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"Surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD,
plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."
Those words from Jer 29 must have raised mixed feelings among the exiles
when they heard them. They were words of hope but in a hopeless situation.
But what were these plans that God had for his people? How was he going
to carry them out? As we read them we're prompted to ask the same
question. What were these plans? Were they simply, as the following verses
suggest, to bring his people back from exile to Israel? To re-establish
them in Jerusalem? Or was there more to God's plan than that? |
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It's
quite normal, isn't it, for plans to be multifaceted. You
make plans to do one thing, but that involves a number of
other steps. Our Parish plan, for example, aims to bring
people to faith in Christ, to nurture them in their
faith, and to encourage each one of us to grow in our
knowledge of Christ. But to get there we have a whole
range of subsidiary plans. We plan to run outreach
events. We plan to run a Sunday School and kids club and
youth group. We plan to make our services encouraging and
uplifting using culturally relevant music and forms of
worship. And so forth. Our plans are various, but they
all move us in a particular direction. |
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So too,
with the plans God had for his people. As we'll see in a
moment, God's plan for his people was to unite them
again, under his rule, but in such a way that no longer
would they stray from his way like lost sheep. In fact,
the plans he had for his people now were no different
from the plans he'd had all along. Even from the moment
of the first call to Abram to leave his country and go
where God would direct, God's plan was the same: to
create a people for himself, through whom all the peoples
of the earth would be blessed. |
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But we're
getting ahead of ourselves. I want you to turn in your
Bibles to Jeremiah 30, because before we can look at the
plans revealed in Jeremiah 31 we need to understand the
context of those plans. "Thus says the LORD, the God
of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have
spoken to you." Up to this point Jeremiah has been
speaking to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom.
But suddenly, here, the message becomes a message for all
of the divided nation. God names himself the LORD, the
God of Israel. This is his historic title from the days
when Israel was a united nation. In v3 he says: "the
days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will
restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says
the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I
gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of
it." The plans he's about to describe encompass the
whole nation, north and south. In v6 of ch31 we see the
people of the northern kingdom, represented by the tribe
of Ephraim, returning to Jerusalem to worship God. |
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But wait,
there's more. As we think about it with hindsight,
there's an even greater scope to this plan, as God's
intention to bless all peoples through Abraham's
descendants is worked out. In fact, this plan is of such
importance that Jeremiah is to write it down. This wasn't
just a proclamation to the people of his day. It was
meant for later generations as well. |
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The
message is a message of liberation, of God bringing his
people back from exile, back from the place of
punishment. But that isn't to overlook the reason for
their being in exile. He reminds them again of the
prophecies he'd already given, announcing God's judgement
for their disobedience (vs5-7). He reminds them of their
inability to help themselves, and of the justice of the
punishment they're experiencing (v12-15). But at the same
time he promises that he will come and save them. In v18
he says "I am going to restore the fortunes of the
tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings;
v19: he says: "I will make them many, and they shall
not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not
be disdained." They're unable to heal themselves,
(v12) but God is coming to supply the remedy. And look at
what that remedy will be (v21): "Their prince shall
be one of their own, their ruler shall come from their
midst; I will bring him near, and he shall approach
me." A King is coming who will be not just a king,
but a priest as well. One who will be invited into God's
presence. Here is the priest-king of Psalm 110: "The
LORD says to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make
your enemies your footstool.' 2The LORD sends
out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of
your foes. &127 4The LORD has sworn and
will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.'" |
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The
writer to the Hebrews takes up this idea in Heb 4-8 where
he describes Jesus Christ as this Priest after the order
of Melchizedek: (Heb 8:1 NRSV) "Now the main point
in what we are saying is this: we have such a high
priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heavens" In other words, this
prophecy of Jeremiah of a king who will arise from their
own midst and will enter God's presence, is fulfilled in
Jesus Christ. And so we begin to get an inkling of the
long term scope of this plan of God. |
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As we
move into ch 31 the picture is again this idyllic picture
of restoration. There's a reminder in v2 of the exodus,
and the picture that's then given is of the land flowing
with milk and honey, of the people being fruitful and
multiplying, of rejoicing, of God's protection, of
prosperity and peace. |
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Even the
reminder of their suffering in v15 won't be for long.
There is hope, even for those who have lost their
children to the exile. V17: "there is hope for your
future, says the LORD: your children shall come back to
their own country." Notice, by the way, that v15 is
quoted by Matthew about the slaughter by Herod of those
children under the age of 2. He's obviously associated
this prophecy with the coming of Jesus. Is he saying that
now there's hope for the future because Jesus has come to
bring people back to God? But there's more to it than
that. Rachel is crying for her children because her
children were Joseph and Benjamin. While Benjamin has
stayed with Judah in the south, Joseph (represented by
his sons Ephraim and Manasseh) is now scattered. But
already things are changing. Ephraim has begun to repent.
He's realised the errors of his ways and now desires to
return to the Lord (vs18-19). And so God will bring him
back along with all those who are left of his people
scattered throughout the world. And again Jerusalem will
be blessed. |
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At that
point Jeremiah wakes from the vision he's been having and
feels refreshed. He says my sleep was pleasant to me.
This may well have been a nice change for him. I imagine
his sleep was often spoilt by visions that were a bit
less pleasant than this one. |
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But the
prophecy doesn't end there. In fact this is only the
beginning of the outline of God's plan. You see, there
was a basic flaw in the plan of God up to this point and
God knew it. It was that the success of the plan depended
on the ability of his people to do what God commanded
them. Now we all know, don't we, how hard it is to obey
God in everything we do. Ephesians 2 describes it like
this: (Eph 2:1-2 NRSV) "You were dead through the
trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived,
following the course of this world" The normal state
of the human heart is death. That is, it's unable to
choose to do what's right. Instead it's a slave to sin.
So if God was going to bring his plan to fruition,
something basic needed to change. He needed to make some
changes at the root of the problem. He needed to change
us from the heart out. |
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So he
says, the days are coming when things will be different:
"The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the
house of Judah. 32It 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
-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their
husband, says the LORD. 33But 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,
and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer
shall they teach one another, or say to each other,
"Know the LORD," for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD;
for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin
no more." The old covenant was a covenant with a
nation. It was a covenant that expected the whole nation
to work together to serve God. It was a representative
covenant, so that the elders, the priests and the kings
determined the spiritual state of the people under them.
It meant that if one generation disobeyed, the following
generation reaped the results. But now, "they shall
no longer say: "The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge." 30But
all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone
who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge."
Corporate responsibility is about to be replaced by
individual accountability. |
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But
that's because the means of obeying is going to change as
well. "I will put my law within them, and I will
write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. 34No longer shall
they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know
the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the
least of them to the greatest, says the LORD;" That
passage from Ephesians 2 goes on to say: "But God,
who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he
loved us 5even when we were dead through our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
God's plan is to bring his people back to life, to make
it possible for us to respond in obedience to what's now
written on our hearts. |
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When I
first studied computing at university we wrote our
programs by hand, coded them onto cards and fed the cards
into the computer, which would then carry out the
instructions we'd worked out. It was a slow and laborious
process to get the computer to do even a minor task.
These days though I can sit down at my computer, open up
a complex spreadsheet or database or word processing
document and with relative ease do quite complex
calculations. What's made the difference? It's that all
those complex instructions are now written on the heart
of the computer. I don't have to tell it how to find
something, or how to resize a drawing. It knows how to do
it already. |
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That,
says God, is what he's done with us. He's written on our
hearts how he wants us to live so we don't need someone
reminding us all the time. Now of course we're not
computers are we? We still have the ability to choose
whether we'll obey or not, so there's another step
necessary in God's plan. That step is found in the
parallel prophecy to this one in Ezekiel 37 where he also
promises to make an everlasting covenant with his people.
That promise is prefaced by this: "And you shall
know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and
bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14I
will put my spirit within you, and you shall live."
(Ezek 37:13-14 NRSV) God writes his law on our hearts and
at the same time gives us his Holy Spirit to give us new
life, to help us to obey him. To teach us all things and
to remind us of what we've been taught, Jesus says in
John 14. |
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And so,
as we watch history unfolding we see the plan of God
moving to its conclusion. We see God raising up a people
for himself. A people, not characterised by their
national identity, but characterised by this: that God
has put his Spirit within them to give them life; that
he's written his law on their hearts so they'll know how
to obey him; a people whose sins are forgiven through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to whom God
has said, "I will be their God, and they shall be my
people". |
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At that
point we need to jump forward again to Ephesians, because
there at the beginning of Ephesians we find God's plan
for the ages outlined in succinct fashion: (Eph 1:3-10
NRSV) "he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
5He destined us for adoption as his children
through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of
his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that
he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he
has made known to us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as
a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things
in him, things in heaven and things on earth." |
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Here is
God's plan, a plan for our welfare, not for our harm. He
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to
be adopted as his children. He chose us to be holy and
blameless before him in love. He redeemed us from slavery
to sin through the blood of Christ. And the aim of his
plan, the end to which it's moving, is to gather up all
things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth,
to put everything under the headship of Christ. Have you
given any thought of late to the fact that you're part of
God's eternal plan for the universe? That God chose you
before the foundation of the world to be his child? That
he chose you to be holy and blameless before him? Well
let me ask you what difference that's making to your
life. Are you asking his Spirit to fill you, to remind
you of what Jesus taught, to help you follow those laws
that God has written on your heart? Are you co-operating
with the Spirit in making you the new person that God
wants you to be? |
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As we've
gone through Jeremiah, one idea that's been at the fore
throughout is that each of us can make a difference. It
is possible to run with the horses with God's help. This
is our last week on Jeremiah, though the book contains
much more that would be worth your personal study. The
message I hope you'll take away with you is this: God has
chosen us to be his people for a purpose: to show forth
his glory through the way we live in obedience to him,
and to share the good news of his deliverance with
others. If we can do that, as hard as it might be at
times, then we'll clearly show that his Spirit is at work
in us, that his law is written on our hearts and that the
new covenant in Christ's blood is enacted in our lives. |
