Mary is Five Months Pregnant

School has just started back up, Summer, alas, has come to a near end and Autumn is moving in far too quickly for any of us to like. Are any of you thinking of Christmas? I am, for several reasons. First, I am a great planner and to-do list writer. I am already figuring out gifts for family and friends, and planning when and where to take the family photo that shall be delivered to friends and family at Christmas.  But I am also thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The caveat to this post is that Jesus was most likely not born on December 25^th. December 25^th used to be the pagan holiday Sol Invictus, which celebrated the birthday of the Roman sun god. During the 4^th century AD, the holiday began to be used to celebrate the birth of the son of God. There is other scriptural evidence that Jesus was not born in the winter too. However, as we celebrate our Lord and Savior’s birth on December 25^th, I will be writing this post in light of that date.

Now, it is August 29, and Mary would have been in her 2^nd trimester. Jesus was already on earth and being formed in Mary’s womb! But what else is going on? John the Baptist was born a few months back, and not long after that Mary was discovered to be pregnant—and not by Joseph her betrothed. Matthew 1:18-19 tells us that when Joseph found out about her pregnancy, he decided to put her away secretly, so that she might live, rather than subject her to the law,

Deuteronomy 22:23-24 outlines what was to happen to an engaged girl who is found to be pregnant with another man’s child: “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge evil from your midst.” The verb for “meets her” in the first line is metsa-ah. The ah part on the end of the verb indicates that the object of the verb is her. The man is the one doing the meeting, the instigating, etc. This is not a mutual meeting. However, if the woman does not cry out, she becomes an accessory to the crime. Thus she welcomed it. This is the light Mary was being painted in. She had become an adulterer, because she was impregnated in Jerusalem while she was there to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. She was not immediately stoned though, because the man who impregnated her could not be found. So Mary falls into a loop hole in the Law. To human eyes, she was apparently guilty of sinning. However, unless her husband to be (whose jurisdiction she falls under), demanded her death for her sin, nothing would be done.

Joseph was a righteous man, and like many righteous men in the Bible, he found himself in an interesting predicament. His honor was at stake. An engagement contract merely meant that the marriage had yet to be consummated. So in the eyes of the Jews, Joseph and Mary were as good as married, just without the sex part. Imagine the humiliation and betrayal he must have felt when he found out that Mary was pregnant, by God. Very funny Mary, everyone’s laughing. The fact that he does not immediately call for her to be stoned, as Judah did with Tamar (Genesis 38:24), would seem to indicate that Joseph did love her. He loved her enough to not call for her death, or as Scripture put it, “not put her to shame”, but to divorce her quietly and send her away.

However, an angel appeared to Joseph and explained what was going on, and Joseph’s role in it all. I always wonder if Joseph then understood how Hosea must have felt when God told him to take an adulterous woman for a wife (Hosea 1:2-3). Joseph, like Hosea, obeyed the Lord though, despite the shame they would bear for it. Matthew 1:24 tells us that when Joseph awoke from the dream, he took Mary as his wife, but they did not consummate their marriage until after she had given birth to Jesus.

So, when Mary was five months pregnant, she was living with Joseph, as his wife. Joseph was tending to her, and providing for her and for the baby in her womb, who was from God. We tend to get very excited about Christmas and about celebrating the birth of our Lord after Thanksgiving, but the truth is that months before we decorate a tree, begin our Christmas shopping, or hang lights outside our house, our salvation was already beginning. The word had already become flesh (John 1:14). Praise God for Joseph and Mary’s faithfulness and obedience!

Enough.

“All you have to do to become a Christian is to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. And that’s enough.” This is a common understanding of what it means to be a Christian, that you acknowledge that Christ saved you from…from what? Do we really understand what Christ saved us from? If we don’t, then are we really saved? If we do, then why are so many “good” Christian’s living unchristian and unsatisfying lives?

Haggai 1:5-6 says, “Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways! You have sown much, and harvest little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” You never have enough. I don’t know about you, but this phrase does plague me. Will there be enough in the bank account to pay the bills? Do we have enough food to make it through the week? Is there enough coffee left to get me through the day? Is there enough to get me a new jacket for winter? These are not unbelievers who are struggling, but believers! If Christ is suppose to be our all in all, why do we constantly wonder if there is going to be enough to do what we want to do?

That’s why. Because we wonder if there is enough to do what we want to do, not what God wants us to do. And where does it start? With our concept of what it means to be a Christian, or Christ follower. Christ has saved us from the ultimate effects of sin: death and separation from God our Creator. We owe God a debt that we cannot ever repay, and God knows this. So instead of demanding full payment, he says: be my servant, live for me, do my will, and you will be free. The Israelites embraced the concept of the bond-servant. That is, if a man could not pay his debts, he would serve in his creditor’s house/business until the debt was paid off. The proverbial doing dishes to pay for dinner scenario, except more long term. This is what Christ is asking of us. To serve in His kingdom, be His representatives, and to do His will, and he will provide for all our needs and we will be satisfied.

Therefore, it is not enough to just ask Christ to be our Lord and Savior. We must live out what we have asked too. The Israelites that Haggai was speaking to were this way. They acknowledged God, but took care of themselves first and gave God whatever time, energy, money, and offerings they could muster only after taking care of their needs. Then they wondered why they didn’t have enough. And God said, “Well, you are living like you don’t need me. So I guess you don’t need my provision either.” In Haggai, the people had neglected to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. They weren’t putting God first, they were putting themselves first. And so they reaped the consequences.

Haggai 2:17-19 says, “I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the 24^th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But form this day on, I will bless you.” The Israelites were working hard to provide for themselves, and there is nothing really inherently wrong with hard work, unless it is done without involving or seeking God. Once their changed their attitudes and priorities they received the ultimate blessing from God. “I am with you,” He says in Haggai 1:13.

Now, did you think the ultimate blessing was that their work would be fruitful? That they would have enough by their own standards? No. God never promises this anywhere. Often times, His blessing may take the form of success by human standards but if that is all we are living for, then once again, we will never have enough. The ultimate blessing from God is His presence. Look in Job 42:5-6 and 9. Job finally hears and sees God, and has nothing more to say. Previously in the book he had wondered where God was, and if He knew of his plight. Now, he is satisfied with His presence. In verse 9, it says that God accepted Job, and this too answers Job’s question of whether he was found worthy by the Lord.  God restores Jobs wealth, but that is not what brought Job satisfaction and joy. Psalm 84:1-2 and 10 states, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God…For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” These verses are part of a popular song often sung in church. We sing it and raise our hands, but do we really believe that just being in God’s presence is enough to satisfy us?

The Christian life is hard, because it calls us to go against everything our culture says to us, and to find our satisfaction in a single being: God. God never promises wealth, prosperity, safety, comfort, or an easy life. He promises His presence. Now, the question is: can you be satisfied with nothing but the presence of God? Or do you need other “things” to make your joy complete?

At this time in history: 2000 - 1800 BC

These will be periodic glimpses into what was happening in the rest of the world during some of the major events in the Bible.  It is important to remember that the people of God were not isolated, from the rest of the world, nor was God only working in the area. If we say and believe that God is truly sovereign, then we must acknowledge that He most likely had many different things going on in the world at the same time. The Israelites were his chosen people, but probably not the only people that He worked in and through to reveal his glory.

2000-1800BC

Middle Kingdom in Egypt (11-12^th Dynasties), 2050 – 1800 BC

Abram, son of Terah, is born in Ur of the Chaldeans, around 1952 BC (Genesis 11:31-32)

At about the same time of Abram’s birth, the third dynasty (established by Ur-Nammu around 2047 BC) fell to the Elamites in 1940 BC. However, it remained an important economic city as it provided access to the Persian Gulf for trade. The city of Ur is estimated to have been the largest city in the world from 2030 – 1980 BC with approximately 65,000 inhabitants.

Laws of Eshunna copied on to new tablets (1930BC). Two tablets were written in Akkadian cuneiform and are comprised of social laws that were written in such a way as to make them easy to commit to memory by all peoples to ensure social peace. Eshunna was a city located north of Ur on the Diyala River which served as a tributary to the Tigris River. The tablets were discovered in 1945 and 1947 in northern Iraq.

The world’s oldest joke known today is traced back to about 1900BC in the Sumerian culture. “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.” Shortly after this joke was told, the last Sumerian dynasty fell.

The Mokaya along the Pacific coast of present day Mexico were preparing Cacao beverages in 1900 BC. Chocolate has been a delicacy for a long time.

Proto Greek invasions of Greece began around 1900 BC.

The Port of Lothal in India is abandoned around 1900 BC. Lothal is reputed to have the earliest known dock and pier system to berth ships and boats.

Terah takes Abram, Sarai, and Lot to Canaan, but they stop and settle along the way in Haran (located to the northwest of Ur, in modern day southern Turkey), around 1890 BC. Presumably it was a good time to leave as the city of Ur had fallen to the Elamites and had started to decline.

Egyptian Pharaoh, Sunusret III begins leading campaigns against the Nubians to gain access to more land around 1860 BC. The conflicts between the Egyptians and Nubian people give rise to the opera Aida (1871 AD), and later the musical by the same name (2000 AD).

Isaac, son of Abraham (formerly, Abram), is born around 1852 BC.

Around 1800 BC, the Hyksos begin to settle in the Nile Delta region in Egypt.

Genesis 5:24 - Enoch who walked with God

Enoch walked [intimately] with God, and then he was not, for God took him

Biblical Context:

            This verse appears in the midst of the genealogy from Seth to Noah. Before this, Adam and Eve had sinned, fallen, and been expelled from the Garden of Eden. Cain had killed Abel. Scripture recounted Cain’s genealogy for several generations and, finally, we were told that Adam and Eve had another son, Seth (Genesis 4:25-26). The next major event on the earth is the Flood. Therefore, this chapter serves as a transitional chapter to explain how we get from Seth to Noah, and what happened on earth to require the extermination of almost all mankind.

We don’t know much about Enoch. There are only four verses devoted to him in the whole Bible. We know that when he was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah, one of Noah’s descendants, and that he had other sons and daughters. Then at the young age of 365, he was taken into heaven by God. During this patriarchal time, the life expectancy ranged from 800 to 1,000 years of life. Enoch had only lived about a third of his expected life span before being taken away.

What stands out about Enoch is the Hebrew word vayit-halek found in verse 24. This is a form of the verb halak, which means “to walk”. However, the yit part of the word indicates that the verb is to be used reflexively. Another example of this verb being used reflexively is found in 2 Samuel 11:2. The NIV and NASB retain a more exact translation of this word when they say that David was “walking around” on the roof of the palace. It is the “around” part that demonstrates the reflexivity of the word vayit-halek. It literally means that David was walking back and forth in multiple directions. He had no set direction and purpose to his walking. Now, in Genesis 5:24, with Enoch, the reflexive use of the verb halak indicates that Enoch walked with God in all ways, or, as I have translated above, intimately.  

The only other person God assumes into heaven without experiencing death is Elijah. His assumption story is found in 2 Kings 2:1-14.

Life application:

            There are several chapters devoted to the life and deeds of Elijah. Thus, we can know that when he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, he truly was a righteous man who had an intimate relationship with God. However, there are only four verses devoted to Enoch. Yet he had the same standing with God as Elijah. He had an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe, and was considered to be a most righteous man before he was even middle aged.

 Enoch lived before the Law of Moses, before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, before Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54),” and before he knew about the resurrection of the dead at the last days. But we can still see that God had in mind to ultimately give the righteous victory over death. The key to this, however, is that victory over death belongs to the righteous, to those who walk intimately with God in all ways.

This should inform our faith and our walk with Christ. As I have watched the Olympic Games for the past several days, I have been struck by the fact that there is no athlete at the games alone. They are there with their coach or coaches. You would think that after years of training for their special event, they would be confident enough to go it alone, that they wouldn’t need a coach. But time and time again, you see the athletes talking to their coaches, looking for advice, guidance, strategy, and help to deal with the stiff competition and pressure of the Olympic Games. Why do we think that our spiritual lives are any different? Faith in Christ is not an easy stroll, but rather a marathon that can only be won by first surrendering our wills to Jesus Christ, our coach, and allowing Him to train us, form us, and prepare us for eternity. Enoch walked with God in all ways. He allowed God to speak to him, form him, guide him, and advise him as to how to live his life. There was no part of his life that was not trained and formed by God. He kept nothing back. If we want to be righteous, we too must walk with God in all ways so that every part of our lives can be transformed and trained.

How do you go about doing this? One step at a time. Repent and seek God’s forgiveness for not offering your whole self up to Him. Then, do what you have to do to remind yourself that God needs to be Lord of every activity, thought, conversation, errand, class, and game. Proverbs 3:4-7 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” Trusting in God, acknowledging Him, and fearing the Lord all mean that God has to be bigger in your life than you are. He has to have more importance than your own thoughts. When you think you know better than God, you are saying that you are more than He is and that you are better than Him – and that is sin. Give it up, give yourself up, and let God in. There is no part of your life that you can withhold from Him if you truly desire to be righteous.

Covenant Series: New Covenant, Part 2 of 2

In the last post we left off at Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the four elements of the New Covenant found in these verses: forgiveness, reconciliation, internality, and personal faith. From here we are going to look at how the New Covenant is built off of the previous covenants, and how it finds its fulfillment in Christ.

In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises offspring, blessing and land to Abraham in order that God’s will may be known in the world. In the Mosaic Covenant, God promises the offspring of Abraham that they will have their land, and that they will be a blessing to others because of their intimacy with God, the creator. In the Davidic Covenant, David is promised that the Israelites will always have the land in which they now dwell, and that there would always be a Davidic king to rule the people of Israel. Furthermore, as long as the king embodies the ideals and values of God, the nation will be at peace and be able to be a blessing to others.

In Jeremiah, starting from chapter 29 through 31, we see God making promises of a new king (30:21) which fulfills the Davidic Covenant. God also promises national restoration and times of peace and prosperity for the Jews (29:10-14, 30:3, 10, 17-18, 31:2-4, 8-11, 16-17) which fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant. God promises in Jeremiah 31:33-34 that he will write His law on their hearts and minds to that everyone will know God and have access to a personal relationship with Him: this fulfills the Mosaic Covenant.

What about the other three covenants? The Edenic, Adamic and Noahic? Well, in these same verses, God promises forgiveness for the iniquities and sins of the Israelites and offers them a better way to live and worship Him. This points back to these covenants. As the people are restored and reconciled to God, they begin to become who they formerly were. Jeremiah 30:20 says, “Their children will be as formerly, and their congregation shall be established before me.” The Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants were designed to bring the people of God back into proper relationship with Him so they could once again have a personal relationship with their creator, as they did in Eden. God will not destroy His people ever again (31:36-37), but will rather uphold them and guide them in a more intimate way than ever before.

When some of the Jews returned to the Holy Land from exile under the Persian Empire, things were by no means easy. There was much reconciling to do for past sins in exile from the people who had stayed in the land, and there were constant challenges to restore the city of Jerusalem. But out of this time came the rise of the synagogue, teachers of the law, Pharisees, scribes, etc. All these people took seriously the call to reform their behavior so that they would never again be exiled from their land. What we see them doing is trying to keep the covenants by their own power rather than depending on God to enable them. Priests and high ranking temple officials wore small tablets on their heads and over their hearts to symbolize the law being on their hearts and minds. But this was not what God had meant.

During Jesus’ ministry, he made many claims about how to gain access to God. “I am the way and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me (John 14:6).” Later in this chapter he says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (14:15).” In John 16:5-15 Jesus talks about the Helper, the Spirit of Truth, who will come to Jesus’ followers and guide them in truth. In the Ancient Near East, sin was considered to be a debt that needed to be paid. In order to receive forgiveness of the debt, a sacrifice had to be made. The sacrificial system under the Mosaic Law tells of different sacrifices that were to be made for the forgiveness of sins (Sin or Guilt Offering), for reconciliation between God and man (Burnt Offering), and for thanksgiving and fellowship (Fellowship or Grain Offering).

Now then, Jesus came as God-incarnate to be the sin and guilt offering to take away the sins of the world. In order for mankind to be reconciled to God and forgiven of all sin, there had to be a sacrifice. God provided the sacrifice, and so Jesus took on the sins of the world and died upon the cross so that we might be forgiven (Element 1 of Jeremiah 31:31-34: Forgiveness). Truly, the only way to gain personal access to the Father was through Christ. Once we were forgiven, we could be reconciled to God (Element 2: Reconciliation). As we pursue a relationship with our Creator, the Holy Spirit indwells us to teach us truth. In this way the Law of God is written on our hearts and minds so that we may always be aware of it and know it (Element 3: Internality). Finally, if the Holy Spirit indwells us and enables us to keep all of God’s commandments, then we have a personal relationship with God because His Spirit lives within us. We are responsible for our own sins and for repenting for them because we have access to God through our own faithfulness (Element 4: Personal Faith.)

The New Covenant has brought us to a point where we can know our God and Creator and have a relationship with Him. This is why Jesus says “You are my friends if you do what I command you (John 15:14).” Friendships take work, understanding, trust, and patience. Jesus calls us friends if we believe that He is the Son of God who died for the sins of the world, and proceed to love Him and others with our entire being. So you see, the New Covenant doesn’t just free us from the Mosaic Law or any of the older covenants, it sums them up. If we are to partake in God’s holy nation and be a part of His kingdom of priests, we need to love God more than anything else so that we too become holy. If we are to be a blessing to others, we are to love others as God loved us. If we are to have a relationship with God, we must love Him and work to maintain the relationship by repenting of our wrong doings and seeking forgiveness.

The last thing I wish to address in this post is Hebrews 8:7-13. In this passage, the author of Hebrews states that “if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” The first covenant is the Mosaic Covenant and the Mosaic Law that guides the people in it. He is not saying the Covenant itself, as received from God was at fault. God’s law is perfect, and there is much evidence that many people were able to keep the law perfectly (see the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:20, and Paul own testimony in Philippians 3:6). The fault here is that the vast majority of the people were not able to keep the Covenant due to their own sin and lack of understanding of who God was and is, Isaiah 5:13 says, “My people go into exile for lack of knowledge.” They didn’t know God, and so they didn’t know how to keep His commandments. After this verse, the author repeats the verses found in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and states in Hebrews 8:13, “When He said, ‘A New Covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” This then, is where the idea that we no longer need the old covenants and perhaps the Old Testament come from.

Let’s be careful though. The next set of verses in Hebrews 9 talk about the old and the new. In 9:1-10 the author recounts how the sacrifices and temple functioned. In 9:11-28 the author talks about how things function under the new covenant with Christ as the mediator and the sacrifice and the one who is daily in the presence of God. So then, what is becoming obsolete is the Mosaic Law, not the Mosaic Covenant. As stated in previous posts, the Mosaic Covenant is the one where God calls the people of Israel to be his treasured possession, holy nation, and kingdom of priests. What follows the making of this covenant is the Mosaic Law, which stipulates how to keep the covenant. The Law is becoming obsolete because Christ, the better priest and sacrifice,  has done away with the necessity of it, and because the Holy Spirit indwells believers now and teaches them truth. We are still called to live holy and righteous lives that will enable us to spread the good news of Christ and bring blessing to others. How that works in our own personal lives has changed. The original mission and desire is still the same though. God desires for us to know and love Him, and be committed to following His commands and will for our lives. One of those commands is to spread the good news of what God has done for mankind, and to love others. We can do this now because God has chosen to make himself available to us and sent His Spirit to help us overcome our own sin and desires so we can be transformed into the holy priests He wants us to be. Amen and Amen.

Covenant Series: The New Covenant, Part 1 of 2

So this Covenant will be broken up into two posts since it is so huge! As I was writing about it I realized there was so much here that needed to be said. And really, only the whole New Testament is written about it, so I feel somewhat justified in using more than one post to cover it! This first, very long, post will cover the context and background of the New Covenant described in Jeremiah, the second post will look at what the New Covenant means in light of the other Covenants we have studied and how it is being fulfilled.

The basis of the New Covenant is found, of course, in the Old Testament. After the Davidic Covenant things went from bad to worse. The Kingdom of Israel was split into a Northern and Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Israel turned from true worship of God almost immediately, and were eventually sent into exile under the Assyrian Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom of Judah had a few good kings, but ultimately they did not uphold their end of the Covenants and as a punishment, were expelled from the land and sent into exile under the Babylonian Kingdom (which conquered the Assyrian Kingdom). The identity of the children of Israel was tied to the land. They had been promised the land since Abraham and with each successive covenant; the land played an important part. The Mosaic Covenant confirmed that the Israelites who came out of Egypt were the heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Davidic Covenant promised that these people would always have a place to dwell, a land to call their own. But all these promises hinged on the people’s obedience to God. When they turned from following God and did not worship Him with their whole hearts, God’s promises to them became null and void. So the people were sent away from the holy land. But God was not finished with them. You need only to read the books of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah to see that God was even faithful to His people, even when they had turned from Him.

It is the faithfulness of God that the New Covenant is born out of. One of the passage that speaks of the New Covenant part is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and it is on this one that we will focus (other passages are found in Hosea 2:17-20, Isaiah 42:6, Daniel 9:24-27). But really we need to start with Jeremiah 29 to get the context of this. As a side note, during the time of the exile, the people of Israel and Judah were called “Jews” because they were from the Babylonian province of “Yehud” which encompassed the area that the Northern and Southern kingdoms resided. German translators used a ‘j’ sound to pronounce the ‘y’ in “Yehud”, therefore we get the term “Jews”. When I refer to the people of God during and after the exile I shall use this term.

Jeremiah 29 starts out by stating that it is a letter to the exiles in Babylon from Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells the exiles to settle down because they are going to be in exile for a long time – seventy years in fact (29:10). After this appointed time though, God will “visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” Already, there is a promise of redemption and restoration. Then we come to the famous verse 11, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’” This verse is often used by Christians who are struggling as reassurance that God does indeed have great plan for all his people. And it is true! The Jews were living in exile, away from the promises and rhythms of life that had once dictated their very existence. And here God tells them that they have a hope and a future and that he will redeem them one day. And on that day, “then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (29:12-13).” Sometimes, sometimes we all have to hit rock bottom before things become clear. I believe this is what God is saying here. In seventy years, the consequences of their actions would be complete and they would truly be willing to worship God for who He is regardless of where they are. This is the bottom, and they will spend the next seventy years realizing it. Once they have, “I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.” This then, is their hope and future. That God will restore them as his treasured possession.

Jeremiah 30:3 says, “For behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.” God is declaring that he is not done with these people. When their punishment is complete, they will be restored, because God is still committed to them.

Jeremiah 30:8-9 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. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” Sound familiar? It should! What is happening here is that the Exodus is being repeated! There is no Moses, or burning bush, or ten plagues, but there is God – the same God – who freed them from their oppressors once, and He is going to do it again. God is freeing His people to return to the land He promised them so that they can serve Him. (See Leviticus 26:12)

Check out 30:10-11, “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. For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of 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.” In the Ancient Near East, it was very common to believe that the stronger nations had stronger Gods. The stronger Gods allowed such nations to win wars, conquer others, etc. Remember what Rahab said to the spies Joshua sent into the land? “I know that the Lord has given you the land and the terror of you has fallen on us…for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Seas before you…and what he did to the two kings of the Amorites…for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below (Joshua 2:9-11).” She is saying that the people of the land knew that the God of the Israelites was stronger than the gods of the Egyptians and the Amorites, and they were afraid. So what God is saying in Jeremiah 30:10-11 is that he is not a weaker god than the Babylonian gods, He is a just God who had disciplined his people, and will now, once again, demonstrate his strength and power by returning them to their land, and restoring their fortunes and peace.

In the next verses, God goes on to tell them that He will heal their wounds and restore health to them (Jeremiah 30:17). God is not just talking about the physical well being of the people, but also the national well being. They will not be wounded by humiliation anymore. They will have national security and spiritual health in the land they were promised. Jeremiah 30:18-21 speaks of what this restoration will look like, it is not just physical wealth and riches, but spiritual riches. The city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and a palace shall be there on its hill, but the people who live there will sing songs of thanksgiving and celebration. The people will be spiritually strong and established before God. A follower of God, one of them, will sit on David’s throne and rule them. Finally, God says, “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Remember this verse? It is talking about possession. These words appear throughout Scripture: when God gives Abraham the covenant of circumcision (Gen 17:7), when God promises to free the Israelites from the Egyptians (Exodus 6:7), after the Mosaic Covenant has been made (Exodus 29:45-46) in the blessings of obedience of the Mosaic Covenant (Leviticus 26:12), is a theme in the books of Jeremiah (7:23, 11:4, 24:7, 30:22, 31:1, 33), Ezekiel (11:20, 36:28, 37:26-27), Hosea (1:10, 2:23), Zechariah (8:8, 13:9), and even debuts in Revelation 21:3. These words are not just talking about possession though, but also about reconciliation. After Israel sinned, was punished, and redeemed, they were also reconciled to God as God told them that He would still be their God, and they would still be His people.

Now we come to Jeremiah 31. The chapter starts out by repeating the phrase, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” God is announcing his continued possession of Israel. He continues saying, “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.” Let’s stop here a minute.  That last sentence defines why the people of God, the off spring of Abraham even survived through their disobedience: God loved them with an everlasting love, a love that knows no bounds. We should take great comfort and joy in this. If we are saved and believe that Christ died to take away the sins of the world and bring reconciliation between mankind and God, we too are recipients of this everlasting love. This is not a sappy, cheesy, fickle, Hollywood kind of love, but a strong and faithful love that looks past terrible sins and loves the person that was created in His own image, and works all things together for the eternal best for that person. The eternal best may involve exile, oppression, humiliation, and hurt, but we worship a God who is with us through all those things, and is faithful to us in that He is faithful to make us holy and righteous.

Jeremiah 31 continues with scenes of great joy and worship where there once was mourning and hopelessness. Verses 10-11 say, “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will father 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.” Now we start to see some foreshadowing here. Israel will be gathered back to their land, and will truly be God’s people. God has ransomed them, paid the price to make them his own, and will keep them as such. These verses begin to open the door for the New Covenant to be introduced.

Finally we come to Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 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. For this 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 will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. 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 theme to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” There are four main elements to the covenant described here: 1. Forgiveness, 2. Reconciliation, 3. Internality, and 4. Personal Faith.[1]

The first element, forgiveness is seen in verse 34, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.” The Jews had sinned greatly against God throughout their history by not listening to God and obeying His commands. Where they once swore to follow God regardless and do as He asked, they had never really followed through on their oath. Therefore, they were sent into exile as a punishment, but were forgiven by God so that they could be reconciled to Him. The second element, reconciliation is found in verse 33, “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This phrase was mentioned above, and here we see that God is bringing the people that he has judged, punished, and forgiven back into relationship with Him. The third element, internality is also found in verse 33, “I will put my law within them, and I will write in on their hearts.” Prior to this time, the Law of God was taught to all the Jews, but the scribes and priests were the ones who possessed copies of the written law. Most young Israelites memorized the entire Pentateuch as children so that they would have the law and scripture readily available to them. However what God promises here is that He will be the one putting the law on their minds and hearts. He will be the one to teach the law to them personally. They will possess God’s law internally. Fourth and finally, there is a promise of personal faith here. Verse 34 says, “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.” Here we see that men will now have direct access to God. They will not need to go through the priests or Levites to seek forgiveness of sins, they will be able to know the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him.

Since we have the benefit of the New Testament, what we see here is that all these promised elements of the New Covenant point to one person: Jesus Christ! The next post will go into this more, and will wrap up the Covenant Series. Keep reading!

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[1] The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1975 ed, s.vv. “Covenant, The New.”