October 26th, 2025: Changes Promised | Jeremiah 31:29-34, John 1:17

For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

(Hebrews 8:3-7)

The siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians begins. Historians think that the armies of Babylon camped outside the walls of Jerusalem for between 18 and 30 months, cutting off supplies and food to force the surrender. That is a long time to watch your enemies taunt and threaten. The false prophets, those who said God would never allow the overthrow of Jerusalem,  are now nowhere to be found. Several true prophets who predicted the calamity unfolding have been executed. Jeremiah remains and is present to see the judgment transpire exactly as God had said that it would. Yet, in the midst of this horror, God reveals another vision to Jeremiah.  It is one of hope, full of promise, and of a new covenant. Completely different from the covenant of Sinai and one that is yet to be completely fulfilled.  

In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

In the giving of the Ten Commandments, God said: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exodus 20: 2-5). 

God has been keeping track. It is not hard to imagine the outcry of having to suffer for the sins of the fathers, but it is another thing to have no regard for the sins of their own. The prophets have been warning - the people have not been listening. Human nature doesn’t change without the intervention of God.  Humans are defensive and prefer to shift or to share blame. Isn’t that exactly what Adam and Eve did in the garden? Many things may shape our lives, but we will answer to God; responsible for our own sour grapes. The Babylonian invasion was indeed a result of many years of fathers, grandfathers, and great-great-grandfathers ignoring the prophets and turning away from God; however, the sin didn’t stop with the ancestors, and it didn’t stop with Judah. This is a battle with self. The war continues daily with our flesh, our opinions, and our preferences.  As we mature in faith, we learn to lay aside the blame and pray for restoration.   

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

Notice that this covenant will be with the house of Israel and Judah- the whole house of Jacob. The northern kingdom had been scattered for over one hundred years by the time of the Babylonians in Jerusalem. The tribes of the northern kingdom are often referred to as the 10 lost tribes. According to scripture, God knows exactly where they are and will gather them back. 

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Should anyone ever say that God is finished with the nation of Israel, our answer should be an emphatic No, He Is Not!  Jeremiah is living in a time of terrible grief, yet God shares with him his plan for restoration. Though we forget our promises, God never forgets or reneges on His. This lesson opens our hearts to the mind of God and his love for his people. He loves them with an everlasting love. (31:3).  He will leave no one out in their return - gathering them from every place, even including the blind and lame. (31:8). They will come with weeping and with prayers while God walks them by the rivers of waters as their father and they His firstborn. (31:9). He will forgive their iniquity and forget their sin! He will open their eyes in the same way He opens ours- through His grace and by His presence and His Spirit. He is also their Redeemer Kinsman. Should we be angry at this goodness of God? Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? (Matthew 20:15).

John 1:17

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 

The answer is always Jesus.  The better covenant, our advocate and our high priest. There are multiple layers to this lesson. Many events and promises are rolled up into one vision. The return from captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem. The returned nation to its own land, as happened to Israel in 1948. The Return of Christ when He makes Himself known to Israel and they mourn Him as they realize their error.  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, (Zechariah 12:9-10). 

The millennial kingdom- when Christ will rule on earth for a thousand years. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4).  The new covenant continues.  

What, you may ask, of the church? The church is a mystery in the Old Testament. The church age began with the resurrection of Christ and will end at the calling away (rapture) of the church to be eternally with Jesus. At Jesus’ return to rule and reign on earth, those who are believers will be coming with him to do the same; however, nothing about the church takes away from the promises to the direct descendants of Abraham.  The church is the spiritual seed of Abraham.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-5).

All the promises of Christ are true. We are not shortchanged in anything or in any way as God brings back and reveals Himself to the nation of Israel. Paul reminds us, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21).

There will come a day when we all (Israel and Gentiles) will unite eternally as the complete family of God. As we have learned from Jeremiah, God is sovereign. He has a plan, and He will make it happen. May we always rejoice in the goodness and faithful love of our God.

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!