Whatever God was doing with Judah could only be understood from the perspective of grace. Why should an incorrigible people who failed Him so miserably and repeatedly, whose only just dessert was judgment, yet find favor with Him again and again. God had every justification to finish off His people in one swift move, yet He did not. Why not? All because of His grace. His judgment was demonstrated in His patience. It was His grace in action. We need to know that His chastenings are opportunities for us to align and make right their wrongs. God was more gracious than Jeremiah’s estimation of Him.
In
response to Jeremiah’s dilemma, God
responded. There are four promises God made in Jeremiah 32:36-44. Firstly, in verse 37 He promised to bring them home to
Judah. He said, “I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have
driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring
them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.” There would be an
end to their Babylonian exile. Wherever they were
scattered God would gather them to Himself.
Secondly, in verse 38 God promised
to make them His people. He said, “They shall be My
people, and I will be their God.” All along God wanted them to be HIs
unique people. He said that in the Mosaic covenant, and He is rehashing them here,
once again. They would once again have all the privileges stipulated in the covenant.
Thirdly, in verse 39, God promised
to give them a new heart. God's promise to them was, “I
will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for
their own good and for the good of their children after
them.” This clearly is an indication of the new birth that Jesus came to
bring about in His believers. Repentance, confession, faith, conversion, and regeneration
are all part of the processes that would give us a new heart.
Fourthly, God promised in verses
40-41 that the covenant would be an everlasting covenant. He said, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not
turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in
their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and
will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and
with all My soul.” God’s covenant with them would be forever. We
know that this New Covenant has been sealed and ratified by the precious blood
of Christ, hence it is the everlasting covenant.
We are God’s New Covenant people. We must stay focused,
single-minded, and faithful. Learning from the examples of Israel and Judah, we
must not be double-minded. We cannot profess to love God and then go flirting with
the world. James 4:4 reminds us that friendship
with the world is hostility toward God. “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God,” He added. Let
us make faithfulness to God our priority. Don’t let it be an option!
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