The Days are Coming – Jeremiah 31:31-40
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
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:
36 If this fixed order were ever to cease
from my presence, says the Lord,
then also the offspring of Israel would cease
to be a nation before me forever.
37 Thus says the Lord:
If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will reject all the offspring of Israel
because of all they have done,
says the Lord.
Jerusalem to Be Enlarged
38 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for theLord from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to theLord. It shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.
What does the passage say?
V. 31-34 God promises the people about the new covenant. God says, “It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors” (v. 32) A covenant fulfilled through Jesus Christ, which invites people beyond Israel, reaching out to all nations.
V. 35-36 God is in control of the whole universe, and asking the Israelites, ’till all is vanish would you not follow me, the way I ask you to?’
V. 37-40 Even so, God’s faithfulness reaches out to God’s people and promise a new kingdom that is to come. It will be an enlarged vision fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
What does the passage say?
One the ‘Rescue missions recovery program’ member asked me, “Does your church believe in the second coming?” “Without hesitation, I answered, “Yes of course.”
However, in the back of my mind, a question was raised. “Do I really live like a person believing in that promise?”
I believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. That is the when the covenant fulfilled will be realized, in our eyes. Sometimes our focus on the Kingdom to be realized on earth, however, fades the focus to look forward to that time.
As Christians, I believe we need to have a keen balance between the Kingdom coming, and the Kingdom to be done, in this world. That is the promise of restoration God is proclaiming through Jeremiah.
Because God’s faithfulness will still prevail even though, we fail. That is the reason God sent his son to fulfill and renew this covenant.
May we live our life worthy of that promise, one day at a time.
What are your thoughts?
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