August 13 ~ tammi

Today's reading from the One-Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Jeremiah 31:15-40; 49:34-51:14.

At first blush, I'll admit today's reading bored me a little. But then I started thinking about what I was reading and suddenly it became considerably more interesting.

Jeremiah concludes his letter to the Israelites already in captivity promising their eventual restoration, but also brings the exciting news of a NEW COVENANT with God! I've never thought much about it, but this must have created quite a buzz! For hundreds of years now they've been moved together as a nation by God ~ rewarded as a nation for faithfulness and punished as a nation for waywardness ~ but now they get wind of a day when they will be held accountable as individuals rather than corporately. No longer will future generations bear the direct punishments their ancestors received as a result of past sins. I imagine this was pretty huge news!

And probably came as something of a relief, something to look forward to, for those who had believed God and yet still found themselves in captivity due to the general unbelief of their fellow countrymen. Not only were they being promised physical, geographical restoration, but a form of spiritual restoration that would and could no longer be affected by the practices of those around them.

Then we come to more pronouncements of judgement against the surrounding nations and one thing that I found interesting is the statement at the end of the prophecy against Elam: "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come," declares the LORD. (49:39)

I thought that sounded familiar, and sure enough, we read similar statements concluding the prophecies against Moab and Ammon, of all things! These were nations God HATED! And yet in 48:47 and 49:6 we see Him saying the same things ~ future restoration for these nations as well.

I had to do some digging because it seems a lot of commentaries kind of skip over these verses and focus only on the judgments, but the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown commentaries on Chapter 48 and Chapter 49 make some interesting points about these verses:

• Restoration was promised to Moab and Ammon for the sake of Lot, their "founding father," who was credited with righteousness. This was partially fulfilled under Cyrus, and in Gospel times more fully.


• The "latter days" referred to in these verses are generally believed to be gospel times. Gospel blessings, temporal and spiritual, are promised to Jews AND Gentiles in the last days.


• And interestingly, the Elamites were among the first who heard the Gospel and accepted it ( Act 2:9 ).

So we find the whole reading today points to our Savior, the Christ who came to reconcile both Jews and Gentiles to God. His name isn't mentioned, there is no specific promise of a Messiah in these passages, but these prophecies point to His coming and the restoration He provided us with His shed blood on the cross.

Suddenly, a seemingly uninteresting passage takes on new light and becomes a beautiful love letter from God!









Tomorrow's passages: Jeremiah 51:15-58; 2 Chronicles 36:6-10; 2 Kings 24:10-17; 1 Chronicles 3:10-16; 2 Chronicles 36:11-14; Jeremiah 52:1-3; 2 Kings 24:18-20; Jeremiah 37:1-10. (I believe there's a typo on the reading plan ~ it shows 2 Chron. 3:6-10, but 36:6-10 makes much more sense.)