From Captivity to Covenant | Jeremiah 30 & 31 | Pastor Daniel Banna (6/3/26)

I admit this is a first, first for me that I preach on two chapters in one session. Now if you've been coming to Maranatha Bible Church, you know, two chapters usually take us two months. So, it's clear that I will not be expounding on every verse. Let us begin in chapter 30 of the book of Jeremiah beginning in the first verse. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.

For behold, days are coming, declares the lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, says the lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it. These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. Who are the people God is addressing? It's clear. And we can go through the whole book of Jeremiah to make the point clear, but we don't have to do that.

I think these verses make it already very clear. The people God is addressing, Israel and Judah. Now it's important to identify the the audience in order to understand what's being talked about. And before we can even apply the the passage, misunderstanding the audience, misunderstanding the context will make us misunderstand the whole message. Now many people take the promises of Jeremiah thirty and thirty one and immediately, spiritualize them, making them exclusively about the church rather than Israel.

But if we do that here, consistency would require us to do that throughout the entire book of Jeremiah. And if you do that, much of it become nonsense. In fact, if you read the book of Jeremiah, curses are vastly outnumber the blessings. If you want to apply the blessings to the church, then you must apply the curses too but you cannot do that. So clearly the subject is Israel and Judah.

Let us consider chapter 31 verses thirty eight and forty. This is what it says there. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city or this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower Of Hananiah to the corner gate, The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley. To the corner of the horse gate to the east will behold to the Lord. I will never again be uprooted.

It will never be again uprooted or demolished. God mentions towers, gates, valleys, boundaries. Is he speaking in riddles? No. Clearly, he's speaking of a real city, a real people concerning a real future.

So let's not spiritualize it. It's literal. Now, certainly, there are lessons for us in these chapters as there is in all of the scripture, but application must always follow interpretation. Before we draw lessons for ourselves, we must recognize that those chapters are speaking about Israel. There is one literal prophet, Jeremiah, one literal people, Israel, one literal captivity, and one literal restoration.

I want us also to remember an important principle. A passage must or might have many applications, but only one divinely intended meaning. Let me repeat it. A passage might have many applications, but only one divinely intended meaning. Now certainly, there are parallels for us.

Israel was in bondage and so we were. We too were captives in another kind of Babylon, slaves to sin and under the dominion of darkness. But Christ has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and transformed us into the kingdom of his beloved son. And as Israel's restoration is not yet complete, neither is ours. We are we are redeemed yet we still battle enemies within and without.

We have peace with God but not yet the fullness of peace that awaits us in glory. Look around you, look around us. There is still peace to come in glory. Only when we see Christ, we shall enter that fullness of our inheritance. Now I want you to notice how God refers to his people Israel and Judah in chapter 30 verse three.

Now becoming interesting. He says, for behold, these are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah. He says my people, not my peoples. Now there are two nations. You know, it's a divided kingdom.

The kingdom of the North, 10 tribes, is capital Samaria. It's called Israel. Another name for it. It's a bible study. I can ask what's another name for it.

Israel. Another name, Ephraim. The second kingdom is the Kingdom Of Judah. Its capital is Jerusalem. How many tribes?

Two. Judah and Benjamin. They are divided. Two kingdoms, two people. But God says my people Israel and Judah.

God looks at them as one people not as a divided nation. What this thing tells us about God's full faithfulness despite centuries of division and rebellion, it tells us that God's faithfulness is greater than man's failure. God's faithfulness is greater than your failure, greater than my sins. He is faithful. And there's a lesson for the church here.

The church today is divided into so many denominations, isn't it? Everywhere. Yet in God's eyes, there is only one true invisible church, which is the body and the bride of Christ. These are the true believers and I say the true believers and underline that word the true believers who are among all Christian denominations. Some may be uninformed.

In fact, many. Many are weak, immature in their Christian walk, maybe even deceived in some certain areas. There are wheat among tares. There are sheep among goats. And we do pray that God will enlighten them, will show them the full truth to realize that it's time for them to get out and be where God wants them to be, where the whole truth of God and the whole counsel of God is preached.

But we must admit when God looks at the true believer wherever they are, He sees one people. He sees His bride. He sees His church. My people, God says. There's another important question here we can ask.

What captivity is Jeremiah speaking about? Now we know of the first captivity. Right? And at the first glance, we must, many will conclude, is the Babylonian captivity. But when you look at the larger context, you understand that Jeremiah is talking beyond the Babylonian captivity to another scattering and another restoration still future.

In AD seventy Israel was scattered throughout the world. This was a judgment for their sin and and God declared that. Christ himself declared what would happen in seventy AD. Jerusalem was was left in ruins. Very few Jews remained in Jerusalem and in the land.

You see, to crucify the Lord could not go unpunished. Yet even Israel's rejection of Christ could not cancel God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Let me repeat that again. Israel's rejection of Christ could not cancel God's promises to their forefathers. God is faithful, and when he speaks, his word is always true and will remain always true.

And God's chastisement of his nation from seventy AD through the middle ages and even to the horrors of the second world war is only a prelude to what Jeremiah describes in the next verses. Look at verse five. Thus says the Lord, we have heard a cry of panic, of terror, and no peace. Ask now and see, can a man bear a child? Now in the news, and I don't want to get there, they tell you a man can bear a child.

Right? Okay. I don't want to get there. Ask now and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?

Why has every face turned pale? Alas, that day is so great there is none like it. It's a time of distress for Jacob, yet he shall be saved out of it. Now who is the focus of this time of trouble according to Jeremiah? It's Jacob.

It's Israel. This what we call Jacob's trouble or the great tribulation. This is the very period we are right now studying in the book of Revelation. Jesus summarized, this time in Matthew 2four 21 in this one verse, verse 21. For then, Jesus says, there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be.

Now, if you read Matthew 24, the whole context of that chapter is Israel and Jerusalem. The whole context. Yes, the Great Tribulation would be a worldwide event. It's God's wrath poured upon a rebellious world. But Israel stands at the center of these events.

Jeremiah calls it Jacob's trouble. But after that, in the coming verses, you see there is a deliverance. There is a deliverance. Look at verse begin again at verse seven. Alas, that day is so great.

There is none like it. It's a time of distress for Jacob. Yet, he shall be saved out of it. And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from of your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him, but they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them. Notice the progression.

Israel will be saved out of it. Verse seven. Verse eight, they will no longer be slave to anyone. Verse nine, they will serve the Lord. So what is the ultimate goal of God's deliverance of his people?

Serve God and their king. Serve God and their King, the Son of David, Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the ultimate goal is not just freedom, not just inheriting the land, but no, the ultimate goal is worshiping God Yahweh. That's the ultimate goal. Now, in verse 10, through the end of the chapter, God largely repeats and expands upon what he has already promised.

Look at verse 10. Then fear not, O Jacob, my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of your captivity. Jericho shall return and have a quiet and ease and none shall make him afraid. God will bring them back from wherever they are, wherever they've been scattered to.

God will bring them back. That is his promise. Now many Jews, we know, have returned back to Israel, but approximately half of the Jewish population still remains in foreign lands outside of Israel. So there is still a future fulfillment of this prophecy to come. And notice what accompanies that future restoration.

Quiet and ease. What will accompany that future restoration is what? Is peace. Peace. Now Israel has never experienced lasting peace since its rebirth in 1948.

I mean, every day you turn to the news, you hear about Israel. War after war, conflict after conflict, threat after threat. Yet God promises here what? Restoration that will include the most important thing any nation needs, peace. Not to temporarily cease fire.

No. It's a real true peace, lasting peace. Peace that can take a place only under the reign of Messiah Jesus. The verse 11, I will make a full end of all nations among whom I scattered you, but of you, I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in my in just measure, but and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

God reminds Israel of two certainties. First, he will not destroy them completely. They went through much already. We know that. Yet God still saved at every tribulation a remnant.

God had promised that he will not destroy them completely. But there's a second thing, he will not leave them unpunished. He will not destroy them completely, but he will not leave them unpunished. Remember David? David sinned more than one sin.

Was he forgiven when he confessed and repented? Absolutely. Complete forgiveness. Yet David is still reaped consequences from his actions. And by the way, this principle applies to us as well.

God pardons when we confess. But let us not be deceived. Whatever a man sows, he will also reap. We are eternally forgiven. Jesus paid it all.

We sing it all the time. Yes. Jesus paid it all. God will never hold a single one of our sins against us in eternity. But we may still experience consequences for our rebellion, disobedience, and sin in our lives.

Consider first Corinthians 11. We often read that during the Lord's supper, and it's in connection to the Lord's Supper. Verse 30, Paul writes, and he's speaking to believers, to followers of Christ, not to pagans who sit there and partake in the Lord's supper. And he tells them, that's why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. Why?

He said, but if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may be not condemned along with the world. You see a difference? The difference between discipline and condemnation. Right?

There's discipline. There's condemnation. Condemnation belongs to the world. It's the lake of fire. Discipline belong to God's children.

None of God's children would be condemned with the world. Their judgment has been removed by Christ eternally forever. None will be condemned with the world, but God will not spare his children the rod of his love. He disciplines because he loves And in this case, weakness, sickness and death of a believer could be a result of God's discipline because of sin in the life. So remember, God forgives eternally when we confess, but the consequences of sin might remain.

Whatever a man sows, he must reap. Look at verse 14, which is something that's becoming increasingly true in our own day. Again, if you listen to the news as I do, you notice these things. It says, all your lovers have forgotten you. They are nothing for you.

Now do you see this is the attitude of of of many Christian in in our generation, at least in the last year or two has become. Many who once claimed friendship now so to they said to me they are eager to distance themselves from Israel. All your lovers have forgotten you. They care nothing for you. Jeremiah foresaw a time when Israel would find herself increasingly isolated.

And the verse continues. For I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great because your sins are flagrant. Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.

As a nation, Israel remains largely unrepentant. As a government, many things remain deeply troubling and often wicked. God says your gay your guilt is great. Your sins are flagrant. This is God's assessment, not my assessment.

Of the nation of Israel then and the nation of Israel now in the last days. Yet, Paul reminds us in Romans chapter nine to 11 that they remain beloved for the sake of the fathers. Let us never forget that. God's discipline never cancels God's promises. Look at verse 16, and there is a remarkable statement.

Therefore, all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them shall go into captivity. Those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you, I will make a prey. Historically speaking, I mean, really, history demonstrates that those who rise up against the Jewish people often reap better consequences for themselves. These are just looking at history. And I want to give you some examples, some observations, from The Middle East.

I want you to look at some of the countries in the Middle East and see if these words of the prophet have been fulfilled or not. Let me repeat them again again. Those who devour you shall be devoured. Then he says, those who plunder you shall be plundered. Take for example again, this is not a political message.

Okay. On this pulpit, by the grace of God, we will never preach a political message. Never. There's one thing we preach here. The Lord Jesus Christ and himself crucified.

That's all. But look at Egypt, look at Iraq, look at Yemen, look at Syria and many other countries. Each of these nations once had very sizable Jewish communities. Many Jews were successful in finance, in commerce, in banking, in entertainment, in medicine, in trade. In Egypt, when Israel became a nation in 1948, there were roughly 80,000 Jews.

Today, they're probably fewer than 10. Not 10,000, not 10. Iraq had approximately 150,000 Jews. Yemen, between 60 to a 100,000 Jews. Syria, about 30,000 Jews.

Today, in all of these countries, there may be a handful in each. Most of these people were expelled or forced to flee after the establishment of the state of Israel. Most lost their homes, their businesses. They lost everything. Egypt confiscated enormous amount of Jewish property.

Iraq did the same. Syria, likewise. In the short term, these nations enrich themselves through confiscation and expulsion. But the question is, what were the long term consequences? Look at many of these countries, from nineteen fifties until today.

From that day that this thing happened until today. What do you see? What do you see? Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. What do you see?

Economic crisis, inflation, debt, political instability, failing infrastructure. Everything's bad. Those who plunder you shall be plundered. Now, as another observation is worth noting, many of these same nations repeatedly went to war against Israel. Egypt, Syria, Iraq.

And what was the outcome? Ah, you know history. Right? Defeat after defeat. Now compare that with some of the Gulf states.

They are also Arabic nations. Before 1948, many were far less developed. Far, far, far less developed. Large portions of their population lived in tribal desert societies. They did not have large Jewish populations to expel, but no neither they launched wars against Israel.

And what do you see today in these very nations? Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar. They are among the wealthiest nations in the world per capita basis. I simply offer this observation just for consideration. That's observation.

That's political. No. It's observation. Anybody can look at it. Putting politics aside would see that.

But what would God do for his people Israel who were devoured and plundered by these nations? Verse 17. For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast. It is Zion for whom no one cares. Thus says the Lord, behold, verse 18, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings.

The city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. Now when we think about restoration, what do we think about? Often people think about physical restor restoration, economic restoration. But in god's views, there's something much greater than that. It's a spiritual spiritual restoration.

And certainly, these promises of God will find their full expression during the millennium kingdom when Christ will reign here on earth literally for a thousand years. But you may ask, has this restoration begun in some measure? I mean, I would recommend just look take a brief look at Israel today to tell if that restoration has begun in some measure or not. Have they rebuilt cities? Have they developed a remarkable technology?

Have they established a thriving economy? Have they become a military power? Has gone has God begun restoring the fortunes of Jacob? Again, I'm speaking only about observable facts. Yet yet what is important that God promises much greater than all of that.

His promises primarily a spiritual restoration, a spiritual revival. That's what God is promising. All others are nothing if there is no spiritual revival. That's what Israel needs. That's what America needs.

That's what every country needs. They need Christ more than anything else. Israel is spiritually still dead. Nationally, dead. The dry bones still need the breath of God's spirit to bring them to life.

And according to the promise of God the promises of God, this will be happening in the coming days. Now let us go jump to chapter 31. Now God now is expanding on what he has already told us. Let's look at verse three. The Lord appeared to him from far away.

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again, I will build you, and you shall be built, oh, virgin Israel. Again, you shall adore yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in a dance of merrymakers. Behold, I will bring them from the North country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor.

Together a great company, they shall return here. With weeping, they shall come and with the please of mercy. I will lead them back. I will make them walk by the brooks of water in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Now this is glorious.

This is glorious. Now notice how they will return to the land God promised them with weeping and with please of mercy. Verse nine. Now this is again far greater than any economic success or military power or any advanced technology. This is spiritual restoration.

It's a revival. This is what God seeks. Now what this teaches about true repentance? It it's it's not just little regret about something I've done. It's more than just a sorrow over the consequences of my sins.

It is turning to God, a pleading of mercy for mercy, a broken heart that recognizes its need for grace, falling down on your knees, begging God for mercy. That's a true repentance, turning away from your sins once and forever. Now Israel restoration will ultimately be accompanied by repentance. The nation that once rejected their Messiah will one day look upon him and mourn, and God will receive them because they are repentant. Lost notice verse four.

God says, again, I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel. Now this is a remarkable statement. Now how God can call unfaithful nation a virgin? I mean, Israel has played the harlot for years, yet God looks at the harlot who's repentant, and he calls her what? Aversion.

Aversion. The guilty after repentant is forgiven. The defiled is restored. And after repentance and confession, God speaks with him and says, oh, virgin Israel. What grace, what mercy, what a picture of the gospel itself.

God God does not merely forgive. He restores. He does not just remove guilt. He grants righteousness. Oh, I remember the words of Paul in second Corinthians eleven two.

He says of the church, this is, I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure version to Christ. Not just version, pure version. A perfect version. A vision a person as you have never sinned before. Not just forgiven, you are been justified.

In my eyes, you are not less than perfect. You are wholesome. Is God how he looks at a repented sinner, a pure virgin? It's how it looks at you if you have truly repented from your sins. In his eyes, doesn't matter how bad your past was.

God looks at you right now, and he sees a perfect, pure version. This is grace. This is mercy. This is the love of God. And what God will do to Israel nationally, he will do to each one individually.

Now notice also the joy that follows. The tears of repentance are not rejected by God. Rather, he transform mourning into a joy. Look at verse 12 to 14. They shall come and sing aloud on the heart of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord.

Then shall the young woman rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will come for them and give them gladness for sorrow. I will to joy. I will come for them and give them gladness for sorrow.

I will face the soul of the priest with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the law the the Lord. Did you notice the repeated emphasis in these verses? Joy, comfort, gladness, satisfaction, abundance, goodness. Now what is the source of all this good stuff? It's not just prosperity.

It's not just peace that they have in the land. It's not restored land. All this thing might bring some temporary happiness, but it's not the source of that. What is the source? They are rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord.

The greatest blessing is not the gift. The greatest blessing is the giver. They're rejoicing in the giver more than the in the gift that he gives. Now jump to verse 31. The the verse that we was quoted by the writer of the Hebrews in chapter eight.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with our fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach their neighbor or his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of the them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. God is not just going to bring them back to the land. He is going to transform them. He will establish a new covenant with them. And if there is a new covenant, as we have seen, the old covenant has become obsolete.

The old covenant was conditional, blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. And Israel repeatedly broke that covenant. But what what what in these verses, what phrase keeps appearing in these verses we just read? Did you notice something? There's a phrase that appears so many times.

I will. Do you see that? I will. And who'd says I will? God.

He said, I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. I will forgive their iniquity. God says, I will.

I will. I it's all my doing. The new covenant is founded not upon man's faithfulness. No. It's about it's upon God's faithfulness.

If it's about us or based on us, our faithfulness, we're going to break it. Man has proven again and again he cannot keep a covenant. It's not based upon my faithfulness. It's based upon God's faithfulness. That's what the new covenant all about, And God will never break that covenant because he's all forever faithful.

Now the covenant promised through Jeremiah was first spoken as we have seen concerning who? Who does covenant God's making with? With Israel and Judah, isn't it? It says Israel and Judah. Doesn't say the church.

Right? Uh-huh. Yet through Christ, its blessings overflow to all who believe. We are partakers in that covenant. We inherit all the consequences and all the benefits of that covenant.

You see, at the Lord's supper, he has said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. To whom? Oh, to everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile equally. Jeremiah announced a promise. Christ revealed the price.

His blood. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. His blood established what the prophets foretold. Everything Jeremiah anticipated finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the cross, there is no no covenant.

Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. Without Christ, there is no hope to anyone. And now, Jew and Gentile alike enter into these covenant blessings through faith in him. All have sinned. All stand guilty before God.

All need the same savior. There's not one gospel to the Jew, another gospel to the Gentiles. There's one savior, one cross, one sacrifice, one way of salvation, and all who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be washed, forgiven, justified, and made partakers in this new covenant. And what a glorious promise closes this passage. He says, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.

The believer's confidence is not in his own performance. I can't have confidence in my own performance, but in Christ finished work. Our sins have been forgiven. Our guilt has been removed. Our debt has been paid.

Our future is secure because of Christ and what he has done. Quite interesting. Jeremiah began with captivity. He ends with covenant. He begins with judgment.

He ends with forgiveness. He begins with exile, and he ends with restoration. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Our great God, we thank you.

We thank you for your word. We thank you for your faithfulness. You are a faithful and a good God who keeps his promises, And if you keep your promises to your earthly nation Israel, would you not keep it for your bride, for your church? Yes. You do.

And we thank you that you are faithful to keep every promise you made. And we thank you that you made you made us partakers of that new covenant that you have had established by your own blood. Though we are forever thankful for your goodness, for your salvation, for restoring us, for returning our captivity when we were captives to sin, to this world and say that you have freed us, you broke our chains, and you restored us, and still we're awaiting greater restoration when we see you face to face. Lord, as we pray and say, Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray.

Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord together.