AN EXPOSITION OF JEREMIAH 31

Part 2: THE CENTRAL THEME

An important part of the System of hermeneutics is to recognise Christ throughout the Scriptures. This passage alludes to what Christ was to do in order to mediate the New Covenant. While it refers to God's relationship with Israel and His eternal love for His people, this is not the central theme. The New Covenant has Christ as its theme. This is stated in the Old Testament references to the New Covenant.

(Hosea 1:11 NIV) The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

We know that this leader is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is the One who would mediate the New Covenant and unite all people under this New Covenant. Isaiah had given a sign to identify the Messiah -

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isa 7:14 NIV)

King David had been promised that he would never lack a descendant to sit upon his throne as long as his descendants were faithful to the Lord.

(2 Chr 6:16 NIV) "Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.'

But foreshadowing the virgin birth of Christ, we see that the Messiah could not be a natural descendant of David because Jeremiah also revealed -

(Jer 22:30 NIV) This is what the LORD says: "Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.

(Jer 36:30 NIV) Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.

The unfolding revelation of the New Covenant that Jeremiah prophesied of would be instituted by the Messiah, who Ezekiel said would sit upon the throne of David. This is attributed to Jesus the Christ -

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32 NIV)

PROGRESSIVE REVELATION

Because we recognise that Scripture is given to us by progressive revelation, we look to the rest of Scripture for the unfolding of this particular revelation. At the time of this prophecy being given, (Northern) Israel had already been captured and exiled by the Assyrians. Jeremiah had already said that God had divorced them and cut them off from being His people.

I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. (Jer 3:8 NIV)

The concept of "sending away" is associated with divorce and thus the ending of a covenant. The initial exile of Ephraim (Northern Israel) marked the point where God sent away a people who had broken their covenant with God. In affect they had divorced the God who hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). But the grounds for this divorce by God were clearly justified by Israel's unfaithfulness

The house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me," declares the LORD. (Jer 5:11 NIV)

But Judah (Southern Israel) was also about to be "sent away" for committing the same sins as Ephraim. In fact, Jeremiah 5 graphically and allegorically describes Judah's adultery and harlotry. Thus the need for a new covenant was being established and alluded to. While Jeremiah paints the picture of Israel abandoning God and the Mosaic covenant, the rest of the revelation unfolds in the other latter Old Testament books. Within them we find the central pillars of the Mosaic covenant undone. The temple, the altar, and their land are all taken from them just as God had threatened to do if they walked away from Him.

But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
(2 Chr 7:19 - 20 NIV)

(The New Testament would later reveals that the New Covenant centres on Christ as our Temple (John 2:19-21), Altar (Hebrew 13:10-12), and Promised Land.)

The prophet Ezekiel adds to the revelation by stating that Judah had committed adultery with God and had thus broken covenant with Him-

"'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! (Ezek 16:32 NIV)

"'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant.(Ezek 16:59 NIV) He also points to a time when God would establish a New, everlasting covenant with His people.

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. (Ezek 16:60 NIV)

But Ezekiel also seems to point to a covenant beyond the New Covenant, to a Covenant of Peace.

I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. (Ezek 34:23-25 NIV)

But Ezekiel does not indicate that this Covenant of Peace will be necessitated due to the breaking of the New Covenant. We know from progressive revelation that it in fact builds upon the New Covenant. Ezekiel prophesies further of a coming Covenant -

My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Ezekiel 37:24-27

Ezekiel prophesied this shortly after the second stage of Judah's exile to Babylon. Although Jeremiah had said that the exile would only last seventy years¹ before they would be allowed to return and resettle Judah, the hopes of the Jews were low. Their temple, altar, and land had been taken from them. Ezekiel prophesies in harmony with Jeremiah that Judah would be returned to its homeland in order to prepare the way for the establishment of a New Covenant. Because the New Covenant would involve the Messiah being seated upon the throne of David, it would necessitate that Judah be returned to its homeland after the exile. However, in preparation for the New Covenant, only a "remnant" would return.

I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.(Jer 23:3 NIV)

Thus, an indication is given that being a Jew does not automatically qualify a person to be one of God's people. As the prophets had graphically described, many of those who were supposed to be in covenant with God, had divorced God by their adulterous idolatry. But there was a faithful remnant. Those who had not broken covenant with God. Isaiah the prophet had revealed this same truth and is quoted by the New Testament -

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved".(Rom 9:27 NIV)

Some of the other Old Testament prophets revealed that the New Covenant would embrace the Goyim (Gentiles). Not only was not all of Israel in covenant with God, only the faithful remnant, but it appears that God was going to invite those who were not His people, Gentiles, to be in this New Covenant as well.

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. ' I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' (Hosea 2:23 NIV)

This is how the New Testament interprets it when Paul quotes this passage to make the point that God's people now includes Gentiles-

As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" (Rom 9:25 - 26 NIV)

Hosea also talked about God's people being united under one leader (Hosea 1:11). Jeremiah also revealed that God's New Covenant would be with both houses of Israel, Ephraim (Israel) and Judah, thus bringing them together. But Hosea went on to reveal that it would involve Gentiles as well. Therefore how are we to interpret Jeremiah's prophecy (Jer. 31:31) about the New Covenant being between God and Israel, when Hosea seems to indicate, and Paul quotes it as, also including Gentiles? Progressive revelation leads us to the New Testament.

This same passage is quoted in Hebrews 8:8. The author infers that Gentiles are incorporated into the New Covenant, because God found "fault" with His people.

But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (Heb 8:8 NIV)

Bernard Ramm argues that the writer of Hebrews clearly meant this to be a reference to Jeremiah 31, and that it was fulfilled in the Christian experience. He supports this argument by referring to the other part of the Jeremiah 31 prophecy cited in Hebrew 10:15-17 -

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

Dispensationalists argue that the Jeremiah 31 passage will only be fulfilled in the Millennium.² But the progressive revelation in Hebrews states that the Jeremiah 31 New Covenant has already been mediated. Ramm says -

"We are compelled to believe that the New Covenant spoken of in Jeremiah spoke of Israel and Judah as typical of New Testament people." ³

The Gospel of the New Covenant is clearly open to Gentiles (Mat. 28:19). The stream of Protestant evangelical thought that sees a sharp dichotomy between physical Israel as God's people, and those Gentiles who have entered into the New Covenant, are the Dispensationalists. While this Jeremiah 31 passage presents challenges to both streams (Reformed, and Dispensational), it particularly challenges the Dispensationalist.

A key passage in the process of progressive revelation that has a strong bearing upon this passage, is found in Romans chapters nine to eleven. In this passage Paul clearly endorses that the New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah is for both houses of Israel. We know from the early accounts of Acts that many Israelites actually did unite under one leader when they accepted Christ as Saviour and Lord. But Paul has just spent a great deal of the epistle to the Romans explaining that the New Covenant was equally available for Gentiles. This passage can be summed by saying that God's people now exclusively consist of those who have put their faith in Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile.

What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:23-24 NIV)

We must disagree with any Dispensational interpretation of Jeremiah 31 that teaches that God currently has two people: Israel and the Church. The New Covenant is a unifying covenant that has brought both Jew and Gentile under one covenant. It is not based on law. It is a matter of God writing His laws on human hearts and minds (Jer. 31:33). Any Jew who has not entered into the New Covenant has been "broken off" from being God's people -

Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. (Rom 11:20 NIV)

There is however the statement in the Jeremiah 31 passage that Israel would never cease to be a nation before God under the New Covenant.

(Jer 31:36 NIV) "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."

Are we to take this to mean the Jewish state, or the Church? While the Old Covenant has been done away with, there does appear to be some significance placed upon Israel as a nation. Those of us in the New Covenant should not entertain racist arrogance toward Jews (Rom. 11:20, 25). Indeed, if God is preserving the Jews for some eschatological significance we should do all we can to show love and support to the Jewish people. This needs to be done in such a way that we don't view the current state of Israel as remaining under an existing covenant. The kindest thing we can do for Jews is to introduce them to the Messiah.

BACK

1. (Jer 29:10 NIV) This is what the LORD says: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.

2. Ramm, 1995 (1970):264

3. Ramm, 1995 (1970):265

Pastor Andrew Corbett

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