Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah 31:1-9

This chapter is of the same nature with the former, and full of great and precious promises to the people of God. 1. They shall be restored to peace and honour, joy and plenty, ver. 1-14. 2. Their servant for the loss of their children shall be at an end, ver. 15, 16, 17. 3. They shall report of their foes, and God will generously accept them, ver. 18, 19, 20. 4. They shall be incensed, both in children and cattle, and not diminished at they had been, ver. 21-30. 5. God will receive his covenant with them, and enrich it with spiritual blessings, ver. 31-34. 6. These blessings shall be secured to theirs after them, even to the spiritual seed of Israel for men, ver. 35, 36, 37. 7. At an outright of this, the city of Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, ver. 38, 39, 40.

1. AT the same time, faith the LORD, will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2. Thus faith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword, found grace in the

wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3. The LORD hath appeared ye of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. 4. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel, thou shalt again be adorned with thy grabers, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make mercy. 5. Thou shalt ye plant vine upon the mountains of Samaria, the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 6. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. 7. For thus faith the LORD, Sings with gladness for Jacob, and thou art among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people the remnant of Israel. 8. Behold, I will bring them from the north, country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her best cravidate with child together, a great company shall return thither. 9. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not humble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born.

The great mercy God had yet in store for his people is here at large declared for the forepart of their faith and hope.

1. They shall all be his, and he will work for them a greater deliverance, than when he brought them out of Egypt. At the same time, in the latter days, will I be the God of all the families of Israel; he will take them into covenant with him, after their song alienation from him, and all shall know him from the least to the greatest: and they shall be my people; constrained by his grace, and devoting themselves to his service. For as of old, the people that escaped the sword of Pharaoh in Egypt, found grace in the wilderness, being preserved and protected; even Israel, when I went to cause them to rest in Canaan; so now should they be preserved, and restored from their captive state to their own land. But then the people might be apt to say, admitting his past deliverances, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, but now we see none of his tokens, and therefore conclude ourselves rejected. No, says God, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, which having subsisted from eternity, will endure to eternity; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee; I have delivered thee out of thy former troubles, and will draw thee out of every pit. Note, (1.) Long afflictions are ready to breed despondence; but we should remember the past experience of God’s people, and comfort our souls in hope. (2.) It is the abiding ground of consolation, that God’s love is everlasting: those who are once the objects of it, shall never be finally cast away. (3.) All our mercies in time on eternity flow from this everlasting love of God. We have not chosen him, but he hath chosen us, called us by his grace, delivered us from the horrible pit of nature, constrained us by the cords of love to follow him; with the everlasting energy of his grace hath overcome the strong bias of our corruptions, and drawn us from sin to holiness, from earth to heaven. Lord, thus draw me, that I may run after thee.

2. They shall be re-settled, and bled with plenty; either literally, when they should return from the captivity in Babylon; or spiritually, when, being converted to the Lord, Israel should be presented a chaffe virgin to Christ, be built up on him the sure foundation, a glorious church, and filled with the abundance of spiritual joy, far exceeding the music and dances with which they celebrated the ceremonial festivals, for Rev. xix. 2-4. xix. 7-9. In all their country, even Samaria, the seat of idolatry, gospel churches, represented by vines, should be planted, and enriched with numerous converts, from whom the planters, the ministers of the gospel, would receive the most abundant fruit.

3. They shall with one heart, and in one place, unite in the worship of God. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah shall be no more divided, but they shall be a day, the gospel-day, that the watchmen upon mount Ephraim, the ministers of the gospel, shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. Though Ephraim was chief in the revolt from the house of David, and the worship at Jerusalem, now they shall be among the first to expect their zeal for the worship and ordinances of the church of Chrift, the spiritual Zion, and confess him to be their Lord and their God. Note, They who were once chief rebels against God, when converted become his most zealous subjects and servants.

4. The Gentiles are called upon to rejoice in the conversion of Israel, and to pray for their compleat salvation, v. 7. for thus our praises for past mercies should ever quicken our

sup- Supplications, and confirm our faith of greater yet in store for us.

5. Notwithstanding all difficulties in the way, God will lead them safely home; either from Babylon, when no bodily indomeths should detain them, God being their strength and helper; or this may be interpreted spiritually of their recovery from the bondage of corruption, when God will lead the blind in a way they know not, and make the lame man leap as an hart; when the travailing soul shall find rest from its pangs in Christ, and all the redeemed, a great company which no man can number, shall be brought into the church, with weeping for pall offences, whilst they look upon him whom they have pierced, and supplications for present grace, which in the most abundant measure God will bellow, like rivers of water, to re-hold them in their journey to glory; and he will make these paths for their feet, that nothing may cause them to fall; whilst as a father with tenderest regard he watches over, and in his arms supports, the children of his grace, as Israel and Ephraim should be then accounted. Note, (1.) When God will work, all difficulties quickly vanish. (2.) We have a total importance to take one step towards our own salvation; but when God calls, he will bellow the ability. (3.) All who return to God in truth, come to him with weeping and sorrow for pall guilt, and supplication for present help. (4.) When we follow a divine call, we are sure of a divine protection, and shall find comfort in all the way. (5.) They who have God for their father, can want no manner of thing that is good.

6. ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the tiles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel! will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd dark his flock. 11. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and raidsened him from the hand of him: that was stronger than he. 12. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodnefs of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd: and their soul: shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not borrow any more at all. 13. Then: shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and: my people shall be satisfied with my goodnefs, faith the LORD. 15. ¶ Thus faith the LORD, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 16. Thus faith the LORD, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, faith the LORD, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17. And there is hope in thine end, faith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

7. Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second thing, while he was yet ’that up in the court of the prison’ saying, 2. Thus faith the LORD, ’the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it, the LORD is his name. 3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and ’there thee great and + mighty things, which thou knowest not. 4. For thus faith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of the city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, ‘which are thrown down by the mounts; and by the sword. 5. They occur to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is so far there 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. 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. 7. And ‘I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel to return, and ‘will build them as at the first. 8. And ‘I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have fanned against me, and ‘I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have fanned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. 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 bear 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 still continued under confinement, but God’s vices made the prophet’s prison a more desirable place than the palace of Zohbish. The second time a message of

peace is sent by him, to encourage the drooping hopes of the people ready to fall under their enemies, and sink into despair.

1. The prophecy is from the Lord, whose power is able to accomplish all his promises; the maker and former of the earth, and all things therein; who first established, and when he pleads can rebuild, his Zion. Jehovah is his name, self-sufficient, and faithful to his word.

2. Though God promises, the prophet must in prayer intercede for the fulfilment. God upon me, and I will answer thee, for promises do not supersede, but encourage our supplications, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not; either the strange deliverance of the people from Babylon, when their situation seemed desperate, an event no human foresight could discover; or the greater wonders of gospel-grace, of which this temporal redemption was the figure.

3. Notwithstanding their present miseries, their houses, even those of their kings and nobles, between down; their auxiliaries, or the besieged, slain under the ruins; or those which remained filled, through famine and gold truce, with the dead couples of those who were slain in God’s anger because of their wickedness; yet deplorable as their situation is, it is not desperate: Behold, I will bring it health and cure, restore their desolations; I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth; peace to enjoy their blessings, and truth, the true worship of God and fidelity between man and man being restored: and I will cause the captivity of Judah and Israel to return; many of the other tribes returning to Judea from Babylon, with those of Judah and Benjamin; and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, the cause of their sufferings; both pardoning their guilt, and delivering them from the power of sin. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour before all nations; God would glorify himself in throating them such mercy, which would be attended with the most blessed effects; their prosperity not breeding security and neglect of God, but engaging them more faithfully to serve him, and making them jealous of offending a God to gracious. And this was still more eminently fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah; who, as the Sun of Righteousness, arose with healing in his wings; Peace was established by him between God and fallen man, and abundance of peace difficult in the sinner’s conscience. Truth, the only true way of approaching God, and walking so as to please him, was by him revealed; then the dreadful captivity of sin was looted, and the souls of men delivered from the bondage of corruption. In a dying Saviour’s blood a fountain was opened, that cheerless from all sin; and now rescued from the power, as well as guilt of their iniquities, the people of Jesus appear pleasing in his sight, an honour to their protection; and engaged by all the goodness they have talked, with godly jealousy and fear to work out their salvation, diligent to please, and careful not to offend their merciful Saviour and reconciled God. Blessed and happy are they who experience that great redemption, begun in present pardon, peace, grace and holiness; they shall see it shortly compleated in glory everlasting.

4. Thus faith the LORD, Again there shall be heard in this place (‘which ye say shall be defolate without man and without beath, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are defolate without man and without inhabitant, and without beath)

5. The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the brails, the voice of them that shall say, ‘Praise the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his mercy reduced for ever, and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD; for ‘Lewish cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. 12. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Again in this place which is defolate without man and without beath, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of ‘Shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 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 tallem them, saith the LORD. 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. 15. In those days, and at that time will I cause ’the drupes of righteousness to grow up unto David, and ‘he shall execute judgments and righteousness in the land. 16. In those days shall I pertain to dwell, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and that is the name wherewith the shall be called, The LORD our Righteousness.

Jeremiah 31:10-16

The distant nations, and the tiles afar off, are called upon to hear and observe the designs of mercy and grace which God hath towards his Israel.

1. He will collect them from their dispersion, keep them as a shepherd his flock, and redeem them from the hand of all their mighty enemies, who had prevailed against them, v. 10, 11, which was true of Israel after the flesh, when they were restored from Babylon, and will be still more eminently fulfilled, when they are brought in from their present state of captivity. But it is also especially applicable to all the spiritual Israel of God, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, restored from the power of sin and Satan, gathered in from the state of nature and corruption, in which they lay before dispersed amidst the world of the ungodly, and preferred and kept by the great shepherd of souls, out of whose hands none can pluck them.

2. They shall be filled with plenty, joy, and gladnefs. The returning captives with delight once more will stand on Zion’s hill, and sing his praise, Eura 11. His goodnefs shall engage their hearts to him, and all temporal good things shall abound: they shall flourish as a watered garden; their forrows be at an end; the voice of joy again fill the streets of Jerusalem; and God’s hand, seen in the visitation, shall turn their mourning and sorrow into overflowing joy and confidation; so that both priests and people shall be satiated with God’s goodnefs, v. 12—14. The souls of sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, shall also experience this prophecy more gloriously fulfilled, when brought into the church of Christ, the spiritual Zion, their hearts shall be enlarged with love and praise; constrained by the experience of divine goodnefs, and flowing together to Jesus, shall be filled with good things, the heavenly bread of gospel grace, the word of life; the cheating wine of the great and precious enemies, whereby we become partakers of a divine nature; the

oil of gladnefs, the unction from the holy One; and all the bed of blessings be hath to bellow; making the soul as a watered garden, abounding in all the gifts and graces of the Spirit, in all the fruits of righteousness; the effects of which will be the exchange of all their mourning over their sins, corruptions, temptations, detestations, for joy in the sense of pardon, strength, and the light of God’s countenance lifted up upon them; so that both ministers and people shall be satisfied with God’s goodnefs; and as thus the tears at present are wiped away from their eyes, so shall they quickly go where they shall not foresee any more at all, where every cause of it will be removed for ever, and their everlasting blessedness be compleat. Haffan, Lord, this happy day!

3. The great cause of their grief would be removed. Rachel, as if rising out of her grave, which lay between Ramah and Bethlehem, to bewail this catastrophe, presionates the Jewish mothers with inconsolable anguish weeping over their children slain or gone into captivity; but the Lord silences her mourning with assurances, that the should not have borne these children in vain, since however now they deemed left irrecoverably, he would bring them to their own border again; so that there was still hope in their end that it would be happy, and make the former days of sorrow forgotten. This prophecy we are assured had also a particular reference to the saying the infants by Herod, Mat. xi. 1. 6—18. the maffiasre reaching from Bethlehem to Ramah, and waking, as it were, Rachel that mother of Israel from her legislature, to lament the inhuman deed; and she is comforted with the assurance, that there is hope in their end, and as a resurrection day these infants shall come from the land of death their enemy, to their own borders, the heavenly Canaan. Note, (1.) If we have hope in our end, we ought to be comforted under the troubles of the way. (2.) Parents are too apt to indulge inordinate sorrow for the death of their children, and refuse to be comforted; whereas, if they were gracious, they have cause to rejoice, and, if they died in infancy, have abundant reason to believe there is hope in their end: we shall meet them in a better country.

4. ¶ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, ‘Thus his chaffified me, and I was chaffified, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. 19. Surely after that I was turned, I repeated; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20. ¶ Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasan child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I will surely have mercy upon him, faith the LORD. 21. Set there to way-marks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the high-way, even the way which thou wentest turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these the cities. 22. ¶ How long wilt thou go about, O thou backfinding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compare man. 23. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity, The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. 25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26. Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

We have here further blessings promised to the people of God. 1. The Andre Chick the. Hic. 11. 14. Zach. 1. 7. A. Chick. vi. 2. 24. Chap. 10. 2. 11. 11. Hic. 11. 14. Hic. 11. 14.

Jeremiah 31:11

1. The voice of joy shall return to Zion. The defoliations under which it had lain made many abandon themselves to despair of ever seeing the country railed from its ruins, but God will again replenish Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with multitude of inhabitants; then the bridal songs shall be heard, and the more delightful sounds of sacred melody echo through the courts of the temple, when this fresh instance of his astonishing goodness would make them with sacred rapture repeat the will known psalm, where the burden of each verb is, “For this mercy endureth for ever;” and these most pleasing sacrifices of praise be offered without craving. This may also be referred to the times of the gospel, the preaching of which would diffuse the greatest joy and gladness, and awaken the warmest pruine for the infinite mercies of redeeming love, when all other sacrifices should cease; but the spiritual sacrifices of praise shall never cease; begun in the church on earth, continued in heaven to eternity.

2. Plenty shall fill their land. The long deferred fields shall now again be covered with blazing flocks, the Shepherds in full security feeding them, and all the land over-spread with cattle, both mountains and valles, petties under the hands of him that infelt them, that none may be lacking. Mythically this may be interpreted of the ministers of Christ, the Shepherds, and his redeemed people, the zeal of his petties, gathered out from all nations; vast in multitude, feeding securely under the divine protection, known and numbered by him, and not one found wanting of all the Father hath given unto him.

3. Greater than all temporal mercies, the divine Messiah is promised. Long he had been expected as the hope of his Israel, and now the fulness of time approaches when he shall be revealed. In those days, and at that time, appointed in the eternal councils, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; the Messiah, the great Author of all Righteousness, and raised up to set on the throne of his father David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land; all judgment being committed to him, and in righteousness he will discharge the truth committed to him, executing vengeance on the enemies of his people, vindicating them from wrong, and justifying them from every accusation of sin or Satan. In those days, and Judah, the chosen seed, he found from wrath and hell, and all the powers of Satan, corruption, and the grave, with a certain and everlasting salvation; and Jerusalem shall thank safely, delivered from the least of every foe, and no more under condemnation; enjoying peace with God, and in their consciences, which no enemy can disturb or take away; and also in the name wherewith the shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness; his church being joined to Christ in an everlasting covenant, all things are hers; the bears his name, his righteousness is imputed to her, she is made partaker of a divine nature, and stands compleat in him, righteous as he is righteous, 1 John iii. 7.

1 Heb. These shall are to eat off from Christ. 1 Sam. vii. 16. 1 Kings 6. 4. Pl. Isaac. 49. 16. 6 Ills. lit. p. Pl. Caulic. 37. Ver. 47. Chap. anti. 36. V. Ill. 6. 6. Com. xii. 11. 6. 1v. 5. 6. xii. 17. Chap. anti. 37. a Ver. no. 1 Ver. 9. 1h

17. ¶ For thus faith the LORD, David shall never want a man to fit upon the throne of the house of Israel. 18. Neither shall the priests the Levites, want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings, and to kindle near-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. 19. ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20. Thus faith the LORD, 1 If you 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: 21. Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, 2 that he should not have a Son so reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the seed of the tea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. 23. Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24. Considereth 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. 25. Thus faith the LORD, 1 If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth: 26. Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, 2 that I will not take any of his seed to be ruffets over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: 3 We will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

18. 17—20. In the former verse, the branch from the root of Jesus was promised. Here the perpetuity of his kingdom is ensured.

19. Christ’s kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, for in him alone can this promise be fulfilled. The hands of David is long since extinct, or at least his descendants are utterly un-

known, and for near two thousand years have been without the shadow of sovereignty; but Jesus reigns, and shall she were fit on the throne of glory, whilst sun and moon endureth; and sooner shall the covenant of day and night be broken, than the covenant of redemption fail, which is established with this Son of David.

2. He will have an everlasting priesthood, 6. 18. of which the Aaronical priesthood was typical. This hath long since been abolished, but Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us, and having offered one sacrifice for sin, is gone up into the presence of God, to plead continually the efficacy of that oblation once offered, and in virtue thereof to obtain eternal redemption for his people; and this seems rather the sense of the prophecy, than either the application of it to the Christian ministry, or to believers in general, who are indeed a holy priesthood ordained to offer up spiritual sacrifices, and which will be continued to the end of time.

3. God will multiply his seed beyond the firm of heaven, or the land of the sea shore, 6. 21. And the Levites that manifest unto me, the faithful so called, because all of them are his ministers; consecrated for him, and offering continually before him, the sacrifices of prayer and praise.

4. His church shall never fail, or his redeemed people perish. During their captivity, many of the undelivering Jews in defpondence, or their enemies in triumph, were ready to conclude that the Lord had cast off the two families he had chosen; the house of David and Aaron, or the two nations of Israel and Judah; thus they have despised my people, as if they were abandoned, and no more likely to be a nation; swallowed up by their conquerors, and ready to sink into oblivion. But sooner shall the succession of day and night be at an end, or the revolutions of the heavenly bodies be interrupted, than the seed of Jacob be cast off, or a ruler of their own nation be wanting to reign over them; when God, as he hath doomed, shall in mercy turn their captivity. What God did in bringing his people from Babylon but imperfectly answers the greatness of this promise; and therefore we must look farther to the church of his redeemed, the Israel of God; who, whatever state of sufferings they may for a while be exposed to, shall still be preserved under the government of Christ their king: their captivity from the bondage of corruption God will cause to return; and though under Antichristian tyranny they may groan, God will break the rule from off their neck; so that neither men nor devils shall ever be able to root out their memorial from the earth. We see the church of Christ hath, in virtue of this promise, stood the farthest foes of perfection during more than seventeen hundred years, and we may rest assured the will not only be preserved to the end, and every member thereof, but that he has never been ever seen, and all her enemies be made her foothold.

Jeremiah 31:13-26

We have here,

1. Ephraim’s repentance, representing the whole body of the Jewish people, and the figure of every awakened soul that returns to God. He bemoans himself in the remembrance of his past iniquities; acknowledges the justice of the chastisement which his sins had provoked; reproaches his own stubbornness for struggling to long against God, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. He prays to the Lord for that converting grace which only can turn his perverse heart; and if God will work, then shall the happy change be wrongly, and he be enabled by faith to rest upon God, and claim an interest in his regard; for thou art the Lord my God. And when he can thus call his burden upon the Lord, unheavily the belled effects appear: Surely after that I was turned, I repeated; the sense of the divine love, now more experimentally called, wrought a deeper sense of the evil and ingratitude of sin, and a greater abhorrence of it: and after that I was instructed, in the knowledge of his own impurity and pollution, by the light of God’s Spirit, and of the transcendent excellence and infinite grace of the neglected Saviour; I smote upon

Jeremiah 31:35-40

We have here,

1. The perpetuity of the church of Christ engaged for by him, whose omnipotence can endure the fulfilment of the promises of his grace. That Lord of hosts, whose power created, and whose arm upholds and guides the ordinances of heaven in regular succession; who first shut up the sea in bounds, and still, when it rages, causes the foaming billows to subside; who moved out the heavens, and laid the foundation of the deep; immensely the space, unfathomable the abyss: this mighty God declares, that sooner shall there heavenly or the unruly brave their spheres, and the deep forsake its bed, to cover again the earth, than Israel cease to be a nation: yea, sooner shall impassibilities be practicable, the immensity of space be measured, and the foundation of the earth be founded out, by what supported, and have it is hung in air, than the land of Israel be cast off, so as to be utterly abandoned, notwithstanding all they have done. All their iniquities and unbelief shall not prevent the covenant of grace from taking effect: and this is equally true of all the Israel of God, who, notwithstanding all they have done, shall never perish, but have entailing him; and in the world of times a remnant, according to the election of grace, shall ever remain.

2. The rebuilding and duration of the city of Jerusalem, the figure of the church. Though it would quickly be laid in ruins, it should be raised again as large as ever, and he holy unto the Lord; no more polluted with idols, but wholly devoted to the worship and service of God. It shall not be planted up, nor thrown down any more for ever; which, if applied to the city of Jerusalem, can only signify that it should continue a long while; or, spoken of the church of Christ, shall be literally fulfilled, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail.