During the Israelites’ banishment to Babylon, God’s covenant with them had been as it were in abeyance, but in this promise of their restoration he brings it to the front again, and he gives a peculiarly gracious turn to it: “I will be the God of all the families of Israel.” What a mercy it is to have a family God, and to have our whole family in Christ! Brethren, you have a family Bible, and you have, I hope, a family altar; may your whole family belong to God!
Jeremiah 31:2. Thus saith the LORD, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
Pharaoh tried to kill Israel; when he drew his sword, it looked as if the whole nation would be slain. But God got them away from Pharaoh into the wilderness, and there he caused them to rest. God still teas a people whom he will certainly save, and the adversary shall not be able to destroy them. Now comes this glorious verse:-
Jeremiah 31:3-4. The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built,
Jerusalem was all broken down, her houses were vacant, and her palaces were in ruins, but God’s promise to her was, “ Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.” If the preacher tries to rebuild those who are spiritually broken down, his work may be a failure; but when God does it, it is effectually done.
Jeremiah 31:4. O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tablets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
God can take away his people’s sorrow, and fill them with exultant joy. Their flying feet shall follow the flying music, and they shall be exceeding glad. May the Lord make his people joyful now in his house of prayer!
Jeremiah 31:5. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
God’s people shall get to work again; and they shall have the fruit of their toil, and shall rejoice before God because they do not labour in vain nor spend their strength for nought.
Jeremiah 31:6. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
The men of Ephraim did not go up to Zion to worship, they forsook the one altar at Jerusalem; but the day will come when they will turn again to the Lord. Watchmen have to be on the look-out for enemies, but the day will come when even they shall be able to leave their watch-towers and to say, “ Let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.’ Are any of you watching just now with anxious eyes? Have you been watching all through the night? Well, you have not seen much, and your eyes ache with looking out for evil; so drop your watching now, and say one to another, “ Let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.”
Jeremiah 31:7-8. For thus saith the LORD Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nation, publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them-
Notice the prayer and the answer. The prayer is put into our mouths, and before we hardly have time to utter it, the answer comes: “ O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them”-
Jeremiah 31:8.From the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame,
How can they come? Will they help one another? God himself will be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
Jeremiah 31:8. The woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
They were not fit for traveling, yet God in his great mercy can make the feeblest of his people strong, and when he means to bring them to himself, they shall come even though it looks as if they could not come.
Jeremiah 31:9. They shall come with weeping,-
Never mind the weeping so long as they do but come, and remember that there is no true faith without the tear of repentance in its eye: “ They shall come with weeping,”-
Jeremiah 31:9. And with supplications will I lead them:
The way of prayer is the way home to God.
Jeremiah 31:9. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble:
Happy are the people who have such precious promises as these. The way is to be straight, and their feet are to be so firmly planted in it that “ they shall not stumble.”
Jeremiah 31:9-11. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob.
The secret of every other blessing is redemption. If God has redeemed he will save, depend upon it; the precious blood of Jesus shall ne’er be shed in vain.
Jeremiah 31:11-12. And ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come”-
If they are redeemed, “they shall come.” Christ did not die in vain; the redemption that he wrought must be effectual; “ therefore they shall come”-
Jeremiah 31:12. And sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd:
These are all temporal mercies, and it is a great blessing to see God’s goodness in them. If God blesses common mercies, they are blessings indeed; but without his blessing they may become idols, and so may become curses.
Jeremiah 31:12. And their soul shall be as a watered garden;
What a delightful simile! It is of little use for the body to be fed unless the soul also is well nourished: “Their soul shall be as a watered garden;”
Jeremiah 31:12-14. And they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,
God will give the spiritual leaders of his people enough and more than enough, more than they can take in, he will satiate them with fatness.
Jeremiah 31:14. And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
What a delightful promise this is! Listen to it and carry it home, all of you who are truly the Lord’s people.
Jeremiah 31:15. Thus saith the LORD A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
There is here a prophetic allusion to the massacre of the infants by Herod at the time of the birth of our Lord. It was a time of sorrow indeed.
Jeremiah 31:16-17. Thus saith the LORD Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD: and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD that thy children shall come again to their own border.
As Rachel is represented as weeping for her children, so is she represented as mourning for the tribes that were carried away into captivity, yet is she comforted with the Lord’s gracious assurance, .’ they shall come again from the land of the enemy.” So they did, and there is to be a glorious future yet for the people of God of the ancient race of Abraham.
Jeremiah 31:18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus;
There is never a penitent in this world bemoaning himself without God hearing him. Do not think that a single penitential cry ever rises unheeded from a contrite heart. That cannot be; God has a quick ear for the cries of penitents.
Jeremiah 31:18. Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke:
“I bore the chastisement, but derived no benefit from it. I have not repented of my sin, I have not turned unto thee.”
Jeremiah 31:18. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
If the Lord undertakes to turn us, we shall be truly turned, that is, converted.
Jeremiah 31:19. Surety after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, 1 smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Are there any here recollecting the past with terror, and lamenting before God because of their sins? Then hear what God says. He seems to echo the voice of Ephraim. As Ephraim bemoans himself, God bemoans him:-
Jeremiah 31:20. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child?
You might expect the answer to be, “No, he has lost the rights of childhood; he has been unpleasant and provoking to God, “ yet God does not give such an answer as that to his own questions, but he says:-
Jeremiah 31:20. For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still;
Notwithstanding that the Lord threatened him, and sent prophets to foretell evil to him because of his sin, yet he says, “I do earnestly remember him still;”-
Jeremiah 31:20. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him saith the LORD.
What a wonderful speech for God to make! Even the infinitely-blessed God represents himself as in trouble concerning penitent sinners, remembering them in pity, and longing to have mercy upon them.
Jeremiah 31:21. Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
In crossing the desert, travelers raise little cairns of stone that they may be directed on a future occasion, across that pathless sea of sand; and so God bids them set up waymarks, and make high heaps, that they may know how to come back to him.
Jeremiah 31:22. How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?
God still asks in pity, “how long will you seek here and there for comfort?”
You will never find it till you come back to your God. Emptiness is written upon everything till the heart comes to its Saviour and Lord.