The Days Are Surely Coming - Jeremiah 31:31-37

The Days Are Surely Coming

Jeremiah 31:31-37

Lesson Setting

Jeremiah writes the second chapter of his “Book of Consolation,” (Jeremiah chapters 30, 31 and 32) to Israel during a period of exile and extreme bewilderment.  Israel and Judah live in captivity at the behest of foreign rulers who previously decimated their way of life.  Following the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem and desolation of the Temple in 587 BCE, the people were scattered to unknown lands to serve their oppressors.  Feeling abandoned by God who made an everlasting covenant with their forebears, Israel and Judah struggles for meaning in their daily existence.  At the height of their dehumanizing and demeaning situation, Jeremiah announces “the days are surely coming” when they will return to their homeland and rebuild their lives.

Lesson Outline

I.                 Jeremiah 31:1-6 – Envision a New Future

II.            Jeremiah 31:7-14 – Sing Songs of Joy and Praise

III.        Jeremiah 31:15-20 – Heartfelt Grief

IV.         Jeremiah 31:21-30 – Dreams of a New Day

V.              Jeremiah 31:31-40 – A New Covenant

Unifying Principle

Sometimes agreements and relationships must be revised and renewed. How can the faithful make sure all aspects of their lives encourage wholeness and spiritual growth in present circumstances?  Jeremiah assures the people that God will make a new covenant with God’s people that will nurture and equip them for the present and the future.

Introduction

Imagine you are unyielding Southerner from “the Deep South” whose formative and childhood years taught you “the Southern way of life” to which you mostly subscribe.  Your worldview, values, social mores and daily routines center upon this intractable social, political, economic and religious code.  As life’s mystery unfolds, you move to New York City or some other Northeastern and Mid-Western urban center.  Quite possibly, you will experience severe cultural shock as you realize your fellow citizens in your new place of abode do not share any of your values.  Chances are they are ignorant or indifferent to customs, traditions and beliefs which you hold sacred.  On a Sunday morning, the sound of a lawn mower, chain saw, or some other type of industrial equipment awakens you.  People would never work on the Sabbath back home.  As you travel to church, you observe countless businesses opening for a full day of commerce.  The public laundry mats are full of people.  When you arrive at church, you notice many people in casual clothing.  In fact, there is someone in blue jeans, a button down shirt without a tie, a leather jacket and boots!  After service, you wonder where you will eat as you would like a good old fashioned Southern “Sunday dinner replete with regional staples such as rice, collard greens, fried chicken, yams, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, sweet ice tea and pecan pie with cool whip.  Actually, you have been unable to find a real Soul food restaurant.  The grocery stores do not sell any Southern delicacies but are full of strange kinds of food from elsewhere in the world.  As you listen to the local news, the willingness to local citizens to permit and tolerate actions that Southern would deem as vulgar, indecent, criminal and untoward repulses you.  No one seems to care that an ideology, “Live and Let Live,” contributes to moral decay though people characterize it as libertarianism.  Summarily, you may conclude you are living in exile as your religion, history, culture and literature have been taken away from you.

Historically, African Americans who migrated to the Northeast and Mid-West in the post World War II era faced the foregoing feelings and challenges.  Northern liberalism confronted their theology and principles cultivated within a Southern setting.  Interestingly, it did not eradicate the racism they experienced albeit its Northeastern iteration was not as virulent as the rabid segregation and prejudice of the American South.  As African Americans strove for better economic conditions and higher standards of living, they equally yearned for the comforts and feelings of “home.”  Where could they find Southern comfort food and other delicacies?  Are there any churches that resemble their houses of faith back home as it relates to architecture and style of worship?  Are there any communities that share their ideological, political and religious beliefs?  As regards recreation, where could they sing, dance, drink and make merry?  As physically returning “home” was not an option, then African Americans had to create “home” where they were.  Relying upon God’s unquestionable faithfulness as they had been taught in Sunday School, they adhered to their core principles and heartfelt customs in a strange land.  They answered the challenge of finding meaning, joy, purpose and wholeness though they lived in unfamiliar surroundings.  Essentially, they defined and cultivated a “Native New Yorker” existence grounded in African American Christian principles and practices.

This week, we delve more deeply in Israel’s and Judah’s historical ordeal of overcoming depression and destitution in captivity.  As God’s chosen people and inheritors of His covenant with their forbears, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they struggle to understand their identity as God’s favored children in the midst of their exilic existence.  Israel and Judah live with two fundamental questions.  First, “Where is God in midst of this pervasive evil?  How can He allow such tragedy?”  As they ask this age-old question about the problem of evil and God’s apparent powerless to combat it, they must also question the worth of His covenant with them.  If He cannot prevent evil, then He cannot adhere to His covenant.  Should they feel obligated any longer to respect Him or the covenant?  Second, they have the test of defining what it means to be an Israelite in a foreign land.  This question necessitates their experience of the range of emotions that usually accompany bereavement. 

Theologians characterize the enduring philosophical problem of God’s inability or unwillingness to prevent or annihilate evil as theodicy.  The four absolute attributes of God are omniscience (all knowing), omnipresent (all-present), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omni-benevolent (all-kind).  Evil in the world threatens one or more of these divine characteristics.  If God is all-knowing and ever-present, assuredly He can prevent evil before it happens.  If He is all-powerful, then He can eradicate evil from human existence.  If He is all-kind inherently, then He would not allow evil realizing the pain it causes undeserving people.  Israel and Judah ask this question from an experiential standpoint as they observe the wholesale desolation of their way of life.  They lose in totality their religion, history and literature.  Adding insult to injury, their way of life was bequeathed to them by foreparents on the basis of promises that God made.  Did God sadistically manipulate them into serving Him when He knew He had no intentions of adhering to His oath?  Have they been wasting their time in adoration, worship and devotion to a God who lacks the power to adhere to His promises?  As He permits them to be drawn into captivity by foreigners, can He reasonably expect them to remain loyal to the covenant?  Practically speaking, do they honor their word to a Liar?

Beyond their theoretical dilemma, Israel and Judah has a daily existential quandary.  What is their identity in Babylon?  How do they maintain their religious rites and adhere to the Law when they do not have the Temple and formal priesthood?  How do they comply with dietary restrictions about unclean food in a land without kosher butchers and shops?  How will they observe the Passover and other mandated feasts?  How will they save their civilization as they inherited and developed it?  Facile answers should not come easily in response to difficult questions.  The comprehensive loss of Israel’s and Judah’s way of life parallels death of a loved one.  The nation experiences the stages of grief and bewilderment.  They begin with a fierce anger towards Almighty God.  Again, how could He allow such an ordeal?  Then, they deny the depth of their loss and its paralytic depression.  In fact, following the Assyrian sacking of the nation, some of the Jews intermarried with their foreign captors thereby creating the Samaritan people.  Israel responds to the Babylonian captivity which occurs approximately one hundred and thirty-five years afterwards with a more intense commitment to preserve their heritage and people.  Yet, they wonder whether they should make future plans and have children.  What would be the point if they will remain in a foreign land?     For some of them, their cynicism leads to widespread moral abnegation as it pertains to the Law and respecting God’s holy character.  “Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die” surprisingly in a strange and unfamiliar land.  Bargaining follows denial as some of them to make the most of a very bad situation.  They attempt to redefine the attributes of God and reform the terms of His covenant to suit their personal preferences.  They cease genuine reliance upon Almighty God and become more self-reliant.  When bargaining fails, they become utterly depressed; thereby lapsing into apostasy, falling away from the faith and Law.  The final stage of grief is acceptance which emerges after four previous emotions dissipate and yield to practical and daily reality.  At that emotional and existential juncture, Jeremiah announces words of comfort and consolation to the exiles by reassuring them that the darkness of their circumstances ideally reveals God’s true character.

Jeremiah chapter 31 is written during the Babylonian exile.  One response of Israel and Judah to their captivity and potential loss of their history, religion, literature and way of life is to write it down.  They preserve the covenant and their past with scrolls.  Future generations will always have a record of their way of life centering upon God’s faithful promises to them.  Moreover, the prophet records God’s unimaginable promise to return them to the Promised Land and restore their lives to a previously inconceivable level of prosperity and peace.  Jeremiah proclaims these divine assurances despite standing in the midst of people who have been immeasurably demoralized and dehumanized by the exile.  He pledges the Lord’s faithfulness as holy, just, loyal and unfailingly loving.  He will adhere meticulously to the covenant in their adverse conditions.  His faithfulness in hard times proves His love and loyalty to them.  His love is redemptive and powerful thereby empowering them during days of exile and encouraging them to persevere until their return to the Promised Land.  Unquestionably, “the days are surely coming when the Lord will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah.”

Exposition

Point I – Jeremiah 31:1-6 – Envision a New Future

Jeremiah commences this announcement with a word of renewal and recommitment from God to Israel and Judah.  The Lord’s relationship with them will not stem from the covenant He made with their forbears.  He will renew it with them directly.  Their relationship to Him will be intensely personal rather than historical and traditional.

In the second verse, the Lord promises them a meaningful and fruitful existence in exile.  Those persons who survive war and physical fight of exile will find divine favor in the wilderness.  Practically, they will not live in want nor will their lives unfold aimlessly and ineffectively.  On the contrary, the wilderness experience will be a time of preparation as they wait for return to the land previously sworn to their forbears.  God uses hard experiences to burn the dross of our character.  Experiences such as significant losses and tragedy coerce us to rely genuinely upon God for provision and protection.  As we more rightly relate to Him, we assume His character and resolve the defects within our personalities.  Times in the wilderness require hard work physically and spiritually.  When we are exhausted, God grants rest to us.  After Israel and Judah depleted their resources, they were poised to receive God’s guidance and comfort.  He promises a Sabbath to them even in the wilderness of unfamiliar and foreign surroundings.

In the third verse, the Lord reminds Israel and Judah that His love for them is an unfailing love.  Human circumstances and challenges cannot cancel God’s eternal love.  It remains loyal, comforting and redemptive regardless of human choices and consequences.  His enduring lovingkindness is His appeal to this generation in Israel and Judah.  His suffices to seek their best life even though their ignorance and rebellion creates the conditions that lead to the exile.  As He justly allows them to suffer the consequences of their choices, He unfailingly loves them with the objective of return and renewal.

In the next few verses, the Lord invites the exiles to envision a bright and prosperous future.  Although they cannot believe it presently, He reassures them they will once again sing, dance and rejoice in familiar places.  They will sing new songs.  They will play old instruments.  They will drink new wine from new vineyards.  They will feast and make merry back at the homestead.  The day will dawn when the watchman on the fortified walls of the city will cry aloud and encourage the people to travel to Zion on pilgrimage to commune with their God.  In the first through the sixth verses of this chapter, Jeremiah addresses the mental concerns and angst of the exiles.

Point II – Jeremiah 31:7-14 – Sing Songs of Joy and Praise

In these few verses, Jeremiah proclaims the Lord’s determination to adhere to the covenant with Israel regardless of their disobedience and indifference.  It as if the Lord reminds Himself of the pledge He makes to Abraham in Genesis.  The Lord swore an oath on the basis of His Name to the patriarchs and their descendants.  God obligates Himself to faithfully execute the terms of the covenant even if Israel fails to occupy.  His character compels His faithfulness and fulfillment of the pledge He makes.  Contemporarily, we draft and sign contracts containing thousands of words and millions of characters.  We insert hundreds of clauses to ensure all parties comply with the conditions and terms of the transaction.  These stipulations attempt to prevent injury to any adherents particularly persons who uphold their part of the agreement.  However, a signature on a contract is utterly meaningless if the person signing does not possess a moral and ethical character that compels him to comply.  Such a person usually looks for an escape clause absolving him of responsibility and enabling him to evade accountability.  Israel’s pervasive and perpetual rebellion, limitless disobedience and proclivity to serve other gods combine to offer Almighty God exemption from the covenant He makes with them.  In great contrast to this perfectly permissible legalistic release, Almighty God more stringently and faithfully adheres to the covenant.  As “the One and only true God,” He keeps His word to enable other nations to observe His holy, trustworthy and honest character.  Otherwise, they could discard Him as a god who fails to keep His promises.  Interestingly, the covenant between God and Israel is not written down.  Abraham lives four hundred and fifty years before the Law is written!  God gives His Word and fulfills it because of His faithful and loving character.

In response to the Lord’s faithfulness, Jeremiah exhorts his fellow exiles to rejoice in the Lord and His unfailing adherence to His promises.  To rejoice means practically to spin and dance in jubilation despite adverse circumstances.  Recalling the Lord’s enduring promises motivates Jeremiah to sing and praise the Lord.  He forthrightly tells the exiles to transcend their bleak mental outlook and depressing emotions by delighting in their forthcoming return, restoration and renewal.  Sing with joy and shout praises with ecstasy in anticipation of what the future holds.  Their jubilant songs will confuse their captors and enemies as they cannot understand how an oppressed and subjugated people can praise their God who allows their captivity.  As they reflect upon the covenant, Israel undoubtedly admits her failure to obey God and thereby accept her due punishment.  Yet, Jacob’s recollections do not stop there.  Jacob further ponders the character of the God who makes the covenant.  His anger only lasts a moment but His favor endures for a lifetime and His truth extends to all generations.  Accordingly, they can open their mouths and offer enthusiastic praise as they recall God will keep His promises as He always has.  They know that He will not leave them in captivity forever.  As He delivered them from Egyptian slavery, He will liberate them from Babylon and return them to the land He swore to their forbears on an oath of His Name.  Quite possibly, an entire repertoire of songs, poetry and dances emerge from the exilic period.

The Lord intends to fulfill His promise to the least persons in Israel as a measure of His faithfulness to the covenant.  He will gather the scattered tribes from the ends of the earth as far as the north is from the south and the east from the west.  None of the inheritors of Israel will be left out.  Restoration and renewal will not be a privilege for any persons of distinction and social or economic status.  The lame, blind, expectant mothers and even women in labor will all return weeping as they cross the borders into their land.  There, they will find streams of water and level land where they may live and prosper.  A plentiful supply of and direct access to water in a desert environment in which people depended heavily upon the land and livestock for subsistence is an amazing promise and blessing.  You may recall the severity of famines in biblical times.  Simply pondering such a future life swells the heart and causes spontaneous songs of praise to Almighty God for His future deliverance.

The Lord then addresses the surrounding nations.  He defends His character as the one and only trustworthy deity.  Polytheism, serving many gods who meet multiple needs, was widespread in the Ancient Near East.  Forsaking monotheism which they inherited from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Israel lapses in polytheism and syncretism, mixing beliefs in multiple gods and creeds, when they lived in Egypt and traveled through the wilderness.  Were God to forsake and punish them, they would feel justified in their unreasonable mixture of beliefs and practices.  Moreover, other nations would refuse to believe in Yahweh as they conclude He is a God who is powerless essentially to keep His pledges.  As a consequence, the Lord wants these nations to know His love and protection for Israel equates with a shepherd’s devotion to a flock.  He will rescue Israel and redeem her from the hands of those nations who oppress her.  Redemption always involves a payment.  The Lord’s mercy satisfies His anger and righteous judgment which rightfully demanded retribution for the totality of Israel’s offenses against God’s holiness.  In addition to the payment of a ransom, redemption entails recreation.  Before the use of the word, recycle, became widespread in public discourse, people took plastics, aluminum cans, card boards and other items to redemption centers.  There, citizens were compensated with market driven prices for these used items which were then reformatted into some other material and purpose.  As the Lord retakes Israel from her captors, He will renew her purpose in the world.

Jeremiah tells Israel to rejoice well in advance.  Upon their return, they will sing loudly and delightfully on the heights of mount Zion.  Not only will they praise God for their return, they will rejoice over His bounty and prosperity in their new life.  They will drink new wine.  Grain and olive oil will be plentiful.  They will eat fresh beef daily and livestock will be young and tender.  The prophet uses the image of a well-watered and flourishing garden to depict the future riches they will enjoy.  Beyond the material, physical and financial blessings, they will experience the peace of the Lord.  He will turn their mourning into gladness and permanently take away their sorrow.  These promises when turned into lyrics of songs of praise and thanksgiving will transform any emotionally despondent person.

Point III – Jeremiah 31:15-20 – Heartfelt Grief

Despite the joy which Jeremiah details in the preceding verses, Israel’s heart is very heavy with anguish, loss and bewilderment.  Try as hard as they may, they cannot look forward.  Their hearts are heavy as they consider the incalculable figure of everything they lost in the captivity.  Never again would they worship in the glorious Temple that Solomon built.  “The old neighborhood” has been decimated.  Whatever lingering memories of “the good ole days” cannot retrieve the joy and bounty they experienced in the old homestead.  Even the divine promises of a new life which will yield undoubtedly “a new normal” cannot replace the life they lost in the captivity.  Accordingly, Jeremiah discovers Rachel weeping and she absolutely refuses to be comforted.  What can anyone say to her?  What words could possibly relieve the pain embedded deeply within her heart?  Are verbal promises of return and restoration sufficient to heal her angst?  Moreover, like a mother who loses a child to stillbirth, Rachel wails because she will never enjoy the sound of this child’s giggling and laughter.  She will not watch his first steps.  She will not see that look of unconditional love as this baby looks into her face knowing he is dependent totally upon her and loving her because he realizes that she is caring for him.  Rachel will not nurture this child into to adulthood.  She will not travel with him in life passing the complex, familiar and joyous milestones of graduations, marriage, purchasing a home, settling upon a career and even having children of his own.  Rachel weeps for the future children of Israel who collectively will be deprived of such joys in captivity.  Her posterity will grow up in a strange and foreign land far distant from the culture, religion, literature and livelihood of everything it means to be an Israelite.  The sheer thought of a future wrought with such destitution and deprivation for her children causes Rachel to weep uncontrollably.  Notwithstanding Jeremiah’s assurances to the contrary, Rachel will not entertain any semblance of consolation.

Nonetheless, the Lord rhetorically embraces Rachel and reassures her that her children will not be orphans in a foreign land.  He grabs her as she shakes in despair and encourages her to cease weeping and wailing as she dries her teary eyes.  Rachel’s children will return to their land and will prosper there.  The Lord offers a message of enduing hope to this grief-stricken mother.  Hope is the surest antidote for a hurting heart.  The idea that life can be different and perhaps better prevents emotional and existential paralysis which people who are despondent experience.  If you lack a purpose in your daily living and you are unsure of your identity, then what motivates to attempt anything? However, if you persevere with a realistic expectation that a new day will dawn offering a new life, then you embrace each obstacle as an opportunity.  For Rachel, she ends her period of mourning and prepares for renewal and return.  The Lord pledges to give a future to her children who will return to the land that He promised to their forbears.

Interestingly, as Rachel weeps inconsolably, Ephraim acknowledges the justness of the captivity.  He characterizes his behavior as that of an unruly calf that deserves discipline for straying away from the shepherd’s protection and provision.  Further, he admits his humiliation before the Lord and surrounding nations.  In difficult times, after understandable emotions dissipate, it is important to embrace hard facts and truths.  Spiritual disciplines necessitate examining your role in any challenge or adversity.  What did you contribute?  Could you have avoided this situation?  What can you learn from it?  Practicing self-reflection, Ephraim appreciates his rebelliousness and disregard for the Lord factored significantly in the confluence of circumstances that led to the Babylonian captivity.

With the heart of a most dedicated Father, the Lord responds to Ephraim’s repentance with the compassion and care of His unfailing love.  He describes Ephraim as a child in whom He exults.  He rejoices in the relationship He enjoys with His beloved son though He must chastise Ephraim periodically.  Disciplining a child does not equate with a cessation of love.  Actually, discipline is an act of love.  Thus, the Lord’s heart yearns to re-establish a right relationship with Ephraim.  These words reveal God’s pure heart toward Israel.  The Lord desires restoration of relationship with Israel more than they do.  His yearns to demonstrate His lovingkindness to His people with whom He made an everlasting covenant.

Point IV – Jeremiah 31:21-30 – Dreams of a New Day

Sometimes dreams offer comfort during difficult times.  If we are unable to consider consciously a better life because the competing demands of daily survival will not allow luxuries of meditating upon a brighter day, we can do so during sleep.  In the deep recesses of our minds and hearts, we long for the best life of which we are capable.  In those sacred places, we nurture and develop pure dreams and hopes.  Our silent prayers are appeals to Almighty God to consecrate and bless these visions for a joyous and prosperous future.  Inconceivably, as they dwell in exile, Israel continues to dream.  In fact, Jeremiah encourages them to offer their dreams to God as prayers for their return and renewal.

In a very pleasant and empowering dream, Jeremiah sees the road leading back to Israel’s homeland.  The word of the Lord instructs him to set up road signs and milestones to lead the people of Israel back to their land of inheritance.  The Lord will show them the route to take.  In a very loving gesture, the Lord refers to Israel as His “Virgin Daughter,” symbolizing His willingness to forget her past sins of infidelity in serving other gods.  Upon her return, she will be new and completely cleansed of her former way of life.  Israel will turn her heart back to Yahweh; she will no longer adulterate herself in polytheism and syncretism.  She will wander no longer in the wilderness of self-righteousness and rebellion.  Israel will love the Lord through her obedience and faithfulness.  She will find love, peace and security under the canopy of the Lord’s provision and protection.  Hence, she will not wander aimlessly looking for love.  Unimaginable blessings, prosperity and joy await her.  The towns of Judah and will receive verbal and material blessing in their work, livelihood and families.  Jeremiah awakes to the realization that the Lord used his dream to communicate a vision of the future.  He shares his dream with his countrymen to encourage them that “the days are coming: when the Lord reverses the curse of the captivity with restoration.  He reciprocates their trouble by blessing them to the same measure that He permits their devastation.  “In that day,” they will build and plant rather than recover from destruction and uprooting.  They will no longer remember the agonizing and lingering taste of sour grapes in captivity.  Instead, new and sweet wine will flood their palates. 

Point V – Jeremiah 31:31-40 – A New Covenant

This second chapter of the “Book of Consolation” culminates in the promise of a new covenant.  A new relationship between God and Israel is the essence of restoration.  What difference will their physical return to the Promised Land make if they remain the same internally?  Hence, the Lord promises a new covenant to Israel and Judah.  It will not be like the old covenant that He made with their forbears.  In the thirty-second verse, Jeremiah intimates the generation that lived in Egypt only adhered mentally to the covenant.  They desired its rewards without heeding its requirements.  They sought ways to evade its stipulations.  Essentially, they never internalized the covenant.  It was a written code to which they periodically paid homage similar to the ways contemporary Christians believe in the Ten Commandments as they simultaneously break them each day.  Many bibles in disciples’ households gather dust as they lay on the living room tables.  Christians insist that the Holy Bible is the Word of God but they do not know it well enough to live in accordance with its principles.  Ignorance of the principles of the Law inevitably led to Israel’s and Judah’s failure to practice it.  To avoid a repeat of this past mistake, upon their return to the Promised Land, the Law will be written in their minds and upon their hearts instead of stone tablets.  The Law had become a grave marker as Israel and Judah lived in a spiritual graveyard.  In the new day, the Law will become a way of life.  It will be the foundation of Israel and Judah’s culture not a museum relic.  Moreover, the Lord will renew His covenant with the present generation lest they fallaciously determine the Law as obsolete and applicable only to their ancestors.  Jeremiah’s words depict a couple renewing their wedding vows.  God will remarry Israel and they will live harmoniously as God and people without divided hearts and allegiances.

“Locks only keep out honest people.”  This enduring Jewish proverb hints at a self-evident and commonsensical truth.  Honest people do not steal; thus there is no need to lock them out of anything.  Their characters compel them to respect other people’s property.  Similarly, laws restrict criminal behavior not that of honest people.  For someone whose character tolerates stealing, cheating, lying and other sins and crimes, a million laws will prove ineffective to eliminate this behavior.  However, should such a person experience a transformation of character by internalizing moral and ethical principles as a method of living instead  mere mental beliefs, then a million  temptations will prove worthless to coerce sinful and criminal behavior.  Eliminating rebellion and infidelity in Israel and Judah begins with a change of heart and character as opposed to writing laws ad infinitum.  The presence of countless speed limit signs on the highways does not deter drivers who resolve those laws and signs do not apply to them.  Even multiple tickets and fines are limited in their ability to reduce this potentially dangerous activity which undoubtedly takes countless lives each year.  But, when a driver resolves within his mind and heart to abide by the speed limit, then he no longer needs the threat of fines, loss of license or imprisonment to compel his adherence to the law.  Likewise, if Israel and Judah determine in their minds and hearts to be faithful to the Lord, then fear of His wrath and judgment would not be necessary to stave off their rebellion and disobedience.  In fact, love would compel their loyalty and submission to His will.  Love compels adherence to marriage vows rather than contractual law and possible divorce proceedings. 

The prophet completes this chapter with two amazing promises.  First, he says it will no longer be necessary of for neighbors to teach each other the ways of the Lord as His Law will be upon their hearts and minds.  Their characters will compel them to live in right relationship with Almighty God and thus with each other.  A law library full of annotated codes will not be necessary to ensure prosperity and peace in the forthcoming era of restoration and renewal.  Second, “the city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”  New life will replace the dastardly depiction of death and decay in the final verses.  A flourishing and vibrant city will be built upon this cemetery.  As a consequence, its inhabitants will live without fear of reprisal and attack as the Lord’s covenantal promise of provision and protection will be their surest defense.

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

1.     Have you ever moved to an unfamiliar place and felt like an exile?  Briefly share your story.

2.   Do you daydream about a brighter future?  Do you visualize your triumph over your daily challenges?

3.   Have you ever experienced inconsolable grief?  What helped you to overcome it?

4.   Do you believe that God speaks to you through your dreams?  If yes, give an example.

5.    Have you ever made a covenant with someone?  What motivates you to keep your word?