Jeremiah;- The new covenant (ch31)

In the last part of ch31, Jeremiah moves back into prose and includes the house of Judah in his promise of restoration.

Vv23-25 are a separate prophecy, or perhaps each verse is a separate prophecy.
V23; When the Lord restores the cities of Judah, they will say once again (in their holy rituals) “The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill.”
V24 Then the cities and the farmers and the flock herders will live together happily.
V25 “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish it.”

V26 sounds like Jeremiah speaking, perhaps at the close of a vision or a collection of visions; “Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.”

Most of the rest of the chapter is a sequence of three prophecies, each beginning “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord”. These are prophecies of restoration.

Vv27-30 The Lord will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. This is what “blessing” really means. Prosperity will be restored. Up to now the Lord has been watching over them to bring down the proud and bring judgement, but then he will be watching over them “to build and to plant”. He quotes a current proverb which is also quoted in Ezekiel ch18 v2; “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” In other words, the current generation believe themselves to be suffering for the sins of their ancestors, As In Ezekiel, he promises that this will not be true in the future. The suffering of every man will come from his own personal sins.

Vv31-34 The promise of a new covenant, which is the theoretical foundation of what we call the New Testament (same word). The connection is made in Hebrews, where this prophecy is quoted in full (Hebrews ch8 vv8-12) and the comment is added “In speaking of a new covenant, he treats the first as obsolete”.

This will not be like the old covenant, based on the Exodus, which they broke. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people” This does rather sound like “We serve not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit” (Romans ch7 v6).

“And no longer shall each man teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord’”. The words “no longer” imply that this kind of personal evangelism was happening in Jeremiah’s time. That may come as a surprise to those who distinguish between the supposed communal religion of the Old Testament and the individual religion of the New Testament. But there were many individuals in the land who felt no commitment to the Lord God of Israel, as the histories and the prophets show, and there would have been plenty of scope for individual “Are you saved?” appeals.

The appeal will be no longer be necessary, because “they will all know me… for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more”. These promises for the new covenant have been half-fulfilled. Forgiveness of sin is available, but has not been taken up universally. It is still necessary that men should teach other men, saying “Know the Lord”.

Vv38-40 The rebuilding of the city, a theme expanded in the last chapters of Ezekiel. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more for ever.”

a reply to: DISRAELI

The thing is though according to the prophesies of Hosea, John 2, and Revelation the process was to take 3000 years.

Hosea 6
1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

John 2
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21But he spake of the temple of his body.

2nd Peter 3
8But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Revelation 21
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.