Skip to main content

Jeremiah 31:7-9 - Sing aloud with gladness - Day 215

My fellow exiles and sojourners,

I pray that today's reading is of great encouragement to you as we seek the Celestial City.  Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the prophetic curses and blessings. One minute is destruction and the next is is building up.  We have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved.  There is a tension between the "Now" and the "not yet"

Blessings,

Jeff

This chapter is absolutely stunning.  The exile is now on the doorstep and Jeremiah is given a promise of restoration of unbelievable proportions.  Something that only God could accomplish.  

Observations:

At the end of 70 years of exile, the people are to "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel."  This is the promise that is to keep them going through difficult times.

V 8&9 describe how extensive the restoration will be.  Absolutely no one will be left behind because even the least able to travel will return.  The lame and the blind will come.  Pregnant women and those in labor. (contrast with Jesus warnings about tribulation - Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Matthew 24:17-19)

The end of V9 tells us why - The Lord is a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn.  God does this not because of how Israel has reformed itself during the exile, but because of who He is.

Thoughts:

Sadly, the real return after 70 years can not be said to fit this promise.  It was in stages spread over many years.  Those who did return were not exactly joyous.

Revelation seems to have the same goal.  Between the end of apostolic age and now, the Church has been in exile in many ways.  Revelation is the promise that will keep us going until the shadowy image of Jeremiah is fully realized.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more