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APPENDIX ON JEREMIAH, JERUSALEM AND THE JEW
NOW
Studies in Jeremiah 30-33
In this part of Jeremiah, there are various references to Jews returning to the land. While any author may elect to cover now this, and now that aspect of his topic, we need to examine certain of these phases in the word of God at this site.
A)
First we find reference to what
is NOT just people coming to Christ,
or 'the Church' as some might aver. It is Israel.
It comes back to its land and its Lord.
1) Thus in Jeremiah 30:7, we find the time of Jacob's trouble so that there is none like it: and this is prophecy, even that of the Lord who in Amos 3:7 tells us that HE WILL TELL what is to be for His people, Israel. This has the situation of an APEX in the history of this people, for ghastly horror, for gross impact. There has in this regard never been anything like Hitler's assault on the Jews; for although the Romans in their day, obliterated the city of Jerusalem, the world-wide efforts to exterminate Jewry were not the same, and even Nero had his limits.
The fact that in this era, Israel is to serve the Messiah makes it clear, in view of Isaiah 49:7 and Psalm 2, that it has to be what Jeremiah 30:24 calls the "latter days", as in Joel 2, where history like a shooting star is brought to that giant culmination of the judgment of God, the day of the Lord.
We are then, looking at Messianic rule as in Jeremiah 30:9, 33:14ff., which are in line with Isaiah 2, 32, 11, 65-66.
2)
We read in Jeremiah 30:14, that
"all your lovers have forsaken you," which is not
at all what the Lord says concerning the new Christian or the Church. On the
contrary, you are to leave behind without wallowing the things that are past
(Philippians 3:12ff.), while the former things have passed away (II Corinthians
5:17ff.): such days have sufficed (I Peter 4:3ff.), and the sins, so far from
being sadly lost 'lovers' are removed as far as is the east from the west, and
buried in the depths of the sea in divine mercy (Micah 7:19ff., Psalm 103).
Rather we find in Jeremiah here, that there is a WOUNDING of the forlorn and lost people who pine after their
losses, and are still in subjection to awakening from their follies. It is
indeed the nation that left the cover of the Lord.
The Church ? It does not fit. What it fits is this: the subject addressed, namely Israel (Jeremiah 30:1-3). It is always wise to consider the addressee of a Letter before being too sure that it is for someone you elect to 'discern' is intended. The author of the letter specifies His intent; and here His words accord with nothing other than what He has said, in addressing so Israel and Judah, those TWO bodies (Jeremiah 33:24).
3) In fact, the Church is ONE BODY, for there is not even male or female, Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:28ff., Ephesians 4:4, 2:19ff.), a fact articulated with considerable emphasis on unity (Romans 12, I Corinthians 12). This, it is the TWO families. It is the NAMED two families Judah and Israel, it is the two families with the named and unique history. Vain it is to try to have the Lord to to someone else what He has contradistinctly specified for Israel; and already done in its first measure; and vain would it be to try to stop Him do what He has said TO Israel.
As He says, so He has done, always does, and will do. He knows what He is doing, and foreknows all (Isaiah 46:10), even the end from the beginning; and this He declares (Isaiah 45:18-19, Amos 3:7, 44:25ff.).
In this HE is contradistinct from the false gods, and makes this point with major emphasis! His reliability and straightforward knowledgeability, indeed testability is part of His heritage of grace to man, and one of the grounds for which man should believe in Him (Isaiah 41:21ff., 42:18ff., 43:10ff., 44:20-45:2, 48:8ff.). He mentions names like Cyrus, centuries before his coming, his role to be played, expostulates that His word is not dark or contrived, that He has declared with clarity (cf. Proverbs 8:8), and thus as He claims, so He is; He has said it, does it and still cries at the folly of ignoring His word which alone stands without blemish, organised and effective, a program never vulnerable to diversion.
Indeed, moreover, as with Cyrus who famously did all that was forecast for Israel, so now we already see with Israel in the greatest of detail, for these latter days, much of the forecast meticulously fulfilled. As God declared, SO HE HAS ALREADY DONE (cf. SMR Chs. 8-9).
4) Accordingly, we find of the addressee, the subject that they, or their children, will come back to THEIR OWN BORDER. Now the Church is not composed of people who have HAD a border they would wish to find in return! That was the city of sin from which Christ has lifted them. Israel however HAD her own border, and in being evacuated, might well both look possessively on it, and long for it, its return to it being not a folly but a fulfilment. Such is Jeremiah 31:17.
Indeed, in such studies as these, there are times when one wonders how it is possible for such apparent academic perversity as misplacing the named party with its exclusively relevant criteria of definition, with something grossly inept and meretricious imagined for some reason or other.
5) It is a remnant of Israel which are to return. The Church however is already as such the remnant, what is left for Christ from this world. What is a remnant of the remnant ? some torn garment at a remnant sale ? The remnant of Israel on the other hand, is what is left of a people nominally of the Lord, but phenomenally averse to Him. When you want to allegorise (cf. SMR Appendix A), it is well to be consistent. Thus if the CHURCH is to be ISRAEL, then the Church is so in a spiritual sense, so that it is intensively and by imagination construed as believers replacing what has fallen (cf. Romans 11, The Biblical Workman Chs. 1 and 3).
Thus there could be no 'remnant' of what is already conceived as converted in toto.
With Judah and Israel, however, the addressees, the remnant is pitifully obvious, as is the forgotten isolation from her former 'lovers', without redress as yet.
6) Jeremiah 30:17 declares this:
"... 'I will restore health to you,
And heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD,'Because they called you an outcast saying,
"This is Zion,
No one seeks here." ' "
This is not a generic for those about to become Christians, or who are Christians; but it served all too poignantly to designate the forsaken and unsolaced city, which was so often and so far denuded in indignity, by so many and for so long. smitten in sin and lost in exile.
B) It is not a return which is epochally-before Christ's return to that land.
1) In Jeremiah 30:7, as above, we find that there is no day like this day of Jacob's trouble. It impinges on the return of the Messiah with a growing thrust, as contrast, to constitute the composite criteria to come. It is the climax of dark before dawn, and is covered in terms of a repudiation of the long-time enemies who inflicted servitude of various kinds (30:15-31), until the Messiah comes from their own midst (as in Micah 5:1-3, Isaiah 59:20, Romans 11).
Moreover, this is in the era of the "latter days" of the long history of the Jews, traced by Moses from the first in Deuteronomy 32, where the Gentiles, as Paul notes, are to rejoice with His people, now returned to Him, the same Lord. In this composite marvel is the actual unity of the One God whose plan is munificent, multiple and singular all at once, just as Paul exultingly exhibits at the end of Romans 11.
2) In Jeremiah 30:8, we read this, that "foreigners shall no more enslave them." This requires coverage of the contextually relevant latter days, as in Jeremiah 30:21, whilst as in 23:6, 33:15, we find the Messiah ruling on earth as the terminus ad quem, the thrust of the passage to this end.
By the nature of the case, amid the exultation and praise, mingled with the exhibition of the poignancy and pathos of their case (as in Deuteronomy 32 exactly), this means that we are in the milieu immediately before the Messiah, so that the power, presence and restoration of the people (as in the two stages of Ezekiel 37's prophecy, to the land and then to the LORD!), is one not to be lost! Otherwise foreigners would certainly and clearly enslave them; but this, it is the END, and here comes the LORD.
3) "In those days and at that time ...," in 33:15, cannot mean "in a far distant epoch far removed from that time..." There ARE limits even for neology! What happens rather is this, that "David", long dead but in terms of his oft-noted coming descendant, God as man (Isaiah 9, Micah 5, Psalm 45, Psalm 2,110, Isaiah 48:16, 11), is impending as Messiah, so that the Age is rescued, the Day is won and the people are delivered. This sense of the Messiah coming in a little to adorn this phase of Israel's day is seen clearly in Jeremiah 30:21ff., where it is clear that it is a development, not in some epoch unknown, but to adorn and complete the era of deliverance here so emphasised.
For this, its key is the King and its assurance comes with Him. Here is the essential criterion of their new security, after so long and forlorn a time of exposure to hostile nations. Here is the core of their composure (cf. Isaiah 26:1-4) in sharp contrast to their rebellion from the covenant earlier (as in Isaiah 48:18ff.). Here is the life that comes to their near deletion, in a time to be kept contra-distinct from what has gone before in the long lost condition.
4) "For I will give them one heart and one mind that they may serve Me forever ..." in Jeremiah 32:39 also requires the latter days, in which we are told we shall consider it; for only then is Israel undeviating, and only as in Deuterornomy 32, at the end when God Himself rescues them, as in Ezekiel 36ff., following the Messianic advent in Ezekiel 34, is this to be fulfilled. Their history is repeatedly adverse until the rejected Messiah's advent and rule; and this is an era in which He brings the contrast in Himself, through Himself, for Himself, as in Zechariah 12:10ff., while they repent as also in Deuteronomy 32, Micah 7, including 7:15ff..
As there shown, not salvation but judgment is the cutting edge for the Messiah as He meets the inveterate enemies of Israel, so long forlorn in judgment itself, and it is then and in this declared way that He delivers His people so long in darkness. In this deliverance, compared in Micah 7:15ff. to the physical thrust of the Exodus, there is also spiritual light as in Ezekiel 37 and Zechariah 12, which breaks as the heart of rebellion is likewise broken in the midst of the maelstrom.
Peace comes with the swallowing of their implacable hostility, who devour Israel; and it is here that the conversion of the "remnant" is so amazingly found, at last, after so many centuries, after such accursedness and mockery from so many, with such furore, for so long.
Micah 7 is most eloquent and it all but afflicts one's own spirit to empathise as the long darkness yields to light, and repentance breaks forth like the dawn, awaiting the light to flourish in the land, the light of the Messiah, who having come on time, returns in time. (Cf. Highway of Holiness Ch. 4).
It is in His work to "gather them out of all countries where I had driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath," that the Lord brings them "to dwell safely" so that "they may serve Me forever"; and it is moreover integral to this that He makes with them a New Covenant (as in Jeremiah 31:31ff., one such that the ark does not even come to mind - cf. Jeremiah 3:16ff.).Moreover He divinely undertakes, at this time and in this day to "put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me."
C)
It involves a return to the
LORD, not identical with restoration to their land,
which is continually in view:
these are not identical but here inseparably annexed.
1) The oncoming events breaks constantly from the prelude of geographical return to their ancient and assured heritage (Galloping Events Ch. 4), unconditionally conferred (unlike the blessings which are conditional, as are the curses which were inherited to a major degree for massive folly in terms of the Messiah when He came to suffer, cf. Luke 24:25-26,46ff., Zechariah 12:10, 13:6-7, Psalm 22).
As in Ezekiel 37 (cf. It Bubbles, It Howls, He Calls Ch. 10), their return is one thing, wrought by one preliminary act of divine power, and their conversion is another, wrought by another, so distinct that the prophet expressed them in two successive obediences to command, in his vision. Indeed, their logical arrangement is similar, the assemblage of the 'dry bones' of the once scattered Israel, being the prelude to the covering of them, their breath, their life in the Lord, where life is forever, and their sins and iniquities He remembers no more (as in Jeremiah 31:31ff.).
Similarly, in this intensely coherent and consistent series of accounts, we find in Ezekiel 37:23, that "they shall not defile themselves any more with idols." It is the terminal time, and it follows immediately upon the terminal restoration of Israel to its land, soon followed by the arrival of their King (as in Jeremiah 23:6, 33:15) who comes into their midst (30:21), as indeed He did from the first advent, and in this role is this Messiah, who is seen being installed.
2) Right to the "latter days" it is the same. Now, never again - on the performance of the second phase of Ezekiel's vision of Ch. 37, which is their conversion - are they to wander. The land has received them, in repentance, by faith they come, and the Lord then has received them. It is like a house prepared for tempest: all is covered, their sins, their curse, their folly, their return to land and Lord.
This, their return moreover is immovable, for it is in one piece with the promise. The exactions on the Lord's oppressive enemies who seek to devour Israel, is also quite conclusive (Jeremiah 30:16ff.); for the Lord will "punish all who oppress them"; and it is indeed "in the latter days" that you will "consider it." We do.
It is a return which is FOLLOWED by the power which delivers, and is not constituted by it. It is history, not allegory. It does not fit the allegory of trying to spiritualise 'Israel', which still has to repent after its return, still has to be delivered after it is there, and is still in subjection after her coming home, until the Lord acts.
These are the "intents of His heart" and He will perform them (31:24). They are the latter days, what comes afterwards, and they issue in the advent of the Lord in power to rule as in Joel 2:32ff.. Indeed, in Joel 3, we find that
 |
"in those days
and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, |
What He does there is ultimate, final and leading to a Jerusalem so that
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"no aliens shall ever pass through her again." |
What then ? it is to the newly returned Israel that the final action of national pressures comes, as in Ezekiel 38, and the results are epochal indeed! Jerusalem, as in Zechariah 12-14, becomes a scene of first war, then repentance, then return of the Lord; and in the meantime, a fountain for sin and uncleanness is opened in Jerusalem, yes even there (Zechariah 13:1). It is here that the glorious irony comes, as if designed for the opaque in this field, for the Lord declares in Jerusalem 12:6, "But Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place - Jerusalem."
How amazing for Him to so penetrate the obscurantism opacities in advance, but with the Lord, nothing is too hard! His words have the wisdom of eternity, the knowledgeability of the Creator, the composure of grace, the depth of pity.
What then do we find in Zechariah 12:6, concerning the place of their return ? It is this.
It is to Jerusalem (once ) ? It is to be inhabited ? Yes. Where ? In its own place ? Oh, but where is that ? It is in Jerusalem! That is the discerning dictum from the Lord!
What ? have you forgotten already ? It is Jerusalem, in its own place, it is there that they repair, and are repaired. Yes they are there already.
It is here that they repent for the piercing of the Messiah, their own act.
Thus the return of Israel, Judah and Israel, does not constitute conversion; it precedes it. We are dealing with history, not allegory; with events to come, not shadows; with impending destiny, not poetry; with a people, not a shadow boxing scene. We are seeing the events to come, the Lord to come and the way of it.
D) It is an irrevocable return, spiritually, of the remnant.
This we have already noted. However let us add to it here. Thus in Jeremiah 33:20ff., we see the everlasting covenant, the New Covenant, that in His blood, which they shed but did not, as a nation, use for their salvation. Here is the final issuance of what was promised to David, leading to the everlasting rule of the One who, through the mother, became man and in this, was descendant of David.
What then do we find in the asseveration of Jeremiah 33 ? It is this.
Abolish astronomy ? Yes, but NEVER will this covenant be abolished. Cast away day and night ? yes, but NEVER will He cast away that to which He is committed, that remnant that returns and finds in Him the Messiah, whom the nation had for so long rejected. The "two families" (Jeremiah 33:24) are not dispensable. They are His.
They are as
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a) chosen |
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b) cast off |
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c) restored for ever. |
For His people to be despised "as if they should no more be a nation before them" is to be a ruined mockery - 33:24. This could not be a persecution of the Church per se, which is most emphatically ONE family as noted above, I Peter 2:9ff., Galatians 3:28. Nor is it IN, then CAST OUT, then being OUT but brought back, for the Church. For it, it is simply OUT and then IN.
We have thus found in such devious imaginings that have to be rejected in favour of the text in its integrity: merely an impossible attempt to allegorise a clear statement of history. Moreover, we have likewise in the actual text, untextured and untinted by man, the assurance to Israel that it will join with the Gentiles who for the time were grafted in, for the wandering nation is to be regrafted when its time comes (Romans 11:12,23-26). When the blindness is lifted, as Paul indicates, then the unbelief goes, and God is able to graft them in, their Redeemer coming to them and for them, to be with them, and then for them to be with Him, He their God and they His people with all the other peoples who have received Him, ONE Lord and ONE people at last!
It is most unwise to forget the roots of the olive tree, the promises of God, the structure of history, the emphasis of God on the clear integrity of His words in contradistinction to the obscurantist and the sputterer. It is likewise unwise to forget the boughs of the olive tree, on those roots, and the plan and purpose, the specifications and the program of God, which He has Himself declared, and this itself, according to promise. The truth to Abraham, all of it, will assuredly be performed (as in Micah 7:19ff., cf. Galloping Events Ch. 4). As divinely stated, so it is historically rated; and even if faith fails for many, yet the word of God never fails.
E)
It is a Christian status and no other to which
they,
being returned, then come 33:16, 3:16.
Just as the Lord does part, so He does all. He NEVER obliterates His word, but fulfils it.
Just as there is no other people meeting these characterising criteria adduced in the text, so there is no other covenant to which they come but that which they forsook as a nation at the first, one cruelly mocked in the death of Christ. A nation, the same itself, after providing for the Gentiles by Jewish apostles, yet not by its own will, now comes to receive amidst the multitude, the same Gospel it despised, the same Messiah whom it crucified, a remnant to joint the faithful from all nations, all of the same desert, all without intrinsic merit, all needing the grace of God in order to stand, and all standing by faith (cf. Revelation 7, Romans 1-3, Ephesians 2).
So is God glorified, so is His mercy to the Jew, followed by that to the Gentile. Just as the rejection brought the stream of salvation testimony abroad in mass, so is the Gentile mercy, from God, the occasion for the return of the Jew, now brought back, to the Lord Himself. In all, God is glorified; in many He acts as One; for many He acts progressively, but in One plan of One Salvation, in Jesus Christ, the rejected Jew, the God as man whose stripes yield healing, whose hand first worked it, whose Spirit now applies it.
It is for one, for all. But God has His plans and His marvellous strategy, and now is this fulfilled, as we come to the end of the prophecy of Jeremiah on this point, married to that of all the other prophets.
NOTE
For further treatment of Jeremiah in this field, see
The Biblical Workman Ch. 1.