Fears and Sound Advice

Jeremiah 38:14-28 

14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me."

15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, "As the LORD lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life."

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. 18 But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.'"

19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me."

20 But Jeremiah said, "They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has shown me: 22 'Now behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say:

"Your close friends have set upon you
And prevailed against you;
Your feet have sunk in the mire,
And they have turned away again."

23 'So they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.'"

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. 25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, 'Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,' 26 then you shall say to them, I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan's house to die there.'"

27 Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. 28 Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

Scripture records for us king Zedekiah's fears and the prophet Jeremiah's godly advice in the face of Judah’s imminent defeat by Babylon.  The king brought the prophet from his holding cell (the prison court) to ask him to speak plainly the word of the LORD.  Jeremiah hesitated and told Zedekiah that he knew the king would either have him killed or would ignore the sound advice from God as before.  The king reassured him that he would not be killed or handed over to those who had him thrown in prison before and wanted him dead instead.  He secretly promised by the LORD who “made our very souls” that he would not allow these things to happen to Jeremiah if he just told all that God said.  The same message which God had already spoken by His messenger was then repeated, that they must go peacefully into captivity and escape destruction by fire and the sword of death.  A sure and inescapable judgment was looming before them and a decision to listen to God was the choice hanging in the balance for their future, and surrender was the only course to take to believe and receive the word of God by this choice as an act of trusting obedience.  This is a shadow of our offer of eternal deliverance in believing and receiving Christ by faith as our obedience to His word and will and and our work (John 1:12, 6:29).  Certain eternal destruction is the result of disbelieving and rejecting the message or shooting the messenger.  Zedekiah told Jeremiah not to tell anyone who asked what their conversation was about the message, however, and the messenger agreed and did as the king asked.  This was not so much as to save his own life as it was a knowledge that the others would continue to reject the message and then kill him.  He did not cast such pearls before the swine, but bided his time in the prison yard until Jerusalem was taken soon afterwards.  The gospel is sound advice which commands us to surrender our works and lives and trust God’s work in Christ for life alone, no matter how dire the thought of stopping our fight to earn our deliverance my be.  We are to do as Judah was commanded and lay down our lives by faith in God’s word to find them delivered in that surrender (Luke 9:24).  In the midst of our fears we are offered sound advice to act on for victory which is to allow our wills to be defeated.  May all who have not yet done so who read this passage do so and live! 

A Helping Hand

Jeremiah 38:1-13 

1 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD: He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.' 3 Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.'"

4 Therefore the princes said to the king, "Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm."

5 Then Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you." 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

7 Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, 8 Ebed-Melech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying: 9 "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city." 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies." 11 So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 

12 Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes." And Jeremiah did so. 13 So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

Jeremiah was once more thrown in the dungeon by those who refused and rejected God’s word through him because they did not like to hear His judgment on them.  Many still respond to the gospel this way because people don’t want to be accountable for their sin inherited from Adam and added to by their own corrupt hearts, and therefore reject the facts of the bad news of their condition and refuse to hear the good news of God’s deliverance offered His way alone.  These wanted to fight the word of God and the government coming into power to stay in Jerusalem instead of facing their just due in the captivity in Babylon for a while.  God made it clear that those who stayed would die, just as those refusing the gospel will die spiritually forever in the punishment holding them accountable for disbelief and disobedience.  The leaders wanted the death penalty for Jeremiah because the message he brought was in their eyes for harm and not the good of the people.  They did not really accept or grasp that it was the word of the LORD and not the messenger so they wanted to take out their hatred and anger on him instead.  They’re chucked him into the empty well of the king’s son into the deep mud until a servant of the king intervened on Jeremiah’s behalf.  This Ethiopian man spoke directly to the king of what evil the princes had done and pointed out that Jeremiah would die of hunger there.  The king heard and ordered the man to take thirty men to lift him out of the deep well so he did not die there.  Certainly it would not take thirty to lift one man no matter how deep he had sunk to be stuck in the mud; he ordered that many to ensure nobody tried to interfere with the rescue, knowing the ones who did this were set on the death of the prophet to silence God’s word.  Jeremiah was rescued and then stayed in the prison court for a while.  We see how the LORD delivers and how He judges people according to his word and character.  Of these things we can be sure as we anchor our hope in Him for deliverance from our sin and wicked men alike (Psalm 140:1, Hebrews 6:19, 2 Thessalonians 3:2).  May we be like the Ethiopian servant who speaks up with a helping hand for the deliverance of the godly and stand valiantly for the truth of God’s word, for many are not valiant for God’s truth (Jeremiah 9:3). 

The Vain Hope Against God’s Word

Jeremiah 37:1-21 

(2 Kin. 24:17; 2 Chr. 36:10)

1 Now King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the LORD which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Pray now to the LORD our God for us." 4 Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. 5 Then Pharaoh's army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: "Behold, Pharaoh's army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire."' 9 Thus says the LORD: 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely depart from us," for they will not depart. 10 For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.'"

11 And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 12 that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. 13 And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are defecting to the Chaldeans!"

14 Then Jeremiah said, "False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him.

So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. 15 Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.

16 When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, 17 then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?"

And Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!"

18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land'? 20 Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there."

21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

Zedekiah's vain hope for deliverance was against God’s word spoken through Jeremiah to him and all Judah.  He continued to hold to a false expectation of the Egyptian army keeping them safe as false prophets had cried prosperity contrary to the clear message of accountability and captivity in Babylon.  This is just like those today who heap up teachers of empty prosperity giving the ear a tickle (2 Peter 2:1, 18, 2 Timothy 4:3-4) to believe what pleases the hearer instead of acknowledging the sovereignty of the Lord’s plan and glorifying God according to his word.  They imagine God is only love and cheap grace and overlook His hatred of sin and the judgment to come (Acts 24:25) with only one route of escape by faith in and following Christ alone (John 5:24).  Jeremiah was imprisoned for telling the harsh truth of the judgment to come as the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) for God’s people, even after the king disregarded his words and yet still asked him to pray for them to the LORD their God.  They wanted to be identified with God and protected from their enemies while not listening to or following His word to them.  God sent the Egyptian army back and opened the door for the neighboring Chaldeans to take over.  When Jeremiah went to claim the land in Benjamin’s territory which he had earlier purchased by faith in the face of invasion (Jeremiah 32:6-7, 12-15, 17, 27) because he believed the word of the LORD in the face of dire circumstances as an example to others around him like King Zedekiah.  This proved to be a testimony against the king and his followers, unfortunately.  It is a reminder to us to trust God no matter the adversity of the world situation and unrest.  We live and walk with Him by faith that knows His character and word, and do not walk by the sight of our own limited abilities.  The word of the LORD to Zedekiah was deliverance into bondage, but for us now the good news (gospel) to counter such bad news is the deliverance from out of sin’s bondage by Christ’s work on the cross.  We are born into Babylon in a sense (Galatians 1:4, 1 Peter 5:13) and brought out in the timing of the Lord after enduring correction to repentance in our sin to faith in Him.  Such grace!  Just as Jeremiah was cast into jail for trusting the LORD and His word, we may be also.  If so, let us rejoice to suffer for His name as in Acts 5:41 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  Yes, we can learn much about following God’s word and accepting adversity instead of fighting for our rights and expecting God to keep us out of corrective circumstances with trust for Him to deliver us in His time and not by our demands.  Jeremiah trusted and was brought through the trials.  We can also walk by faith and accept the good as well as the bad as Job 2:10 gives us the further example.  God works all for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28) according to his word and for His sovereign pleasure as our Lord.  Only trust Him and refuse the vain hope opposed to His word as prosperity health and wealth teachers would lead us astray with. 

Rejecting God’s Word

Jeremiah 36:20-32 

20 And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. 23 And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe's knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25 Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.

27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: 28 "Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, 'Thus says the LORD: "You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?'" 30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: "He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed."'"

32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.

The king of Judah rejected God’s word and suffered the consequences.  He began listening to the words through the written account of His conversation with Jeremiah and quickly cut off the reading by grabbing the scribes knife (used to sharpen reed pens) and slicing the scroll before tossing the word of God away like garbage into the raging fire.  He then watched it burn to ashes as of that would make God’s convicting words go away.  The king and princes around him were unmoved and without the fear of God by hearing the reading against their sin because they had utterly rejected the LORD and His word.  People continue to do this to the present time and will err in the same way with deaf ears and blinded eyes until the Lord returns in judgment as they continue to deny their condemnation in those words which they ignore and cast away as if they can escape by forced ignorance.  We are all still held to account for our rejection or acceptance of the Lord according to His word.  That never changes.  The king further tried to stop God’s instruments by seizing Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, “but the LORD hid them.”  Yes, some are martyred for their testimony of God’s word through the ages and some are protected and delivered according to his word and will for other purposes until He calls them home.  These two were delivered to write the book of Jeremiah again so that the generations then and since have it for our instruction and warning (1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4).  The LORD always preserves His word so that we are all informed of our accountability and that we may know Him through grace and forgiving mercy.  His word presents the bad news of our hopeless state of sin and judgment, but also shows the good news of His hope-filled reconciling gospel grace.  The penalty for the king to reject God and His word was the punishment of destruction and death.  Such also is what we all face while under the condemnation of His word according to our sin unless saved by Him according to the hearing of His word (John 3:18-20, 5:24).  The word of God is to be heard so that it may penetrate our hearts and minds through opened ears and eyes, resulting in conviction which cuts our hearts and causes repentance through faith in the Lord and acceptance of Him and His word to our deliverance from justice and judgment.  This is the gospel to be accepted or rejected.  Who would want to cast it aside like trash to burn as they did in the early reformation or mock God and ignore the dire warnings?  Remember this example from scripture to remind ourselves and others the terrible and lasting results of rejecting God’s word. 

God’s Word of Judgment is for Repentance

Jeremiah 36:1-19

1 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 2 "Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the LORD. 6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD's house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. 7 It may be that they will present their supplication before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people." 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.

9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD's house, in the hearing of all the people.

11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the book, 12 he then went down to the king's house, into the scribe's chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13 Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, "Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come." So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 And they said to him, "Sit down now, and read it in our hearing." So Baruch read it in their hearing.

16 Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, "We will surely tell the king of all these words." 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, "Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?"

18 So Baruch answered them, "He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book."

19 Then the princes said to Baruch, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are."

The words which God spoke to Jeremiah were against all who had sinned against Him, of Israel, Judah, and all the nations.  God’s word of judgment is for repentance to all, not condemnation (2 Peter 3:9, John 3:17).  Jeremiah was faithful to risk his life in faithfully speaking those words and having them transcribed in case something happen to him and for permanency of the conversation meant for all to hear, read, and take to heart.  God therefore had His word recorded to avoid any doubt and to demonstrate His desire to forgive the sin of their hearts and minds if they turned from sin to follow and worship Him according to His word and not their own definition of what was right in the justifiable rationalization of their hearts and minds for outright disobedience.  Like the apostle Paul centuries later, Jeremiah employed a scribe, Baruch, to capture all that the LORD had been speaking to and through Jeremiah all those years to ensure they would be reminded of what they heard as well as for our learning throughout time.  Because he was in confinement still, he had the scribe also act as his messenger ambassador to take the book into the house of the LORD to be read aloud that there would be no doubt of what God had said.  That is echoed in today’s reading and exposition of scripture in our churches as Ezra also gave example in Nehemiah 8:8.  He had it read on a day of fasting because that is when the people would be reflecting on the LORD and his word in their lives, just as now we attend church with a heightened sense and attentive ear to hear from the Lord in our worship.  God’s intent was that they would hear and be cut to the heart (Acts 2:37) as they considered the evil of their ways and His right wrath on their unconfessed and unrepentant hearts and minds (Romans 2:5-11).  The people then heard God’s judgment and call to repentance to escape His wrath to all who came to Jerusalem for the national day of fasting.  When Michaiah heard these things he went to the king’s house and repeated them to all who were there as well.  They sent for Baruch to bring the scroll of Jeremiah to them and had him read it from the source as we read from scripture now in expository preaching and teaching to avoid human errancy.  They looked at each other most likely in some fear of the LORD, and planned to take the word of God to the king to hear.  They first asked Baruch how he came to write the words and learned they were told directly to him by God’s messenger and were directly transcribed to scroll by him as heard.  Such is the overall method by which we have all of the Bible now from Genesis to Revelation as 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21 remind us.  The message of God’s words to us remains unchanged in the reality of the bad news of His wrath on the sin of us all (Romans 3:20, 23) and the deliver from that just sentence by the forgiveness of the good news of His grace on the cross to atone for us.  The good news is predicated on the acceptance of the bad news and our response by God given faith in repentance to turn from sin to follow and worship Him; there can be no good news (gospel) without understanding the bad news first.  This is the intended result of reading and hearing scripture, for God’s word of judgment is for our repentance from all nations (Galatians 3:28-29).  May all who hear God through His word take heed and respond accordingly! 

Example of the Obedient Rechabites

Jeremiah 35:1-19 

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 "Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink."

3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, 4 and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. 5 Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, "Drink wine."

6 But they said, "We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever. 7 You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.' 8 Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, 9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. 10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, 'Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.' So we dwell at Jerusalem."

12 Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, 13 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "Will you not receive instruction to obey My words?" says the LORD. 14 "The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father's commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me. 15 I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.' But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. 16 Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me."'

17 "Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.'"

18 And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, 19 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever."'"

The obedient Rechabites listened to their father Jonadab to live apart from the rest of disobedient Judah by not indulging in houses or any permanent thing as long as God’s people were being disciplined by temporary bondage in Babylon.  They waited for the city and dwelling of God to come as promised, a shadow and picture of our heavenly kingdom promised us in Christ as Abraham had done (Hebrews 11:9-10, 16).  As sojourners and pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11-12) we imitate their example to wait for what city He will provide for our permanent residence.  The Rechabites waited for the earthly Jerusalem as we await the Celestial City to come down from heaven where we will worship God also, but in His very presence!  God had sent prophets like Jeremiah who rose early to give enough time of warning speeches to the people, but few listened except the Rechabites who are a picture and type of believers in Christ the Branch of our righteousness.  The road is narrow leading to life for those given ears to hear and wide to destruction for those who refuse to hear.  The judgment therefore fell on all Judah who rejected the words of life (Acts 5:20) when He called but the obedient ones who listened and acted by faith were guaranteed a legacy and inheritance in the LORD.  The gospel call is to do as John 6:29 tells to do God’s work of faith in what He sent the prophets and the final prophet Jesus the Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2) in believing and receiving, not rejecting, His word (John 1:12) like the Rechabites had done.  Faith and grace abound in God’s calling and work for His people as we see here and in the larger picture of the narrow path to life in eternity before the face of our our God at last. 

Reciprocity of Treacherous Treatment

Jeremiah 34:8-22 

8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: 9 that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage. 10 Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.

12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, 14 "At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you." But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. 15 Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 16 Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.'

17 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,' says the LORD—to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— 19 the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth. 21 And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army which has gone back from you. 22 Behold, I will command,' says the LORD, 'and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.'"

Here is the reciprocity of the treacherous treatment of the indentured servants of Judah.  God’s people had promised by covenant to follow His word in releasing their Jewish slaves by publicly broadcasting their liberty, but then just as quickly went back on their word.  Their word of this covenant promise was despised and they did what they wanted instead at the expense of their brothers and sisters that they might have free help and not work themselves.  There is a rough analogy with those in our own recent past who held their brothers and sisters in forced servitude but with even harsher treatment of them and defiance of God as if justified in His name and made each other to think that this was the same situation as in Israel’s past, which it clearly was not without hope of reprieve.  They also will be held accountable.  Judah’s rulers and the people justified breaking covenant with God to suit their own desires for their ease at other’s expense and God held them reciprocally to account by sending them into bondage as slaves of unbelievers.  He reminded them of their past bondage in Egypt symbolic of sin’s grasp and their deliverance by His mercy and good will of grace for them.  They were reminded of how they could accept the temporary service of a fellow Jew for only six years and then release them on the seventh because that was as their enslavement in Egypt and His deliverance from harsh bondage.  They had disobeyed and disregarded His words until recently when they agreed to go back to doing what His word required and which they had promised to keep, yet still they went back to disobedience and dishonor of God and man as breaking the first and second greatest commandments (Mark 12:30-31, Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, Galatians 5:13-14).  Because they refused to grant liberty in return for their own, the LORD gave them the liberty of enslavement as they had done for their disobedience, yet still with a future hope of redemption (Hebrews 10:29, 8:9-10).  For the immediate future the people were handed over for corrective discipline to Babylon as slaves according to His word.  Their city of worship, Jerusalem, was burned and would need to be rebuilt later because of their unforgiving and disobedient hearts.  This is how we all are under the bondage of sin until the gospel promise gives us liberty (Romans 6:16-18, 8:21, 2 Corinthians 3:17).  Romans 6:22-23 reminds us that we have been set free from the enslavement of sin to be willing Bondservants of righteousness in Christ.  Let us not go back on this new covenant by mistreatment of our brothers and sisters therefore.  Remember the reciprocity of treachery and hold fast to doing what is right according to His word of forgiveness and grace to us.

A Word of Warning and Hope

Jeremiah 34:1-7 

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.'"' 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: 'You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, "Alas, lord!" For I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.'"

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

The word of the LORD is absolute in His warning to king Zedekiah.  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had all,the surrounding countries in subjection and now fought to take Jerusalem and the remaining part of Judah still left as God had already given them to his control for their rebellion against Him.  Jeremiah therefore approached the king of Judah with the news of their impending captivity yet again.  He added how Jerusalem would not only be captured, but also razed and burned because of their continued sin and idolatry of worshiping dead gods instead of their living one.  He would be given into Nebuchadnezzar‘s hands and he would face the conqueror and consequences personally.  In spite of this bad news, the good news was that the king of Judah would be spared the punishment of death and later die peacefully with a king’s honor and remembrance.  The fighting went on before this, however, until only two fortified cities around Jerusalem were left at this point in the historical account of this chapter.  The final day of judgment approached God’s people.  We read this history of God’s people and wonder what we can learn for ourselves.  One thing is that God’s final judgment comes according to His word in His time and not by our prediction or rationale by assuming what we believe we deserve or claiming our own deliverance as we would like it instead of as God tells us.  Another thing to learn is that though as His chosen people we face the punishment of bondage for our sin (Romans 6:23), there is deliverance which then keeps us in His grace and honor because of His word and work.  In Christ we have been set free from the justice of judgment (Romans 3:20) on our sin embedded in our souls by inheritance from birth (Romans 5:14), yet we have also been predetermined to the grace of forgiveness (Romans 8:30, Ephesians 1:11) in Him with a future and hope of eternal life to see our King of kings and Lord of lords face to face at last (Job 19:26-27, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Revelation 22:3-4) as we heeded the word of warning and turned from sin to Him in the repentance of faith in His word of the gospel hope and redeeming work on the cross! 

God's Certain Unbreakable Covenant

Jeremiah 33:19-26 

19 And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 "Thus says the LORD: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'"

23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 "Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, 'The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off'? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.

25 "Thus says the LORD: 'If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.'"

God made a certain covenant with His people as a picture of the New Covenant to come through the Branch of David’s physical lineage and God’s own spiritual lineage according to His word by His Messiah and enabled by His Spirit who hovered over the creation in the beginning and does so now over His new creation (Genesis 1:1-2, Galatians 2:20, John 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17).  He made this ironclad agreement with Himself as He did when making us in His image (Genesis 1:26), here giving the sworn affidavit of His word concerning the permanence of creation itself as proof.  He states clearly that His people cannot break what covenant agreement He has made.  If we can stop the earth from turning to end the days and nights and all other celestial bodies from their courses, only then could the covenant which the LORD makes be broken, for He has made a covenant with His creation to continue as it is set in place no matter what we attempt to do to stop it.  This is Gods analogy of how we are unable to nullify His covenant of grace for our eternal salvation.  He will not take it away once given and we are utterly powerless to do so either.  Our standing in the New Covenant in the Branch of God’s righteousness in Christ is safe and secure from all alarms of worry or sin which we ever conjure up to the contrary.  He works, and who can reverse it (Isaiah 43:13)?  Nobody can snatch us from His hand, and He has promised not to let us go.  That is what God’s word tells us is so.  In His great mercy He delivers from the bondage of captivity to sin we are born in as He did with Israel even when despised by others, and then seals us as His (Ephesians 1:13-14) and keeps us in Christ’s righteousness (Romans 5:17, 21, 8:10).  He world despises and mocks us when we fail amen fall into sin, but we are still secure in Him according to His word (Hebrews 8:25, 28, 10:35, 39, 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7, 10) of this absolutely certain and unbreakable covenant!  This is God's Certain Unbreakable Covenant in the Branch of David who is Christ our righteousness.  

The LORD Our Righteousness

Jeremiah 33:1-18 

1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): 3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

4 "For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: 5 'They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. 6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. 8 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 and by which they have transgressed against Me. 9 Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.'

10 "Thus says the LORD: 'Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, "It is desolate, without man and without beast"—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, 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 will say:

"Praise the LORD of hosts,
For the LORD is good,
For His mercy endures forever"—

and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,' says the LORD.

12 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,' says the LORD.

14 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

15 'In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
A Branch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
16 In those days Judah will be saved,
And Jerusalem will dwell safely.
And this is the name by which she will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'

17 "For thus says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.'"

Omnipotent work of the restoration of God’s people is the theme here.  The LORD our righteousness is the one doing this work to ransom His people of His hand’s making from their captivity and bondage to sin.  This is possible because there is absolutely nothing too difficult for Him to do as the Creator and Sustainer (Colossians 1:17) of all things.  This almighty God commanded Jeremiah to call out to Him for that deliverance in response to his declared faith in Jeremiah 32:17 where the prophet declared this truth of God’s ability to Him as an assent to a statement of fact and no mere wish of human hope.  The working of God is far greater than he or we can even begin to imagine in His magnificent answers in seemingly impossible ways.  The people had given up even their houses as a defense against the siege mounds of their attackers seemingly in vain as they were defeated, yet their hope was in God’s promise to deliver and return them and rebuild their city that they might again worship Him as before they backslid into sin.  He promise the impossible to bring healing and reveal to them the abundance of peace with God and give understanding of His truth to live by once more, just as He had promised to write His law in their hearts and dwell in them (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 10:16-17) in the days to come which we see fulfilled ultimately in Christ and the Helper He left when He ascended into heaven once more (John 14:16-17, 26, Acts 1:4-5).  He promised not only to pardon their sin and release them from its sentence of death, but also to do good to them by His unmerited grace of goodness by His love so that they could honor and praise Him as a witness to all around them.  Such is the gospel call and promises for all God’s people in Christ which are yes and amen even now.  Such is our witness of His grace and redemption to the end of the earth as well that many may glorify and honor His name above all others (Philippians 2:9-11).   He is the branch of righteousness referred to here to execute His divine justice and His righteousness in all the earth to deliver His people in bondage to sin.  His name is YHWH Tsidkenu, the LORD who is our righteousness, for we have none of our own unless imputed by Christ the LORD to us who are found in Union with Him (Colossians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 1:30).  The King and High Priest promised through the lineage of David is Jesus the Christ who is the Branch of God’s righteousness of promise in whom we stand!  This LORD is our only righteousness; we neither have nor can earn our own.  We stand therefore in Christ alone by faith alone according to His word alone for God’s glory alone!  Call to Him and He will show you these great and mighty things wrought by His hand on the cross which we cannot know apart from Him revealing them to us (Matthew 11:27, Luke 24:31-32). 

Assurance of the Remnant’s Return

Jeremiah 32:26-44 

26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? 28 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 29 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; 30 because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,' says the LORD. 31 'For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'

36 "Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, 'It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'

42 "For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans." 44 Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,' says the LORD."

The LORD gave assurance according to His word through Jeremiah to His people that though they earned His wrath, they would be shown mercy and be brought back to the city consumed by their idolatry and sinful disobedience.  He spelled out their abomination of putting dead gods in the house of the LORD who alone was to be worshiped, a sin breaking the very first commandment written in stone for them to be able to be constantly reminded of throughout all their generations.  They had not only desecrated the house of God, but also their own dwellings by burning incense to Baal and made offerings to other nonexistent lifeless things they made offerings to as replacements for the living God who delivered them from bondage.  Yes, the city meant to be a place of the house of His worship was made so filthy that God had it burned and razed to the ground that He might begin all over again with them.  He had taught them from the rising of each day’s sun, yet still they turned their back to Him in defiance instead of their faces in worship which we are to do as living sacrifices and offerings (Romans 12:1) to honor and glorify the only God who created us and all the heavens (Genesis 2:1, 1 Chronicles 16:26).  God’s house was made into the likeness of their own houses, an abomination full of sin and idolatry in their covetousness (Colossians 3:5).  They caused each other to sin throughout their generations by these acts of rebellious sin against Him.  Therefore, God handed over that city meant to be a center of worship into the hands of the enemy, Babylon.  But hope was given along with that sentence, a hope that He would bring back a remnant to Jerusalem after their humbling discipline was complete.  They would then be safe from judgment as His people and as their God He would give them one way of unity in Union with Him, a foreshadowing of our Union with Christ as a united people from both Jew and Gentile.  The promise was to be an everlasting one, which is only In Christ, with the fear and awe of Him engraved on our hearts.  He would do all for His people’s good (Romans 8:28) and for His glory.  He promised this with all His heart and soul!  The contrast of the enormity of their punishment would be the infinite grace showered on them in this new covenant.  That was written for our warning and example, and for our future and hope. 

Jeremiah’s Deed of Faith

Jeremiah 32:1-25 

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye; 5 then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him," says the LORD; "though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed"'?"

6 And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 7 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, "Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it."' 8 Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. 9 So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. 10 And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. 11 So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; 12 and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

13 "Then I charged Baruch before them, saying, 14 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days." 15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."'

16 "Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: 17 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. 18 You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 19 You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 20 You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself a name, as it is this day. 21 You have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22 You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—"a land flowing with milk and honey." 23 And they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.

24 'Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! 25 And You have said to me, O Lord GOD, "Buy the field for money, and take witnesses"!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

Jeremiah bought a deed for land given over to the enemy with a hope on a return in the future according to the word of the LORD in spite of the circumstances which made it appear a lost cause to ever be back to claim it.  While imprisoned, he was told by God that Babylon would come and carry the king and them away into captivity.  Fighting against the Babylonians would be fruitless and hopeless because God had given them over into the enemy’s hands for a set time due to their continuing sin against Him.  Jeremiah was offered a plot of land as was his right in line of succession to buy nearby and he did so against all visible odds of ever possessing it.  He did so because God had told him ahead of time so it was clear that was God’s will and he could be assured that because the LORD said it, that inheritance would come to pass in due time.  The prophet agreed and sealed the deal in front of witnesses in the prison with him as a testimony to God’s word and working to demonstrate His faithfulness and Jeremiah’s trust in that word.  Even so, Jeremiah prayed for understanding due to the uncertain circumstances surrounding the deal, yet had faith enough of what he could not see of the promise (Hebrews 11:1) to safely secure the deed in an earthen jar much like the ones the scrolls of Qumran were found in centuries afterwards.  He prayed knowing God’s sovereign omnipotent ability and saying it out loud as a reminder to himself and others to trust in spite of the odds seemingly against God’s word of promise to restore all things in the face of the mighty earthly power of Babylon.  He knew and proclaimed that there was absolutely nothing too difficult for the LORD.  That was the promise of all promises on which he stood according to His word.  He exclaimed God’s merciful lovingkindness as well as His just retribution for sin.  He is the Mighty God with the almighty name who has sovereign authority and rule over all the people He created for his glory.  He is the Mighty Counselor of Isaiah 9:6 who sees the ways and means of every heart who displayed such wonderful works to deliver His people to give them—"a land flowing with milk and honey."  But they did not obey and failed to do all He commanded.  This is why they were being disciplined in captivity to the enemy’s hand for their disobedience to correct them and restore them to their promised place of grace.  As he spoke these words and sealed the deal, the enemy was at the gates with siege walls being built to take Jerusalem.  Jeremiah cried out in wondering why he bought the land which was being just as quickly taken away, yet he also trusted God according to His word of promise.  We also know the promised eternal life and New Jerusalem with that absolute hope to come and yet often are overwhelmed by circumstances and doubts.  Then we remind ourselves that faith is something of substance we can grasp in our hands even when uncertain because God says it is proven to be true in spite of what we see or feel.  We therefore trust His word given to us just as Jeremiah did with full assurance in the face of uncertainty and visible circumstances.  Jeremiah bought a deed of faith and we have a deed of faith purchased for us by Christ Himself according to the gospel which is our certain future and hope and as a template for our gospel hope.  May we never allow circumstances or our own restorative discipline to sway us as we await the heavenly celestial city promised us by such an almighty and trustworthy sovereign who created the universe and we in His image as His chosen people!  Jesus the Christ is our deed of faith. 

The New Unbreakable Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-40

31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

35 Thus says the LORD,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The LORD of hosts is His name):

36 "If those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the LORD,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever."

37 Thus says the LORD:
"If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done, says the LORD.

38 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever."

The New Covenant promised to God’s people was to be unbreakable as later described in Hebrews 8:8-9 referencing these words of God in Jeremiah and with the writing of His word on the hearts (Hebrews 8:10) and the assurance of forgiveness of all sin in a covenant made by God with His people which replaced the old one (Hebrews 8:12-13).  This is the Messianic Hope fulfilled in Christ by a new creation as a second birth which renders the stony hearts as of the tablets of Moses into living hearts of flesh containing His moral law written by the very finger of God’s Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27, 2 Corinthians 3:3)!  They and we are to be taught by God after His word is inscribed on our souls that we might understand and follow His commandments willingly and with understanding which before was by rote and fear of the punishment of death as due judgment for failing to live by doing everything God said (Leviticus 18:5, Romans 10:5-6, Hebrews 2:15, Romans 3:27-28, 4:5).  The Law is impossible to keep by the letter in our own efforts and limited understanding, but by God’s Spirit enabling us in this new covenant we can please God by believing and trusting His word implanted in us.  Israel broke the old covenant by continuing to reject the LORD and His word, but to know Him truly requires a new birth with His word engraved on our souls by an unbreakable covenant promise by God’s work and not by our own ever-failing efforts.  He never fails, and neither does His word of promise.  We fail and break our word which the old covenant required us to keep fully (James 2:10-13).  Grace and mercy have triumphed over judgment in the New Covenant of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.  Out with the Old, in with the New!  The promise then to us all in Him by faith is to know Him, be taught by Him, and to be forgiven of our sin nature (iniquity) and all our sins.  The only way this could be broken was told us as a hypothetical condition of all creation completely understood by us which means we would have to know everything which He knows, an impossible task attempted at Eden’s Garden when we tried to do this instead of being taught by God as we went along (Genesis 3:5-6, Hebrews 5:14).  God Himself would rebuild Jerusalem for Israel just as He promises the New Jerusalem for all His people whom He calls and justifies by faith in His work in the New Covenant by the Messiah Jesus.  It is this unbreakable covenant of eternal promise of life by that reconciling work of God Himself which is our eternal assurance which the old covenant that relied on our works could never earn anything but death in the end.  His mercy has triumphed over judgment! 

Backsliding, Repentance, Mercy, and Restoration

 Jeremiah 31:15-30

15 Thus says the LORD:
"A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more."

16 Thus says the LORD:
"Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope in your future, says the LORD,
That your children shall come back to their own border.

18 "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:
'You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained bull;
Restore me, and I will return,
For You are the LORD my God.

19 Surely, after my turning, I repented;
And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;
I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated,
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

20 Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For though I spoke against him,
I earnestly remember him still;
Therefore My heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.

21 "Set up signposts,
Make landmarks;
Set your heart toward the highway,
The way in which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
Turn back to these your cities.

22 How long will you gad about,
O you backsliding daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth—
A woman shall encompass a man."

23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!' 24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul."

26 After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no more:

'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

God’s people had backslidden horribly as they pursued idolatry and immortality.  Yet the LORD their Father (Jeremiah 31:9) sought them out and drew them back to Himself in mercy as they came with repentance so there could be restoration from their fallen state.  This is still the pattern of salvation in Christ by which we see that the gospel path has been established from the beginning according to His word and working of grace.  The prophetic message in verse 15 told of the loss of children without comfort by Rachel in Ramah, which we read in Matthew 2:16-18 as Herod murdered all male children under two years of age in a vain attempt to destroy God’s deliverance through the Messiah who is Christ Jesus.  Herod did according to this prophecy, killing the young children in an attempt to kill Jesus the Christ.  But Jesus survived, and now in Him we can wipe away the tears as we and others return from Satan's land of sin and death and eternal punishment.  We are free in Jesus and can find joy as we bear witness of that freedom from death as others come to eternal life by faith in Him (Acts 26:18).  God’s deliverance cannot be thwarted!  His word is absolute and can be relied upon to come to pass in His time and according to His word as it is written.  This is our certain hope which never fades away or can be taken from all whom He calls to Himself; not one will be lost (Matthew 18:11, 14, John 6:39-40).  Therefore we, like Israel before us, should not weep or lose hope for eternal deliverance and a kingdom which cannot fade away or be taken from us.  Our work in trusting and following Him according to His word has great reward to crown us for His glory (2 John 1:8, 1 Corinthians 3:8, Luke 6:35, Colossians 3:23-25).  When God restores us, we return in repentance through faith given by His divine work of restoration which is our regeneration and rebirth as symbolized by Israel’s return to their land and temple of worship in Jerusalem after their captivity in this passage.  God remembered and yearned for them in order to show mercy and grace.  He does so for all His people whom He has chosen and calls to Himself.  The call by Jeremiah was to repentance as coming back to the highway which they formerly had traveled towards Him and to stop hesitating in their backsliding.  He would bring them out of captivity and again hear Him say, “the LORD bless you,” as they had before.  He promised to satisfy and replenish the weary and sorrowful soul by that restorative grace.  This message gave Jeremiah peace and allowed him to sleep well again in knowing that the LORD would show mercy and restore His backsliding people to know Him through repentance as they turned back to Him from sin.  He would build them up after they had suffered for their sin but He would still hold them accountable for their iniquity if they did not turn away from it to Him.  Such is the bad and good news of the gospel message, that forgiveness and grace are results of repentance through faith in Christ and that rejection of that call to all is to remain in the judgment (John 3:18) in which we all stand from birth.  May we who trust in Him (Ephesians 1:12-14) glorify God in His calling and restoration of reconciliation by the work of Christ as we reflect on the message of Jeremiah in this passage.  Do you want peace and rest in your soul?  Would you like to awaken with a good night's sleep?  Then hear God's word anxiously, searching it out diligently, but be certain it is so you find ways to live pleasing to God by trusting His word and not just to gather facts to prove you understand intellectually.  To obey out of love means finding faith coming from God's word; faith that works out love (Ezekiel 33:30-31). 

The Remnant Drawn by Everlasting Love

Jeremiah 31:1-14 

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."

2 Thus says the LORD:
"The people who survived the sword
Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when I went to give him rest."

3 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.

5 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."

The chosen remnant of Israel was drawn by God’s everlasting love and eternal grace to find rest in Him (Hebrews 4:9-10).  They were drawn out of the darkness of sin and their idolatrous rebellion against Him and into the promised light of peace with Him according to His word which promised reconciliation and restoration by His atoning work for them.  They did not earn this by their righteous works, but were given it as a gift because the LORD set His love on them.  He promised to rebuild them, feed them, and cause them to worship Him in Zion once more after their long captivity in Babylon.  The Babylon of this present evil age, this world system given over to the adversary until Christ’s return, even this will be left behind by God’s people as He judges it in the end as the picture portrayed here with Israel.  We will be called out and restored forever just as we have already entered His kingdom of light, having been delivered out of that darkness (1 Peter 2:9-10).  Many are called by the proclamation of the gospel, yet few are chosen to enter into His kingdom.  The remnant of Israel and the nations will therefore find peace with God in the Messiah and be cared for in eternity by His restoration by atoning and reconciling grace.  That is praiseworthy and worth singing in joy for as we also proclaim, “Lord, save your people!”  He promised to gather the scattered sheep, even the lame and blind, back to Israel out of the Babylonian dispersion.  Jesus also gathered the blind and lame upon healing many of them as a further fulfillment of this promise to demonstrate His faithfulness to His people called by His love and care.  They too will enter into His kingdom with tears of joy along the river and led in the straight and narrow path of such joy of deliverance and restoration because He is their Father and ours.  The testimony to the world then was how God the Shepherd who scattered the flock will also gather them to Himself by ransoming them from the penalty of their sin and redeeming them by buying them at such a great price (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23) from the one too strong for us to pull ourselves out of that one’s grip of sin and death!  Together with Israel we will all therefore stream to God’s goodness and multiply by spreading the good news of His redemption according to this example and promise long ago.  The comfort of the Lord turns our mourning for sin and its penalty into the dancing of joyful deliverance so there will eventually be no more sorrow forever (Revelation 21:4), only rejoicing.  May we then be satisfied with His goodness and provision until that day as we live accordingly (1 Timothy 6:6) in holiness and righteousness, working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) as we realize our undeserved deliverance and expectation of unending joy in His presence as a remnant drawn by His everlasting love.