Day 227 (Jeremiah 30-31) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. After all the tough times Jeremiah and the people have been through, today's reading was a breath of fresh air. It was filled with reminders of God's plan.

I'm a planner, so I appreciate a good plan. And one of the most important aspects of planning is establishing a process. It's great to know you want to visit Europe, but you can't just book a hotel there. You have to book a flight, figure out how to get to the airport, figure out how to get from the airport to your hotel, make sure you're checking in after the last person has checked out, all kinds of details. Fortunately, nothing slips through the cracks with God. He's got his process all planned out, and it's seamless.

I wanted to get a good overview of his plan, so I underlined all the things he says he will do for Judah and Israel in chapter 30. Here they are. I will restore the fortunes of my people. I will bring them back to the land. I will break his yoke from off your neck. I will burst your bonds. I will raise up a king. I will save you. I am with you. I will make a full end of all the opposing nations.

I will discipline you in just measure. I will not leave you unpunished. I have dealt you the blow of an enemy. I have done these things to you. I will make your predators into prey. I will restore health to you. I will heal your wounds. I will restore Jacob's fortunes. I will have compassion. I will multiply them. I will make them honored. I will punish their oppressors. I will make them draw near. I will be your God.

That's a lot for Israel and Judah to go through. And on the surface, some of it may sound cruel. But this process is necessary in getting the scales to fall from their eyes and in softening their hearts. Yes, God is wounding them. But all his wounds are ways to heal. He can be trusted. He's taking us through the process.

And if you've lived through anything challenging, you know that the processes we go through have a formative effect on us. They build character. They teach us what's important.

They shape us into people who are hopefully more humble, less entitled, more compassionate, less impatient, and ultimately more like God, who has repeatedly described himself as merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, a God of forgiveness and justice.

In verses 8 through 9, God talks about the captivity they're in, bound to Babylon, and he says he'll break their yokes eventually. And when they're set free at that point, they'll turn to serve God instead. True freedom isn't just doing whatever we want. That's what got them in this place to begin with. Here's the paradox. We will always be serving someone or something. And true freedom is when we serve God instead of our oppressors or ourselves.

Chapter 31 opens with the promise that God is going to restore people from among all the tribes of Israel and Judah, not just people from the kingdom of Judah. Sometimes God states this outright, and sometimes he hints at it when he refers to them as Jacob. You may recall that the tribes are named after the sons of Jacob, so Jacob is sometimes used as a collective term for all of them. All along this journey, God is protecting his people.

Even as he drives them out of their land, they not only survive the sword, but he says, they found grace in the wilderness. He gave them rest. He appeared to them, and he reminded them of his everlasting love for them, as well as his promise of restoration. And when the time comes for them to return to the land, he really wants them to do it.

Because if they refuse and stay in the place of their exile, it reveals that they don't believe his promises of restoration. So he reiterates this promise over and over in case they're tempted to doubt him. God also talks to them about the new covenant he's making with them, the everlasting covenant. We first read about this in Isaiah 55 on day 211. He says this new covenant will happen when he writes the law on their heart. Since their hearts have been the problem all along,

God's plan involves getting to the root and addressing the real issue. Then they will know him, and he will forgive their iniquity and forget their sins. All of this is pointing to the payment of Christ on the cross and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's where heart change happens, when God gives us a new heart and his Spirit comes to live in us forever.

Without that, we'd just be trying to modify our behavior, which has a way of making people exhausted and disappointing and arrogant and fearful all at once. But the work of his spirit in us is a different thing altogether. It brings peace.

It's hard to know for sure, but it seems like chapter 31 is intentionally giving us an order of prophecy. There's the promise that God will be with them in exile, the promise that he'll bring them back to the land and restore their fortunes after exile. Then there's the promise of a new covenant, i.e. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And finally, it seems like the chapter wraps up with promises related to the end times. Here's why these are probably end times prophecies.

Not only does the order seem to be chronological, but 3140 says Jerusalem will never be uprooted again. And we know they were uprooted again. In fact, Jesus even prophesied about that uprooting. It happened in 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed the city and the second temple, and all the Jews fled the city again. So, there's reason to believe that the last few verses of what we read today are pointing to a future Jerusalem as well. A final Jerusalem.

Remember how we've talked about God recreating heaven and earth, wiping them both clean of the effects of sin and giving them a massive upgrade? It seems like part of the plan is focused on a new Jerusalem as well. This new Jerusalem is referenced in Revelation 3.12 and 21.2. Those verses make it sound like a place where the new heaven and the new earth are finally joined together, like heaven and earth fused to create it. Like the new Jerusalem is literally heaven on earth.

It bears repeating, I hold all my opinions and understandings of end times prophecies with an open hand. And your understanding may vary from mine, and that's okay. We're all still friends. But based on my current understanding, this is what it seems to me that scripture indicates. New heaven plus new earth equals new Jerusalem. And according to 3140, it shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever.

Today, my God shot was in 31, 12 through 14. There are two lines in that section that just reminded me of God's abundant goodness. Verse 12 says, They shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord. This doesn't just say they'll be radiant. The point of this isn't that the people will look beautiful or be happy. The point of this is why are they radiant? Because of God's goodness. He's the source of their radiance.

And verse 14 says, My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord. His goodness, apart from any gift, is all satisfying. Just him. May we be radiant and satisfied because we have him. And he's where the joy is.

If your life experiences are anything like mine, you've probably been a part of a Bible study group that felt like it was more of a gossip circle or social club rather than a Bible study group focused on the richness of God's Word. So try to imagine yourself in a group that champions you as you learn and grow. But you can also build rich relationships with others who want the same thing. Imagine feeling drawn to Scripture instead of intimidated by it or resistant to it. And not only that, but imagine you can actually memorize parts of it for the first time in your life.

Imagine yourself encouraged, prayed for, known, and loved by others in that group. What you just imagined is the thing I love so much. DGroup. Check out the show notes to watch a short promo video or find or start a DGroup near you by visiting mydgroup.org forward slash map or check for a link in the show notes.