But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Fear not thou, O my servant Jacob ... for behold I will save thee from afar ... - repeated from Jeremiah 30:10-11. When the church (and literal Israel) might seem utterly consumed, there still remains hidden hope, because God as it were raises his people from the dead (Romans 11:15). Whereas the godless "nations" are consumed even though they survive, as the Egyptians after their overthrow; because they are radically accursed and doomed (Calvin).
Remarks:
(1) When God is against a people because of their wickedness, as He was against Egypt, they may make what preparation they may to insure their safety, all will be abortive (Jeremiah 46:3-4). "Fear" and "dismay" are "round about" transgressors, wheresoever they turn (Jeremiah 46:5). Conscience makes cowards of the most hardy, so that sinners, with all their boasted "might," flee when no man pursueth (Jeremiah 46:6), and stumble against one another, their very multitude proving to be not a help but a hindrance (Jeremiah 46:12; Jeremiah 46:16).
(2) "The day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance" on his adversaries, is coming ere long, when the slaughter of all the ungodly and unbelieving, as well as especially of the anti-Christian factions, shall be as a "sacrifice" to "satiate" His righteous indignation (Jeremiah 46:10). (Ezekiel 39:17; Isaiah 34:1-6). The incurable wound of Egypt politically (Jeremiah 46:11) is a faint type of the irremediable destruction awaiting the lost in the awful pit, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44; Mark 9:46; Mark 9:48).
(3) Foreign helps cannot avail the doomed sinner just as her mercenaries hired from abroad availed not to save Egypt in the day of God's wrathful visitation upon her (Jeremiah 46:9; Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 46:21). Nay, so far from availing the unpardoned. sinner, earthly helpers shall only mock his misery, as Egypt's mercenaries mocked her "King Pharaoh" as being "but an empty noise" and mere bluster (Jeremiah 46:17). One alone can, not only help, but save all of us sinners who now seek Him-namely, "the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts" (Jeremiah 46:18).
(4) But, in order that we may receive His salvation, we must not be, as Egypt, like a heifer untamed (Jeremiah 46:20-21), but must bend our naturally stiff necks to the "easy yoke" of the Lord Jesus. As there was a promise of peace even to guilty Egypt in the end, after her sore chastisements had worked the desired effect (Jeremiah 46:26, end), so if the chastisements of God lead sinners to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, He will have mercy on them through the blood of atonement, and will exalt them in due time.
(5) Amidst the terrible judgments of God upon the nations, God remembers His elect people with love and consolations. He encourages the remnant of Israel after the flesh with those sweetly-assuring words, "Fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and Be not dismayed, O Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid" (Jeremiah 46:27). The same promise belongs in all its fullness spiritually to Israel after the spirit, that is, all true believers. God is "with them:" and though He chastise them, as He has sorely chastened the literal Israel, yet He "will not make a full end of them," as He does of the impenitent reprobate, but will "correct them in measure," making their very chastisements an instrument of saving them from that eternal destruction which would be the consequence if He should "leave them wholly unpunished" (Jeremiah 46:28). Having therefore these promises, let us not despair when corrected, but rather thank Him for necessary correction, and put to the proof fully His gracious word, "cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," (2 Corinthians 6:1-18.)