We believe in verbal inspiration; and, though some people treat with contempt the very idea of words being inspired, be you sure of this, if you have not inspired words, you are not likely to get inspired men. Besides, words are to the thought what the shell is to the egg; and if you break the shell, you have destroyed the egg; somehow or other, the thought will ooze out unless it is conveyed in God’s own words. Observe that the Lord does not say to Jeremiah, “Write thee all the thought that I have given thee;” but, “Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.”
Jeremiah 30:3. For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will came them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
And so they did, and so they shall in a yet fuller sense, for this is a promise that has fulfillments and fulfillments. Man’s promises, once kept, are ended; but God’s promises are perpetual; they are springing wells, which never run dry. That which he fulfilled once, he often takes the opportunity to fulfill again on a yet larger scale, as he will doubtless do to his ancient people in the latter days. You who are in spiritual captivity tonight may derive comfort from these words, “I will bring again the captivity of my people.” It is the way of God to deliver the captives. What he does once, is only an index of what he is in the habit of doing. It is God’s delight to devise means by which he will bring back his banished ones. So, in due time, he will end your captivity, and you shall enjoy the blessed liberty which is the portion of his people.
Jeremiah 30:4-5. And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the LORD We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
God hears his people’s voices when they cry; he knows the tone and accent which they use; and, sometimes, when he is listening to them, he hears “a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.” Possibly that may be the condition of some who are here tonight; if so, may the Lord, who heareth their cry, bring them out of their tremblings, and fears, and fill their mouth with laughter, and their tongue with singing!
Jeremiah 30:6-7. ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like if: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
This passage evidently alludes to a time of very great distress, when men’s hearts were swollen within them as if they would burst for very grief. Not simply here and there one, but the great mass of the people seemed to be in sore trouble; even the stout-hearted ones began to feel inward pangs of affliction; yet it was then that the Lord said, “It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”
Jeremiah 30:8. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
Here is a word for you tried ones. God, who sometimes permits his child to wear the yoke of the oppressor, will take that yoke away, He will snap the bands that are around thy neck, and enable thee to rise into the glorious liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free. O bondaged ones, be of good comfort, and lour for speedy deliverance through the power of the great Emancipator!
Jeremiah 30:9-10. But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
There are great things in reserve for God’s ancient people Israel, and there are not less laid up for God’s spiritual Israel, for by them shall the greatest fulfillment of the promise be realized. They shall indeed be quiet, and none shall make them afraid. Note that these are the very men who had their hands upon their loins, and whose faces were pale with fright, These are they who were ready to die of heartbreak; yet even they shall, by the rich grace of God, be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make them afraid. I wish that we could all realize the fulfillment of that promise even now; and that our gracious God would dwell with us as he is wont to abide with those who bear his name, and thus give us that blessed quiet and rest which we so much need.
Jeremiah 30:11. For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Look abroad, and see what God has done to Israel. This is peculiarly the time of Israel’s trouble, and the Jewish people were, perhaps, never worse persecuted than they now are in certain parts; yet the Lord will not allow any nation to crush them, and he will himself avenge all wrongs that they suffer. He still says to them, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye;” and it is very noteworthy that, whenever God has used any nation as a rod to chasten the Jews,— and he has used many in that way,—he has always broken that kingdom up when he has done with it. Think of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome; look at Spain, and see how mean and despicable that nation has become because of its cruelty to the people of God. Now, if this be true of Israel after the flesh, depend upon it that it is also true concerning God’s spiritual people. Though he will correct us when we deserve chastening, it will always be in measure, and he will not make a full end of us. God has measureless wrath against the ungodly for their measureless sin; but as for his own people, he has cast their sin behind his back, and only as a wise and faithful Father does he chasten them for their profit.
Jeremiah 30:12-14. For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
God never gave his people leave to sin; and sin in them is worse than sin in any other people, for they sin against more light, and more love; and therefore it grieves the Lord the more, and he smites all the more heavily; and, mark you, when God smites, there is nobody who can comfort us. A quaint old writer, whose book I was reading the other day, commenting on that part of the parable where the friend, disturbed at midnight, said, “My children are on me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee,” wrote something like this, “When God is in bed, there are none of his children up to help us; if he does not open the door, there are none of his saints to give us a crust; all must come from him.” Therefore we must cry unto him, and say, “Awake for my help, O God; for all my lovers have forgotten me; they seek me not in the time of my distress.” When God wounds us, men often desert us; and those that seemed to be most fond of us forsake us when God smites us.
Jeremiah 30:15-16. Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; —
How striking is this sentence, and what a surprise it gives us as we read it! We might have thought, after the Lord had spoken as he did, that he would have given his people up to their enemies; but, instead of doing so, he says, “Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured;”
Jeremiah 30:16-17. And all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Did you notice that word, “therefore,” in the 16th verse? Can you see “therefore” in it,— any logical conclusion that could be drawn from the prophet’s premises? The argument seems to be, “Because thy disease is incurable, therefore will I restore health unto thee. Because no one else can heal thy wounds, therefore I will heal them.” It is a blessed thing to feel that you are incurable, for then it is that God will cure you. When there is an end of you, then you shall begin with God; but as long as you are full of self or sin, that passage shall be fulfilled to you, “He hath filled the hungry with good. things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.”
Jeremiah 30:18-19. Thus saith the LORD Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Well might the Lord introduce such a promise as this with the word, “Behold.” Again I remind you that these are the people who had their hands on their loins; these are they who were in sore trouble of soul, yet now they are merry, and full of gladness; and we also have learned to sing,—
My mourning he to dancing turns,
For sackcloth, joy he gives,
A moment, Lord, thine anger burns,
But long thy favor lives.
Jeremiah 30:20-21. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is thee that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.
There is One, whom we call Master and Lord, who approaches the throne of God on our behalf; One who fulfils that ancient word, “I have exalted One chosen out of the people.” Our glorious Saviour, through his humanity, is one of ourselves; and he appears before God on our behalf, blessed be his holy name!
Jeremiah 30:22. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Happy are we if we can rejoice in this precious truth.