God will restore Israel with everlasting love

      1.      "At the same time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people." 

 2.      Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness Israel, when I went to give him rest." 

 3.      The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 

 4.      Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. 

 5.      You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. 

 God continues to speak from the previous chapter, which ended with a ferocious threat to the wicked, and which He will be faithful to fulfill in fury. Verses 23 and 24 tell of the latter day outpouring of His seven bowls of wrath.  Now He declares that, at the same time, He will restore all the tribes to His gracious favor. In Jeremiah’s day, the northern tribes have been taken captive by Assyria.

 Some, who were left in the land, however, were called to the Passover under King Hezekiah: Ephraim Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher and Issachar are mentioned (2 Chr.30:10, 11).  King Josiah held the greatest Passover since the time of Samuel with priests and Levites, all Judah and Israel present (2 Chr.35:18). Benjamin stood with Judah in the southern kingdom, the tribe of Simeon had possessions in Judah and, of course, the Levites, lived throughout the land. In the New Testament, Paul is a Benjamite, Anna, the prophetess, is of the tribe of Asher, and there are many Levites, along with those of Judah.

 At the same time… in the latter days, God will reclaim all the tribes as His people, both Judah and Israel (1). These are the people that He knew in the wilderness. Through the prophet Hosea, God refers to His wilderness people, as well: “I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought” (Ho.13:5) and gives them the same assurance, as He did through Jeremiah: “You are destroyed, but your help is from Me… I will be your King… I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him…  Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols’” (Ho.13:9, 10, 14:4, 8).

The whirlwind of the Lord... vs. 23

Divine principle… first comes fear, then restoration

 1.      The word that came to Jeremiah from the   LORD, saying, 

 2.      "Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying: 'Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. 

 3.      For behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,' says the LORD. 'And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.' " 

 4.      Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. 

 5.      "For thus says the LORD: 'We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. 

 The oft-repeated and true phrase throughout the Old Testament, “The word that came… from the Lord,” is the proof that it is the inspired word of God. Chapter after chapter makes the same claim, throughout the books of Moses. After Moses' death, the Lord speaks to his successor, Joshua. All the prophets hear directly from the Lord and Job, Solomon, David and other Psalmists declare His wisdom in their writings. Opponents of the divine inspiration of the Bible have to conclude that all these men are lying about hearing directly from God, so that this treasured Scripture is a book of lies in their opinion.

 In the New Testament, “the Word was made flesh” (Jn.1:14) and “God… has… in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (He.1:1,2). The eternal Son of God, equal with the Father, came to earth and spoke directly. Paul and other apostles formed their doctrines from His word and delivered them to the church. Yes, the Bible, including the word that we study today from the prophet Jeremiah, is the inspired word of God. We will take it, believe it, and apply its principles to our lives. We will form our concepts, concerning the person of God, from its revelations.

 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah (1) and instructed him to write in a book (2). The Lord was in the process of preparing 66 books to form an authoritative canon for all the world to study, and by which they could live. God is writing first for the benefit of His chosen people, the Jews, and it concerns their return from captivity to repossess their Promised Land (3). The apostle Paul clearly claims the principle, especially in the letter to the Romans in the New Testament, that the word comes first to the Jews (Ro.1:16; 2:9-10). He shows to the Gentiles in Ephesus “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph.2:12).    

 At Christianity Today´s suggestion, I am only giving a few sentences from an article by Dr. Thomas H. McCall, professor of theology at Asbury Univeristy in Kentucky. I am offering their link, in order that anyone can read the entire article. In the meantime, I am requesting the author's permission to reprint. His opening words are:

We’re Witnessing a ‘Surprising Work of God’

 Why I’m hopeful about the revival breaking out in our chapel and its implications for the campus and beyond.  

Most Wednesday mornings at Asbury University are like any other. A few minutes before 10, students begin to gather in Hughes Auditorium for chapel. Students are required to attend a certain number of chapels each semester, so they tend to show up as a matter of routine.

But this past Wednesday was different. After the benediction, the gospel choir began to sing a final chorus—and then something began to happen that defies easy description. Students did not leave. They were struck by what seemed to be a quiet but powerful sense of transcendence, and they did not want to go. They stayed and continued to worship. They are still there.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/february-web-only/asbury-revival-1970-2023-methodist-christian-holy-spirit.html

 God´s word directed to those in a difficult situation

      1.      Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 

 2.      (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

 3.      The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 

 4.      Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 

 This chapter is a letter, written by Jeremiah to the captivity in Babylon (1). A good many years ago, our son, Dave, referred to this chapter and gave some important counsel in a sermon, which I do not want to be forgotten. He began with the question, “How do you handle life’s minuses?”

 We do well to go back briefly over the entire cause, for which the book is written, God’s purpose for His people in having Jeremiah pen it, and also see the attitude of the prophet, as he writes. We know that judgment began to fall upon them, because of their sin, after He sent many warnings their way. It is severe discipline to be sure, but we find wonderful hope here and great instruction for a situation, which could be duplicated in our lives. Jeremiah wrote it to elders, priests, prophets, and the common people, who were carried into Babylon, along with King Jeconiah and his mother (2). They ranged from middle class laborers, including craftsmen and smiths, along with the eunuchs, who served in government, all the way up the ranks to princes. These people had lost everything and had to carry on in a strange, foreign land.

Let’s have Dave help us understand the plight of all these Israelites, which we might be surprised to find not too different from one we may face in the future or someone may be experiencing now (4). What happens when life takes a wrong turn and you are left with a situation that cannot be fixed?

 He said, “We enter this planet with nothing in our hands. As time goes on, we accumulate possessions, relationships and knowledge. We are not to hold these with a tight grip, but loosely, as a loan from God, because when we exit this earth, our hands will be empty again. The death shroud has no pockets!”