for I am with you, for I SHALL MAKE A FULL END OF ALL THE NATIONS WHERE I HAVE DRIVEN YOU, yet I shall not make a full end of you, but I shall correct you properly and by no means leave you unpunished.”}}
Verses 27-28
This is a personal message for Israel, the descendants of Jacob. VERSE 27 begins by comforting Jacob, telling his descendants not to fear or to be disturbed at all. Then the promise is to save the Jews from even the distant places, including the nations of their captivity. Specifically these were Assyria and Babylon, and this verse may have had a dim application to that, but it must go way beyond that scenario because of the ending of verse 27. When they return, they shall be at peace, undisturbed, and no one will make them tremble. Well, that just was not the case after they returned from Babylon because they were under constant threat from their enemies, and they fell right back into sin. We are talking of the eternal rest for the nation when their Messiah reigns over them, and for that 1 000 years and then for eternity, they will NEVER be disturbed by anything. What grace is this that God gives, not for them only, but for us also.
In VERSE 28, Jacob again is told not to fear. These prophetic verses of Israel's restoration may not be especially applicable to us today, but in the Tribulation, they will be essential. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Zechariah and Ezekiel will be of great importance to the Tribulation saints. The Lord will make a full end (will end them) of the nations of the captivity (Iraq/Iran) but it extends further – “the nations where I have driven you” - Turkey, Russia, the world, etc.) for the relevance is in Zechariah 12 and 14 dealing with all the world’s nations that come against Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation, and God will annihilate those armies at Armageddon.
The Lord will never destroy Israel, BUT neither will He overlook their sin. They will be punished and I think this is the great horror they face in the Tribulation but even there, their God helps them. Then He brings them into full blessing. The way God will deal with Egypt is a bit similar.
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{{Jeremiah 50:4 “IN THOSE DAYS and AT THAT TIME,” declares the LORD, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be THE LORD THEIR GOD THEY WILL SEEK. Jeremiah 50:5 “They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction. They will come that they may JOIN THEMSELVES TO THE LORD IN AN EVERLASTING COVENANT that will not be forgotten.}}
VERSE 4 begins with two of the key phrases which place prophetic writing in the last days of the Tribulation and/or the start of the Millennium. What magnificent verses these are. The sons of Israel AND the sons of Judah, in other words, THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL will come; they will come as one for the Lord will join them as the two sticks of Ezekiel are joined. There will never be a division again forever. They will be weeping, and we can only speculate about the reason. Could it be for joy at the start of the Lord’s reign as they are going home? Could it be sorrow for their sin and all the horrible things their nation had done, and in Zechariah, we see weeping and mourning at the realisation they killed their own Messiah? They are returning to Zion to see their LORD, their God and their Messiah.
They ask the way, and we know from Isaiah that the nations which are left will help them, and take delight at helping to get these saints back to Israel. They will become willing participants in the new covenant that the Lord makes with His Jewish people. Yes, that covenant will stand forever and not crumble. For more on the covenant see Jeremiah 31 and verse 31 for the details of this new covenant.
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This ends the restoration passages from Jeremiah, that magnificent prophet who loved his own nation, and who must have taken great joy at the revelations God gave to him of the time in the future when his nation would enter into the great blessings that their restoration would bring. Amen.
