The Word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison. Jeremiah 33:1-9 A Divine message sent into a prison D. C. Hughes, M. A. I. A TRUE CHILD OF GOD AND AN HONOURED PROPHET IN DISGRACE AND AFFLICTION (ver. 1). Let not the child of God think that his sorrows are always because of his Sins. II. THOUGH DESPISED OF MAN, THE PROPHET WAS HONOURED OF GOD (vers. 1, 2). 1. To receive communications from the Divine mind is the highest honour. 2. He whom God honours and owns as His child need not fear what man can do. III. DIVINE CONSOLATION TO AN AFFLICTED SERVANT (ver. 3). 1. The most precious of all privileges, that of prayer: "Call unto Me." 2. The most marvellous of all assurances: "And I will answer thee." 3. The most encouraging of all promises: "I will . . . show thee great and mighty things." IV. THE ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY OF NATIONS ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF GOD (vers. 4-7). 1. It is impossible properly to construe the history of a nation without reference to the moral government of God. 2. National prosperity or adversity has always been in the line of national virtue or vice. V. THE ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS OF NATIONAL AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL HEALING (vers. 8, 9). 1. It is essential that God come to do the work. "I will cleanse," &c. 2. It is essential that God work upon our moral natures. "I will cleanse them from all their iniquity." 3. It is essential that God work upon our moral natures by the assurance of the forgiveness of sin. "I will pardon all," &c. 4. This moral and spiritual cleansing and pardon are essential for the appreciation of the Divine goodness: "And they shall fear," &c. 5. This spiritual healing shall manifest forth the glory of God: "It shall be to Me a name," &c. ( D. C. Hughes, M. A. ) The method of Divine procedure J. Parker, D. D. The prophet, when the Word of the Lord came unto him, was in a good hearing place, "shut up in the court of the prison." Shut up unjustly, it was no prison to him, but a sanctuary, with God's altar visibly in it, and God Himself irradiating the altar with a light above the brightness of the sun. How hardly shall they that have riches hear the Gospel. Their ears are already filled; their attention is already occupied. What keen ears poverty has I What eyes the blind man has! — inner eyes, eyes of expectation. We should have had no world worth living in but for the prison, the darkness, the trouble, the blindness, the sorrow, which have constituted such precious elements in our lot. There would have been no poetry written if there had been no sorrow. Jeremiah heard more in the prison than he ever heard in the palace. God knows where His children are. There are a thousand prisons in life. We must not narrow words into their lowest meanings, but enlarge them into their broadest significance, He is in prison who is in trouble, who is in fear, who is in conscious penitence, without having received the complete assurance of pardon; he is in prison who has sold his liberty, is lying under condemnation, secret or open; and he is in prison who has lost his first love, his early enthusiasm that was loaded with dew like a flower in the morning. Whatever our prison is, God knows it, can find us, can send a word of His own directly to us, and can make us forget outward circumstances in inward content and peace and joy. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Call unto Me, and I win answer thee. Jeremiah 33:3 An invitation -- a promise-a revelation J. T. Davies. I. A GRACIOUS INVITATION — "Call unto Me" implies all the constituents of successful prayer. 1. Penitence. 2. Contrition. 3. Humility. 4. Importunity. 5. Restitution. 6. Faith. II. A PRECIOUS PROMISE — "And I will answer thee." The invitation accepted, its conditions complied with, always brings the answer. 1. God's word pledged. 2. God's nature pledged. 3. Confirmed by the experience of His saints. III. A GLORIOUS REVELATION — "And will shew thee," &c. 1. The greatness of God's love. 2. The power of Jesus to forgive sin. 3. The worth of the soul. 4. The joys and comforts of religion. 5. The victory of faith in death. ( J. T. Davies. ) Prayer G. Brooks. I. THE INVITATION TO PRAYER. 1. Whose is it? 2. To whom is the invitation addressed? 3. What is the tenor of the invitation? II. THE PROMISE. 1. It is general. 2. It is special. Apply (1) Reprove the prayerless. (2) Encourage the prayerful. ( G. Brooks. ) The golden key of prayer God s people have always in their worst conditions found out the best of their God. Those who dive into the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls. I. PRAYER COMMANDED. 1. This is great condescension. So great is the infatuation of man on the one hand, which makes him need a command to be merciful to his own soul, and so marvellous the condescension of God on the other that He issues a command of love. 2. Our hearts so despond over our unfitness and guilt that but for the command we might fear to approach. 3. It is remarkable how much more frequently God calls us to Him in Scripture than we find there our sinfulness denounced! 4. Nor by the commands of the Bible alone are we summoned to prayer, but by the motions of His Holy Spirit. II. AN ANSWER PROMISED. 1. God's very nature, as revealed in Jesus Christ, assures us that He will accept us in prayer. 2. Our own experience leads us to believe that God will answer prayer; e.g ., the conversion of many a child has been an answer to parents' pleadings with God. 3. Yet God does not always give the thing we ask. Lord Bolingbroke said to the Countess of Huntingdon, "I cannot understand, your ladyship, how you can make out earnest prayer to be consistent with submission to the Divine will." "My lord," she said, "that is a matter of no difficulty. If I were a courtier of some generous king, and he gave me permission to ask any favour I pleased of him, I should be sure to put it thus: 'Will your majesty be graciously pleased to grant me such and such a favour; but at the same time, though I much desire it, if it would in any way detract from your majesty's honour, or if in your majesty's judgment it should seem better that I did not have this favour, I shall be quite as content to go without it as to receive it.' So you see I might earnestly offer a petition, and yet might submissively leave it with the king." III. ENCOURAGEMENT TO FAITH. 1. Promised to God's prophet, this specially applies to every teacher. The best way for a teacher or learner in Divine truth to reach the deeper things of God" is to be much in prayer. Luther says, "Bene orare est bene studuisse" — To have prayed well is to have studied well 2. The saint may expect to discover deeper experience and to know more of the higher spiritual life, by being much in prayer. 3. It is certainly true of the sufferer under trial; if he waits on God he shall have greater deliverance than he ever dreamed of ( Lamentations 3:57 ). 4. Here is encouragement for the worker. We know not how much capacity for usefulness there is in us. More prayer will show us more power. 5. This should cheer us in intercession for others. 6. Some are seekers for your own conversion. Pray, and see if God will not "show you great and mighty things." ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Prayer encouraged The text belongs to every afflicted servant of God. It encourages him in a threefold manner. — I. TO CONTINUE IN PRAYER. "Call unto Me!" 1. Pray, though you have prayed (see Jeremiah 32:16 , &c.). 2. Pray concerning your present trouble. In Jeremiah 32:24 , the prophet mentions "the mounts" which were raised against Jerusalem, and in ver. 4 of this chapter the Lord answers on that very point. 3. Pray though you are still in prison after prayer. If deliverance tarries, make your prayers the more importunate. 4. Pray; for the Word of the Lord comes to you with this command. 5. Pray; for the Holy Spirit prompts you, and helps you. II. To EXPECT ANSWERS TO PRAYER. "I will answer thee, and shew thee." 1. He has appointed prayer, and made arrangements for its presentation and acceptance. He could not have meant it to be a mere farce: that were to treat us as fools. 2. He prompts, encourages, and quickens prayer; and surely He would never mock us by exciting desires which He never meant to gratify. 3. His nature is such that He must hear His children. 4. He has given His promise in the text; and it is often repeated elsewhere: He cannot lie, or deny Himself. 5. He has already answered many of His people, and ourselves also. III. TO EXPECT GREAT THINGS AS ANSWERS TO PRAYER, "I will shew thee great and mighty things" We are to look for things — 1. Great in counsel; full of wisdom and significance 2. Mighty in work; revealing might, and mightily effectual. 3. New things to ourselves, fresh in our experience and therefore surprising. We may expect the unexpected. 4. Divine things: "I will shew thee." (1) Health and cure (ver. 6). (2) Liberation from captivity (ver. 7). (3) Forgiveness of iniquity (ver. 8). ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Prayer and its answer A young engineer was being examined, and this question was put to him: "Suppose you have a steam-pump constructed for a ship, under your own supervision, and know that everything is in perfect order, yet, when you throw out the hose, it will not draw; what should you think? I should think, sir, there must be a defect somewhere." "But such a conclusion is not admissible; for the supposition is that everything is perfect, and yet that the pump will not work." "Then, sir," replied the student, "I should look over the side of the ship to see if the river had run dry." Even so it would appear that if true prayer is not answered the nature of God must have changed. Instant in prayer Sir Walter Raleigh one day asking a favour from Queen Elizabeth, the latter said to him, "Raleigh, when will you leave off begging?" To which he answered, "When your Majesty leaves off giving." Ask-great things of God. Expect great things from God. Let His past goodness make us "instant in prayer." Prayer the soul's wings Thomas Brooks , alluding to the old classical myth of Daedalus, who, being imprisoned in the island of Crete, made wings for himself, by which he escaped to Italy, says, "Christians must do as Daedalus, who, when he could not escape by a way upon earth, went by a way of heaven." Holy prayers are the wings of the soul's deliverance. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Calling unto God J. Parker, D. D. What is this calling unto God? Is it a verbal exercise? Is it a mere act of exclamation! Nothing can be further from the meaning. It is a call that issues from the heart; it is the call of need, it is the cry of pain, it is the agony of desire, it is enclosure with God in profound and loving communion. If we have received no answers, it is because we have offered no prayers. "Ye have not because ye ask not or because ye ask amiss," — you have been praying obliquely instead of directly; you have been vexing yourselves with circumlocution when your words ought to have been direct appeals, sharp, short, urgent appeals to Heaven: to such appeals God sends down richness of dew, wealth of blessing, morning brighter than noonday. God will shew His people "great and mighty things." There is nothing little. The bird in the heavens upon its trembling wing is only little to us, it is not little to God. He counts the drops of dew, He puts our tears into His bottle, He numbers our sighs, and as for our groans, He distinguishes one from the other; these are not little things to Him, they are only little to our ignorance, and folly, and superficiality. God looks at souls, faces, lives, destinies, and the least child in the world He rocks to sleep and wakes in the morning, as if He had nought else to do; it is the stoop of Fatherhood, it is the mystery of the Cross. As to these continual revelations, they ought to be possible. God is infinite and eternal, man is infinite and transient in all his earthly relationships; it would he strange if God had told man everything He has to tell him, it would be the miracle of miracles that God had exhausted Himself in one effort, it would be incredible that the eternal God had crushed into the moment which we call time every thought that makes Him God. Greater things than these shall ye do; when He, the Paraclete, is come, He will guide you into all truth; grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; add to your faith, until you scaffold yourselves up into brotherly love and charity, for from that pinnacle the next step is right into heaven. The question is, Are we in need of further revelation? Do we call for it? We may call for it speculatively, and no answer will he given; we may ask for it for the sake of mere intellectual delectation, and the heavens will be dumb and frowning: but if we try to outgrow God, then we shall know what God is in reality; He challenges the sacred rivalry, He appeals to our emulation to follow Him and study Him, and try to comprehend Him, and then how like a horizon He is, for we think we can touch Him in yonder top, but having climbed the steep the horizon is still beyond. To cleverness God has nothing to say; to vanity He is scornfully inhospitable; but to the broken heart, to the contrite spirit and the willing mind, to filial, tender, devout, obedience, He will give Himself in infinite and continual donation: To this man will I look, for I see My own image in him, My own purpose is vitalised in his experience — the man who is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at My word, not in servility, but in rapture and wonder at its grandeur and tenderness." ( J. Parker, D. D. ) God's gracious answers to our prayers J. Reynolds. When poor men make requests to us we usually answer them as the echo does the voice; the answer cuts off half the petition. We shall seldom find among men Jael's courtesy, giving milk to those that ask water, except it be, as this was, an entangling benefit, the better to introduce a mischief. There are not many Naamans among us, that, when you beg of them one talent, will force you to take two; but God's answer to our prayers is like a multiplying glass, which renders the request much greater in the answer than it was in the prayer. ( J. Reynolds. ) Answers to prayer should be eagerly expected J. Edmond. One of the heathen poets speaks of Jupiter throwing certain prayers to the winds, — dispersing them in empty air. It is sad to think that we often do that for ourselves. What would you think of a man who had written and folded and sealed and addressed a letter, flinging it out into the street and thinking no more about it? Sailors in foundering ships sometimes commit notes in sealed bottles to the waves for the chance of them being some day washed on some shore. Sir John Franklin's companions among the snows, and Captain Allen Gardiner dying of hunger in his cove, wrote words they could not be sure anyone would ever read. But we do not need to think of our prayers as random messages. We should therefore look for a reply to them and watch to get it. ( J. Edmond. ) And shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Prevailing prayer There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the higher privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy. "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto Him: he found Him in Bethel, and there He spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of our Lord, as He is, so are we also in this world. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Behold I will bring it health and cure. Jeremiah 33:6 The Great Physician A. Roberts, M. A. I. THE VISIT WHICH THIS GOOD PHYSICIAN PAYS TO THE POOR PATIENT WHO HAS NEED OF HIM. The patient is a wretched being, who, in a spiritual point of view, is diseased from head to foot, and hath "no soundness in him." He has the disease of human nature, the disease which you and I have — sin. He has become painfully alive to the humiliating fact that there is no good thing in him — that all his doings have been evil — and that the sentence of death eternal hangs over his soul. He cannot heal himself. His fellow-sinners cannot heal him. Is not then his case desperate? It would be so indeed were it not for a voice from heaven which saith of this poor sinner, "I will bring him health and cure." Every word is a word of comfort to that sinner's soul. There is comfort in the first word "I" — I will do it. For who is it that speaks? It is Jesus, the great, the mighty Saviour of the soul — that famous, that renowned Physician who hath healed already such a multitude of sinners, and hath never lost a single patient. There is comfort in the next word, "I will bring" — for, alas! this sinner cannot fetch his cure. But look at the last words of the sentence, and behold still more abundant comfort for this perishing transgressor. "I will bring," saith the Lord — What? A medicine? A healing application that will be likely to avail — that may conduce towards recovery? No, but — Oh, bold words! words only fit for an Almighty Saviour! — I will bring him health and cure — something so sovereign in its virtue, so sure, so swift in its effects, that, the moment it is tried upon the patient, he is well; not only in part restored; not only altogether freed from his disease; but well — in full, in perfect health. The balm which the Physician brings to cure the sinner with is the blood which He hath shed for them, the life which He hath given for them, the full, the perfect and sufficient sacrifice which He hath offered up for them. And this balm, is not medicine only — for that may heal or not heal; that is a mere experiment upon a broken constitution, and may be ineffectual; but the balm which Jesus brings the sinner may well be styled "health and cure"; for it is everything at once which the sinner's case requires. This precious blood "cleanseth from all sin." But we have not yet attended this Good Physician to His patient. We have not yet ascertained, I mean, how He may be said to "bring" this "health and cure" to the poor sinner's soul. It is when He opens that sinner's eyes to view Him as a Saviour — when, by His word or by His ministers, He sets His love before that sinner's soul, and by His Holy Spirit makes him see it. II. OBSERVE THE GOOD PHYSICIAL ACTUALLY CURING THE POOR PATIENT HE ATTENDS. There is a difference between a remedy brought near, and a remedy applied; and there is a difference again between Christ's "bringing health and cure" to the sinner, and that sinner's being cured. "The grace of God that bringeth salvation" is said to "appear unto all men"; but we know that all men to whom it appeareth are not saved by it. Many men perceive that Christ is their Physician, yet will not take His remedy; and many men believe that they have used the remedy when they have only done so in appearance. The patient we have endeavoured to describe is a really humbled and awakened soul, and the Lord, who brings him health, gives him faith also, to be healed. He believes in Jesus as a Saviour. He casts his soul on Him for pardon and righteousness. III. NOW PROCEED TO THE BLESSINGS MY TEXT DESCRIBES HIM AS BESTOWING ON THE POOR PATIENTS HE HAS HEALED. "I will reveal to them," says He, "the abundance of peace and truth." 1. We may regard this peace and truth as the privileges of the redeemed sinner. When our poor sick bodies are recovered unexpectedly from a painful and a dangerous disease, how do we rejoice in our newly acquired health! How are our fears calmed and our anxieties removed! but these natural emotions are not to be compared for a moment with the spiritual feelings and experiences of the pardoned sinner; no sooner hath the Good Physician healed the soul than what doth He reveal to it? "The abundance of peace and truth." Peace — for "being justified by faith, he hath peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ "revealeth" also to him "the abundance of truth." He enjoys, through the Spirit which Christ sends him, a glorious and most comfortable apprehension of the truth of God — of the truth of His grace, of the truth of His covenant, of the truth of His promises. 2. Consider this "abundance of peace and truth" as referring also to the character acquired by the believer in consequence of his faith. Christ may be said to have revealed to His people the "abundance of peace" in that He hath given them a peaceful spirit — in that He hath sent that Dove-like Messenger to rest upon their souls who is "first pure, then peaceable," and who makes the hearts He enters like Himself. And Christ may be said also to have revealed to him "the abundance of truth," by enabling him to walk in truth. He is "an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile," no crooked policy, no artful management. His aim is, on all occasions, to be "a child of the light and of the day" — "sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ" — "having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reproving them." ( A. Roberts, M. A. ) Health for the soul J. W. Reeve, M. A. I. THE PATIENT AND HIS DISEASE. The patient is man; the disease is sin. We see the disease equally in the most refined as in the most ignorant. It stares us in the face when we read of an African negress sacrificing a fowl to her little image; and it shows itself equally when we read of a Grecian philosopher proposing before his death the sacrifice of a cock to Esculapius. We see the ignorance of the true God; we see at the same time such a consciousness of sin that something must be done to appease the apprehension which they have of the reality of a God. But we need a closer application of the subject. You may all of you say perhaps, "I have never been guilty of idolatry; I am neither Mohammetan, nor Socialist, nor Communist, nor an infidel." Let us look, then, at some of the peculiar features of the disease of sin, and see whether it is not preying upon you as it is upon other men in the world. Now, it is well illustrated by the effect which sickness produces upon our body. For instance, sickness produces languor through the whole body; and this is exactly God's account of the effect of sin ( Isaiah 1:5, 6 ). Take the faculties of man. Take his understanding. The understanding, we are told, "is darkened," so that man is no longer wise to do good; he is only wise to do evil. Again, look at his will. The will of man has a wrong bias. Once, I cannot doubt, it was true of Adam, as spoken of our Lord in the fortieth Psalm, "I delight to do Thy will, O God; yea, it is within my heart." I cannot doubt there was a time when that was the natural expression of Adam's heart; but now it is not the expression of any man's heart until he is renewed by the Holy Ghost. But again: sickness takes away our desire for what is wholesome. So it is with sinners. They "put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter"; they call darkness light, and light darkness, and evil good, and good evil: whereas the spiritual man delights in the law of God after the inward man renewed by the Holy Ghost. Another effect produced by sickness upon the frame is, that it takes away the comfort of life. There is no enjoyment in anything put before the sick man enfeebled by disease, anything in which he was once able to take delight. Yea, life itself often becomes a burden. Now, what is the burden? Why, sin is the burden; it is this, only you do not know it; it is this which at times poisons the joy even of the most thoughtless — the consciousness of sin, the consciousness of your opposition to a holy God. II. THE PHYSICIAN AND THE CURE. "Behold I will bring it health and cure" — "I" — Jesus. And it has been Jesus always. The remedy may have been stated more distinctly under the Gospel than under the law, but not more really. It was Jesus always, it was the precious blood of Jesus always, pointed at in the very first premise that was made by God, that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." And salvation has always been shut up in that seed. It may have been expressed sometimes as being Abraham's seed, sometimes the seed of Isaac, and sometimes the seed of Jacob, but it had only one meaning; as the apostle said in the third chapter of Galatians, "Not unto seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." There is the Physician that God has always revealed. And what is His character? I cannot give you a better picture of Him than He has given of Himself in the parable of the good Samaritan. The wounded man had no charges; he had nothing to pay; the good Samaritan paid for all It is so with Jesus. The only fee, if I may so speak with reverence of Jesus, is — all He asks of us is, that we should trust Him, that we should believe in Him. He holds out to us in the Gospel perfect cure of all our disease, whatever it may be, and however aggravated; and He only says, "Let Me cure you." And when I point you to this Good Samaritan as a Physician, I would have you remember that He is the only One. I call this another inexpressible mercy, that the poor sinner's mind, anxious for relief, is not distracted in the Gospel by choosing between physicians. As the sun is clear in the firmament of heaven at noonday, so does Jesus shine forth as the Sun of Righteousness "with healing in His wings "to every poor sinner. And observe how He brings this before you. He says, "Direct your attention, 'behold,' take notice, 'I will bring you health and cure.'" Here is purpose, here is determination, here is sovereign will. "I will cure, I will heal, I will reveal abundance of peace and truth." We may ask, then, if the way be so simple, "why is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered!" "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Yes, there is balm, there is the blood of Jesus; there is a Physician, there is Jesus Himself. Then "why is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered!" I will put before you some reasons. Some are not healed because they do not know they are sick. There is often very great mischief going on in our frames without our knowing it. That is the way in which mortal diseases get hold of a man. Then some are not healed because they love their disease. Yea, they love sin. We read of a very celebrated man, St. , that there was a time when his conscience was so harassed by the oppression of sin, at the same time that his affections were set upon the enjoyment and indulgence of it, that he declared he was afraid his prayers should be heard when he prayed for deliverance from sin. Now I would ask whether that is not the ease with many. Some, again, are not healed because they are not willing to be healed. Our Lord says, "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." Again, some hearts are not healed because they will not take the Gospel remedies. What are the two great remedies that Jesus proposes? Repentance towards God, and faith towards Himself. But these are bitter and nauseous draughts to the natural man. There is one other reason which I would give why some are not healed — because they put no confidence in the Physician. Here is the root of all the evil — a want of faith. If they trusted Him, they would trust His word; and if they trusted His Word, they would take His remedies. ( J. W. Reeve, M. A. ) I will cleanse them from all their iniquity. Jeremiah 33:8 Our Cleanser W. Birch. (with Psalm 19:12 ): — Many think that Jesus came into the world to forgive our sins; which is true, but it is only a part of the truth; for the New Testament reveals that He came to save us from our sins. Forgiveness is a great thing; but cleansing from sin is greater. Any kindly hearted man can forgive an injury; but only an omnipotent God can wash the love of sin from our nature. The Bible reveals that God has both the will and the power to give a clean heart. I. IT IS A NEEDFUL PRAYER. "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults." 1. Do not our secret thoughts need cleansing? 2. Our secret imaginations need to be cleansed. Children build fairy castles in the air, and tenant them with the pure, the brave, and the true; but as we grow older, our airy castles begin to be peopled with those whose actions are tainted with sin; and when we arrive at manhood, the unconverted soul builds castles in its imagination in which iniquity abounds without any obstacle to hinder it. 3. Our secret desires need cleansing. If there were no desire for sin, there would be no transgression; and we, therefore, need to pray continually, "Lord, cleanse my sinful desires! Let my longings be washed from their bias to transgression!" 4. Our secret habits need cleansing. When a man yields to a sinful habit it is difficult to break it off. You need superhuman power; and that power shall be granted to all who sincerely ask of God. The sculptor who forms a figure in marble does it gradually by thousands of chisel strokes; and in the same way, when you are forming your soul either for goodness or badness, it is a gradual work. As no man is made an angel in a moment, so no man is made a devil in a moment. It is a work of time. It is first a thought, then a picture in the mind, then a desire, then a hesitating step, and afterwards the boldness of habit. It is hard work battling against a world inclined to sin; it is more difficult to resist a loved one who tempts us; but the hardest battle ever man can fight in this world is when he struggles against his soul's inclination to think or do evil. And I feel persuaded that no man can cleanse his secret faults without the help of God. But however bad your secret sins may be, you can be purified. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Christ has unfurled the flag of liberty, and His Spirit now calls on every man who is bound by sin to cry to Him for life! II. UNBELIEF HINDERS US FROM BEING CLEANSED. Some men say, "Nobody can be saved from all their secret faults!" But if the Lord say He will cleanse us from all our iniquity, is it not a wicked thing to doubt it? Perhaps, somebody remarks, "Well, I used to think I might be cleansed from sin, and I tried, but failed every time." Now let me ask you a question. Were you not a great deal happier when you were seeking to ,conquer your secret faults than you are now? You reply, "Yes, I was happier; but why did I not succeed?" A man who is trying to crush down the sin of his heart is happier than he who is content with the slavery of sin. If he do not succeed, the reason is that he is trying to do for himself what cannot be done without God. Ask the Lord to cleanse. It is your work to bring your soul in faith and prayer to Him, and it is His work to cleanse it. III. HOW DOES THE LORD CLEANSE US? The Jews in times of old were cleansed by being sprinkled with the blood of a beast. But this is not the way in which we are cleansed from secret faults. The Spirit of Christ can enter our souls and can cleanse us from sin. ( W. Birch. ) A threefold disease and a twofold cure A. Maclaren, D. D. Jeremiah was a prisoner in the palace of the last King of Judah. The long, national tragedy had reached almost the last scene and the last act. The besiegers were drawing their net closer round the doomed city. The prophet never faltered in predicting its fall, but he as uniformly pointed to a period behind the impending ruin, when all should be peace and joy. His song was modulated from a saddened minor to triumphant jubilation. The exiles shall return, the city shall be rebuilt, its desolate streets shall ring with hymns of praise, and the voices of t

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 33:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Jeremiah 33:1 . The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time — See note on Jeremiah 32:2 . Jeremiah being forced out of the temple, God follows him to the prison, and there reveals his mind to him once and again. The wickedness of the Jews in persecuting the prophet could not make God’s promises of no effect respecting mercy to be shown to the people after the captivity; which promises, though made before, are here confirmed a second time. Jeremiah 33:2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; Jeremiah 33:2 . Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof — That is, as many interpreters understand it, of the city of Jerusalem, a figure of that church spoken of before: see Jeremiah 32:36 ; Jeremiah 32:44 , compared with the 4th, 6th, and 9th verses of this chapter. Blaney, however, renders the clause, Thus saith Jehovah the doer of it, Jehovah the framer of it, who also disposeth it, considering the pronoun it as referring to the thing which God here says he is about to do. Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3 . Call unto me, and I will answer thee — An expression manifesting God’s favour and loving kindness; that he was ready to comply with the first intimations of his servant’s desires. Compare Jeremiah 29:12 . God, by thus directing his discourse to Jeremiah, not only signified his kindness toward him, but likewise the affection he still bore to his people, for, whom this prophet so earnestly interceded, and whose welfare he had so much at heart. And show thee great and mighty things — That is, give thee a clear and full prospect of them. Hebrew, ????? ?????? , great and abstruse, or, hidden things, as some render the words; which thou knowest not — And canst not know without further revelation, meaning, probably, not only what related to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, but likewise the blessings to be conferred upon them in the times of the Messiah. Jeremiah 33:4 For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword; Jeremiah 33:4-5 . Thus saith the Lord concerning the houses of this city — Not excepting those of the kings of Judah, thrown down by the mounts — Namely, by the battering engines placed upon the mounts, which were raised against the walls of the city; and by the sword — By the violence of war. The Hebrew word generally rendered sword may mean any instrument of iron, and particularly such as were used in demolishing any building. It is rendered a mattock by our translators, 2 Chronicles 24:6 , and axes, Ezekiel 26:9 . They come to fight with the Chaldeans — Most interpreters understand this as spoken of the Jews sallying forth against the Chaldeans, to beat them off from the siege, which they attempted to do in vain, and to their own destruction, only thus filling the houses of Jerusalem with the dead bodies of their men, who died of the wounds received from the Chaldeans in making those sallies. And the verse is thought to come in by way of parenthesis, between the fourth and sixth, to show that at present God would not prosper any efforts that were made for the defence of the city, though he would restore it hereafter to its former splendour. Jeremiah 33:5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Jeremiah 33:6-8 . Behold, I will bring it health and cure — The latter part of this verse expounds the former: for, by health and cure, the prophet means peace and truth, or, stability. Blaney renders it, I will make it, namely, the city or state perfectly sound and whole. The disturbed and calamitous state of the nation being compared to wounds and sickness, (see Jeremiah 8:21-22 ; Jeremiah 30:17 ,) the restoring of it to a peaceful and prosperous state is fitly called its health and cure. And will build them as at the first — When they, by repentance, do their first works, God will, by their restoration, manifest toward them his ancient mercies and loving- kindnesses. He will not only cause their captivity to return, as is expressed, in plain words, in the former clause, but will re-establish them in the possession of their civil and religious privileges, and hereby promote both their virtue and happiness. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity — I will make them pious and holy, as well as virtuous and happy; and I will pardon all their iniquities — Will not impute their past sins any longer to them as I have done, but will remit the further punishments to which for sin they were liable. Jeremiah 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. Jeremiah 33:8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. Jeremiah 33:9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Jeremiah 33:9 . And it shall be to me a praise and an honour — Jerusalem thus rebuilt, and Judah thus re-established, shall be to my glory before all the nations. In other words, it is foretold here that God’s especial providence over the Jews, in restoring their city and temple, and re-establishing them in their own land, should be taken notice of by the heathen world, and should cause them to give glory to that God whom the Jews worshipped: see Ezra 1:2 ; Ezra 6:12 . Or, as the words may imply, This renewed nation shall be as much a reputation to religion as formerly they were a reproach to it. This promise, however, has been much more signally fulfilled in the Christian Church, to which the heathen resorted, as to the seat and temple of truth, than it has yet been in the Jewish. And they shall fear and tremble for the goodness that I do unto it — These surprising effects of my goodness shall produce an astonishment like that which arises from fear. Or, the meaning is, They shall fear to engage against a nation so beloved and favoured by me, Exodus 15:14-16 . Jeremiah 33:10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, Jeremiah 33:10-11 . Again there shall be heard in this place which ye say shall be desolate — See note on Jeremiah 32:43 ; the voice of joy and the voice of gladness — The contrary to what takes place in the times of captivity and desolation. The voice of them that shall say, Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good, &c. — We read, ( Ezra 3:11 ,) that those who returned from captivity used this very hymn. And of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord — Such as was wont to be offered upon any great deliverance. See Leviticus 7:12 ; Psalm 107:22 ; Psalm 116:17 . The Hebrew, ????? ???? , is literally, of them that bring praise, or, thanksgiving, there being nothing for the word sacrifice. This, however, is called by St. Paul, the sacrifice of praise, even the fruit of our lips, ( Hebrews 13:15 ,) to distinguish it from the oblations commanded by the law, which consisted of the fruits of the ground, or of the flock and herd. The sum of this verse is, that those who were carried into captivity should return, and, upon their return, should be in their former state as to civil transactions, marrying and giving in marriage; and, as to religion, should publicly praise the Lord with holy and spiritual joy, as they had been wont to do in the best and most prosperous times of their commonwealth, which was fulfilled, as we see, Nehemiah 12:27-40 . Jeremiah 33:11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 33:12 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. Jeremiah 33:12-13 . Again in this place shall be a habitation for shepherds, &c. — See Jeremiah 50:19 ; Isaiah 65:10 . In those places which were desolate, without man and beast, there should be flocks and herds of sheep and goats, which the shepherds should take care of as in former times. And in the cities of Judah shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them — Namely, so as to keep account of them, as they were wont to do, both morning and evening in those countries. Virgil alludes to the same custom, when he says, Ecclesiastes 3. , Bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et hædos; Twice each day they count my goats and sheep. See Leviticus 27:32 , where ??? ?????? , passing under the rod, means their being numbered, the shepherds striking every sheep with his rod, or crook, as it passed out of the fold, and so counting them; and the expression here made use of, ?? ??? ???? , under the hand of him that numbers them, seems to signify the same thing. Jeremiah 33:13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them , saith the LORD. Jeremiah 33:14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. Jeremiah 33:14-16 . Behold, the days come that I will perform that good thing, &c. — The Lord’s word is not yea and nay: he cannot lie, or repent. There shall come a time when he will verify every good word which he hath spoken to, or concerning, his people. In those days will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David — The kings they had hitherto had of the line of David were most of them unrighteous men; but God here promises that after the captivity they should have a branch of David that would execute judgment and righteousness in the land, for the protection and government of those that feared him. If this passage point at all to Zerubbabel, who was a good man, a descendant of David, and, though not a king, a ruler of the Jews, after their return from Babylon, and who governed with equity and not as Jehoiakim had done; yet it can only refer to him as a type of the Messiah, the branch out of the stem of Jesse, Isaiah 11:1 ; the branch of the Lord that was to be beautiful and glorious, Isaiah 4:2 ; and the righteous branch that was to be raised up unto David, as he is described Jeremiah 23:5 , a passage exactly similar to this, and undoubtedly meant of the same person. See the notes on these passages. In those days shall Judah be saved, &c. — If, a temporal salvation be here at all intended, it must be, not that which the Jews enjoyed for a short season under the government of Zerubbabel, a deliverance and protection from, or security against their enemies, which was very imperfect, and frequently interrupted; but that more perfect salvation, peace, and prosperity, which they shall enjoy in the latter days, after their conversion to Christianity, and restoration to their own land, according to the predictions contained in this and the three preceding chapters. But a spiritual and eternal salvation undoubtedly is chiefly intended here, as well as in the parallel passage, Jeremiah 23:6 . And this is the name wherewith ye shall be called, The Lord our righteousness — According to this reading it is here foretold, that the name which properly belongs to the Messiah shall be given to Jerusalem, that is, to the church; “to signify,” says Lowth, “that it is in a peculiar manner dedicated to him, he having chosen it for the place of his residence, (see Ezekiel 48:35 ,) and that all the righteousness of the faithful, both their justification and sanctification, is derived from him. this seems,” adds he, “to be the genuine sense of the words, as may appear to any that will compare the original phrase here, ???? ?? , with Isaiah 62:4 ; Isaiah 62:12 , where it is said of Zion, Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, or, my delight is in her, and sought out, a city not forsaken. Nor is there any greater impropriety in giving the name Jehovah to a city, than in calling an altar Jehovah-nissi, that is, Jehovah my banner, ( Exodus 17:15 ,) and Jehovah-shalom, Jehovah peace, ( Jdg 6:24 ,) in token that the Lord was the author of those mercies of which the said altars were designed to be monuments. So the servants of God are described as having his name written upon their foreheads, Revelation 3:12 ; Revelation 14:1 ; but several interpreters, particularly Huetius, and our learned Bishop Pearson, (in his Exposition of the Creed, p. 165,) render the words thus: He that shall call her [to be his peculiar people] is the Lord our righteousness.” Thus also Dr. Waterland and others. But Blaney, who renders the last clause of Jeremiah 23:6 , This is the name by which Jehovah shall call him, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, translates this, And this is he whom Jehovah shall call OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, judging that the ? in ?? , rendered her, is not the feminine pronoun affix, but the masculine, after the Chaldee form. Jeremiah 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. Jeremiah 33:16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. Jeremiah 33:17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; Jeremiah 33:17-18 . For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man, &c. — It is very evident that the prophecies in these verses were not fulfilled in the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; for, from that time to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel. Nor have they been fulfilled in them since, for, from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to the present time, they have neither had a king nor a regular priesthood belonging to their nation. There can therefore be no doubt that Jeremiah here foretels the kingdom of the Messiah, and the priesthood, or ministry rather, to be established by him, by which a pure and spiritual oblation should be offered in every place where a church should be formed for him, (see Malachi 1:11 ,) and not at Jerusalem and in Judea only. “As the Jewish priesthood, in the family of Aaron, is extinct, and hath been exercised neither in Jerusalem nor in any other place for seventeen centuries, it follows,” says Calmet, “that these promises can respect only the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ, exercised by himself, and by his ministers, in the Christian Church from the beginning, and which shall continue to the end of time.” Nor is it unusual for God in the Old Testament to express promises relating to, and to be fulfilled under, the gospel, by terms proper to the Old Testament. See Isaiah 19:19 ; Isaiah 56:7 ; Isaiah 66:23 . And as the prophets often describe the Christian worship by representations taken from the temple service, so the apostles prove the rights and privileges belonging to the ministers of the gospel from the prerogatives given to the Jewish priesthood. See Romans 15:16 ; 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 . Jeremiah 33:18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. Jeremiah 33:19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, Jeremiah 33:20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Jeremiah 33:20-21 . If you can break my covenant of the day and of the night — Called the ordinances of the day and night, Jeremiah 31:35-36 . Then may also my covenant be broken with David and with the Levites — A promise this, that the kingdom of Christ and a Christian ministry shall continue in the church to the end of time. And as his kingdom shall have no end, ( Luke 1:32-33 ,) the words may also be construed as extending to the eternal state, in which, as Christ shall reign in glory for ever, so his saints shall be priests unto God, and reign for ever with him. Jeremiah 33:21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Jeremiah 33:22 . As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, &c. — The former promise respected the stability, this the enlargement of the church, the members of which are here termed the seed of David, as they are elsewhere often called the seed of Abraham, being the imitators of the faith of Abraham and David. Or they may be termed the seed of David, because they are the seed of Christ, who is sometimes called David in the writings of the prophets, (see Jeremiah 30:9 ,) and whose seed and whose Levites are multiplied in the multiplying of Christians and of faithful ministers under the gospel, which are the blessings here promised. Jeremiah 33:23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Jeremiah 33:24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Jeremiah 33:24-26 . The two families which the Lord hath chosen — “It is plain from Jeremiah 33:26 ,” says Blaney,” that the two families here meant are those of Jacob and David, though some have supposed the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, others the royal and sacerdotal families of David and Levi, to be intended.” He hath even cast them off — The words are spoken by those unbelieving Jews who thought God would never restore them to their former condition, nor give them again a king of the seed of David, thus indirectly accusing him of a breach of promise. Thus they have despised my people, &c. — Thus, saith God, they have spoken in a reproachful and degrading manner of my people, as if they should never be a nation again, having rulers of themselves and a ministry. If my covenant be not with day and night, &c. — If I have not appointed the vicissitudes of day and night, and of summer and winter, upon which the seasons of the year and the fruitfulness of the earth depend; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob — Then will I finally, and for ever, abandon the body of the Jews and Israelites; and David my servant — Namely, the seed of David, all persons lineally descended from him, so that none of them shall ever hereafter reign over Israel and Judah. The sum of these verses is plainly this, that a restoration of them to their own land should as certainly succeed their captivity as the day succeeds the night, or summer follows winter. God had as certainly ordained the one as the other, and, would as certainly have mercy on his people as he would certainly continue the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. And in showing this mercy he would take care that one of the seed of David should be their ruler: which has been, and still more fully shall be, fulfilled in the Messiah, who shall always as certainly govern his church, whether consisting of converted Jews or Gentiles, as there will always be a church on earth to be governed. Jeremiah 33:25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Jeremiah 33:26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 33:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, CHAPTER XXXI RESTORATION II THE NEW ISRAEL Jeremiah 23:3-8 ; Jeremiah 24:6-7 ; Jeremiah 30:1-24 ; Jeremiah 31:1-40 ; Jeremiah 33:1-26 "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby she shall be called."- Jeremiah 33:16 THE Divine utterances in chapter 33, were given to Jeremiah when he was shut up in the "court of the guard" during the last days of the siege. They may, however, have been committed to writing at a later date, possibly in connection with Chapters 30 and 31, when the destruction of Jerusalem was already past. It is in accordance with all analogy that the final record of a "word of Jehovah" should include any further light which had come to the prophet through his inspired meditations on the original message. Chapters 30, 31, and 33 mostly expound and enforce leading ideas contained in Jeremiah 32:37-44 and in earlier utterances of Jeremiah. They have much in common with 2 Isaiah. The ruin of Judah and the captivity of the people were accomplished facts to both writers, and they were both looking forward to the return of the exiles and the restoration of the kingdom of Jehovah. We shall have occasion to notice individual points of resemblance later on. In Jeremiah 30:2 Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all that Jehovah has spoken to him; and according to the present context the "all," in this case, refers merely to the following four chapters. These prophecies of restoration would be specially precious to the exiles; and now that the Jews were scattered through many distant lands, they could only be transmitted and preserved in writing. After the command "to write in a book" there follows, by way of title, a repetition of the statement that Jehovah would bring back His people to their fatherland. Here, in the very forefront of the Book of Promise, Israel and Judah are named as being recalled together from exile. As we read twice { Jeremiah 16:14-15 ; Jeremiah 23:7-8 } elsewhere in Jeremiah, the promised deliverance from Assyria and Babylon was to surpass all other manifestations of the Divine power and mercy. The Exodus would not be named in the same breath with it: "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites out of the land of Egypt: but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither He had driven them." This prediction has waited for fulfilment to our own times: hitherto the Exodus has occupied men’s minds much more than the Return; we are now coming to estimate the supreme religious importance of the latter event. Elsewhere again Jeremiah connects his promise with the clause in his original commission "to build and to plant": { Jeremiah 1:10 } "I will set My eyes upon them" (the captives) "for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up." { Jeremiah 24:7 } As in Jeremiah 32:28-35 , the picture of restoration is rendered more vivid by contrast with Judah’s present state of wretchedness; the marvellousness of Jehovah’s mercy is made apparent by reminding Israel of the multitude of its iniquities. The agony of Jacob is like that of a woman in travail. But travail shall be followed by deliverance and triumph. In the second Psalm the subject nations took counsel against Jehovah and against His Anointed:- "Let us break their bands asunder, And cast away their cords from us"; but now this is the counsel of Jehovah concerning His people and their Babylonian conqueror:- "I will break his yoke from off thy neck, And break thy bands asunder." Judah’s lovers, her foreign allies, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and all the other states with whom she had intrigued, had betrayed her; they had cruelly chastised her, so that her wounds were grievous and her bruises incurable. She was left without a champion to plead her cause, without a friend to bind up her wounds, without balm to allay the pain of her bruises. "Because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee, saith Jehovah." Jerusalem was an outcast, of whom men said contemptuously: "This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." But man’s extremity is God’s opportunity; because Judah was helpless and despised, therefore Jehovah said, "I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds." While Jeremiah was still watching from his prison the progress of the siege, he had seen the houses and palaces beyond the walls destroyed by the Chaldeans to be used for their mounds; and had known that every sally of the besieged was but another opportunity for the enemy to satiate themselves with slaughter, as they executed Jehovah’s judgments upon the guilty city. Even at this extremity He announced solemnly and emphatically the restoration and pardon of His people. "Thus saith Jehovah, who established the earth, when He made and fashioned it-Jehovah is His name: Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great mysteries, which thou knowest not." "I will bring to this city healing and cure, and will cause them to know all the fulness of steadfast peace . . . I will cleanse them from all their iniquities, and will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned and transgressed against Me." The healing of Zion naturally involved the punishment of her cruel and treacherous lovers. The Return, like other revolutions, was not wrought by rose water; the yokes were broken and the bands rent asunder by main force. Jehovah would make a full end of all the nations whither He had scattered them. Their devourers should be devoured, all their adversaries should go into captivity, those who had spoiled and preyed upon them should become a spoil and a prey. Jeremiah had been commissioned from the beginning to pull down foreign nations and kingdoms as well as his native Judah. { Jeremiah 1:10 } Judah was only one of Israel’s evil neighbours who were to be plucked up out of their land. And at the Return, as at the Exodus, the waves at one and the same time opened a path of safety for Israel and overwhelmed her oppressors. Israel, pardoned and restored, would again be governed by legitimate kings of the House of David. In the dying days of the monarchy Israel and Judah had received their rulers from the hands of foreigners. Menahem and Hoshea bought the confirmation of their usurped authority from Assyria. Jehoiakim was appointed by Pharaoh Necho, and Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot doubt that the kings of Egypt and Babylon were also careful to surround their nominees with ministers who were devoted to the interests of their suzerains. But now "their nobles were to be of themselves, and their ruler was to proceed out of their midst," { Jeremiah 30:21 } i.e., nobles and rulers were to hold their offices according to national custom and tradition. Jeremiah was fond of speaking of the leaders of Judah as shepherds. We have had occasion already (Cf. chapter 8) to consider his controversy with the "shepherds" of his own time. In his picture of the New Israel he uses the same figure. In denouncing the evil shepherds he predicts that, when the remnant of Jehovah’s flock is brought again to their folds, He will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, { Jeremiah 23:3-4 } shepherds. according to Jehovah’s own heart, who should feed them with knowledge and understanding. { Jeremiah 3:15 } Over them Jehovah would establish as Chief Shepherd a Prince of the House of David. Isaiah had already included in his picture of Messianic times the fertility of Palestine; its vegetation, by the blessing of Jehovah, should be beautiful and glorious: he had also described the Messianic King as a fruitful Branch out of the root of Jesse. Jeremiah takes the idea of the latter passage, but uses the language of the former. For him the King of the New Israel is, as it were, a Growth ( cemah ) out of the sacred soil, or perhaps more definitely from the roots of the House of David, that ancient tree whose trunk had been hewn down and burnt. Both the Growth ( cemah ) and the Branch ( necer ) had the same vital connection with the soil of Palestine and the root of David. Our English versions exercised a wise discretion when they sacrificed literal accuracy and indicated the identity of idea by translating both "cemah" and "necer" by "Branch." "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch; and He shall be a wise and prudent King, and He shall execute justice and maintain the right. In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell securely, and his name shall be Jehovah ‘Cidqenu ,’ Jehovah is our righteousness." Jehovah Cidqenu might very well be the personal name of a Jewish king, though the form would be unusual; but what is chiefly intended is that His character shall be such as the "name" describes. The "name" is a brief and pointed censure upon a king whose character was the opposite of that described in these verses, yet who bore a name of almost identical meaning-Zedekiah, Jehovah is my righteousness. The name of the last reigning Prince of the House of David had been a standing condemnation of his unworthy life, but the King of the New Israel, Jehovah’s true Messiah, would realise in His administration all that such a name promised. Sovereigns delight to accumulate sonorous epithets in their official designations-Highness, High and Mighty, Majesty, Serene, Gracious. The glaring contrast between character and titles often only serves to advertise the worthlessness of those who are labelled with such epithets: the Majesty of James I, the Graciousness of Richard III. Yet these titles point to a standard of true royalty, whether the sovereign be an individual or a class or the people; they describe that Divine Sovereignty which will be realised in the Kingdom of God. The material prosperity of the restored community is set forth with wealth of glowing imagery. Cities and palaces are to be rebuilt on their former sites with more than their ancient splendour. "Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. And the children of Jacob shall be as of old, and their assembly shall be established before Me." { Jeremiah 30:18-20 } The figure often used of the utter desolation of the deserted country is now used to illustrate its complete restoration: "Yet again shall there be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." Throughout all the land "which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof," shepherds shall dwell and pasture and fold their flocks; and in the cities of all the districts of the Southern Kingdom enumerated as exhaustively as in Jeremiah 32:44 shall the flocks again pass under the shepherd’s hands to be told. { Jeremiah 33:10-13 } Jehovah’s own peculiar flock, His Chosen People, shall be fruitful and multiply according to the primeval blessing; under their new shepherds they shall no more fear nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking. { Jeremiah 23:3-4 } Jeremiah recurs again and again to the quiet, the restfulness, the freedom from fear and dismay of the restored Israel. In this, as in all else, the New Dispensation was to be an entire contrast to those long weary years of alternate suspense and panic, when men’s hearts were shaken by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war. { Jeremiah 4:19 } Israel is to dwell securely at rest from fear of harm. { Jeremiah 23:6 } When Jacob returns he "shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid." { Jeremiah 30:10 } Egyptian, Assyrian, and Chaldean shall all cease from troubling; the memory of past misery shall become dim and shadowy. The finest expansion of this idea is a passage which always fills the soul with a sense of utter rest. "He shall dwell on high: his refuge shall be the inaccessible rocks: his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a far-stretching land. Thine heart shall muse on the terror: where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive; of a strange tongue that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. There Jehovah will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby." ( Isaiah 33:16-21 ; Isaiah 32:15-18 .) For Jeremiah too the presence of Jehovah in majesty was the only possible guarantee of the peace and prosperity of Israel. The voices of joy and gladness in the New Jerusalem were not only those of bride and bridegroom, but also of those that said, "Give thanks to Jehovah Sabaoth, for Jehovah is good, for His mercy endureth forever," and of those that "came to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving in the house of Jehovah." { Jeremiah 33:11 } This new David, as the Messianic King is called, { Jeremiah 30:9 } is to have the priestly right of immediate access to God: "I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me: for else who would risk his life by daring to approach Me?" { Jeremiah 30:21 , as Kautzsch.} Israel is liberated from foreign conquerors to serve Jehovah their God and David their King; and the Lord Himself rejoices in His restored and ransomed people. The city that was once a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse among all nations shall now be to Jehovah "a name of joy, a praise and a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall tremble with fear for all the good and all the peace that I procure unto it." { Jeremiah 33:9 } CHAPTER XXXIV RESTORATION V REVIEW Jeremiah 30:1-24 ; Jeremiah 31:1-40 ; Jeremiah 32:1-44 ; Jeremiah 33:1-26 IN reviewing these chapters we must be careful not to suppose that Jeremiah knew all that would ultimately result from his teaching. When he declared that the conditions of the New Covenant would be written, not in a few parchments, but on every heart, he laid down a principle which involved the most characteristic teaching of the New Testament and the Reformers, and which might seem to justify extreme mysticism. When we read these prophecies in the light of history, they seem to lead by a short and direct path to the Pauline doctrines of Faith and Grace. Constraining grace is described in the words: "I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." { Jeremiah 32:40 } Justification by faith instead of works substitutes the response of the soul to the Spirit of God for conformity to a set of external regulations-the writing on the heart for the carving of ordinances on stone. Yet, as Newton’s discovery of the law of gravitation did not make him aware of all that later astronomers have discovered, so Jeremiah did not anticipate Paul and Augustine, Luther and Calvin: he was only their forerunner. Still less did he intend to affirm all that has been taught by the Brothers of the Common Life or the Society of Friends. We have followed the Epistle to the Hebrews in interpreting his prophecy of the New Covenant as abrogating the Mosaic code and inaugurating a new departure upon entirely different lines. This view is supported by his attitude towards the Temple, and especially the Ark. At the same time we must not suppose that Jeremiah contemplated the summary and entire abolition of the previous dispensation. He simply delivers his latest message from Jehovah, without bringing its contents into relation with earlier truth, without indeed waiting to ascertain for himself how the old and the new were to be combined. But we may be sure that the Divine writing on the heart would have included much that was already written in Deuteronomy, and that both books and teachers would have had their place in helping men to recognise and interpret the inner leadings of the Spirit. In rising from the perusal of these chapters the reader is tempted to use the prophet’s words with a somewhat different meaning: "I awaked and looked about me, and felt that I had had a pleasant dream." { Jeremiah 31:26 } Renan, with cynical frankness, heads a chapter on such prophecies with the title "Pious Dreams." While Jeremiah’s glowing utterances rivet our attention, the gracious words fall like balm upon our aching hearts, and we seem, like the Apostle, caught up into Paradise. But as soon as we try to connect our visions with any realities, past, present, or in prospect, there comes a rude awakening. The restored community attained to no New Covenant, but was only found worthy of a fresh edition of the written code. Instead of being committed to the guidance of the ever-present Spirit of Jehovah, they were placed under a rigid and elaborate system of externals-"carnal ordinances, concerned with meats and drinks and divers washings, imposed until a time of reformation." { Hebrews 9:10 } They still remained under the covenant "from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to the Jerusalem that now is: for she is in bondage with her children." { Galatians 4:24-25 } For these bondservants of the letter, there arose no David, no glorious Scion of the ancient stock. For a moment the hopes of Zechariah rested on Zerubbabel, but this Branch quickly withered away and was forgotten. We need not underrate the merits and services of Ezra and Nehemiah, of Simon the Just and Judas Maccabaeus; and yet we cannot find any one of them who answers to the Priestly King of Jeremiah’s visions. The new growth of Jewish royalty came to an ignominious end in Aristobulus, Hyrcanus, and the Herods, Antichrists rather than Messiahs. The Reunion of long-divided Israel is for the most part a misnomer; there was no healing of the wound, and the offending member was cut off. Even now, when the leaven of the Kingdom has been working in the lump of humanity for nearly two thousand years, any suggestion that these chapters are realised in Modern Christianity would seem cruel irony. Renan accuses Christianity of having quickly forgotten the programme which its Founder borrowed from the prophets, and of having become a religion like other religions, a religion of priests and sacrifices, of external observances and superstitions. It is sometimes asserted that "Protestants lack faith and courage to trust to any law written on the heart, and cling to a printed book, as if there were no Holy Spirit-as if the Branch of David had borne fruit once for all, and Christ were dead. The movement for Christian Reunion seems thus far chiefly to emphasise the feuds that make the Church a kingdom divided against itself." But we must not allow the obvious shortcomings of Christendom to blind us to brighter aspects of truth. Both in the Jews of the Restoration and in the Church of Christ we have a real fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecies. The fulfilment is no less real because it is utterly inadequate. Prophecy is a guide post and not a milestone; it shows the way to be trodden, not the duration of the journey. Jews and Christians have fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecies because they have advanced by the road along which he pointed towards the spiritual city of his vision. The "pious dreams" of a little group of enthusiasts have become the ideals and hopes of humanity. Even Renan ranks himself among the disciples of Jeremiah: "The seed sown in religious tradition by inspired Israelites will not perish; all of us who seek a God without priests, a revelation without prophets, a covenant written in the heart are in many respects the disciples of these ancient fanatics" ( ces vieux egares ). The Judaism of the Return, with all its faults and shortcomings, was still an advance in the direction Jeremiah had indicated. However ritualistic the Pentateuch may seem to us, it was far removed from exclusive trust in ritual. Where the ancient Israelite had relied upon correct observance of the forms of his sanctuary, the Torah of Ezra introduced a large moral and spiritual element, which served to bring the soul into direct fellowship with Jehovah. "Pity and humanity are pushed to their utmost limits, always of course in the bosom of the family of Israel." The Torah moreover included the great commands to love God and man, which once for all placed the religion of Israel on a spiritual basis. If the Jews often attached more importance to the letter and form of Revelation than to its substance, and were more careful for ritual and external observances than for inner righteousness, we have no right to cast a stone at them. It is a curious phenomenon that after the time of Ezra the further developments of the Torah were written no longer on parchment, but, in a certain sense on the heart. The decisions of the rabbis interpreting the Pentateuch, "the fence which they made round the law," were not committed to writing, but learnt by heart and handed down by oral tradition. Possibly this custom was partly due to Jeremiah’s prophecy. It is a strange illustration of the way in which theology sometimes wrests the Scriptures to its own destruction, that the very prophecy of the triumph of the spirit over the letter was made of none effect by a literal interpretation. Nevertheless, though Judaism moved only a very little way towards Jeremiah’s ideal, yet it did move, its religion was distinctly more spiritual than that of ancient Israel. Although Judaism claimed finality and did its best to secure that no future generation should make further progress, yet in spite of, nay, even by means of, Pharisee and Sadducee, the Jews were prepared to receive and transmit that great resurrection of prophetic teaching which came through Christ. If even Judaism did not altogether fail to conform itself to Jeremiah’s picture of the New Israel, clearly Christianity must have shaped itself still more fully according to his pattern. In the Old Testament both the idea and the name of a "New Covenant," superseding that of Moses, are peculiar to Jeremiah, and the New Testament consistently represents the Christian dispensation as a fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Besides the express and detailed application in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper as the Sacrament of His New Covenant-"This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood"; and St. Paul speaks of himself as "a minister of the New Covenant." { 2 Corinthians 3:6 } Christianity has not been unworthy of the claim made on its behalf by its Founder, but has realised, at any rate in some measure, the visible peace, prosperity, and unity of Jeremiah’s New Israel, as well as the spirituality of his New Covenant. Christendom has its hideous blots of misery and sin, but, on the whole, the standard of material comfort and intellectual culture has been raised to a high average throughout the bulk of a vast population. Internal order and international concord have made enormous strides since the time of Jeremiah. If an ancient Israelite could witness the happy security, of a large proportion of English workmen and French peasants, he would think that many of the predictions of his prophets had been fulfilled. But the advance of large classes to a prosperity once beyond the dreams of the most sanguine only brings out in darker relief the wretchedness of their less fortunate brethren. In view of the growing knowledge and enormous resources of modern society, any toleration of its cruel wrongs is an unpardonable sin. Social problems are doubtless urgent because a large minority are miserable, but they are rendered still more urgent by the luxury of many and the comfort of most. The high average of prosperity shows that we fail to right our social evils, not for want of power, but for want of devotion. Our civilisation is a Dives, at whose gate Lazarus often finds no crumbs. Again Christ’s Kingdom of the New Covenant has brought about a larger unity. We have said enough elsewhere on the divisions of the Church. Doubtless we are still far from realising the ideals of chapter 31, but, at any rate, they have been recognised as supreme, and have worked for harmony and fellowship in the world. Ephraim and Judah are forgotten, but the New Covenant has united into brotherhood a worldwide array of races and nations. There are still divisions in the Church, and a common religion will not always do away with national enmities; but in spite of all, the influence of our common Christianity has done much to knit the nations together and promote mutual amity and goodwill. The vanguard of the modern world has accepted Christ as its standard and ideal, and has thus attained an essential unity, which is not destroyed by minor differences and external divisions. And, finally, the promise that the New Covenant should be written on the heart is far on the way towards fulfilment. If Roman and Greek orthodoxy interposes the Church between the soul and Christ, yet the inspiration claimed for the Church today is, at any rate in some measure, that of the living Spirit of Christ speaking to the souls of living men. On the other hand, a predilection for Rabbinical methods of exegesis sometimes interferes with the influence and authority of the Bible. Yet in reality there is no serious attempt to take away the key of knowledge or to forbid the individual soul to receive the direct teaching of the Holy Ghost. The Reformers established the right of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures; and the interpretation of the Library of Sacred Literature, the spiritual harvest of a thousand years, affords ample scope for reverent development of our knowledge of God. One group of Jeremiah’s prophecies has indeed been entirely fulfilled. In Christ God has raised up a Branch of Righteousness unto David, and through Him judgment and righteousness are wrought in the earth. { Jeremiah 33:15 } The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.