GOD’S WORD; RESTORATION
JEREMIAH CHAPTER 32 RECAP
Jeremiah acknowledges that God is the all-powerful Creator of everything before he
begins to wrestle with His promise in prayer. And so even this vow would be something he
could fulfill. Jeremiah then emphasizes God’s righteous and good nature. And it is this nature
that at one point leads him to condemn the Jews of Jeremiah’s day while also enabling him
to pronounce unjustified blessings on succeeding generations. Jeremiah also reminds
himself and the Lord in his prayer of God’s previous deliverance of Israel from slavery in
Egypt, as is common in prayers in the Old Testament. Naturally, God also delivered Israel
into the promised land after delivering them from slavery in Egypt. the place they would soon
be expelled from due to their wrongdoing. According to verse 24, there was proof all around
them that God was about to send them out of their country.
For Jeremiah and Judah, everything was either in the past or the present. The world
is made by God. God’s bringing Israel out of Egypt. Israel is being led into the land by God.
And then, of course, God sent the Babylonians to annihilate and exile his people right then
and there for Jeremiah. Consequently, Jeremiah now comes to his final prayerful remark.
This is the truth that had just dawned on him and he was still attempting to process it, in
contrast to the unsettling realities he was confronting. Jeremiah concludes his prayer there.
He presented the entire scenario before the Lord. Again, this is implied more than it is said.
But I believe the point is that the prophet is having trouble putting everything together in his
thoughts. The prophet receives the confirmation he was seeking from God’s response. And
God does this by reaffirming two facts that initially appear to be at odds with one another or
to be in conflict. First, the Lord affirms in lines 26–35 that he would chastise the disobedient
Judeans. Second, the Lord declares in verses 36–44 that he will return the progeny of these
rebellious Judeans to the very territory he must drive them out of. So once more, it was
obvious why God would annihilate Judah. They were honoring other gods. He next targets
them for destruction, in this case their homes, by drawing attention to the exact locations
where that false worship is taking place. But that doesn’t tell the whole tale. God did really
have to punish. However, the Lord will now make a promise in lines 36–44 that someday,
their descendants will be returned to their land.
The Lord will undoubtedly fulfill all of his promises in his own time.
Be consoled by Jeremiah 32. God is able to carry out his promises. And he’ll carry it
out.
Jeremiah, God’s prophet, is persuaded. Allow him to persuade you.
JEREMIAH 33
God prodded Jeremiah to pray so that he could keep telling Jeremiah about the good
blessings he had planned for Israel. God is not offended by your requests for him to carry
out his predetermined plans. He doesn’t get frustrated by our pitiful screams. He seems
unimpressed by our repeated requests for him to do what we know he wants to do. Just one
illustration You may consider others. Does God desire to save every man? We do, indeed.
God wants all people to be saved and to understand the truth. So, if you have lost relatives,
friends, or government leaders, pray for them as though God wants to save them—because
he does! Therefore, from verses like Jeremiah 33:3, we know that God wants us to pray for
his will to be accomplished on earth. But let’s acknowledge that in the current context, the
Lord was speaking to Jeremiah and urging him to pray for more revelation of the tremendous
blessings that he intended to bestow upon his people Israel in the Millennium.
We begin the narrative with a very brief explanation of the circumstances in which
God revealed His future plans to Jeremiah. It’s so quick because what God is truly
expressing is what He said in Jeremiah 32.
Thus, the prophet is still imprisoned in this chapter, just as he was in Jeremiah 32. He
is imprisoned inside a city that serves as an imprisonment for numerous Jews who would
ultimately perish at the hands of the invading Babylonian army. And all of this was brought
about by their ongoing, chronic sin and defiance of their God. And as we’ve seen at least a
few times already in this book, when God speaks of rewards for his people in the future, he
frequently begins by reminding them of where they were at the moment as a country. In
verses 4 and 5, the Lord brings to mind the existing status of Jerusalem once more. He even
identifies certain residences in the city. In verse 5, God acknowledges that the Judeans are
heading out to battle with Babylon. However, all they will achieve is pass away so that their
bodies can be placed into those demolished Jerusalem homes. If you can call it that, it
appears that many of these men would be “buried” in these destroyed homes.
And these men will fail—not necessarily because they were bad fighters or because
they lacked the courage to fight—rather, these warriors will fail and perish because God was
on the side of the Babylonians, whom he sent to attack and annihilate his own people, not of
his own the Jews!
I believe that God is pledging to literally heal his people, the Jews, physically during
the Millennium. And when a promise like that is made, we often turn away. Every time the
Bible promises bodily healing, we tend to take it suspiciously because we’re so used to
seeing people adhere to what is known as the Prosperity Gospel. And we can speculate that
verse 7 has probably already begun in our time. And by the way, that ought should excite
and anticipate us. Jews have returned to their homeland. If we didn’t have a ton of evidence
to the contrary, we could be tempted to believe that this type of thing heralds the Millennium,
which it so closely correlates with. But it’s not. According to God, Jerusalem will experience
an incredible quantity of grace and blessing. When the nations learn of all that God will
accomplish for Jerusalem, they will shudder. Have you ever experienced that? Have you
ever witnessed a person receive so much from God that it made you physically tremble? I
haven’t experienced that. But it will happen because, throughout the Millennium, every
country will witness the immense blessings and wealth that God will bestow upon Jerusalem.
Now in verses 10 and 11, God continues his cycle of announcing Judah’s current ruin and
contrasting it with the future restoration he has in mind for them. And a lot of what he said
there and what he’s going to say here is quite similar. Taking into account what the Lord says
in verse 6 about the total impact the upcoming Messianic monarchs will have on Judah and
Jerusalem.
Maybe you still have serious doubts about God’s ability to make this happen. Since it
appears that none of the Jews in our time even recognize their own tribe. In the Millennium,
how will the Levites be able to identify themselves as such? And any number of related
objections may be raised in an effort to interpret this promise differently than it appears to be.
God will, however, once more reassure skeptics that he will carry out his plan by doing so.
Verse 19 through verse 22 show this taking place.
Here’s another method that God will follow through on his incredible promise. His
promise regarding David and the Levites will be nullified as soon as humanity is able to
count the stars and the sand. And as we see from verse 24, God has a plan for Israel
concerning the Millennium that will happen despite what anybody thinks – whether that
anyone lived in Jeremiah’s day or our day or whenever. God’s work with the nations of Israel
and Judah is not finished. So how certain is God that his plan for Israel and Judah will be
carried out? He is as certain, according to verses 25 and 26, as the cycle of day and night,
which we have known every day of our lives and will continue to know until the day of our
death.
CROSS-REFERENCES
Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to
the power at work within us,
Isaiah 65:24
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Isaiah 48:6
“You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I
announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.
Luke 11:9-10
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the
one who knocks it will be opened.
Psalm 91:15
When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and
honor him.
Psalm 50:15
and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Deuteronomy 4:29
But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him
with all your heart and with all your soul.
Psalm 25:14
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his
covenant.
Isaiah 45:3
I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know
that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
Matthew 13:35
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will
utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”