Jeremiah 31:1-34

TODAY IN THE WORD

Read: Jeremiah 31:1-34

“There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.”

Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” would shock many contemporary audiences. We’ve grown accustomed to preaching that emphasizes themes of God’s love, not His just punishment of sin.

Like Jonathan Edwards, Jeremiah’s preaching ministry also emphasized the violent judgment of God. He suffered terribly for his “gloom-and-doom” preaching, almost losing his life.
How strange the words from Jeremiah 31 must have sounded, then, to the listening crowd. Among vociferous warnings of God’s impending judgment, suddenly Jeremiah’s tone changed. Instead of wrath, he spoke of love. He predicted a future time when God’s blessings, physical and spiritual, will be restored to His people. It seemed incomprehensible among the warnings that Judah would soon be overthrown and taken into captivity.

Jeremiah foretold the coming of a New Covenant, unlike the Old. Formerly, God had led His people by the hand, but His people were unruly children, always tugging and twisting to break free. They had a pattern of disobedience and rebellion. Through the New Covenant, God would bring a people back to Himself who would be faithful. They would not depend on spiritual handholding for their obedience, having instead an internal locus of love and devotion to God. The Word of God would be imprinted on their hearts and their minds.

The New Covenant assures God’s people of His forgiveness and His invitation to return to Him. It declares God’s deliberate act of “remember[ing] their sins no more” (v. 34).

God initiates the New Covenant because of who He is: eternally faithful (v. 3), a loving Father (v. 9), a gracious God (v. 14), and a Promise Keeper (v. 37).

Posted with permission from Moody Bible Institute, Today in the Word.