Class Notes, Jer 30:1-33:26, God promises an even greater restoration in the future millennial kingdom

Jer 31:3-6 (NIV) The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:


"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.
5 Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
'Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.'"


• God reminds Judah that his love is everlasting, why then does he punish Judah?
• Because they broke the covenant
• Because he loves them and discipline is for their good
• Because he wants them to draw them back to himself
• APPLICATION: God sees a relationship with him as far better than experience the creature comforts that this life has to offer.  If we fall in love with this world, God may have to take it away from us in order for us to seek him again


Deut 27:9-13 (NIV) Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today."


11 On the same day Moses commanded the people:


12 When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.


• Two mountains (hills) are very famous in Israel, Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal.  Shechem is located between them.  Six tribes stood on Mt Gerizim and six tribes on Mt Ebal and shouted curses and blessings back and forth. 
• Later in Israel's history, I believe, this act is repeated
• What is the purpose of such an event or why does God have the Israelites do this?
• Events can etch memories
• Events are like signposts to remind us of key happenings
• What events do we use to remind ourselves of God's work in our lives?
• I will use Time Alone with God (TAG) as a way of putting down markers.  A TAG event is where I will spend a half day or so in prayer and in the word.  I will read and sing and pray and memorize and write down thoughts in a journal.  The journal entry becomes a sort of EBENEZER, a stone reminding me of what God is doing / has done in my life


Deut 28:1-2 (NIV) If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:


Deut 28:15 (NIV) However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:


• Deuteronomy 28 is a significant chapter in the covenant contract.  It lists in great detail the blessings and curses attached to obedience and disobedience for Israel
• There are 14 verses describing the blessings
• There are 54 verses describing the curses
• In the New Covenant we are no longer under this particular blessing-curses dichotomy
• Gal 3:13-14 (NIV) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."  14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
• Why? Jesus has taken the curse of the law away
• Heb 12:7-11 (NIV) Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
• What do we experience under the New Covenant? Discipline, like a father to a son


Jer 31:7-9, 12-15, 19 (NIV) This is what the Lord says:


"Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
'O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.'
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labor;
a great throng will return.
9 They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel's father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
. . .
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord —
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.
13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,"
 declares the Lord.


15 This is what the Lord says:


"A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more."
. . .
19 After I strayed,
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'


• In context, this chapter has eschatological references.  The reference of returning, verses 7-9 probably refer to a future regathering  near the time of the millennial kindgom than the time 70 years after Babylon attacks Israel
• Verses 12-14 sounds like the wedding banquet and not like the return from Babylon that Ezra, Nehemiah, and some of the other prophets describe
• Verse 15 is used by Matthew to describe Herod's killing of the young children.  It is a town, not far from Jerusalem where the people probably stopped on the way to exile in Babylon, and cried at Rachel's tomb.  Rachel has a grave but never a home in the promised land.  Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin and represents the extent of a mother's love for her children, dying so that they could have life
• Verse 19 suggests real repentance, the type that might be more representative of the New Covenant


Jer 31:31-34 (NIV) "The time is coming," declares the Lord,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,"
 declares the Lord.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the Lord.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
 declares the Lord.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."


• What do we see about the New Covenant that is different (or the same) from the Old Covenant?
• The NC is not like the OC. It is DIFFERENT!
• The "newness" suggests a replacing of the previous covenant, otherwise it would be a modification or change and not a new covenant
• The NC will also include Israel (and Judah)
• The law will be in their minds and on their hearts. Deut 6:6-8 says something similar, but the OC was primarily external and the NC is internal
• They would know the Lord.  David and others knew the Lord, but not everyone seemed to have the same personal relationship.  Therefore, there is something different.  It will be the Holy Spirit residing in their hearts
• Their sin will be forgiven and forgotten.  Technically, the OC only covered their sin.  It required a mediator, the Levitical priesthood.  In the NC, all of that is replaced
• The New Covenant is an outgrowth of the Abrahamic Covenant, which like the Davidic and Palestinian Covenants, are unconditional
• There are three views regarding the NC (Constable, 2010)
• God made the covenant with Israel alone when he renews it in the Millennium (Romans 11)
• God made it with the church alone.  The church replaces Israel in God's plan (covenant theologians advocate this view)
• God made it with Israel at the cross, and the church enters into its blessings until the time of Israel's restoration.  This agrees even more strongly with Paul's argument in Romans 11


Jer 33:14-18 (NIV) "'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.


15 "'In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The Lord Our Righteousness.'


17 For this is what the Lord says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.'"


• This brings in both the Davidic covenant and the New Covenant
• It is interesting that the Davidic line continues forever but it does have a break, starting from the end of Zedekiah to when Christ returns
• Actually Jer 30:9 suggests that David himself will reign over Israel
• Jer 30:9 Instead, they will serve the Lord their God // and David their king, // whom I will raise up for them.
• In which case Jesus would rule over all, and others would rule over the nations
• This passage is also a clear reference to the divinity of the Messiah
• He is a righteous branch
• He will sprout from David's line
• Judah and Jerusalem will be saved (probably at the second coming of Christ)
• He is called "the Lord Our Righteousness"