The Book of Jeremiah, Part 1

Well, good morning again. Always wonderful to see all of you. So glad that we're able to be together today. I know here in the last couple of weeks, or the last couple of times that I've been up here, we've covered some of the highlights of the book of Isaiah.

And I do that in order to help you. I hope that it does help you be able to have a little better overview of the book, but more than that, I do that to help me, because I need to have a better appreciation of the prophetic statements that God inspired through the Spirit of God to be written down by men who, to a degree, I would say mostly men, I guess, who were writing this down under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ.

That's what it says in Peter. And whether they understood it fully or not, that clearly is also something that they understood their setting. And I know in thinking about what is written for our benefit. I see in Isaiah, I have a much deeper appreciation for what God inspired to be written. I see why so much of that is quoted in the New Testament. I see why so much of it is written about the kingdom that's going to be set up. Daniel writes about a kingdom that's going to come, and yet even at that same time, or prior to that time, Isaiah was writing about descriptions of how it is, the kingdom will be, how it will make such a change, how it will create an atmosphere of peace and prosperity and abundance and love toward God and toward our fellow man.

And yet, you see, whenever you wonder why was that recorded in Acts about the Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of Isaiah, he was wondering, who's this talking about? What is it about? And of course, Philip could go ahead and easily discuss with him, well, this is talking about the Christ, it's talking about the anointed one, the one who's going to come to the earth and who's going to introduce or maybe announce the kingdom of God, and then who's later going to return and establish that kingdom.

And there is so much information that, you know, I just say that I have a deeper appreciation of what God inspired to be written by those servants. And yet, the life of those servants would have to have been frustrating.

The life of those servants would have to have been depressing and discouraging at times. And you see that written. And of course, I know I enjoy reading the Psalms and reading what it is that David often writes or others that are included in the Psalms. And yet, they write about a lot of ups and downs.

And they write about, I guess you could say, normal life. You know, how it is that we struggle with things, how it is that we recognize our failings. We return to God. We repent and draw close to God. And of course, He is always, always there, always available to help us. And yet, as I've thought about Isaiah more, and now I want to go into Jeremiah today, I want to at least provide some overview information about the book of Jeremiah. And then, I would imagine today and next time, whenever that is, I will try to continue with some thoughts regarding the book of Jeremiah.

Because actually, the book of Jeremiah is a remarkable, lengthy discussion. And yet, it's not a chronological discussion, and so it's not always as easy to follow as maybe some of the other books. But Jeremiah was a priest, and he was one of Israel's greatest prophets whenever we look back, and we see the major prophets. But we find in the life of Jeremiah, Jeremiah started being a servant of God when he was very young. We can go to chapter 1. That's where we will begin here in Jeremiah chapter 1.

But he began his service to God when he was an older teenager. And so, for any of us who may have come to an awareness of our need for God at that point in our lives, God can certainly do that. And he can do marvelous things whenever you think about it, but you find in the life of Jeremiah some remarkable things.

He had faith in God. That's clearly what he displays throughout the entirety of the book. He clearly understood his calling, even though, as I'm going to point out, that brought about a great deal of discouragement, a great deal of opposition, because what he had to say was not well received. People wanted to hear good things. They wanted to hear smooth things, I guess you could say. And yet what he had to say wasn't smooth. It was going to be difficult. And, of course, it created problems for him. And you also see he had a great deal of courage in the face of hostility, because that's really what was caused by what he had to say. Now, I also can just say about Jeremiah, and I won't turn to these verses, and if you read through the book of Jeremiah, which is a lengthy book. It's got 52 chapters, so it's somewhat lengthy. And yet you find that Jeremiah, he used a secretary, he used Baruch. And you see him mentioned in, I guess, chapter, I don't have them all written down here, but chapter 36, a couple of times, chapter 45. You see that he would have someone else, a secretary, write down. Maybe he wrote down a lot of what Jeremiah ultimately would have in this book. And yet Jeremiah himself was more a preacher, or one who communicated whatever it was that God wanted him to say. And so he would give that information to the king, or to the people, or at the temple. He would do that. He was in Judah. He was in a nation that was somewhat struggling.

And it was toward the latter years of the nation of Judah, and Israel had already gone into captivity a hundred years prior. And so whenever you see Jeremiah writing to Judah, it's pretty obvious I'm talking to you about what's going to happen to you. But then also he's writing to Israel, which has to be not only for those who identified with it then, but for Israel today, in the time of the end.

And so it is important, and it is certainly connected to Jeremiah, that we even can identify Israel today. And we understand, I think all of you have read the United States and Britain in Prophecy. And there are other books, other information available. I see that Tom basically has put together the throne of Britain. At least I've looked through that, and I know that I've read that information at one time. I don't know if it made as much of an impact on me as it should. And yet clearly God was guiding. Where it was, nations would end up. And how it is that a throne from David would continue to exist toward the time of the end.

At the time of the end, and that Jesus actually, maybe we should even look at that because that's in Luke chapter 1. That you find that even Mary and Joseph would come to understand here in Luke chapter 1, because this was what Gabriel had told Mary about what was going to happen. What he was telling her in chapter 1, verse 28, he came to her, Gabriel did, said, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.

And of course, she was perplexed by those words, wondered about them. He says, don't be afraid in verse 30. Don't be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And in verse 31, you're going to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you're going to name him Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor, David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. That was clearly not going to happen during the physical life that Jesus lived here on the earth. That was a prediction or a prophecy of what we are all yearning for, what we wait for. But it also includes knowing that he's going to take over a throne from David. And Jeremiah is connected to that, and we'll get into that in a little bit. So let's look in Jeremiah chapter 1.

Verse 1, the words of Jeremiah, to whom verse 2, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of King Josiah, the son of Ammon of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign, it came also in the days of King Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, and until the end of the 11th year of King Zedekiah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

And so, you know, this gives us a setting. He was preaching to the kings who were the last kings, when you go back and study the history of Judah, the last kings, the surviving kings, Zedekiah being the final one, and ultimately then the fall and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Here in verse 4, it says, the word of the Lord came to me and said, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you, and I appointed you a prophet to the nation. Now, you don't see any other prophet being introduced in this way. And this actually gives us a perspective that we all need. We need to have an understanding of how much God, and even as our sermonette displayed, how much God was involved in causing the rise, and even the structure of the rules that we go by here in this country, that we enjoy the tremendous blessing of that, and how that's all based on the word of God.

But in this case, we see that Jeremiah, even at the point of his birth, and prior to that, God was setting this up. He was going, he was dealing with a physical human being, and there are actually very few of these even mentioned in the Bible.

Of course, Jesus, prior to his birth, it was set up. You see, when you read about John the Baptist, that there was, even before he was born, as Zachariah was being told, you're going to have a son. Zachariah thought, I don't know about that.

You know, Elizabeth's very old, and I'm very old. You know, you're going to have a son, and there's a purpose for him. And of course, he fulfilled a purpose that fulfilled prophecy from the Old Testament about a voice crying out in the wilderness. And then you even see Paul mentioning in Galatians 1.15, you know, that prior to his birth, that God was, maybe I should look at that because I'm not as familiar with it. But in Galatians chapter 1, Paul says in verse 13, you've heard no doubt of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God, was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many, among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. And yet in verse 15, when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, when he was pleased to reveal his son to me so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I didn't confer with other humans. Again, the point I was making is that he mentions that, you know, God was involved in causing him to rise up. And yet, of course, his training was as a Pharisee. His training was in the law. His training was going to be thoroughly understanding God's involvement in the people of God, the people of Israel. And yet, of course, he was sent as the apostle to the Gentile. He was sent, again, God is involved in these particular individuals' lives. I'm sure he was involved in the lives of many of the others that we read about in the Bible. Certainly in the writing of the Bible, he was involved in putting that together through those people. But what I really want to point out is, you know, that God is going to bring about a plan. He has a purpose. He has a plan. He wants us to understand our part in that plan. He wants us to fulfill his purpose in our life. And we can learn so much even from reading about these prophets and as we're going to go through about Jeremiah. Verse 6, he says, Oh, Lord, truly, I don't even know how to speak. I'm just a young person. I'm a boy. God said, don't say that. Don't say I'm just a boy. He says, You shall go.

Verse 7, To all whom I send you to. And so I guess this was a convincing argument that God was able to present. I've caused you to be born for a reason. I'm going to send you as my servant.

And it says, you're going to speak whatever I command you. And of course, as I've already said, his message was not a popular one. It was not one readily received. It was one that was, and he thought it was deeply discouraged. Many thought he was a traitor to the house of Judah.

And yet God said, I'm going to send you, and you were going to say what I want you to say.

And yet he backs this up in verse 8. He says, Don't be afraid, though, because I'm with you, and I will deliver you. And again, I think we have to think, you know, as God called us for a reason, for a purpose, and we don't have the same purpose as Jeremiah or any others that we would read about, except we have an understanding of God's purpose of causing us to grow and develop and become servants of God, not only now, but for in the future. And Jeremiah was told that to begin with. So he said, Don't be afraid. I'm going to be with you. And we have to appreciate the fact that God is with us. We're not on our own. We're not just stumbling along, and we make mistakes, and we fall, and we get back up.

God is going to cause us to be successful. He's going to enable us and empower us to be successful if we simply look to Him. We see the need. We see this is what He said. Verse 9, The Lord put out His hand, touched my mouth, and He said to me, Now I have put my words in your mouth.

Now, you know, that's a phrase that I have thought about a lot. I certainly, if I'm going to be a teacher of the Bible, I'm going to be a servant of God or a minister in any capacity, then I ask that God would put His words in my mouth. Now, I realize that there may be a lot of other confusing words that I use or say at times, but I do pray for God, and I think all of us should pray that God will use us in His service. And in verse 10, He says, See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy and to overthrow and to build and plant. And again, Jeremiah was told this to begin with. I doubt that he really understood what that was talking about at all. And clearly, you know, this was a prophecy of what was later going to be done regarding the fall of Jerusalem, the overtaking of the people, and yet the throne that had been maintained from David down to Zedekiah was going to be continued to be maintained. It was going to be this was a process that God was going to use where He would transplant, you know, that kingdom. Again, I can't imagine Jeremiah understood how that's going to be, and he probably had no clue what it was, but we see that a little more clearly today.

So we see in verse, I guess, 10, he's appointed over nations, but I guess in verse 5, this is where he says, I've appointed you a prophet to the nations. So it wasn't just that his words were to affect Judah at that time. His words are to be to many nations, and actually, you see different prophetic statements about different nations. And again, I'm not really able to go through and elaborate on those much, but you see how that he predicted certain things for different people. And again, those could be very applicable to today. And yet, as I mentioned, the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, had gone into captivity sometime before then. So it's got to be a message from God for the people of Israel in the end time. Let's see, let's go on down to chapter 1 in verse 8. He talks about putting the words of God in his mouth.

And then in verse 17, he says, Gird up your loins, stand up, and tell them everything that I'm going to command you.

Don't break down before them, or I will break you before them, and I for my part will make you today a fortified city in Iron Pillar. In verse 19, they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

And so Jeremiah was told up front, you know, you're being enlisted in the service of God.

I will tell you what you're going to say. I will deliver you. He doesn't say, I will deliver you quickly, because that certainly wouldn't be the description that we find in the 40-some years that Jeremiah was prophesying. There were times when he was really wondering about, where are you? Where? How are you going to deliver me out of this pit? Or how are you going to deliver me from being in prison, or from being in the stocks? Because these are all things that Jeremiah endured. And yet, I'm sure, far more than that, there were times when he really wondered. And actually, you see sections where he's just complaining to God about, how could this actually be at all? And yet, that's what you read whenever you read through the book of Jeremiah.

The second thing I'll mention is you see that Jeremiah appeals to people there in Judah, and of course, this is a message to us and to everyone today. He appeals to them to repent.

Repent and receive the benefits. Return to God. Yes, you're wrong, and yes, you're disobeying, and yes, you're following other gods, and yes, you are corrupt in many ways, but you need to repent. Just repent. Turn, and God will help. He will deliver. He will answer. And again, that is, I think, a great deal of importance to us. Let's look at chapter 3. Starting in verse 6.

The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, Have you seen what she did, what faithless Israel, how she went out to every high hill and under every green tree and played the harlot there? And I thought, after she has gone all this, she will return. But she didn't return, and her false sister Judah saw it, and she was even worse.

Now, this is a description of the people of Israel and Judah, and both of them were faithless toward God. And it describes this in verse 10, Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart. That was really what God would like to see, and yet, of course, you know, he brought even their captivity to pass. But in people today, you know, he wants us to return with our whole heart. And let's see, in verse 13, only, well, let's back up to verse 12. Now, he says this regarding the need to repent, the need to do that from the heart, the need to recognize sin. He says, faithless Israel, this is in verse 12, I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the Lord, I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord, and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord. For I'm your master or maker, I will take you one from a city and two from a family, I will bring you to Zion. Again, you see this type of an appeal, and I don't have all of these written down, but there are several here that are, you know, just graphic. And actually, it's interesting to see that in Daniel 9, verse 2, now we all know Daniel was, he was a part of the captivity. He was a part of those who went into captivity out of Judah, and he, of course, was reasonably favored in that God gave him the capacity and favor to be in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, and, you know, he could see that Judah, you know, has fallen because of our sin. And whenever he prayed about that, and he fasted about that, he said, we need to repent. I need to repent. They, all of us need to repent.

And yet, in Daniel 9, verse 2, he says, I read about in the book of Jeremiah that we're going to be in captivity here for 70 years. You know, this is how God has put the book together in such a way that you do put it together, you know, with different things from different aspects of the Bible or different portions of the Bible. But let's go back to Jeremiah a little more. Let's see here in chapter 13, because this is clearly talks about how it is, you know, that he wanted people to repent.

In chapter 13, verse 15, he says, Here in Givir, do not be haughty, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountain of twilight.

While you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it into deep darkness.

Jeremiah was appealing to them to repent and to receive the benefits of turning to God. And in chapter 22, you've got an entire section here, again, describing these first few verses.

It says, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, speak these words, say, Hear the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 22, verse 2, O king of Judah, sitting on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter their gates, says, Lord, act with justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who is robbed, and do no wrong or violence to the alien or orphan or widow, and shed innocent blood, or shed innocent blood in this place. If you will, indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne, writing in chariots. But if you do not, if you will not heed these words, then I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation for thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah.

So those are just a few of the examples that we find of just how it was that Jeremiah was appealing to the king, he was appealing to the people as a whole at times. Here in Jeremiah 25, again another appeal. Actually, this is telling them what's going to happen. Therefore, 25 verse 8, says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words, I'm going to sin for all the tribes of the north, even for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring him against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and hissing and everlasting disgrace, and I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride. Verse 11, this whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldean, for their iniquity.

Again, who's in charge of this writing? Who's in charge of directing Jeremiah to even speak these type of words, or to try to appeal? Well, clearly it's God bringing about his purpose in the lives of the people of God, the people who were descended from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and who then were broken into the nation of Israel and Judah, and yet going to go into captivity. I would think, you know, as Daniel would have read, I'm sure he was reading Jeremiah 25, although it wasn't broken up like that at that time. I'm sure he would read that, and he said, well, let's see, you know, we still have quite a ways to go. You know, we're still going to be in captivity for quite a while, and of course, ultimately, you know, God would then deliver. But Jeremiah does, you know, give a lot of pleading throughout the book, and again, he's often, actually, I think what you find with, you know, the book of Jeremiah is that these are many of his sermons, whether they were written down or whether they were extemporaneous, I don't know. He was directly, I mean, I'm glad to learn, as was pointed out, that you can do different things at different times. And yet, he, what was I saying, he was mostly just preaching this, and then perhaps writing it down later, or maybe writing it down, and then using it as he preached. But of course, as I mentioned, Baruch was involved in at least recording, and sometimes recording again, what it was that Jeremiah had to say, and even at times it was destroyed. The thing that you again see about Jeremiah is just how much passion and concern and energy that he put into doing the job. I mentioned several weeks ago that he was, he can be labeled the weeping prophet, because you can read numerous verses that talk about him. I'm just crying over the extent of the problems of the people of Judah. And I'm sure he probably thought of, he would think of his own problems. He could think of that, but his message was to the house of Judah, and it was also to Israel. But he was just weeping bitterly over, you know, some of these. Actually, if we go back to chapter 13, we read some of that about him. It says in verse 13 verse 17, whenever this exile is threatened, he says in verse 17, if you don't listen, my soul weeps in secret for your pride.

My eyes weep bitterly and run down with tears because the Lord's flock has been taken captive.

He was emotional about the job that he had to do. And I think we can think of that, or I think we should think of that, as we do our job today. You know, we are in the process of overcoming, with God's help, and we're going to be victorious. With his help, we're going to be able to be transformed because as we appeal to God for his help, that help is clearly available. As he told Jeremiah, don't worry about it. I'm with you. Yes, you're down right now, and yet I want you to be reminded of how powerful I am and what I'm doing to bring about the blessing that I'm going to bring about even through this difficulty. And this is another part of what I wanted to point out.

As Jeremiah preached to the people of Judah, and God revealed through him that Jerusalem, if they don't change, they're going to go into captivity. And he preached, or taught them, that, well, you're going to go into captivity. It's pretty much a done deal. You're not listening, you're not paying attention, you're not repenting, you're not changing. It's pretty much a done deal. You're going to go into captivity. And even as he was writing chapter 25, he was saying, you're going to be there for 70 years. And yet, whenever he would talk to them, he would tell them, you know, you might as well just submit to Babylon because that's going to be better for you in that captivity. And then God can extend mercy even through this Gentile nation. Now, that certainly was not what the people of God wanted to hear. That wasn't what they wanted to hear. And yet, that's what Jeremiah was asked to preach. It wasn't a message that was well received.

And yet, and certainly it wasn't an easy message to perform. Let's look at chapter 26. Chapter 26, starting in verse 2, that says, Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house, speak to the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord, speak to them all the words that I command you, do not hold back a word. It may be that they'll listen, all of them, and turn from their evil ways that I may change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them because of their evil doing. You shall say, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have sent before you, and to heed the words of my servants, the prophets whom I send to you urgently. Though you have not heeded up to this point, then I'm going to make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.

See, that was the description. The priest and the prophets in verse 7, all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord, and when Jeremiah had finished speaking, all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, and the priest and the prophets, all the people laid hold on him and said, you shall die. You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying that we're going to be like Shiloh, we're going to be like the nation of Israel, who has already been in captivity for some time. And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. They thought that he had done a criminal act. We need to hang you right here. We need to put you to death. And as I mentioned, there are other examples that we won't try to go through in chapter 37. You see him imprisoned in chapter 38. You've got the description of him being in a muddy well or cistern. Says it didn't have any water in it, I guess, but mud. So he was stuck in the mud in the bottom, and ultimately they have to rescue him.

And yet what you see about look in the face of rejection, in the face of hostility and ridicule and persecution and threats against his life, Jeremiah had to continue to do his job. He had to continue to do the work that God had commissioned him to do. And certainly, when we read in Matthew 5, when you go through the Beatitudes and you read one in verse 10 that says, blessed are those who were persecuted for my name's sake. And theirs is the kingdom of God. You know, that's what that's an application to us today. Because when you read what Jeremiah went through, you read how it was that he was, you know, so hated and so they were so, became so angry over him simply doing what God told him to do. And clearly we can have an application to that in our lives whenever we are pressured to do, other than what God tells us to do and how he wants us to live. And we live within our families, we live within the framework of the cities and towns that we live in. You know, the pressure to do otherwise and what God says can be great.

And yet that's simply the same thing you see about Jeremiah. And of course, you also read other admonition to the church today about the persecution that's going to come. And as we mentioned earlier about people who are in many ways risking their lives to continue to believe what they believe. That's clearly what Jeremiah faced at that time.

So I wanted to be able to point that out. I also mentioned to you how Jeremiah was given here in Jeremiah 1, verse 10, this mysterious commission. And again, it would take a long time to try to go through much of that. But I do want to at least point out that this was how it was that God was going to continue to maintain a line, a royal line from David to Zeddakiah and then through Zeddakiah's daughters ultimately to be in Britain today. Ultimately, to be in a monarchy that is quite well known around the world today, maybe not recognized as being the throne of David or the throne of Israel. And yet it is a throne that Christ is going to assume whenever he returns.

Let's look in chapter 43. I've got too many verses written down here that would deal with this. But in chapter 43, actually you find in the latter part of Jeremiah that as the nation was going into captivity and he remained in Judah, he was one of many who were still there. You know, you see him in chapter 43, pressure forced to go to Egypt. And here it talks about that. Let's see chapter 43. Let's see where we should pick this up. Verse 1, Jeremiah finished speaking to the people all the words of the Lord with which the Lord had sent him to them. And Azariah and Johanan and all the other insolent men said to Jeremiah, you're lying. You're not telling the truth. The Lord our God did not send you to say don't go to Egypt to settle there.

Baruch has been putting you up to that. You know, he's been feeding you inside information that has nothing to do with what we're supposed to do. And so in verse 4, Johanan and the commanders of the forces of the people did not obey. The voice of the Lord that Jeremiah had given to stay in the land of Judah. But he and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to settle in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven, the men, the women, the children, the princesses, the king's daughters, and everyone whom Abizaradon the captain beguarded left with Gedaliah. Gedaliah had been kind of set in a ruler position there in Judah. And he says also the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch, son of Nariah, in verse 7, and they came into the land of Egypt and they did not obey the voice of the Lord and they arrived at Taphan. That's just one of the verses. You have several others, again, that I won't try to go through, that mentions the king's daughter. It mentions how it was that a royal line or blood was going to be picked up and put somewhere else. And that, of course, is in a very, you know, summary of that, how it is that that was going to occur. We won't take time to go through more of that because it's a lengthy story and a lot of information, perhaps, that could be given. The final thing that I'll mention here today is just simply, even though Jeremiah's life was difficult, he had difficulties. He had more difficulties than we might ever have imagined because he wasn't received and he was criticized and faced such hostility. And, you know, he himself felt like he was in distress at times. You also see in Jeremiah, I think, not as much as you see in Isaiah because Isaiah has so many, many chapters about a restoration that is coming and how it is the kingdom of God is going to be set up and how that as Christ returns as the king of kings that things are going to be, you know, so remarkably different. But Jeremiah mentions this as well and he talks about the restoration that will take place. Of course, you know, he learned from God that Israel or in this case Judah would be in captivity for 70 years and then they would be brought back. They would come back. At least some of them would come back and they'd be commissioned to rebuild the temple and that again is another part of the story. But it also talks about obvious references to even a future restoration. That clearly was a past restoration where they were allowed to come back and rebuild the temple. But the end time restoration is what is spoken here in, of course, a very, very joyous time here in chapter 23. This whole section seems to be about the joy restoration that is yet to come.

It says on verse 3, then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands, for I have driven them. I will bring them back to their fold and they shall be a fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, who will not fear any longer or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. Again, a reference to even the future. In verse 5, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. And in his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the one by which he will be called, or the name by which he will be called the Lord, is our righteousness. Therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when that shall no longer be said, as the Lord lives, who brought the people out of Israel, or the people of Israel, out of the land of Egypt. That clearly was a restoration, that was a intervention, that was a deliverance of the people of Israel of the past. But it will be said in verse 8, as the Lord lives, who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north, out of the lands where he had driven them, then they will live in our land. This is a prophetic statement of what is yet going to be. And you see this even more so in chapter 29. Verse 4, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. And so this was directly stated to those who had been in captivity. But if you drop down to verse 10, thus says the Lord, only when Babylon's 70 years are completed, will I visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. And so that was as they came out of Babylon, they would return. For surely, in verse 11, I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for your harm, to give you a future with hope. And then when you call upon me and come to pray to me, I will hear you, and when you search for me, you will find me. And if you seek me with your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord. I will bring you back to the place where I sent you. So again, that had an application for them in a limited way, and yet it is yet to be, even as we look into the future when Christ returns, this restoration is going to take place. Chapter 30 talks about a time of Jacob's trouble in verse 7. Alas, that day is great. There is none like it. It is a time of Jacob's trouble, a time of distress for Israel. And on that day I will break the yoke from off his neck. I will burst his bonds, and strangers shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up for them. That's clearly talking of the future and talking of when. You know, David will be given a prominent role in the Kingdom of God, in the world to come. In chapter 31, and we've got a very familiar statement that talks about the New Covenant.

The days are surely coming. Verse 31 says, The Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

And it will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant that they broke.

Though I was their husband, says the Lord, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people, and no longer shall they teach one another, and say to each other, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, says, Lord, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. And we see that type of statement recorded in the book of Hebrews. We see it talking about the new covenant, a new covenant that we can be a part of today, but a covenant that is going to be even expanded as Christ intervenes. He establishes David on the throne and Christ ruling, but David ruling over Israel, and then he'll be able to receive the benefits of the Spirit of God working with those people in order to serve each other. Let's see chapter 33. There's one other chapter that I'll read a little bit of because it does talk about, you know, this coming time. Here in chapter 33 verse 14, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, that I will fulfill the promise that I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah in those days, and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David. And again, this wasn't referring to when Christ came initially, but it is referring to a time when he returned. The raising up of this righteous branch to rule as the king and spring up for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name, you know, safety. They don't have any safety today. You know, at this point, you know, they're not safe at all. But as Christ returns, you know, they're going to be given such a transition and such a change. Jerusalem will live in safety, and this is the name by which they'll be called. The Lord is our righteousness. For thus says the Lord David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. And then down in verse 21, only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne. He makes a reference to the return and then the assumption of that throne when Christ returns and when he is intervening in world affairs. So Jeremiah, you know, has a wide range of information that you can see from what we've covered today. But clearly, he is a wonderful example of someone who faced a lot of adversity and yet who persevered through that and who appealed to God, knowing that God was with him. And I think that could be certainly an application, you know, for us today. And I'll try to cover some other messages that I see that Jeremiah points out for us next time. But I hope that this little overview can help us in understanding a little more. Maybe we can discuss it more as we eat or after. How it is, you know, that this can be a benefit to us in our Christian life.