Jeremiah= Chapter 31 (Part 2)

We left off at Jeremiah 31:22. markers

Jeremiah tells those who are taken into captivity by Babylon to leave markers on their travels on their way into Babylon so they can follow them back to Jerusalem upon their release 70 years hence. This is a very rare occurrence for anyone mentioned per travels in the Bible. In America when pioneer travelers ventured west, it was common to do the same thing in order to mark and follow the trails others used to get out west. We can also see the spiritual implication; a roadmap. The very same markers of life that lead us into spiritual captivity will also tell us not only how we got into a spiritual backslide, but also what needs to be done to return to a good relationship with God and Jesus.

God assures his chosen people that eventually (End Time) he will do something different in order to bring them back under his shepherding and their worship of him. His comparison is “as a woman protecting (encompassing) a man from harm instead of the traditional man protecting the women activities” [v22].

We might make note here that when the ten northern tribes were dispersed by the Assyrians, every man, woman and child was removed from their home land. None were left behind. In this situation of the dispersion of the southern tribe and Kingdom of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar did leave behind a remnant, mostly consisting of the very poor. These were primarily the Hebrew (Jews) people remaining in Judah 600 years later at the beginning of the New Testament who have now resettled the land and becoming a nation once again in 1948. A remnant did return from Babylon but it was less than 1% of those taken into captivity.

If anyone is deluded into thinking that modern day Israel will ever give up Jerusalem to Islam or Arab *Palestinians, they totally miss God’s plan for them. Jerusalem will eventually, if not already, the focal point of global politics and world nations putting pressure on Israel to give it to Islamists. IT WON”T HAPPEN! Keep in mind Isaiah 1:26…”I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

*We must note for the knowledge and understanding of each reader, Palestine is a name of a place, not a people. This means anyone living within the area called Palestine is Palestinian. For political purposes alone, this is why history revisionists and media sources try to convince us that a certain group of Arabs are the only Palestinians. Not true! Anyone living within these boundaries, just as is true of Americans, s/he is soon an American. Those who live in Jordan are Jordanians, but also called Arabs.

consquences

Jeremiah has it correct in Lamentations where he writes.., [Lamentations 5:7] “our ancestor (fathers of old) have sinned thus we suffer the consequences of those sins.” Jeremiah 31:27 is a clear End Time, road to passage, and promise to Israel.

“The days are coming,” in that time says the LORD, “when I will help the family of Israel and Judah to grow. I will help their children and animals to grow too…” [ERV].

This passage in Jeremiah (31:29-31) is from where this writer gets the statement, “the old testament is about a nation; the New Testament is about individuals (paraphrased). ”People (N.T.) will die for their individual sins no longer suffering the consequences of the ancestral family or sin of their fathers.” But once again we are assured this is a future prophecy since verse 31 addresses both the people of the Northern Kingdom (ten lost Tribes) and the Judeans Jews.

It isn’t redundant but it makes a solid point to repeat in verses 32 and 33 we read “This message is from the Lord.” It add authority since in is upon his own name he makes this oath. No longer will it be a matter of faith (v33). No one will need to teach family, neighbors or friends about God. He will write it upon their heart. In short, they no longer will have a choice of faith. They will know. This is the true meaning of the Hebrew word “yadda.”

Jeremiah 31:34b… (in-part) “I will forgive them for the evil things they did. I will not remember their sins.” But it gets even better. We now have a window of insight into the eventual activities of Satan (Book of Daniel and Revelation; End time events of the anti-Christ). God declares to Israel that if he does not fulfill his exclusive and specific promises to Israel (all Tribes of Jacob/Israel) then his upholding them as a people will be nullified [v36, v37]. He even puts forth the challenge that the heavens are too expansive to be searched/measured and the depths of the earth cannot be explored by man. However, if they can be searched out, then his covenants with Israel will no longer exist. This is precisely why Satan tries to change God’s creation during the Tribulation. It is his only chance and he knows it quite well.

This is another example of “If you _____; then I _____.” Verses 38 – 40 tell us the exact marking posts and border of the New Jerusalem to come; the one John of Patmos discusses in (Revelation 21:1). The city that Jeremiah is told of is a city that will not only be spacious and well outside of its borders of today or Old Testament times, but both “holy to the Lord,” that is, freed from all pollutions, and everlasting ( Joel 3:17 Joel 3:20 , Revelation 21:2 Revelation 21:10 Revelation 21:27