Jeremiah (1-31) 16:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 16:19

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But then the prophecy looks even further ahead. Jeremiah is given to see something wonderful that God is going to do, which brings much consolation to his heart. He is surrounded by troubles and he has just been pouring out his anguish before the Lord, but now he worships God. In the midst of all these trials God is his strength. The Lord does not change or weaken and he is worthy of complete trust. He knows exactly what he will do, and his plan is perfect, and will bring great blessings of seemingly hopeless situations. Jeremiah will go to the Lord and hide himself in his God, away from all the attacks of persecutors and apostates who oppose him. What a great consolation it is to the Lord’s people that they can go to him in their trials, and rest their troubled souls in him.But there is one particularly great blessing coming that is revealed to the prophet. The calling of the Gentiles must have been something which seemed utterly impossible to any pious Jew. If the Judah itself was gone astray, and had turned away from God, and become hard of heart, and given themselves to idolatry, how were the Gentiles ever going to become sincere worshippers of God? And yet this is what God said would happen. If Jeremiah was downcast because of the godlessness of his own people, then here was evidence that nothing was too hard for the Lord. ‘The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth.’ Jeremiah had been given this promise before (Jeremiah 3:17).‘Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?²¹ Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.’ This will be the heartfelt realisation of those Gentiles who trust in Christ. What is described is no nominal conversion, but a deep recognition that their former religions were vain and without profit; they were an offence to God, because they gave the praise of the human heart which belong to him alone to worthless idols. In their foolishness they have made gods out of those who were not gods. Can a man make his own gods? But they will come to know the name of the Lord, a phrase which can only be applied to those who have been given life in the soul by the Holy Spirit. The call of the elect from among the Gentiles is described as something very unusual, which God will do ‘this once’. ‘If the root be holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; ¹⁸ Boast not against the branches’ (Romans 11:16-18). The natural branches are from the nation of Israel; the Gentiles are the wild olive branches. They have found a place in the olive tree, but this is an extraordinary work of God, and here it is revealed to Jeremiah for his encouragement, and for God’s praise in all the world.

Application

Questions

Right from the start, we note that the coming of the Gentiles is expressed in terms of physical movement: they will ‘come unto thee from the ends of the earth.’ But this is metaphorical language, which represents a spiritual reality in physical terms. We know perfectly well that in the church age, many will come to Christ without ever leaving their native lands. Their journey will be a spiritual journey which involves joining to the people of God in their hearts, and recognising that God blessed and taught Israel, and that through this one nation blessing has come to all the nations of the earth. Salvation is of the Jews; the Gentiles worship the seed of Abraham and the Son of David. This use of physical language alerts us to the fact that, in understanding the prophecies of the Old Testament, we often need to translate the language of national blessing into the language of spiritual blessing.

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Introduction

Jeremiah (1-31) 16:19 Commentary and Bible Study