He was telling the truth. While Babylon was storming the gates, Jeremiah was telling them that the Lord said that they would go into captivity. The king said didn’t like this and said he was spreading false information. It was actually true but the king deemed it false. So the king had Jeremiah imprisoned even as the Babylonians were pounding the gates.
Jeremiah did not waver in his message. And he also had another message. While the people of Judah and Jerusalem would go into captivity, the Lord was going to one day bring them back.
So the Lord instructed Jeremiah to buy a piece of land. So with great openness and public notice, he bought a piece of land in front of all the people. He took the purchase agreement and made it public, giving it to Baruch and for all the witnesses. It was then placed in a clay jar for special preservation for a long time.
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said that as much as he had to send the people of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity for their wickedness, he would bring them back. But their captivity was their judgment for the depth of their wickedness. It was so bad that they killed their babies, “something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought thaty do this detestable act” (v. 35).
But captivity would wake them up. They could have as many gods as they wanted and do what they wanted under Babylon. They would just be ruled by Babylon in Babylon.
The day was coming though when he would bring them back to their land. And after that he would make a new covenant with them of the heart.
“I will give them one heart and one way so that for their good and for the good of their descendants after them, they will fear Me always. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of Me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from Me. I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all My heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land” (Jer 32:39-40).
Hm.
Ok. So I get this chapter and then this verse above here makes me pause and think. Of course we know that this is the new covenant that is in Jesus. He has already talked about the new covenant in the previous chapter and a new covenant had to be instituted with blood which was done in the death of Christ.
Point 1 – “I will never turn away from doing good to them“
Let’s face it. The Jewish people have faced some really tough times in history. But these were not the doings of God but the doings of man. But one can rightly ask, “Where was God’s protection?”
That’s honestly a tough one.
The LORD most certainly honors free will. Even the free will to do evil. It’s hard to think of him not swooping in to protect his people. Although he most certainly redeemed that evil using it to bring his people back to their land.
At the same time it’s hard to swallow. And I’m not going to sit here and say I have the answers. It’s hard to understand why God steps in to protect and other times does not, but that he honors another’s free will. Free will to do good and free will for harm.
Point 2 – “They will never again turn away from Me.”
Yet now they are so far from him. Although that’s changing.
I was thinking on this again this morning and realize that this is a picture of them under the new covenant. Many have not come into the new covenant but persist in a quasi no-man’s land of covenants. Sort of Old Covenant but minus the sacrifices. And many atheists.
But there is something in the new covenant that once you receive the fullness of the Spirit, it would be very difficult to turn from Him. Of course some do. But for me I know the truth to the core of my being, having been so secured by the Holy Spirit, that I couldn’t turn away if I wanted. Or if I did it would be with full understanding that I was rejecting the truth.
The work that He did in my spirit was like cement. I know it to the center of my being with no effort on my part for that to have happened. Nothing in my searches for something else. That ended. Do I still have questions? Most certainly. Do I still have things I don’t understand? Many. These verses surprisingly being some of the hardest (v. 40). Could I still fall away or sin away? Yes. But again, it would be with the full certainty that I was rejecting what was true and real.
