Jeremiah
32:36-41
Jeremiah encouraged the people to look
beyond their circumstances. This passage
speaks of what lay beyond their circumstances, circumstances they brought on
themselves by their sin and rebellion.
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Recently
I read a critique of Columbus. The
writer talked about how the city had begun to get a rundown look. He mentioned the burned out hulk of a motel that stands only a short distance outside the
Worthington city limits. Though the fire
happened several months ago the ruins still stand as an eyesore near the corner
of Sinclair and Morse, near enough to I-71 to be seen by passersby.
Jeremiah spoke to an audience of men and
women who could look around and see ruins.
They could see the ruins of the holy city and its temple. They could see homes looted and burned. It was to such people Jeremiah came and once
again told them to look beyond their circumstances. He could do so because he came with a message
from God.
JER
32:36 "You are saying about this city, `By the sword, famine and
plague
it will be handed over to the king of Babylon'; but this is what the
LORD,
the God of Israel, says:
Until this point, Jeremiah had been
presenting a message that might we described as a “jeremiad” (a term we use to
describe a prolonged, angry harangue, a term derived from the prophet’s name),
but at this point he seems poised to say, “Now for something completely
different.” God is not correcting,
amending, or even amplifying the prophet’s message; He is completing it. As all the prophet was saying about coming
judgment began to take place, God was saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
Bible students debate over the full
meaning of this passage and others like it, but one thing is clear: It calls upon us to see something of God’s
character: God is the God who
restores those who open themselves to his transforming power.
Following the seventy-year exile in
Babylon, the Jews would be allowed to return and begin to rebuild their
homeland. Under such leaders as
Nehemiah, Ezra, Malachi, and others, the city and temple would be rebuilt. In time, the nation would once again become a
testimony to God.
These developments were fulfillment of
one part of God‘s promise delivered through Jeremiah:
I
will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my
furious
anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let
them
live in safety.
Yet, as important as the physical
restoration was, a greater restoration was going on. That restoration took place in the hearts of
the people of Israel.
[38] They will be my people, and I will be
their God.
To begin with, the old promise associated
with the Sinai covenant—and with the new covenant—at last would become a
reality. They would begin to realize the
privilege and responsibility of being God’s people. But there was more.
[39]
I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will
always
fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.
[40]
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing
good
to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never
turn
away from me.
The people would be transformed by
God. Their hearts would be resolute in
their devotion to God, they will honor God--in thought and act. Following God would bless generations to
come. This yearning for single-hearted
devotion for God would inspire many in the rebuilt Israel. Even the much-maligned Pharisees began with
this as their goal--to follow God in every aspect of their lives. They forgot the power of human pride so, in
time, they became hardened and rigid in their piety. Still, we will see such spiritually-focused
individuals at the Christ’s birth--Zacharias, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, and, of
course, Mary and Joseph.
Jeremiah makes clear that God will plant
in the hearts of those who long to be devoted to him the capacity to be devoted
to him. The prophet also makes it clear
that God yearns to bless the people he restores beyond their wildest
dreams. Why should God do this? The prophet answers: Doing the work of restoration gives God
joy!!!
[41]
I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly
plant
them in this land with all my heart and soul.
The prophet pictures God as “rejoicing”
at the opportunity to do good for his people, rejoicing at the chance to
restore the one who opens his life to him.
Charles Feinberg reports this is the only place in the Bible where “with
all my heart” is used of God. God finds
joy in repairing what we have broken.
If this is a new way for you to think
about God, you should know something.
The bulk of the biblical material suggests that God would always
rather bless than curse.
DT
30:9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your
womb, the young of your
livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD
will again delight in you
and make you prosperous, just as he delighted
in your fathers,
ISA 62:5 As a young man marries a maiden, so
will your sons marry you; as
bridegroom
rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
ISA 65:19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and
take delight in my people; the
sound
of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
If you yearn for renewal, you should be
encouraged by this reality. We should be
confident because God’s character makes him inclined to make us better, better
after our foolish rebellion has ruined us, better after our prideful attempts
at self-improvement have failed.
Jeremiah’s audience would not live to see
the prophecy fulfilled, but they went on to face their difficulties knowing
they served a God who rejoiced at the opportunity to restore and rebuild.
Every page of the New Testament echoes
that picture of God: God is a God who
restore those who open themselves to his transforming power.
That’s the message I want you to remember
this morning.
Certainly it is a message our
missionaries should carry to people in the grip of spiritual darkness. But I believe it is also a message for us.
It’s a message for individuals who
believe their lives are beyond help and hope.
It’s a message for families who feel they
are coming apart.
It’s a message for every church that has
lost its way.
It’s a message for that nation which
fears its greatest glory is in the past.
I don’t know how God will do his
work of renewal, rebuilding, and restoration in an individual, a family, a
church, or a nation but I know he will do it for all who will open their
lives to him and it will begin as they become focused on him.
