Jeremiah 3 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 3 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 2 FSI|<Prev]]   [[Jeremiah 4 FSI|Next>]] > [[Jeremiah 3|Verse list view]] > Jeremiah 3 Intro note > > God backs up a little bit in chapters 3 and 4 from chapter 2, telling the churches and congregations that if they do not repent, judgment is *going* to come. For the moment it will look like there is still hope. But in the previous chapter we saw that the time *has* come when all hope is gone, the die has been cast and God is finished. But ahead of the final tribulation period God has been warning the churches through these passages, and that's what we see here in Jeremiah 3 and 4. ^jer3-intro > [Jeremiah 3:1](Jeremiah%203.md#^1) note > > "They say" -- who is it that says this? God Himself says it in [Deuteronomy 24:1](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^1). The word "uncleanness" here is to be understood as "fornication," as we see in [Matthew 5:31](Matthew%205.md#^31) - [32](Matthew%205.md#^32). Notice in [Matthew 5:31](Matthew%205.md#^31) Christ says, "It has been said" (whereas in Jeremiah 3:1 God says, "They say") because the rule had been modified from God's Word by the religious rulers, teaching that a wife could be put away for any uncleanness whatsoever, but Christ corrected this error to indicate that the uncleanness in [Deuteronomy 24:1](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^1) relates only to fornication, not just any uncleanness. In fact, God actually rescinded the ability to divorce even for fornication in Matthew 19:3-9 indicating that the narrow allowance to divorce for fornication was for or due to the hardness of their hearts ([Mt 19:3](Matthew%2019.md#^3), [4](Matthew%2019.md#^4), [5](Matthew%2019.md#^5), [6](Matthew%2019.md#^6), [7](Matthew%2019.md#^7), [8](Matthew%2019.md#^8), [9](Matthew%2019.md#^9)). So there is not to be divorce now for any reason, the 2 become one flesh. > > Continuing in Deuteronomy 24, [verse 2](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^2), the word "may" there is not in the original. So this verse is not an allowance to go and remarry after being put away (as we saw in Matthew 19, this would be to commit adultery because she is bound by the law to her first husband as long as he lives). Instead, it is simply stating that if a woman were to go and marry another man, which would be sin on her part, then in [Deuteronomy 24:3](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^3) and [4](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^4) she may never return to her first husband, as that would be an abomination. > > And that brings us back here to Jeremiah 3:1, "If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?" Here, just as in [Deut 24:4](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^4) God speaks of this as causing the *land to sin*, or to be greatly polluted. It is very strenuous language emphasizing the sanctity of marriage. When men and women act adulterously toward one another then the whole land, or the whole world, has become defiled, it is evidence that humanity is in complete rebellion against God and it goes from bad to worse. > > Now here in Jeremiah 3:1, God isn't actually focused on physical adultery. That is the representation He is using for spiritual adultery -- that which the churches and congregations are committing against Him in going after idols, in worshiping other gods, in going after their own kind of man-made doctrines and after the things of this world, as we see in [verse 9](Jeremiah%203.md#^9). And the land that is defiled here is the kingdom of God, the Israel of today (as represented by ancient Israel and Judah) since the early New Testament period ([James 4:4](James%204.md#^4) and [Revelation 2:20](Revelation%202.md#^20), [21](Revelation%202.md#^21), [22](Revelation%202.md#^22)). > > And God is anticipating this dire situation in the churches and congregations, giving warning after warning, saying here, "...but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD." Since there is a time of judgment, which time has now come, God graciously and mercifully warned to return unto Him again and again. God is absolutely patient with sin. He has put up with it for thousands of years. We see this in the example of Jonah preaching to the city of Nineveh, warning that God's judgment was about to come upon them, when God caused them to repent and did not destroy them ([Jonah 4:1](Jonah%204.md#^1), [2](Jonah%204.md#^2), [10](Jonah%204.md#^10), [11](Jonah%204.md#^11)). And that's what we're seeing here in Jeremiah 3:1. But we know that there comes a time when that patience finally comes to an end and God's judgment falls ([Jeremiah 7:14](Jeremiah%207.md#^14), [15](Jeremiah%207.md#^15), [16](Jeremiah%207.md#^16)). So when we read in Jeremiah 3:1 for them to return to God, that means judgment had not yet fallen, they could yet turn away from their false doctrines and worldly mindset. > > So as we go on in Jeremiah 3 and 4, we are standing as it were just a few years before the great tribulation has come when the church is still being warned. But, sadly, in reality we are already past that point in time. ^jer3-1 > [Jeremiah 3:2](Jeremiah%203.md#^2) note > > The high places were where Israel and Judah (and, in the New Testament the churches and congregations) worship other (false) gods. Today, the equivalent would be holding doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God. Any time we believe and accept a doctrine as coming from the Bible that only comes from the minds of men -- or even if we simply ignore the Bible and follow the teachings of men -- it is a spiritual high place, it is spiritual adultery against God. And God indicates that these man-made doctrines are everywhere: "and see where you have not been lien with" -- a phrase indicating they have been committing spiritual adultery very regularly. > > "In the ways hast thou sat for them," that is, on the path you are following, "as the Arabian in the wilderness" -- the Arabian represents the peoples of the world, the unsaved of the world. The Arabians came from Ishmael who is a *picture* of those who are in rebellion against God. Ishmael was born from Abraham's own action in attempting to make the promises of God come to pass through the Egyptian bondwoman, Hagar, representing those who go on their own path. Of course, this does not mean someone who is an Egyptian or any other nationality or race cannot become saved, God is using this as a figure. So God is saying here that they have become just as spiritually adulterous as anyone in the world, even as those who are just out living in the world doing their own thing in rebellion against God. > > "and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness" -- When we live by the Bible it is a beautiful, wonderful land. But any time we violate it we are polluting the land. Any doctrine held that isn't from the Word of God is a pollution of the kingdom of God. And it's not long at all before you are heading for destruction and disaster. Any god we might serve that is not the God of the Bible is ultimately Satan who is altogether destructive. ^jer3-2 > [Jeremiah 3:3](Jeremiah%203.md#^3) note > > "Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there has been no latter rain" -- The *latter rain* is an indicator that Jeremiah is talking about today. It can only identify with today as it is God's final season of His program to evangelize the world that will bring in the final harvest before the end of the world. So this is absolute assurance that Jeremiah is ultimately talking about our day, even though Israel and Judah are used as historical examples and pictures of what He is doing today. See [Deuteronomy 11:13](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^13) - [14](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^14) -- the early rain was the Pentecostal rain during the beginning of the New Testament age that brought in the early harvest into Israel, while the rains of the Fall, the latter rain period of the final harvest closes the New Testament era. > > But in [Deuteronomy 11:16](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^16) - [17](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^17) we see the warning. This is the tragic thing that we have seen today. The church has repeatedly fallen away so that the rain has stopped. God is finished with the churches, the testimony of the two witnesses is finished, they have been killed, the abomination of desolation (Satan himself) is standing in the holy place, where it ought not, and there is no latter rain for them. But God has a larger program so that after a half-hour period of silence, then God begins to send the latter rain of the Gospel into the world outside of the churches and congregations to bring in the final harvest. > > So we know when God says that the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain, we are right at the final tribulation period. "This is the last warning! Turn!" But disaster is imminent. And we see as we go on through Jeremiah that the church does not turn from their spiritual adultery. > > "and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed" -- This is a terrible indictment. God is saying on the one hand, "Why don't you turn? Why don't you repent? It's crazy what you are doing, you're engaging in self-destruction. Judgment is coming!" But by this statement He is saying, "But you won't, you won't. You're already committed. You have become so anchored in your sin." ^jer3-3 > [Jeremiah 3:4](Jeremiah%203.md#^4) note > > This is a plea to the churches and congregations, "Why aren't you looking to your heavenly Father? He alone can guide you. Why aren't you trusting in God as your Savior? Why aren't you following God's Word?" ^jer3-4 > [Jeremiah 3:5](Jeremiah%203.md#^5) note > > God is asking the question, "Is He a merciful God? Will He repent of His anger? Is there mercy?" Of course, God is a God of mercy. He has been dealing with the New Testament church for nearly 2,000 years, and even just a few years after the church age began they started turning away from God, as we see with the 7 churches of Revelation 2 and 3. One was already a dead church, another had already lost its first love and was only luke-warm. Another had a Jezebel bringing false doctrines into the church and so on. And God warned them He was ready to take away their candlestick. And, of course, these 7 churches represent the churches throughout the whole New Testament period. So God has been so patient. And yet, "thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest." That is, as they were able they have been rebellious. ^jer3-5 > [Jeremiah 3:6](Jeremiah%203.md#^6) note > > This verse assures us that this is a final warning to the churches. In the days of Josiah the kind, the ax had not yet fallen. Judah, a type or figure of the churches and congregations, was still a viable nation. The enemies (Egypt and Babylon) had not surrounded Jerusalem yet. It was still a free nation. It still looked like God was blessing Judah. In fact King Josiah was the finest, God-fearing of all the kings that ruled over Judah. So this is the setting of Jeremiah 3 and 4, before the destruction of Judah, before the final tribulation upon the churches that we read about in Matthew 24. And before that time, there was always the possibility of mercy, they were to call upon God for strength and for wisdom, that the Holy Spirit might lead them. So God is here issuing a final warning to them before the beginning of the great tribulation as typified by the days of Josiah. But now that it is the time of the final tribulation, there is no more mercy. > > "Hast thou seen *that* which backsliding Israel has done?" Ancient national Israel existed as an independent nation for a period of 222 years beginning in the year 931 BC when Solomon died until the year 709 BC when the Assyrians utterly destroyed them. They existed as the 10 tribes to the north with their capitol in Samaria. And 222 is 2 x 3 x 37, with 37 being a number of judgment. When God destroyed the Assyrian army threatening Jerusalem, there were 185,000 warriors dead the next morning. 185 is again 5 x 37 x 1,000 -- the complete (10, 100, 1000) judgment (5 and 37) of God. And during the entire 222 years of Israel's existence they were faithless. They didn't have even one good king to rule over them. The first king, Jeroboam, built 2 high places, one in Dan to the far north and one in Ephraim to the far south, for calf worship. So there was a great turning away. > > So God is saying, "Look at them, look at Israel - Have you seen *that* which backsliding Israel has done?" To be a backslider isn't just a matter of believers who have fallen into sin, it indicates those who had never become believers, so they fall away. "...she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot." They would see a knoll or high hill with trees on it and build an altar, a shrine of some kind, to worship heathen gods. And God says this is where they engaged in harlotry. This wasn't physical harlotry between men and women, but spiritual harlotry in going after other gods which were false, heathen gods other than the God of Heaven. It was grievous, grievous sin. ^jer3-6 > [Jeremiah 3:7](Jeremiah%203.md#^7) note > > Again and again God sent His prophets to Israel. Micah, Isaiah, Elijah, Hosea and others all ministered to Israel, declaring what God wanted them to do. But Israel was not about to obey, "She returned not." And her treacherous sister, Judah, saw it. Judah was made up of the 2 tribes of the South, and there was great intimacy that existed between Israel and Judah. Even though they fought at times, at other times they were very much identified with each other and closely allied. And here God is calling her Israel's *treacherous* sister. ^jer3-7 > [Jeremiah 3:8](Jeremiah%203.md#^8) note > > Looking at [Deuteronomy 22:22](Deuteronomy%2022.md#^22), according to the Law of God the one who was adulterous had to be killed. And Isaiah and Judah were married to God, so here (and in [Isa 50:1](Isaiah%2050.md#^1)) God speaks of divorcing Israel based on her adulteries. God didn't completely annihilate or kill Israel because He had a substitute law in [Deuteronomy 24:1](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^1), which gave Him the legal right to divorce Israel. And all of God's Law is universal both for us as well as for Himself, it is a reflection of Himself and of His holiness. > > Now since the time of Christ this allowance for divorce has been rescinded, which is something we should be thankful for. When we become saved we become the bride of Christ, we are married to Him. Yet in this life we continue to sin repeatedly. But if we are truly saved God cannot now divorce us, we are eternally married to Christ because He has paid for our sins. That is, we cannot lose our salvation if we are saved due to spiritual adultery. > > But here in Jeremiah 3:8 God speaks of divorcing Israel, and then we read, "yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also." God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And whenever we see how God reacts to sin, we should be *warned*. So God is warning the churches and congregations to be warned through the example here to ancient Israel and how Judah didn't fear. Remember that Jeremiah is speaking to us just prior to the tribulation period in this chapter. And any time we hold to a doctrine and claim that it is from God, when in reality it came from the minds of men, it is spiritual harlotry, we are bowing down or worshiping the minds of those who came up with the doctrine that they want us to follow rather than God Himself. We are saying, "Thus says the Lord," when He has not said, it is a lie and Satan is the father of lies. So any time someone goes outside the Bible for something that pleases them, it sets them up for Satan's lies. > > So you would think when Judah saw Israel completely wiped out by the Assyrians they would be completely shocked into obedience to God. Yet one of the most wicked kings of Judah, Manasseh, reigned not long after this, and he reigned for a long time -- over 50 years. So Judah of long ago didn't get the message that God brings destruction upon those who rebel against Him. Likewise, we should be reexamining our lives and our obedience before the Lord: Is it possible that we have spiritual high places? But that's not happening with churches and congregations, they are at peace with themselves and think they are at peace with God for following their same doctrines for a long time, believing they are the pillar and ground of Truth and following confessions created by men in solemn session. > > If we truly love the Lord we should always be trembling before God and turning away from our own minds and desires ([Philippians 2:12](Philippians%202.md#^12) - [13](Philippians%202.md#^13)). What a wonderfully high and majestic God He is! And the Bible is the voice of God that we must listen to -- it is God speaking! So we want to tremble and to be faithful to what we read there. But Judah went their own sweet way in their rebellion and also were destroyed. And today, the fear of God is very hard to find. ^jer3-8 > [Jeremiah 3:9](Jeremiah%203.md#^9) note > > "through the lightness of her whoredom", that is, through the casual, easy acceptance of her whoredom, "she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks." Stocks is wood, this has to do with making idols of wood and stone. Again, this is spiritually equivalent to any and every doctrine that comes from the minds of men that isn't from the Word of God. Over time, ideally churches and denominations should have come closer to one another as they came to Truth. Rather, there are as many doctrines as there are churches and denominations out there. So clearly there is spiritual adultery. The land, that is, the kingdom of God, is defiled with idols, with spiritual whoredom. And it is the churches and congregations that are representative of the kingdom of God, but they have defiled the land through unfaithfulness to the Word of God. > > We stand amazed that God has been so patient. Remember again in [Isaiah 5:1](Isaiah%205.md#^1) - [2](Isaiah%205.md#^2) how the vineyard brought forth *wild grapes*, and that term in the Hebrew refers to a stinking or worthless mess that came forth. And that already had begun at the beginning of the church age. And God put up with that for centuries. God is a patient, merciful God. But, as God dealt with ancient Israel and Judah, there comes a time when God says, "That's it, I'm going to bring judgment." It's a final warning. ^jer3-9 > [Jeremiah 3:10](Jeremiah%203.md#^10) note > > Judah didn't take this warning seriously. She turned *feignedly*, that is, hypocritically -- she gave the appearance of turning but she did not really turn in heart. In today's parlance, she gave lip-service to the Bible but continued to follow her own doctrines. And hypocrisy, as with the Pharisees in Jesus' day, is even worse than outright rebellion as we see in the next verse, verse 11. ^jer3-10 > [Jeremiah 3:11](Jeremiah%203.md#^11) note > > What an indictment! This is like saying, "You claim to love the Lord, but yet you change the rules of the Bible." God is teaching, from verses 10-11, that hypocrisy is a very enormous sin. ^jer3-11 > [Jeremiah 3:12](Jeremiah%203.md#^12) note > > This is the pleading of God to His people throughout the world as He is about to bring judgment upon them. God is merciful and patient, and even at such a late stage He is yet ready to be merciful. "toward the north" -- the North represents the kingdom of Satan, or the world. And that is where Israel, or the churches and congregations, are now. So God is essentially calling them, and more particularly the true believers within them, back from the world and from the kingdom of Satan unto Himself. ^jer3-12 > [Jeremiah 3:13](Jeremiah%203.md#^13) note > > God is pleading with the entire church as a collective representation of the Kingdom of God on earth. He tells us all to look where we stand and to confess where we have done wrong, to acknowledge our sin. Many times when sin is committed people alibi, they give this reason or that reason. Or they completely deny it, even though they know they have done wrong. We cannot do this with God. We again see the patience, mercy, kindness and long-suffering of God in this -- "Just acknowledge your sin." See [Luke 18:13](Luke%2018.md#^13). Sadly, this will no longer happen for a church or congregation but could still occur with individuals. > > "and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice" -- Strangers are those who are not part of the kingdom of God, they are foreigners to the ways of God. And every green tree represents the high places. God is again warning them they have doctrines that are out of the minds of men. It's one thing to look at the drunkard on skid row, or a dictator who murders his citizens in order to maintain his position. But God is here talking about the church, the citadel where Christ has been dwelling! They had the Gospel, the Truth, the infinite wisdom of God at their disposal. And that makes the charge infinitely more terrible. ^jer3-13 > [Jeremiah 3:14](Jeremiah%203.md#^14) note > > God continues from verse 13 with His plea, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you." Christ is married to the church in 2 senses. Christ is not married to the *corporate body* as the bride of Christ. But within the church, at any time in history, there is Jerusalem *above*, the true believers, who are the true bride of Christ. And they were an integral part of the churches. But then there is the Jerusalem which is now that includes those who are still unsaved, and they are married to the law of God. So they do have a marriage relationship with God because the Law of God is the Word of God -- [Romans 7:1](Romans%207.md#^1), [2](Romans%207.md#^2), [3](Romans%207.md#^3), [4](Romans%207.md#^4). > > Before we are saved we are married to the Law of God. And at Judgment Day those who stand there will have their husband, the Law of God, pointing an accusing finger that, "My wife rebelled in this way and that way -- every, sin is an adulterous action against the Law of God." And the penalty of sin is death, eternal damnation. > > So God has a relationship with those who are in the churches, saved and unsaved -- one is an eternal marriage with the bride of Christ and the other is a relationship of judgment. And here God speaks to them as His children - Christ went to the cross to establish the churches and congregations, they belong to Him - "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." That is, "If you will repent, if you will acknowledge your iniquity, I will still use you." [Isaiah 55:6](Isaiah%2055.md#^6) - [7](Isaiah%2055.md#^7). > > One of a city and two of a family is how God saves especially within the family context. There may be one within a whole city, yet two or more of a family of believers. ^jer3-14 > [Jeremiah 3:15](Jeremiah%203.md#^15) note > > Continuing from verse 14, if only they would repent and acknowledge their iniquity, God would continue to guide them by His Spirit, He would still give them pastors (or shepherds) to feed them with knowledge and understanding. Sadly, since the churches do not repent this does not happen within the context of the congregations. But regardless, when we as individuals are broken before God and living His way, He will give us increasing understanding of His Word. So once the church age is over, during the time of the latter rain, God continues to feed His people from His Word and sends forth the Gospel through individual believers who are the shepherds -- just not through an outward, visible institution that represents the kingdom of God. > > Compare [verse 12](Jeremiah%203.md#^12) (where God speaks of proclaiming these words to the North) and this verse with [Jeremiah 23:3](Jeremiah%2023.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2023.md#^4), [7](Jeremiah%2023.md#^7), [8](Jeremiah%2023.md#^8) where God speaks of bringing them *from the north country* and *setting up shepherds over them which shall feed them*. This is directly parallel language to Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah 23:4 says they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed nor lacking, that is, they have the Truth of the Gospel. And this is speaking of our day, as we see in Jeremiah 23 [verses 9](Jeremiah%2023.md#^9), [10](Jeremiah%2023.md#^10), [11](Jeremiah%2023.md#^11), [14](Jeremiah%2023.md#^14) (compared with [Rev 11:8](Revelation%2011.md#^8)). They are in and led out of the North country (NOT out of Egypt, as in the Old Testament), they are as Sodom, yet God will set up over them *shepherds* which shall feed them. And ultimately Christ Himself is THE Shepherd ([Ezekiel 34:23](Ezekiel%2034.md#^23); [37:24](Ezekiel%2037.md#^24)), He is the Word of God, our Authority. > > "with knowledge and understanding" - A parallel to this is found in [Nehemiah 8:1](Nehemiah%208#^1), [2](Nehemiah%208.md#^2), [3](Nehemiah%208.md#^3); [7](Nehemiah%208.md#^7) - [8](Nehemiah%208.md#^8); [13](Nehemiah%208.md#^13), [14](Nehemiah%208.md#^14), [15](Nehemiah%208.md#^15). After Judah had returned from captivity in the seventh month, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the shepherds caused the people to have *understanding*. And this time period represents the time in which we live today when God is opening up our understanding to the Bible. ^jer3-15 > [Jeremiah 3:16](Jeremiah%203.md#^16) note > > Here is says, "*they shall say no more,* The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit *it*; neither shall *that* be done any more." This is similar to [Jeremiah 23:7](Jeremiah%2023.md#^7), "*they shall no more say*, The LORD lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." In both cases they will not be speaking about something anymore. > > We have to consider a number of things that God is establishing. Remember in [Matthew 21:33ff](Matthew%2021.md#^33) there is a vineyard that has to do with national Israel. It was planted by God and given to overseers, the nation of Israel. Then they killed the prophets that God sent and finally killed the Lord Jesus Christ. And, as a consequence, the vineyard bore the fruit it was supposed to bear. God did not curse or destroy the vineyard because it provided what God established, the Lord Jesus Christ. But then God declared that He would give the vineyard to other husbandmen. Then the tale of the same vineyard is picked up in [Isaiah 5:1](Isaiah%205.md#^1) - [2](Isaiah%205.md#^2) where the other husbandmen during the New Testament era bear forth the fruit of it until they bring forth wild grapes, that is, in the Hebrew, *stinking* fruit. It was a stench. And God patient endured with that over the centuries until He finally has enough, He's going to totally destroy the vineyard ([Isaiah 5:5](Isaiah%205.md#^5) - [6](Isaiah%205.md#^6), see also [Psalm 80](Psalm%2080.md):8 - 16). So there's a very close identification between the two. > > Now the vineyard initially came out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. And at Mount Sinai God gave instruction to build an ark along with all the ceremonial laws. And the chief focus of the nation of Israel was in the temple, in the Holy of Holies where was the ark of the covenant of God and so on. The ark of the covenant of the LORD represented Christ Himself. It was the centerpiece of all the ceremonial law system of the Old Testament. It was where the high priest officiated once a year. It was the highest indicator of the holiness of God and His Gospel. It pointed to the other ceremonial laws like the burnt offerings, the blood sacrifices, the feast days, etc. It was all a pattern pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ in types and figures (see Hebrews 8 where God contrasts the Law that Moses brought the with New Testament as Christ came to fulfill of all the Old Testament laws). > > So that was the very foundation of the vineyard, and that was the same vineyard that extended throughout the church age. While the ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Christ so that they were no long practiced during the church age, it was nevertheless the same vineyard, the custodianship was transferred to the churches and congregations where God instituted a few other ceremonial laws like water baptism and the Lord's Supper. The vineyard was the institution that visibly represented the kingdom of God. > > But now we are outside of the vineyard. Once we came to the end of the church age, that vineyard was finished -- it was broken down, burned up, destroyed by God. It is gone and will not be raised anymore. So "the ark of the covenant of the LORD shall no more come to mind," that is, God's institutional plan to represent the kingdom of God by an external body has come to an end. See again [Jer 23:7](Jeremiah%2023.md#^7) - [8](Jeremiah%2023.md#^8). The *north country* has to do with the world where the believers are gathered out of the kingdom of Satan and into the eternal kingdom of God during the latter rain period. ^jer3-16 > [Jeremiah 3:17](Jeremiah%203.md#^17) note > > This Jerusalem is the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem where individuals are called into the eternal kingdom of God unto salvation and not to an earthly institution or visible representation of the kingdom of God wherein many are still unsaved. It is His Throne, it is His Name that continues eternally and they shall walk no more after the imagination of their evil heart because their sins have been paid for and covered by Christ. This is the pure Jerusalem of God, of the elect spoken of here even during the latter rain period after God is finished with the churches and congregations, as He transitions into eternity. ^jer3-17 > [Jeremiah 3:18](Jeremiah%203.md#^18) note > > "In those days" -- of the great tribulation period/latter rain, "the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel" -- it is a time of no division like there was during the church age. There's only one kind of people here -- the elect, those who are saved. "and they shall come together out of the land of the north" -- the north represents the kingdom of Satan, the world, out of which the elect are brought into the land of their inheritance of eternal life (the meek shall inherit the new earth), into the Jerusalem above (verse 17). So this is a time when God is saving people outside of the context of the institution of the churches and congregations into the kingdom of God. ^jer3-18 > [Jeremiah 3:19](Jeremiah%203.md#^19) note > > In this verse God says, "How shall I ..." give you these salvation blessings? That's like saying, "You have rebelled so often," yet God is saying, "but that's what I will do." This is the infinite mercy and patience of God that He indeed will save a people for Himself. > > "Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me." -- This is parallel to verse 17, "neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." These can only be the elect, not the churches and congregations. These are the redeemed, those who are named in the Lamb's book of life. ^jer3-19 > [Jeremiah 3:20](Jeremiah%203.md#^20) note > > God returns to the earlier theme of those who have adulterously departed from Him during the church age. ^jer3-20 > [Jeremiah 3:21](Jeremiah%203.md#^21) note > > The focus here is upon the high places. The churches and congregations have clung to their high places, to their doctrines that come out of the minds of men in solemn assembly but are not in agreement with the Word of God. They will not give them up. Yet in this context there is weeping and supplications of the children of Israel, that is, of the true believers who see the awful situation, such as we see in [Lamentations 2:10](Lamentations%202.md#^10), [11](Lamentations%202.md#^11), [12](Lamentations%202.md#^12). It is the weeping of those who understand what is going on, they see the high places and they know God's judgment. So there is great sorrow. This is also parallel to [Ezekiel 9:4](Ezekiel%209.md#^4), [5](Ezekiel%209.md#^5), [6](Ezekiel%209.md#^6) where those with the mark on their foreheads and are spared from slaughter are those who cry and sigh for the abominations done in Jerusalem. > > As the true believers who were still in the church at the end of the church age have seen the doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God -- how the marriage institution has been shattered because the churches have changed the rules, how the churches no longer teach judgment and so on -- they are weeping as they have perverted their way and forgotten the LORD their God. Instead, their trust is in their confessions, in their church doctrines, in their faithful attendance, in their participation of the Lord's table, in water baptism, in their heritage, in their church fathers -- their trust is in everything that has become identified with the churches -- but their trust isn't in the Bible any longer. And they believe they are safe and secure following after these other things and have forgotten the LORD as their God, that everything should focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. ^jer3-21 > [Jeremiah 3:22](Jeremiah%203.md#^22) note > > This statement emphasizes the consuming mercy of God ([Jeremiah 18:7](Jeremiah%2018.md#^7), [8](Jeremiah%2018.md#^8)). God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He has no pleasure in the end of the church age and judgment upon the churches and congregations. Remember how Christ wept over Jerusalem, saying, "How oft would I have gather you as a hen gathers its chicks, and you would not." God is not a vicious tyrant who just wants to have His way. He is a loving Creator, and for Him to bring the unsaved to eternal death is no pleasure to God at all. It's because humanity keeps rebelling and rebelling continually, as we see in [Genesis 6:5](Genesis%206.md#^5), [6](Genesis%206.md#^6), [7](Genesis%206.md#^7). So even at this late stage God is saying, "Return and I will heal you!" Of course, God knows they will not return because He knows the end from the beginning. But He's making the point that He is doing this because of their sins. > > But then we have a response from a true believer in the church beginning in the middle of this verse and continuing in the next few verses, "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou _art_ the LORD our God...." Jeremiah is speaking on behalf of the true believers in the church. There are those who get the point, "We come unto thee, for thou art Jehovah our God." See [Isaiah 43:11](Isaiah%2043.md#^11). Salvation is not in the high places of verse 21, it's not in the wrong doctrines of men -- of being water-baptized unto salvation or inviting Christ into your heart, etc. -- only Jehovah can save! So there are the true believers who are responding, "We come unto thee, for thou art the LORD (Jehovah) our God, our only Savior." ^jer3-22 > [Jeremiah 3:23](Jeremiah%203.md#^23) note > > Here the admission is made again as in verse 22, "truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel." To trust in the hills and the multitude of mountains does not bring salvation. The mountains refer to the kingdom of God ([Eze 36:1](Ezekiel%2036.md#^1)). Jerusalem was located on a range of hills, one ascended up to Jerusalem. The mountains were the strength and the protection of the cities so that there was a double protection - first an enemy had to ascend the hills or mountains to get there and then they had to scale the wall in order to breach the city. So it was more difficult to bring up the battering rams and so on in an assault against the city. So in ancient times it was common to build a city on a mountaintop in order to have this double protection from the enemy. And this spiritually is a picture of the protection that we have in Christ, He is our High Tower, He is our Mountain. > > But the problem is, our situation can degenerate to where our trust is in the physical structure or institutions (or, as it was in the Old Testament, in the nation of Israel) rather than in Christ. So God is declaring that our salvation does not come from the institution and its doctrines and confessions, it does not come from the structure. Those are the high places. That's really no different than when a priest in Israel sacrificed to a heathen god on a high hill. Only in the LORD our God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, is the salvation of Israel, only in Him alone is our salvation. And we can't even divide our trust between the institution and God because the Bible declares we cannot serve two masters. If we trust at all in anything else then we do not truly trust in God, even if we think we are, even if we pay lip service to the 5 solas of the Reformation. But the true believers continue to trust in God alone, in His Word alone, praying for wisdom and understanding and obedience to His Word ([Ro 10:17](Romans%2010.md#^17)). They are the ones in [Ezekiel 9:4](Ezekiel%209.md#^4), [5](Ezekiel%209.md#^5), [6](Ezekiel%209.md#^6) who sigh and cry for the abominations done in Jerusalem. ^jer3-23 > [Jeremiah 3:24](Jeremiah%203.md#^24) note > > It's very sad: There are many lovely little children in the churches. But then they grow up, they become teenagers and they make a confession of faith because they came from parents who are members of the church. But many of them have no real interest in the Word of God. > > Now shame is to bring dishonor, to bring bad reputation. And this is exactly what has happened in the churches, they have become an area of shame before God. There ought to be a *real* desire to search the Word of God, a real welcome to those who are particularly concerned for the Bible, a rejoicing when we can send the Gospel out into the world and warn that there's a judgment day coming. You can't even begin to understand salvation until you begin to understand what you need to be saved from. But the church has become the work of men, it has become a shame, a dishonor. They are effectively saying they don't need God as they've worked out their own programs. ^jer3-24 > [Jeremiah 3:25](Jeremiah%203.md#^25) note > > The cry is made, "We have sinned, we have sinned!" This only comes from the true believers. And what a blessing it would be for all to do this. But this isn't happening in the churches, it's all a celebration of how great God is working in the midst based on their own programs. And this is what has brought the wrath of God against the churches and congregations, they have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, and that has brought them down. ^jer3-25 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI