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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.  

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