The Restoration Of Israel – Jeremiah – Part 1 – Chapters 3 And 4 – Truth Justice And Righteousness Series

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL – JEREMIAH – PART 1 – Chapters 3 and 4 – TRUTH JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

INTRODUCTION:- Almost every Old Testament prophet mentions the RESTORATION OF ISRAEL in his writings and some prophets major on that theme, particularly Hosea, Zechariah, Joel, Haggai, Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Israel has had a topsy-turvy history in its relationship with the Lord, and nationally, they never learned from their mistakes. It was like a constant round-a-bout of sin, partial repentance, restoration, and then sin again. Israel is just so typical of the instability that is part of the fallen nature, and that problem can only be overcome by the work of the Spirit of God. That is why the outpouring of the Spirit on the nation after the Tribulation gets a lot of mention and we shall see that.

God made large and wonderful promises to Abraham and even in the darkest periods of national history those promises were never withdrawn, for God loves His people more than we can understand. He loves that sinful, rebellious people, and they have been judged for their sin. When they lived in the land after exiting Egypt, if they sinned, God allowed their enemies to come and they suffered, then when they turned to recognise God, He delivered them, only to have the whole cycle happen again. This was seen in the time of the Judges, who were deliverers God gave His people, and beyond that even, until God said, “Enough is enough.” It was at that juncture, God gave them over to their own desire and they went into captivity in Babylon.

Israel adopted idolatry almost worse than the surrounding nations who practised it. In fact, so bad was it that Hosea had to say {{Hosea 4:17 “Ephraim is joined to idols; Let him alone.”}} That was the Northern Kingdom after the division of Jereboam but later on, Judah was just as bad.

God promised captivity for the nation over and over again because of their sin and then it happened; Israel going to Assyria and Judah going to Babylon. Even though there were partial returns to the land of Israel it was always under foreign domination right up until 1948. Promises of restoration always looked dim from the human perspective, but God’s promises will not fail and this people will be brought into amazing blessing, but unlike the Church, which is the heavenly people, Israel’s promises and blessings are in the land and will always be in the land.

There have been three returns/restorations for Israel in regards to the nation but none of those qualifies for the proper restoration God has planned for the nation. Those three are – the return to the promised land after 450 years in Egypt; the return to Jerusalem with Ezra, Jerubbabel and Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity; and the return to Palestine as a nation in 1947/8. We have completed the restoration passages from Isaiah and now turn to Jeremiah. There is extremely important material in this prophet dealing with Israel’s Restoration!

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH - WE BEGIN

{{Jeremiah 3:14 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.’ Jeremiah 3:15 Then I will give you SHEPHERDS AFTER MY OWN HEART, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding, Jeremiah 3:16 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. Jeremiah 3:17 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. Jeremiah 3:18 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.}}

The first restoration passage in Jeremiah is another remarkable one. Jeremiah seems to me to be very compassionate towards his own people and so excited about their restoration as we see when we get to the middle sections of the book. In the passage before us we have a string of prophecies that still barely touch on the multitude of blessing that the Lord will fulfill for His earthly people in the coming day. The preterists and the subscribers to Replacement Theology or Covenant Theology (supersessionism) reject the future restoration blessings of Israel and place all these prophecies either at the return from the Babylonian captivity, or simply transfer them all to the Church. They are deniers of God’s earthly people and Israel’s rightful heritage.