Jeremiah 30:1-11, 18-22 – God’s Promised Land

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Many of us are hanging our heads in defeat, believing that evil is winning the day, but God has promised victory to the righteous.

Introduction

If you’re saddened today, believing that sin and wickedness are winning the day, God reminds us why sin shall never win.

Judah was conquered and carried away captives to Babylon, yet they were not defeated.  Judah wasn’t defeated because God had made a promise to them.  The same promise that God made to the house of Israel has also been made to the church.  This week’s Sunday School commentary continues with Jeremiah as it covers scripture from Jeremiah 30:1-11, 18-22. 

What we will focus on learning in this week’s Sunday School commentary:

1. The captivity of today.
2. God’s promised victory and restoration to those who believe.
3. The Promised Land for true believers.

A Promised Return and Restoration

The opening verses of Jeremiah 30 remind us of what was covered in the commentary – God’s Hope for Exiles.  

Judah’s return to Judea and its cities

In Jeremiah 29, God had Jeremiah share His message of hope to those who lived in exile in Babylon.  God instructed the exiles to continue to live, but to amend their ways and turn to Him.  The Lord had also promised that the exile would come to an end after 70 years.  After those 70 years, the Lord told the exiles that they would seek and find Him, and He would return them to Judea and its cities.

Jeremiah 30:5-7 highlights the pains of the Babylonian exiles.  The Book of Daniel speaks to how Nebuchadnezzar tried to force Babylonian culture on his captives, as he tried to make them eat like the Babylonians and conform to their ways.  Nebuchadnezzar even tried to force idolatry on the exiles, as he desired for the people in all of his provinces to worship his golden image.

The Book of Esther also shows how terrible the exile was for those of Judah.  In Esther’s day, a man named Haman, an Agagite, came up with a plot to wipe out the Jews (Esth. 3:1-11). Yet, as fearful as those days were, God had promised Judah that they would be saved from the travail of that day, and they were, multiple times over.  

The Jews’ return to Jerusalem is shared in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  The return to Jerusalem did not happen in one great return from Babylon; it was not like Israel’s exodus from Egypt.  The Jews returned from Babylon in three large groups at three separate times.

The first group returned with Zerubbabel, and they found Jerusalem still burned down to the ground.  It took six years, but the group under Zerubbabel was able to rebuild the temple, while also restoring homes and the cities that had been destroyed.  When Ezra’s group returned, he led the way in restoring observance of God’s law.  When Nehemiah’s group returned, he had the wall completely restored.

So, Jeremiah 30:1-3 prophesied not just a return to the land of Judea but a re-possession of it, which required the restoration efforts.  After Nebuchadnezzar burned down Jerusalem and the other cities of Judea, the land was left desolate.  The southern kingdom had inhabitants, but Judea was essentially like a ghost town.

The Promised Land of the New Day for Israel

Now, when the Promised Land is mentioned, most of us think only of the land of Canaan that Joshua led Israel on a conquest to possess.  However, while the land of Canaan was certainly the Promised Land, God’s message here points beyond Judah’s return from the Babylonian exile.

In Jeremiah 30:8, the Lord said, “For it shall come to pass in that day.”  This phrase speaks to the passing of time.  The day that is being referenced in Jeremiah 30:8 is a day when the yoke has been broken from necks, and when bonds (or chains) will have also been broken.  The day being referenced is a day when Judah will serve the Lord and God will raise “David” to be their king (Jer. 30:9).

Now, let me be as clear as I can about this: By the time of Jeremiah, David had long been dead.  This is prophecy that points towards Christ, the Righteous Branch who came through the seed of David.  I must also make this clear: this prophecy was not pointing to Jesus’ first coming, but the Second Coming of Christ.  

You see, during Jesus’ first coming, while he was accepted by some, Jesus was rejected by many, especially by the Jews.  God said that the day would come when the entire house of Israel would serve their king, and that day does not happen until the Millennial Kingdom when the remnant of Israel dwells under the Righteous King (Jer. 23:6).

After the Millennial Kingdom and “Armageddon”, the devil’s ‘last stand’, the day of eternity will come forth.  The house of Israel will then receive the Promised Land, as intended for them.  It will be an uncontested land that won’t be filled with the same violence and war that has plagued it since the days of Joshua!  In fact, in the day of eternity, it won’t even be the same earth, as John said that he saw a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1).

The Promised Land for the Church

As I mentioned briefly, many of us, when we think of the Promised Land, think of the land of Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, and was then passed down to Isaac and Jacob (Israel).    However, there is another land that God has promised, a kingdom, that at one point was promised to the nation of Israel.

Within Matthew 21:33-46, Jesus shared the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers.  The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers is a parable where Jesus likened God’s prophets to servants who were sent to collect rent from vinedressers who had been leased a vineyard.  The vinedressers mistreated and abused the servants, and the last one, the son of the man who owned the vineyard, was killed by the wicked servants.

Jesus used that parable to warn the Jews about how they had treated God’s prophets, as well as to warn them about what they were about to do to Him.  Then Jesus said to the Jews, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”  

I want to note that Jesus didn’t say “the kingdom of heaven”, but He said the “the kingdom of God”.  The kingdom of God is made up of both Jews and Gentiles.  The nation that would receive the kingdom would be made up of those who believed in God’s only begotten Son – the church.  

As God had promised the restoration of the Jews and the land of Judea, God gave His only begotten Son, who also promised restoration, not just to the Jews but to all who believe in Him.  We see this promise of restoration in John 3 as Jesus taught Nicodemus about being saved and born again.  When Jesus taught about being born again, He was talking about one being restored in their spirit, as the spirit without restoration is a filthy mess from having dwelt in sin (Is. 64:6).

In Matthew 11:28-30, Christ promises to give rest to the soul that has been burdened down by sin and comes to Him.  In John 13, Jesus speaks about washing clean the soul defiled by sin.  

And then again, Christ has not only promised to restore the broken and shattered souls of sinners, but He has also made an eternal promise.  In John 3:16, Jesus told Nicodemus that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.  

In John 14:1-6, Christ promised that in His Father’s house are many mansions, and that He is preparing a place for all of those who believe in Him.  He then promised that He will come again and receive the faithful believers unto Himself so that we may be with Him for everlasting life.

Again, in Revelation 21, John said that he saw the new heaven and new earth come forth, and sitting as the gem of eternity was the holy city, prepared for a bride, New Jerusalem.  When John was taken to a vantage point to see over into New Jerusalem, he said that he saw the bride of Christ, the church.  

Yes, Israel has a Promised Land, but the Church, all sincere believers, have a Promised Land in the kingdom of God.  Through faith in Christ, one’s soul is restored, and will dwell in the eternal peace of the Lord.  This, we should all see as our promised hope, and we should certainly look forward to its day, especially when we consider the world we live in today.

Do Not Fear the Times

Our lesson closes with an inspirational word from the Lord to Judah and, once again, to all of us followers of Christ.

In Jeremiah 30:10-11, the Lord encourages one not to live in fear, nor to be dismayed, because He is not only with us, but God is our deliverer.  

You could say that those exiled from Judea had every reason to be afraid.  Think about this:  they were carried away as captives to a foreign land, a foreign city, to live among foreigners whose beliefs were far from their beliefs.  Not only that, but they lived under kings and officials who threatened their very existence if they did something that was wrong in their eyes.

Yet, at the same time, God sending messages to them showed that He was still with them.  So, if God was still with them, even in a foreign land, why should they have feared anything or anyone?  God had made promises to deliver them, so again, what was there to fear?

You and I live in our very own Babylon, and to be clear, when I say that, I speak of the entire world.  We live in a world that is caught up in the sin of moving further away from God.   Wickedness abounds in our world as there is war, violence, loss of much life, while greedy people continue to enrich themselves by taking from the poor.  

Many of us are consumed with fear, anxiety, and stress, and while I understand that, I still must ask this:  Why?  Why are you consumed with fear and anxiety?  Why is your heart troubled?  You believe in the Lord and His only begotten Son, don’t you?

Let us always remember that the Lord is with us; He will never leave nor forsake those who have chosen to be with Him.  As Moses told the children of Israel, we should be strong and of good courage (Deut. 31:6).  As Paul told Timothy, God has not given to us a spirit of fear, but of love and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7).

The lesson closes out with Jeremiah 30:18-22, where the scripture lays out the complete restoration of Judea and its cities, as I spoke of earlier.  New Testament scripture lays out God’s plan to execute what He has promised through Christ.  Scripture closes out with the Revelation of Christ showing us the Church and His bride, dwelling with Him for everlasting life in the prepared place.

God’s word not only presents His promise to us, it also shows the fulfillment of the promise.  You and I who walk faithfully are simply on a journey to fulfil what Scripture has already shown us to be fulfilled.  So, again, I ask, what do we, or who do we have to fear?

I want to end this week’s commentary with the Lord saying, “You shall be My people, and I will be your God (Jer. 30:22).”  Yes, this was a promise to Judah, but again, I have laid out to you that this is a promise that you are also included in through your faith in His only begotten Son.

What do you have to fear when God has promised that you will overcome by your faith?  Now is the time for you to remain faithful, trusting in the promised hope of God, knowing full well that God keeps His promises.  The wicked one, our great adversary, would love for you to lose hope in what God has promised, but God has never given any of us a reason to lose hope in Him.