Jeremiah 30-31 • Behold, I will make a new covenant

as we get into chapter 30 of jeremiah there's a couple of things i need to let you know of just kind of to put this into a time frame context and so that we have a better understanding of what we're about to read first of all these chapters are being given or i should say the prophecies that are recorded in these chapters are being given to jeremiah while the babylonian army was outside the city walls laying siege to jerusalem by the way that final that siege of jerusalem lasted 18 months okay can you imagine being completely shut up in your city you have walls around your city you've closed them so the enemy can't get in but there's only one problem with that that means you can't get out and so they would do that back in those days when they wanted to take a city basically to starve the city out because they knew that it was only a matter of time before they would run out of food a lot of cities and jerusalem was one of them that did have water but only because hezekiah had the foresight to kind of redirect some water springs into the city and under the walls but eventually you were going to run out of food and and that would of course weaken your army so significantly that usually after a period of time the the army that was laying siege to your city would be able just to kind of waltz in and take the place without much of a fight at all anyway this is during that 18-month siege probably well we don't know exactly where when we get into chapters 32 and 33 we're going to see that that's going to be at the very end of that siege right before the city fell the other thing i want you to know before we get into these chapters is that there are many times in the bible when we read about an event that is taking place in the history or in the in the time frame of israel but that event for us becomes a picture of a larger event that is going to take place down the road uh in their history much later on for example because the fall of jerusalem that did take place in this context and the destruction of the temple that went along with it was an expression of god's wrath upon israel or in this case judah for her sin of idolatry that picture of god's wrath can easily be seen as a small picture of a larger expression of god's wrath that is going to take place during the great tribulation you get it so in other words the fall of jerusalem the destruction of the temple is a snapshot of a bigger event that's going to come later in fact hasn't happened yet but we know it's going to happen all right and in the same way the re-gathering of israel which god is going to speak about in these chapters right here you know judah is going to be taken off into exile by the babylonians and they're going to be there for 70 years but after 70 years are up god's going to bring them back to their homeland we call that the regathering after the exile or the post-exilic period of israel okay well that is a picture of a greater event still to come which is the millennial kingdom which has also not happened yet and which comes directly on the heels of the great tribulation the next events let me just let me just tell you this in god's prophetic calendar the very next event that is going to take place is the catching away of the church then the world is going to be plunged into a seven year period called the great tribulation remember that applies or that connects to a 70-year period of time of exile for the nation of israel 70 years seven years the and after the great tribulation upon the earth we have the second coming of jesus christ physically to the earth to fight on behalf of israel against her enemies god is going to prophetically speak about that in these chapters and then we have the beginning of the millennial or messianic kingdom which goes on for one thousand years which is why we call it the millennial kingdom all right and then of course after that one thousand year period satan is going to be released from his incarceration in the abyss he will be allowed to deceive the people the nations one final time to bring one final rebellion against the throne of god he will be put down quickly cast into the lake of fire and we will begin that period of time we call no time at all eternity all right when there will be a new heaven and a new earth that will be merged together god will dwell with mankind so that's kind of the time frame that we're looking at of events but the events that we're looking at here in jeremiah chapters 30 and 31 which is the fall of jerusalem and then the prophetic regathering of of of judah slash israel back to her homeland are pictures of greater events the great tribulation and the millennial kingdom we'll see how it goes as we go through here all right by the way as we go through these chapters you're going to see a a particular phrase that's that will be repeated several times and it's the phrase the days are coming so we're going to be looking at a lot of prophecy of things to come tonight verse 1 the word that came to jeremiah from yahweh the lord thus says the lord the god of israel write in a book all the words that i have spoken to you for behold days are coming declares the lord when i will restore the fortunes of my people israel and judah note that we're no longer talking about just judah in this case he says israel and judah okay there's no lost 10 tribes of israel says the lord i will bring them back to the land that i gave to their fathers and they shall take possession of it so what's going on in these first few verses jeremiah is told from the lord to write down these special prophecies that he's about to give them and that's what we're going to read about in these chapters now jeremiah wrote down all the prophecies that the lord gave him but the god but god is is telling jeremiah specifically to write down these prophecies that he's about to give them because the ones that we're going to talk about are dealing with events that go way beyond israel's history in the current day and they're going on to speak of the world's history related to the great tribulation and the millennial kingdom that's why these are so enormous these prophecies that we're about to read about transcend israel's history all right verse 4 these are the words that the lord spoke concerning israel and judah thus says the lord we have heard a cry of panic of terror and no peace ask now and see what uh he says can a man bear a child why then do i see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor why has every face turned pale alas that day is so great there is none like it it is a time of distress for jacob yet he shall be saved out of it now guys pay attention these are very important verses i want you to notice what the lord calls this time of difficulty that he makes reference to did you catch it he says well here in the esv anyway he says it's called a time of distress for jacob did you catch that well in the new king james version if you read the same verse it is referred to as the time of jacob's trouble and while this is certainly referring to the impending trouble that judah is about to go through related to the fall of jerusalem the destruction of the temple and many people dying in the babylonian invasion and then exportation of these people to the to their land it is also this term the time of jacob's trouble a reference a broader reference to the great tribulation bible teachers and bible scholars will refer to the great tribulation as the time of jacob's trouble although it is going to come upon the whole land and you'll notice the language in verse 7. did you catch the language where he says the day is so great and that word great it just means big in this case it really means terrible the he says that day is so great and look at this there is none like it in other words this terrible day that is coming which is called the day of jacob's trouble is unique there's none like it well that's what the bible also talks about related to the great tribulation that's the language of the great tribulation that the difficulty that the great tribulation is going to bring upon the earth is going to be like no other time of difficulty in man's history it will exceed all other times of difficulty but there's another key element about this terrible day of wrath and judgment that we need to see here at the end of verse seven look at the very end of the verse it says yet he and that's referring to israel shall be saved out of it now that's interesting because this also applies both to israel in the in the current context which jeremiah is living through but it also refers to the seven year great tribulation in both situations god is going to divinely guide the nation of israel supernaturally through those events to preserve them they are not going to go away guys do you understand how unique that is in the history of people do you know how many times israel has been conquered and you know how many times they've come back as a nation every time it it that's unheard of historically people don't come back after being dispersed and just losing their national identity israel did and it is a testimony to god's preserving power of this nation it is absolutely incredible you don't see it happen with any other country countries usually spring up they're cool for a while they might even be you know the tough guy for a while and then they lose their power they lose their ability their staying power and then they're conquered and you never hear from them again not with israel god says here that she shall be or he in this case shall be saved out of it well that is also what's going to happen at the end of the great tribulation god is going to save israel out of the great tribulation and it's going to be it's going to be very intense though for israel because we know from other prophecies in the bible that all of the nations of the world are going to come against israel at the conclusion of the great tribulation and they are going to appear to be winning in fact it will it will look like it like jerusalem is about to be completely decimated by her enemies and prior to that many people are going to die we're told it's going to be terrible times jesus even said in in as he was speaking to the the the people of israel during the olivet discourse in matthew 24 he said these will be terrible times pray it's not during the winter pray that your escape pray that you don't have to run on the sabbath it'll be a terrible time for women with small children it's going to be a terrible time remember that was a word given to israel about the day of their trouble in the great tribulation and yet just as it seems the darkest jesus is going to return we're actually coming back with him i know it's pretty cool huh and the lord is going to fight on behalf of israel against her enemies in that incredible battle called armageddon and the lord is going to win of course and israel is going to recognize not only her savior but she is going to realize for the very first time this is the one who came before and we missed him and that's why it's going to be a time of both rejoicing in a time of sorrow and the bible says concerning israel that as a nation israel will mourn for him as for an only child the death of an only child and yet all israel will be saved on that day there will be a national return a national coming to the lord and as paul says in romans all israel will be saved on that day and it's it's amazing it's going to be incredible but she is going to be saved israel is going to be saved out of this terrible tribulation now i want you to notice in verse 8 how the lord speaks of the benefit of this time of trouble both the babylonian invasion and the great tribulation and you'll notice that this speaks even more of i think the great tribulation it says and it shall come to pass in that day declares the lord of hosts that i will break his yoke from off your neck and i will burst your bonds and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him now that that that word right there was fulfilled temporarily when god regathered israel judah and brought them back to their homeland okay after the babylonian invasion temporarily it was fulfilled but it wasn't fulfilled in a permanent way was it because we know that when jesus came israel was under roman occupation so there were still enemies that had made a servant of israel right that we're still yet to come but this also is going to be fulfilled after the great tribulation in an eternal sense when jesus comes and restores israel and defeats all of her enemies at that time foreigners will no more make a servant of israel in any way shape or form and that is when this word will be finally and full and fully fulfilled that's kind of hard to say fully fulfilled anyway that's what i meant to say and that's exactly what's going to happen now notice this next word that is given related to israel but they shall serve the lord their god speaking you know this is this is israel and look at this and david their king whom i will raise up for them they're not just going to serve their god they're going to serve david now david's been dead for hundreds of years when this prophecy was given so what is he talking about well remember these these prophecies don't just refer to the regathering after the babylonian invasion they're also looking ahead to the millennial kingdom all right you with me we got we got this we got this dual sort of understanding of this prophecy related to this and this passage very specifically says david their king now i'm going to tell you right now that there are bible teachers bible scholars that believe that this reference to david their king refers to jesus who is the son of david if you will who will reign on the throne in jerusalem over the world but i believe he's talking literally about david ruling over the jews i believe that during the millennial kingdom jesus is going to reign over the world but i believe god is going to raise up david again to rule again in jerusalem again over the people of israel because you know we're told in the scripture that when jesus comes back we're going to rule and reign with him that means believers are going to rule and reign with the lord during the millennial kingdom why can't david be the one who's going to rule and reign over jerusalem why not there's no reason in the world not to take this literally you know it doesn't say here that the offspring of david will rule and reign it says david will rule and reign and that's exactly i believe that's exactly what's going to happen and again like i said jesus is going to reign too but he's going to reign over the world but the person of david is coming back to the throne that is exciting to me i just i just think that is such a trip all right we continue on verse 10 then fear not o jacob my servant declares the lord nor be dismayed o israel for behold i will save you from far away and your offspring from the land of their captivity jacob shall return and have quiet and ease and none shall make him afraid guys can you can you imagine how much of a blessing it was for jeremiah to receive this word you know i when we first started the book of jeremiah i was telling you how i was going into this book with a little bit of emotional trepidation of my own just because i feel like a little bit like jeremiah from the standpoint that i'm seeing the downfall of my nation and and i wasn't even sure how i felt about doing that and and jeremiah didn't just experience a a little bit of downfall he he experienced the overthrow of his nation by a pagan nation but while the babylonian army is literally camped outside the walls of jerusalem jeremiah is getting a word from the lord saying fear not fear not o jacob for i will bring you back i will bring you home i will establish you back can you imagine what a blessing that was for jeremiah to hear those words can you even imagine look what he says in verse 11 for i am with you to save you declares the lord i will make a full end of all the nations among whom i scattered you but of you i will not make a full end i will discipline you in just measure and i will by no means leave you unpunished oh no you know i am a just god and you're going to get yours but he says for thus says the lord your hurt is incurable and your wound is grievous there's none to uphold your cause no medicine for your wound no healing for you all your lovers have forgotten you that refers to the pagan idolatry they engaged in they care nothing for you for i have dealt you the blow of an enemy the punishment of a merciless foe because your guilt is great because your sins are flagrant why do you cry over your hurt your pain is incurable because your guilt is great because your sins are flagrant i've done these things to you therefore all who devour you shall be devoured and all your foes every one of them shall go into captivity those who plunder you shall be plundered and all who prey on you i will make a pray for i will restore health to you and your wounds i will heal declares the lord because they have called you an outcast saying it is zion for whom no one cares apparently that was a refrain people were using thus says the lord behold i will restore the fortunes of the tents of jacob and have compassion on his dwellings the city shall be rebuilt on its mound and the palace shall stand where it used to be out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving and the voices of those who celebrate i will multiply them and they shall not be few i will make them honored and they shall not be small their children shall be as they were of old and their congregation shall be established before me and i will punish all who oppress them their prince shall be one of themselves their rulers shall come out from their midst i will make him draw near and he shall approach me for who would dare of himself to approach me declares the lord and you shall be my people and i will be your god behold the storm of the lord wrath has gone forth a whirling tempest it will burst upon the head of the wicked the fierce anger of the lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind in the latter days you will understand this in other words god says at the end of that chapter at the end you're going to look back you're going to see my words you're going to see everything that came to pass and you're going to get it and you're going to understand chapter 31 is a flat out amazing chapter in so many ways because it includes such powerful prophecies not only of the regathering of israel the rebirth if you will of israel but also it foretells the coming of a new covenant which of course we studied in our study of hebrews and we'll get into that here in just a moment but in verse 1 it says at that time declares the lord i will be the god of all the clans of israel and they shall be my people. thus says the lord the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness when israel sought for rest the lord appeared to him from far away i have loved you with an everlasting love therefore i have continued my faithfulness to you again i will build you and you shall be built o virgin israel again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of samaria the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit again people i want to emphasize to you these are prophecies coming to jeremiah during the siege of jerusalem by the babylonian army it was imminent that the city would fall that the horrors of the siege would would be opened and exposed to everyone and that the temple will be completely and utterly decimated and yet god is speaking here of the future when he will return them to the land and make them fruitful once again in the land what an encouragement that must have been for jeremiah verse 6 for there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of ephraim arise and let us go up to zion to the lord our god for thus says the lord sing aloud with gladness for jacob and raise shouts for the chief of the nations proclaim give praise and say oh lord save your people the remnant of israel behold i will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth among them the blind and the lame the pregnant woman and she who is in labor together a great company they shall return here with weeping they shall come and with pleas for mercy i will lead them back i will make them walk by brooks of water in a straight path in which they shall not stumble for i am a father to israel and ephraim is my firstborn now i want you to notice again how many times he's making reference to israel here not just judah and he even says here in the in the latter part of verse 9 he refers to ephraim my firstborn which is a common name given for israel and particularly the northern kingdom so god is talking about regathering and and rebirthing if you will this whole land of israel verse 10 hear the word of the lord o nations and declare it in the coastlands far away say he who scattered israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock for the lord has ransomed jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him i want you to take note of the fact that in verse 11 we have once again the language of the new testament which is that word ransomed remember jesus said the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and here we have this language again that we read on sunday that also appears in the book of psalms and god speaks of how they will be ransomed and so forth beautiful beautiful picture verse 12 they shall come and sing aloud on the height of zion and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the lord over the grain the wine and the oil and over the young of the flock and the herd their life shall be like a watered garden and they shall languish no more you can see that this is language related to the millennial kingdom as a far off prophetic fulfillment because you see the language that these things will take place and no more shall they ever have any issues then shall the young women rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old shall be merry i will turn their mourning into joy i will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow i will feast the soul of the priests with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness declares the lord isn't this just it just causes your heart to kind of swell with joy when you hear the lord talking about how he is going to so bless his people and we're going to be in on that blessing during the millennial kingdom as the bride of christ who returns with her groom and enjoys this rich blessing that is being poured out upon god's nation of israel verse 15 thus says the lord a voice is heard in rema lamentation and bitter weeping rachel is weeping for her children for she refuses to be comforted for her children because they are no more now you guys are going to recognize this passage from the new testament it was of course used when herod killed all the young boys in and around the region of bethlehem after he felt betrayed by the magi who did not come back and speak to him about having found the the one whom they sought and they went home it says by a different route and when herod realized he'd been kind of betrayed by the magi he went on a murderous killing spree telling his soldiers to kill all the young boys in the region of bethlehem and of course that's when matthew allows this quotation from jeremiah to come forth as its ultimate fulfillment of the mothers in that area who were weeping over their slain children but in the context in which this is given rachel weeping for her children is kind of a poetic image concerning the loss of the exiled people in the northern kingdom of israel remember the northern kingdom of israel went into exile a couple you know many many many years before the days or the events that we're looking at here in jeremiah maybe a hundred or more years before israel was carried off into exile by the assyrian empire before they got conquered by the babylonians and they had been dispersed as well and the reason we believe that this makes reference to the northern kingdom rachel weeping for her children if you will is because you'll remember that rachel was the mother of benjamin and joseph right two of the twelve sons of israel or of jacob but benjamin and joseph represented the tribes that were the most prominent really among the northern kingdom of israel and so this imagery is given to us of this weeping that's going on but the reason this imagery is being given us is because the lord now has a word of comfort to say to give to rachel poetically if you will and here's the comfort he gives beginning in verse 16 thus says the lord keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for there is a reward for your work declares the lord and they shall come back from the land of the enemy there is hope in your future declares the lord and your children shall come back to their own country isn't that something the promise the promise that is made even to the northern area of israel which many people believe those people were just lost and completely assimilated into gentile nations god says no i'm going to bring them back i know who they are and i'm going to bring them back they will come back verse 18. i have heard ephraim grieving and again i want to remind you ephraim is another name for the northern kingdom he says here's here's ephraim's grieving his words are you have disciplined me and i was disciplined like an untrained calf bring me back that i may be restored for you are the lord my god for after i had turned away i relented and after i was instructed i stuck struck my thigh i was ashamed and i was con confounded because i bore the disgrace of my youth is ephraim my dear son is he my darling child for as often as i speak against him i do remember him still therefore my heart yearns for him i will surely have mercy on him declares the lord set up road markers for yourselves make yourselves guideposts consider well the highway the road by which you went return o virgin israel return to these your cities that's a way of kind of saying remember the path that you took when you left because you'll need to remember it when you return because i'm calling you home how long will you waver o faithless daughter for the lord has created a new thing on the earth a woman encircles a man okay there i'm sure you guys all know what that means actually that was a um that was a proverbial statement you know we have proverbial statements today uh that we use and we know what we mean but if people 200 years ago heard us use some of the proverbs and i'm not talking about biblical proverbs but the sayings that we say they they might go what are you talking about well there's a lot of proverbial sayings that were said during bible times that frankly the meanings have been lost and and sometimes we're not exactly even sure he's going to make use of another one here a little bit later uh in the chapter but this statement a woman encircles a man was just one of those proverbial statements that was used back in that time and i i read some different and interesting sort of guesses but i i think they're the best explanation that i have ever heard and i i i actually believe it to be correct i'll just tell you that i'll go out on a limb because remember what is the context of this passage the the context is god is going to restore he says i love i love my people i love ephraim i i i consider him my my special son and i'm going to bless him so he says put out markers because i'm on the road by which you left because you're going to come back i'm going to call you back home now what is the context of all this blessing safety security i'm bringing you home and i'm going to bless you here in your homeland so when you think about this proverbial statement that a woman encircles a man we have to think of it in that context it's the context of blessing the context of stability the context of safety and i believe that what the lord is saying here to israel is that he is going to so surround them with a hand of protection so surround them from any and keep them safe from any threats that might otherwise come against them and their and their danger the danger is going to be so minimal toward israel that the nation's security could be easily left to the women now i understand that in our culture today that sort of a statement is considered very sexist and very stereotypical you know but then again you know we can figure out a way to get offended by pretty much anything so that really doesn't mean anything right i mean we get offended you know when people wink or blink the wrong way or something but the fact of the matter is the bible refers to women as the weaker sex and it's true bodybuilding females notwithstanding it is essentially true that men are stronger than women that's just the way god made things i'm sorry if you don't like it i'm sorry if gender distinctions make you uncomfortable that's too bad because god is the one who created gender distinctions and they are what they are so essentially what god is simply saying is you are going to be so safe you are going to be so secure that a woman is going to be able to encircle a man at that time in other words to protect him and because the danger is going to be so minimal all right verse 23 he goes on thus says the lord of hosts the god of israel once more they shall use these words in the land of judah and in its cities when i restore their fortunes the lord bless you o habitation of righteousness o holy hill apparently that saying had gotten lost he says it will be restored and judah and all its city shall dwell there together and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks for i will satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul i will replenish now this is wonderful this is great this is good stuff jeremiah you know was told to write all this down look at the next comment that he makes in verse 26 it's really fascinating he goes at this i awoke and looked and my sleep was pleasant to me in other words jeremiah says and then i woke up and i thought to myself huh that was pretty nice i got a good night's sleep i feel all have you ever felt rested when you got it happens less and less the older you get but i remember you know waking up in the morning going hey wow slept all night i feel refreshed and that's the way jeremiah felt now what's interesting about that about his sleep being pleasant is that the word that he was given obviously given during a dream or during a sleep period was so pleasant that it actually had an effect physically on pleasing him and giving him rest do you understand that sometimes when when prophets are given a message from the lord there is a physical reaction you remember the prophecies when when the prophets were given like a scroll to eat john and also i think it was ezekiel 2. he they were told eat this scroll which is a way of saying take in the word of god and you're going to give a message and they would say i ate the scroll and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth but when i swallowed it it made my stomach sour in other words gave me a stomach ache so there was this physical reaction and the reason it was sour in their stomach is that the prophecy was about judgment and wrath but this is not a prophecy about judgment or wrath it's about restoration it's pleasant and so jeremiah wakes up and he goes my sleep has been pleasant isn't that interesting the connection between the prophecy and how the prophet receives it verse 21 behold the days are coming declares the lord when i will sow the house of israel and the house of judah and the seed of man and the seed of beast in other words he's going to make israel very fruitful and it shall come to pass that as i have watched over them to pluck up and break down to overthrow destroy and bring harm so i will watch over them to build and to plant declares the lord in those days they shall no longer say and here's another one of those proverbial statements the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge but everyone shall die for his own iniquity each man shall eat sour grapes his teeth shall be set or yes each man who eats sour grapes his teeth shall be set on edge and again this was a common proverb back in the day but it was basically the idea that the people of judah were being punished for the sins of their fathers have you guys ever heard of the the modern teaching of generational curses i actually just wrote a blog post about that you might have noticed if you're on calvary mail or on our facebook page i just recently i think just last week published a blog post on that to kind of answer the question what about generational curses for believers and the the idea of a generational curse is that i'm paying for the sins of my parents or grandparents or great-grandparents to the third or fourth generation you know as it talks about and and i'm i'm on the receiving end of the curse of god because great grandpa daryl you know did a nasty and uh now we're all paying for it sort of a thing right well generational curses is something that has gotten wacky first of all very wacky uh but the idea both in with generational curses and back with this statement about the fathers have eaten sour grapes and our teeth are the ones set on edge is the idea that they sinned we're suffering it's really not our fault you see that's the point when people talk about generational curses even today they'll say i'm suffering because of my great grandpa yeah you know and the point and what what they're kind of saying is i didn't do anything wrong it was him and it's just really a way of kind of transferring blame you know which is a really dumb thing to do and god responds to this by saying no people are going to be judged for their own sins right if if whoever eats sour grapes they're the one who are going to have their teeth set on edge i hate eating sour grapes isn't it terrible you look at a grape and it looks great you pop it in your mouth and it's just nasty yes spit it out quick yuck okay now we come to the prophecy that we studied back in hebrews chapter eight so we're not gonna probably take a ton of time with it for those of you who are following this study and maybe didn't connect with hebrews chapter 8 you might consider going back and and and doing that chapter as well because it is a it goes hand in hand but this is where the lord begins to speak about the new covenant he's been talking about restoration bringing the nation of israel back to their homeland but now he tells them oh and by the way i'm going to make a new covenant with you you're under the mosaic covenant there's a new one coming and we know that that's the covenant we receive through jesus here we go verse 31 behold the days are coming declares the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and with the house of judah then he starts to talk about the character of that covenant he says not like the covenant that i made with their fathers on the day when i took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of egypt my covenant that they broke though i was their husband declares the lord we know he's talking about the new the mosaic covenant there because that's the one he made with them on mount sinai after bringing them out of egypt but he says they broke my covenant so i'm going to make a new covenant with them now he begins to talk about that new covenant for this verse 33 is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days declares the lord i will put my law within them and i shall write it on their hearts speaking of the indwelling of the holy spirit which took place only takes place under the new covenant and did not take place under the old people did not receive the indwelling holy spirit in the old testament right so he says i'm going to put my law within them write it on their hearts furthermore he says and i will be their god and they shall be my people again he's talking about the new covenant and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying know the lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the lord and that is an interesting statement where he says they're not going to need to be taught to know the lord it doesn't mean they're not going to be taught to understand the things of god or to understand what the word of god says because even in the new testament the bible says that jesus gave some to be pastors and teachers in the body of christ so obviously we still need teachers he's saying though that they will know me in an experiential and intimate sort of a way and this is again a reference to the holy spirit living inside the heart of believers communicating the person of jesus christ in a way that no academic learning can accomplish you can sit and open up all the books in the world that talk about jesus and you'll never know him like you would know him if the spirit comes in to live in your heart and begins to speak to you personally and intimately about the person of jesus christ that's the best way to know jesus is to have his spirit living inside of you and then the last thing he says there in the end of verse 34 for i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more and you'll remember we talked about this a lot when we went through hebrews chapter 8 because this was really the critical element that the author of hebrews wanted to convey to the jews that he was writing to he was telling them that if you're going to go back under the old covenant that's a completely different situation as it relates to sin under the new covenant god says i will remember their sins no more because why they're under the blood of the lamb jesus christ who paid the penalty of our sin all right in these final verses of chapter 31 the lord is just simply going to speak of his steadfast love toward israel and i want you to see these verses because they need to be taken seriously when anyone comes to you and starts talking about how god has abandoned israel and there's actually a teaching that goes on today it's called replacement theology that teaches that the church has replaced israel as god's chosen people israel are no longer any really anything important to god at all it's now all the church and that's called replacement theology and it's not biblical and you're going to see in these verses why it's not biblical look at verse 35 thus says the lord who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar the lord of hosts is his name here's what he says if this fixed order of things everything i just talked to you about the sun and the moon and the stars and the roaring of the waves if all that stuff departs from before me declares the lord then shall the offspring of israel cease from being a nation before me forever you see why israel has always come back from all of her wanderings and all of her dispersions and all of her exiles because god says here's the deal if you ever see the sun stop shining or if you see the moon stop giving its light or the order of creation having its way every 24-hour period and so forth and if you stop seeing the waves being you know crashing and and the control and all the order that you see in creation that's the day when i will have forgotten israel and abandoned her and that's really god's way of saying i'm not going to abandon israel he says it actually he's going to repeat it in a completely different way verse 37 he says thus says the lord if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored then i will cast off all the offspring of israel for all that they have done declares the lord once again if the heavens above can be measured you know it's interesting scientists today are saying that the the the uh the universe is constantly expanding it's constantly stretching so in other words god continues to he continues to move the goal post you know for measuring the heavens you know it's like so he goes so if it can be measured if you can measure the heavens fine that's the day that the offspring of israel will be cast off from me right verse 38 behold the days are coming declares the lord when the city shall be rebuilt for the lord and then he gives some of the dimensions from the tower of hanonel which marked the northeast corner of the city to the corner gate in other words from corner to corner and the measuring line shall go out farther straight to the hill gareb and shall turn and then and shall then turn to goa the whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes the place where they took their their garbage and people that didn't deserve a burial and all the fields as far as the brook kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east he says that's going to be sacred to the lord it was considered to be unclean he says but it's going to be sacred it shall not be plucked up or overthrown more look at this last word forever and so there's important things for us to see in here first of all we're not talking about a symbolic jerusalem he's not talking about a spiritual jerusalem because he's making very detailed statements about the names of the gates the corner the corner the kidron valley this and that these places i'm going to make them new these places that were defiled with dead bodies and garbage and pagan sacrifices i'm going to make them new they're going to be sacred to me that's the first thing but the second thing that we can see from this is that it can hardly return to sim or i'm sorry refer i meant to say it can hardly refer to simply jerusalem being brought back from her exile because the language is far too permanent and it's too large did you notice that the very end of verse 40 he says concerning jerusalem it shall not be plucked up or overthrown any more forever did you catch that forever it'll never be plucked up again so we're talking about something that hasn't yet happened and will happen because god's word says that it will happen and that's where we're going to close out our study of those two chapters jeremiah 30 and 31 lord willing we'll pick it up in verse 32 next time so let's close in prayer father we thank you so much for giving us the opportunity tonight to dig into the scriptures such encouraging things we've read tonight you know after so much in the book of jeremiah that was so filled with foreboding and words of wrath it's so delightful lord to go through these chapters where the lord is reassuring his people and speaking to them of their future and the blessing that he has prepared for them and then to hear and to see these prophecies lord about the new covenant that is to come the one that we are enjoying right now the one that has this rich blessing that our sins are no longer remembered because we know that jesus christ has paid the full penalty of our sinning thank you father for these reminders thank you for this understanding thank you lord that you have not given up on jerusalem and in the nation of israel and she will have her day yet of blessing and restoration and we look forward to that lord even as the body of christ we rejoice for jerusalem for all of israel and the days that are to come for the lord has prophesied a wonderful future we thank you for that father and we commit our hearts to you in this lesson in the name of jesus our savior amen god bless you have a good rest of your evening you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

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Length: 52min 8sec (3128 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 24 2021