About midway through Jeremiah’s prophetic work, location changes. He is no longer warning people of the coming Babylonian captivity. He is now prophesying to the captives in Babylon! Jeremiah’s words have been proven true and the other prophets’ words false. Judgment has fallen! But this is not God’s final word to the Jews. Jeremiah writes to them in captivity to prophesy a word of hope just as he had previously prophesied a word of doom. He is to be believed now because what he said so far has indeed come true!
His word is this: a new day is coming! God is not finished with you. He will not leave you in Babylon. Buy houses, marry, and plant gardens in the meantime. Make the best of it. However, know that God has already set a limit to your time of exile. A new day is coming. He’s going to bring you back home, but you will be different. You will not return the same way you departed!
This new day is based upon a new covenant (31:31-34). It will be a new day and you will be a new people because God is enacting a new covenant! This one is not like the old one under Moses. Under this covenant, God will not put His law on stone tablets, but rather He will write His law on warm hearts. He will not place the stability of this covenant upon their shoulders, but rather He will ensure it (I will be their God, and they shall be My people, v33). Not a single one intended to be under this new covenant will be left out! Finally, under this new covenant, iniquity and sin will be removed from their account forever!
A new day is coming! And with it comes a new covenant!
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