However, Once Jerusalem Has Been Destroyed And A Reasonable Period Has Elapsed, YHWH Will Restore His People To Their Land And Will Once Again Be Their God, Giving Them A New Heart To Fear Him For Ever, And He Will Make An Everlasting Covenant With Them Plating Them In The Land So That They Will Once Again Buy And Sell Property, As He Had Promised To Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:36-44).
YHWH promises that whilst it was true that Jerusalem would be given into the hands of the king of Babylon after enduring great suffering, nevertheless he would one day gather them from all the countries to which He had driven them, and would give them true and steadfast hearts that would fear Him for ever, and would make an everlasting covenant with them (clearly the covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34) that He would never again turn away from following them in order to do good, having put constancy in their hearts. He would plant them again in the land, and bring good on them. And fields would once again be bought and sold in the land.
Looking ahead Jeremiah no doubt saw this in terms of one final once-for-all development on their being restored to the land, for that would be his hope, and he was not called on to proclaim what was beyond his ability to comprehend. But as with all prophecy it has to be taken piece by piece and applied to what has happened and what will happen. God's panorama is very large and very lengthy, and He has plenty of time. Certainly the people would begin to return to the land within fifty years, and gradually that trickle would become a flood, repopulating Palestine ready for the coming of Christ. Over that time He would once again be their God, and they would be His people. And a good number of them would have restored faith and restored hearts, and would enjoy a certain level of security. But it would not then have the completeness described here, for what is described here could only be fulfilled in eternity, when the hearts of God's people are set towards good everlastingly, and their security also is eternal. No experience on earth could accomplish this (not even a so-called Millennium).
Nor could YHWH's everlasting covenant be given in this fashion to sinful men living on earth, under whatever circumstances. It requires hearts which have been made perfect, ‘the spirits of righteous men made perfect' (Hebrews 12:23). And this will only be found in the heavenly kingdom and the new Heaven and the new earth.
Thus the promise is very much a down to earth one of the present, while at the same time having an eternal perspective. It combines near and far. Many of God's people did return from many countries preparing for the first coming of the Messiah. And many would be transformed. And an even greater transformations would take place once the Messiah had come and He had drenched His people with the Holy Spirit. They would indeed have a new heart and a new spirit. And the perfection described here would be incipient within them, in preparation for their eternal future. But the final fulfilment has undoubtedly to await that eternal future. And no fictitious Millennium (unknown to Jesus, Paul and Peter) is required.
“And now therefore thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence',”
We have here YHWH's response to Jeremiah's puzzled condition. Jeremiah had indeed prophesied that Jerusalem would be given into the hand of the King of Babylon accompanied by sword, famine and pestilence, the three accompaniments of war, for which see Jeremiah 32:24. But what he must not overlook was what was to follow.
“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation, and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely,”
For it was YHWH's intention to gather His people from all the countries where He had driven them ‘in His anger, and wrath and great indignation' (a threefold combination bringing out the greatness of His fury). And He would bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell in safety.
While we are later only given glimpses of the beginning of this return (in Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc), there is really no reason to doubt that the Palestine of Jesus' time did contain peoples who had returned from many countries, and who then dwelt there in comparative safety. And given the constant contact that had been maintained with other exiles, and the deep faith of many in exile, it was inevitable. We do not have to look to a future return of a moribund Israel for the fulfilment of this promise.
“And they will be my people, and I will be their God,”
Again there can be no doubt that re-established Israel did see themselves as YHWH's people, and YHWH as their God. Nor can we doubt that God saw it in the same way, for He sent His Son among them seeking ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 10:6). But there was also undoubtedly a deeper fulfilment in the formation of the early church of true believers after Christ's resurrection (2 Corinthians 6:16). But in all cases there would be false among the true. Thus its final complete fulfilment awaits the time when all half-heartedness will be done away and His people are finally His for ever (Revelation 21:3).
“And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them,”
Here we find a repetition of the promise of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It is a guarantee that once such a change of heart has taken place it can never be reversed. They will fear Him for ever. ‘For He Who has begun a good work in them will confirm it until the Day of Jesus Christ' (Philippians 1:6). ‘He will confirm them to the end, for He is faithful Who promised' (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). It represents a ‘fear of the Lord' which is permanent and cannot be taken away (although a spurious and temporary fear of the Lord is possible). Such a fear of the Lord must have been present in His true people from earliest times. We need not doubt that Adam came to it. And it was central to the Christian Gospel, so that Jesus could say, ‘They will never perish and none will pluck them from My hand' (John 10:28). And in a good number of cases it would be passed on to their children, but only when they also truly believed.
“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.”
A few moments' thought will bring home the fact that this everlasting covenant could not be given to any ordinary nation. For no ordinary nation could ever be composed of people of whom not one would ever turn from Him. It was certainly not true of Israel after the return from exile, for in the end many of them rejected our Lord Jesus Christ, although that nation certainly contained some of whom it was true, those of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:38). Nor is it true of so-called Israel today. Indeed the only nation like this described in Scripture is the new nation created by Jesus (Matthew 21:43) composed of all who truly believe in Him. They are the ones whom He has promised to keep and maintain for ever (John 6:37; John 6:39; John 10:27-28; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 10:14; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 1:24). For His salvation is for those for whom He ‘works in them to will and do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13), and for whom He is their Saviour.
But even in this new nation there are undoubtedly those who do ‘depart from Him' for a time. It is only in eternity that we will discover complete steadfastness by all. Thus there are a number of partial fulfilments, but only one final complete fulfilment.
And this reference of it to eternity ties in with the fact that it is an everlasting covenant. No manipulating of the Hebrew can make this mean any other than ‘everlasting', for that is the point of the promise. It will be unfailing for ever. And that requires an eternal kingdom.
“Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”
This is certainly not true of modern so-called Israel. He can hardly be said to have planted them in the land with His whole heart and His whole soul, and they are undoubtedly demonstrating attitudes which are not of God. They are there still largely in unbelief, and they have already planted themselves there. (Jeremiah always speaks of a return following repentance, and modern so-called Israel has not repented, otherwise they would have come to believe in Jesus Christ). It thus mainly has in mind the restoration after the exile. YHWH did rejoice over them to do them good, as He assures both Haggai and Zechariah, and He did plant them in the land with His whole heart and His whole soul. But again in the end it applies finally to the new Heaven and the new earth where Abraham will receive the promises made to him for ever, in the better country, that is the heavenly (Hebrews 11:10-14).
“For thus says YHWH, In the same way as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have promised them.”
The certainty of the future is underlined. The initial fulfilment was undoubtedly after the Exile. Having brought evil on them He did in the future bring good on them. But it was necessarily limited. Thus the final fulfilment awaited the establishment of the new nation of Matthew 21:43, and even then only as finalised in eternity. Thus Jeremiah was prophesying beyond what he could possibly comprehend. What he did know was that YHWH was promising the very best for all who were His own.
“And fields will be bought in this land, of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans'.”
The buying of fields did, of course, become common after the Exile, even though at this time it must have seemed unlikely that it would ever do so. The fields would no longer be desolate.
“Men will buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, for I will cause their captivity to return, the word of YHWH.”
YHWH wanted to root His promises in a genuine hope to which the people of Jeremiah's time could look forward. And thus He promised that just as Jeremiah had bought land at Anathoth, so would men in the future buy fields in the land for silver, and would like Jeremiah subscribe to deeds and seal them. The land thus had a future, and this future would not be restricted but would be true over the whole land. The mention of the ‘land of Benjamin' stresses that such purchases will take place in the very part of the land where Jeremiah had made his purchase. Interestingly there is overall no specific mention of the northern kingdom, but we must remember that Jeremiah was making his promises very much to the nation of his time, and that nation did not possess the northern kingdom. The ‘cities of the South' were of course the cities in the Negeb. The hill country and the lowlands covered the remainder of Judah, the cities of Judah being added in for good measure. The mention of Jerusalem is an assurance that one day it will be restored, as it was by Nehemiah. And all this would be because, on the certain and sure word of YHWH, their captivity would be returned. The exiles would come home.
‘For I will cause their captivity to return, the word of YHWH.' Note that this is a uniting thematic phrase connecting together Chapter s 32 and 33. See Jeremiah 33:7; Jeremiah 33:11; Jeremiah 33:26.