Jeremiah (1-31) 30:18 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap.’ Jacob’s tents is a term used for the descendants of Jacob, who lived with Abraham and Isaac in tents, but from whom came the nation of Israel;, according to God’s promise. The word ‘heap’ refers either to the ruins resulting from the Babylonian destruction, or to the natural hill on which Jerusalem was built. That happened in a great measure when the captives returned. It happens in a more wonderful way, in a spiritual way, with the coming of Christ. There is a new empire, the spiritual empire of Christ, the New Testament church, converted Jews and converted Gentiles. Not replacement of the Jews by the Gentiles, but the Jewish church, now reformed under the power of the Spirit and under the word of Christ, embraces the Gentiles and they come in, so that it becomes Jewish-Gentile church of Christ. You read through Paul's letter to the Galatians and Ephesians, and you find all are one body, Jew and Gentiles together; there is no escaping this. All are one. There is no wall of partition between Jew and Gentile anymore. The one Jewish Gentile church of Christ. Not replacement theology, as it is sometimes called, but united theology, uniting of Jews and Gentiles, and the Jewish reformed church with Gentiles. That is the time when undoubtedly the most Israelite people – whose descendants are lost and obscured and scattered into captivity – will be brought into the kingdom of God. It will be during the church age, and perhaps at the very end if Romans 11 does speak of an end time Jewish awakening. How marvellous that would be! ‘And the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.’ There will be rebuilding of the palace. The Hebrew word is citadel, which could be the temple or general reconstruction of the building of the city. ‘And 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.’ The promise is that there will be no disappointment in what comes after God fulfils this promise and restores his people. There will be heartfelt praise, and rejoicing before the Lord. This no doubt was true at the time of the return from Babylon, but it is fulfilled in a far more profound sense in the regenerate New Testament church, which traces its roots back to the promises made by God to the patriarchs. So too is the promise that ‘they shall not be few.’ Who can number the New Testament saints, gathered in from every nation under the sun. This is because God multiplies them. He makes sure that his people are not a pitifully small group of people, but a company which no many can number. ^‘Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.’ They will recover all that was lost in the chastisement delivered upon the nation, indeed in the gospel age they will far exceed anything that went before. God never disappoints or allows his kingdom to be compared unfavourably with other kingdoms. In all things Christ has the pre-eminence (Colossians 1:18). ‘And their nobles shall be of themselves.’ The longer the prophecy goes on, the more clearly this relates to spiritual blessings found only in the church of Jesus Christ. Judah had no kings after her return from Babylon, but was ruled by other powers who did not give her autonomy. But in the church of Christ God raises up those who are apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers. The church does not borrow any of its leaders from the world, for no one can teach in the kingdom of God who does not belong to the kingdom of God. What can they know and what can they teach otherwise? There will be worship in spirit and in truth, for they will be the only worshippers that the Father accepts. When the Jewish church was completely reformed at the time of Christ and the priesthood was ended and the Old Testament worship was ended because it was fulfilled in Christ, their nobles should be of themselves all the apostles were Jews.^‘And their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.’ That is surely Christ himself. In accordance with prophecy he was the descendant of Abraham and of David, the son of promise from the midst of them. The only man who ever drew near to God was the God man Jesus Christ, who rose again and returned to his Father with whom he was equal and had inhabited eternity. Christ our glorious Savior engaged his heart to be our representative and approach the Father for us, and to take the souls of all his redeemed people in his hands and on his heart to the Father. Truly, they will be God’s people and he will be their God, in a much richer sense than was ever true of the nation of Israel. It was physically fulfilled with the Jewish national covenant and the return from captivity, and spiritually fulfilled with the coming of Christ and true conversion. How do you get true conversion into this prophecy? It becomes more and more evident especially as we read into Jeremiah 31.