March 2: GLORIOUS RESTORATION!
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the LORD. Jeremiah 31:11-12a
Jeremiah, in chapters 30 and 31, sets the message of ultimate restoration in the midst of the tragedy of Babylon’s takeover. The mention of Jacob by name is a reminder that God saves people individually. Make no mistake: none of us are a match for the strength of the evil one. We are ransomed . . . from the hand of one stronger than [we]. We do not “get the victory.” We should so completely belong to the Victor that His victory radiates through us. We are more than conquerors through Him (Romans 8:37). The right perspective for the saved believer is one of heavenly citizenship in Zion. We are marching through this world in the ever-building procession of Christ’s triumphs. No longer at home in this world, our spirits are in step with His heavenly purposes.
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. (vv. 31-32)
The new covenant refers to the restoration of the original one, written in a different place by the LORD Himself: upon our hearts. In the Septuagint, the word translated new is kainos (not neos). It means fresh, unspoiled, renewed, free from corruption. Those who bear this testimony (Psalm 19:7; 78:5; Isaiah 8:16; John 3:33; 2 Timothy 1:8; Revelation 12:17; 15:5; 19:10) will witness a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), recreated right before our eyes! Pure, unpolluted, gloriously beautiful. The rest of today’s opening passage takes the mind’s eye of the new covenant Christian to the exciting description of that glorious procession from the perspective of the heavenly city: And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. (Revelation 21:24) It is the sight of a joyous multicultural multitude streaming to the goodness of the LORD!
Paul’s faith in the LORD’s power to redeem and restore overshadowed every circumstance he faced. At the core of his secret joy was the fact that God had swept him up as a brazen rebel and made him captive to Himself. From then on, he saw every new convert as beloved . . . his joy and crown (Philippians 4:1). This perspective brings God’s purpose for us into view. We are all under a death sentence (Genesis 2:17; Romans 3:23; 6:23). But if you awakened this morning, you can be sure that He has a purpose for you this very day.
“. . . I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. . . I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more . . . They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good . . . Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.” Jeremiah 31:33b,34b; 32:38,39,40a,41