At last Jeremiah is able to give clear messages of hope!
He does it in a typically symbolic way. Chapter 32 comes back to earthen pots again – but this time the pot is not being reshaped or broken, but is a container for a statement of real intent and confidence – a deed of purchase for a field. Only someone with confidence in the promises of the LORD would buy a field in a city under siege, especially after prophesying time after time that the siege will succeed and the city will fall. Investing in the future of the city is the act of a man who believes wholeheartedly what he is saying; that Jerusalem will fall but will be raised again by the LORD.
Perhaps we need more of Jeremiah’s faith to encourage us to put our money where our mouth is on what we believe God is doing – to act in confidence that his ways will in the end be seen to be the right ways and the most secure.
The hope Jeremiah proclaims is secure – the LORD promises that his covenant with Israel is as unshakeable as his commitment to day following night. But there are hints in Jeremiah’s words, at least seen through the lens of faith in Jesus, that the successors to David and Levi will not be of the same kind as before.
The new covenant which God promises (31:31-34) is clearly different from that which was before. All of God’s people will stand before him as equals, each knowing him for themselves, and finding their own forgiveness. His Law will be on their hearts, not just on scrolls. Pentecost is in sight!
God’s promises are unshakeable – but as they are fulfilled, we find new and deeper ways to live with his freedom and truth. As we trust him, we need to deepen our relationship with him so that we can find confidence to hear his voice for ourselves, and to be prepared to act upon what we know to be true – even where that leads us to do something like Jeremiah, which seems to make no sense except in the light of God’s leading.
Nick Watson 