In the Millennium, the descendants of Northern Israel will first experience a restored relationship with God.
At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
In Jeremiah 30:22, the Lord informs the people that during the Millennium, as we now understand it, the Jews would be God’s people and God will be their God. Now, northern Israel was exiled at the time this book was being written. They arrived in Assyria. They had been absent from the land for perhaps 150 years. They appeared to no longer be God’s people. In fact, at this point in time, it was difficult to even identify them as a people! They were dispersed and dispersed overseas, appearing to be a part of everyone else’s world. However, God indicates that a time will come when all of Israel — not just Judah — will be his people. His unique individuals. a committed and obedient people. From our vantage point, it hasn’t happened yet in the larger scheme of things. But that will take place. All of the Jews will soon be recognized by God as his chosen people. In fact, God will serve as their god. Jews of various stripes can be found in Israel today. However, very few of them have made the genuine God their God. That’s going to change one day.
This is what the Lord says:“The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.”
I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.
Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.
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.’”
This is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Jacob shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’
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.
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.
“Hear the word of the Lord, you nations;m proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
The likelihood that God is speaking to exiled Northern Israel in this instance and to Israel as a whole is higher. God cherishes Israel. Why? Well, it wasn’t because they were exceptional. They weren’t many of them. They lacked majesty. Instead, God just made the decision to love them. And once God makes up his mind to love you, he never really gives up. Israel is therefore shown as a little daughter who is joyful and dancing. He’s talking about a cheerful, jubilant dance.
The monarch of Northern Israel tried to stop his people from traveling to Judah to worship the Lord during the time when that region of Israel broke away from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He believed that if they went there, they would abandon his realm and return to the Davidic king of the day. So King Jeroboam installed the golden cows in Bethel and Dan to stop that. And from that time on, until they went into exile, Israel’s worship was wholly idolatrous.
However, a moment will soon come when residents of this section of the modern West Bank, which, to reiterate, currently does not even belong to Israel, will shout to one another and declare that it’s time to go to Jerusalem to worship the
Lord. Singing, shouting, writing, praising, and praying are all commands. We are commanded to pray for God to deliver his exiled people of northern Israel as readers of this scripture. And according to Jeremiah 31:8, when God does at last answer those prayers for the deliverance and restoration of his people Israel, he will carry out a national retrieval.
And this is how they’ll come back. They won’t return in a state of disbelief. They’ll be weeping and apologizing. And they will find rest as a result of their repentance. God is highlighting this significant advantage in this instance. The Lord declares that Ephraim is his firstborn; not Jacob’s or Joseph’s; rather, it is almost synonymous with Northern Israel! It’s a very privileged situation to be in.
● All the families of Israel will know the lord
● Grace is promised to the survivors as they meet Him in the desert
● (Ezekiel 20:35-38) And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge those who rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
● The people will be rebuilt and they are gonna be rejoicing in the life of plenty
● People of Jacob singing a new song, even the blind, lame and pregnant women
● They were singing the song of repentance
● Singing with joy for God the father of Israel
Jeremiah 31:12–13 states that there will first be an abundance of joy. The eradication of sadness is the second development, which is sort of the obverse side of the same coin.
For the people’s disobedience, there has been talking of punishment. Then their punishers are promised future punishment. There have been difficult things like sorrow and anger. In light of that, we must have it in mind as we read this magnificent Book of Encouragement. In a good manner, let the contrast between what God had to do to his people and what he had planned for them shock you.
Those who initially heard the message would have likely been shocked by it. These people, who are descended from the tribes of Northern Israel, will rejoice as a result of that shock in the future. This passage shows Rachel, the mother of Benjamin and Joseph, sobbing from Ramah, which was located in the northern Israelite region of Ephraim, on the Ephraim mountains. She is sobbing because those who were her ancestors in Northern Israel were driven out of the country and into exile. But at that point, God speaks to Rachel again and commands her to cease crying in light of what he has just said in Jeremiah 31.
● Israel was redeemed, and salvation was accomplished
● Their relationship with God was reestablished and they are more than satisfied that they belong to Him
● (Matthew 2:18-18) Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
We are referring to the descendants of Rachel in both Jeremiah and Matthew. We discuss their demise, or at the very least, their violent displacement, in both works. Ramah in Ephraim is in the same location in both books.
We also notice differences. The people will finally return, according to Jeremiah. But Matthew omits Jeremiah’s final consolation about Rachel’s children coming back. Although some of them were killed and many of them would have been adults, Jeremiah describes Rachel’s descendants being exiled. Still, the details of the events are considerably different in the other two books. All of Rachel’s descendants in Matthew are infants, aged two or less. None of them are expelled, and they are all slain.
In Jeremiah 31:18–19, it is implied that those who were expelled from Northern Israel will later turn around. The fact that God will accept their repentance is something he wishes to make clear.
● People will restrain themselves from weeping.
● People turned back to God, faithful to God once more.
● They will return from exile to the promised land
● The Lord will never forget His own
● Serving Him was much better than not serving Him.
God’s message of hope continues by speaking to all of Israel, not just the northern half. In a sense, he advises them to keep their route in mind as they depart the country for their period in exile. A couple of years separated the invasion and exile of the people of Judah. Northern Israel’s inhabitants had long since disappeared. The people who remained in the land were most definitely not extending sincere blessings to one another in the name of the Lord. They didn’t care about “holiness” or “justice,” either.
However, that was about to change. God will eventually restore these people to their homeland, and when they return, they will do so with a sincere desire to repent (again, I believe this will happen during the Millennium). They’ll undergo transformation. And as a result, they will be speaking blessings to one another in the name of the Lord. They will truly be blessings. And these people will cherish righteousness and justice. In either case, Jeremiah is either claiming to have learned this information in a dream or to have awoken from it with great sweetness. Or it says that because of all the righteousness and blessings they will be getting from their wonderful Lord at that time, the people of Israel will sleep and awaken with tremendous pleasure. The Lord then likens himself to a farmer who has had to tear down and destroy much of his farm’s machinery. However, he plans to reverse such activities in the future and build and fortify his machinery, plants, etc. And in the near future, Israel will consist solely of that machinery.
People in Jeremiah’s time were complaining that their troubles were due to their ancestors’ transgressions. There was some truth to that, to be sure. Even though God made it clear to them in this book that they were suffering as a result of their own guilt, God’s patience was tested by how long it took for his people to transgress and revolt against him. Thus, the judgment coming to Judah was in some respects a consequence of their ancestors’ transgressions. However, the people who were under Babylon’s wrath deserved it wholeheartedly.
● (Romans 6:23) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
● The Gift of God is eternal life to Jesus Christ
● Spiritual death; separation of the soul with God (sustainer of life)
● (John 14:6) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
● They were promised a prosperous future
● God’s blessing
● Empty towns will be inhabited
● Weaks is restored; faint are restored
● Prophet Jeremiah experienced a peaceful sleep for the first time
● He was comforted by the promise of God
● A new generation where people are restored.
● (Hebrew 10:16-17)16 This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more.
● The new covenant, was different from the one they had broken
Remember that the New Covenant will differ from the Old Mosaic Covenant in that particular way. The Mosaic Covenant was broken by the covenant’s members. People who are a part of the New Covenant, however, won’t violate it. And as we’ve already mentioned, this is due to the fact that the New Covenant cannot be broken. The Lord proceeds by outlining a few New Covenant requirements. He makes a couple of assurances in particular about Israel’s relationship to God’s Law and to God the Father. What about the sin for which every man will perish? Keep in mind that nobody will reportedly be punished for the sins of their ancestors throughout the Millennium. You essentially serve your term if you do the crime. Again, this asks for God to actually have less patience in some instances. But consider the final pledge made in relation to the New Covenant. The prince of the world has been replaced by the prince of peace, and the world has completely changed. The only remaining enemy is man’s flesh or his sinful nature. And while I do not downplay the strength of the sinful nature of man, I believe we can all agree that God’s control over the world and the devil will not increase the power of the wicked nature but will instead have the effect of somewhat limiting it. at the very least to the point of outward adherence to God’s requirements.
● Implications that the new covenant is not to be broken
● A new experience for the people
● A new relationship between God and the People
● Indicated to see past through generations
● Israel will be rebuilt and never be destroyed again
By the way, in the fifth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, Nebuchadnezzar laid his final siege to Jerusalem. Zedekiah is in his tenth year when the events in
Jeremiah 32 take place, as we recently learned. The time between the events of this chapter and Jerusalem’s last blow from the Babylonians is therefore just a year and a half, at most. Jeremiah is going through a very depressing time in his life. He has been serving his people for a number of years at least. He has been preaching to individuals who are vehemently opposed to his message, which is quite unpopular. Now Jeremiah has been imprisoned by the wavering king Zedekiah for doing only what God had directed him to do, and by the way, the very people who are so averse to God’s message are the very people who are purported “God’s people.” And to make matters worse, he is currently detained in a city that is bordered by the army of the most powerful nation in the world. Imagine how you would feel in that circumstance. If you do, you’ll be more familiar with the temptations and challenges Jeremiah probably encountered at this point in his life.
● God is neither impotent nor disinterested
● God is powerful and unchanging
● God is not mocked
● Jeremiah remained obedient to God’s command