Take your Bibles open with me this morning up to Jeremiah chapter 32. I had thought originally I was going to just cover half of this chapter. I'm actually going to try to get through all of it. I think we can this morning because I really don't want to break up the thought that we're given here because this chapter contains both a statement, a question from King Zedekiah and an answer from God through Jeremiah, but then it contains a prayer that Jeremiah prayed while he was imprisoned by King Zedekiah. And the last part of the chapter is God's answer to Jeremiah's prayer. He has been taken and he has been imprisoned in the palace in Jerusalem as the siege from the Babylonians commences. They are beginning the building of the siege ramps to get over the wall into the city, to take the city, to kill the people in the city and to burn the city down. And as he is imprisoned here, you have to remember that Jeremiah is the one who told the people, if you're truly blessed of God, you're going to be taken into captivity. Those who are not are gonna be left and they're going to suffer the horrors of this attack, this onslaught by the Babylonians. Either way, it was judgment, but one was worse than the other. Well, Jeremiah finds himself left in the city. He can't leave, he's imprisoned. He shut up in the court of the guards and is not allowed to leave and really tormented by King Zedekiah. While he's there, he prays, and we'll see in this chapter, and he really does pray, and for the first time in his prayers, instead of praying for the people, Jeremiah prays for himself. He prays for God to help him understand what's going on, because God gives him a word, gives him something to do, and as he does it, it doesn't make any sense, because God is telling Jeremiah to prepare for the future, but the city is about to be utterly destroyed. His question really is, What future is there? Why would you tell me that there's hope for the future when the end is so near? God answers, and when he answers, he gives Jeremiah and he gives his people, we'll find in the last paragraph of text, seven promises, and we're gonna see that some of those promises are already being answered in our lifetimes. and they're happening even now as God keeps his word. But as we start with the siege of Jerusalem in verses one and two, the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the 10th year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now at that time, the military force of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah, because Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up saying, why do you prophesy? As the siege begins, we're given the exact dates here, the timeline, and even more specific dates in 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 25, we read, In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem, and he camped against it and built a siege wall around it. We know from documentation, from history, and from scripture, that the siege of Jerusalem began on the 15th of January in 588 BC. In 2 Kings 25, it goes on, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so strong in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. As things began to intensify, then we read on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzarian, the captain of the guard, a servant of the King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. we can date this siege. They breached the wall July 18th, 586 BC. That means that those trapped in the city, including Jeremiah in prison, can hear and are aware of the Babylonians attacking and preparing to climb the walls. And it took them two and a half years to get to the point that they could overcome the walls. In the meantime, they have cut the city off. All that they have is what was there when the siege began. all of the food, all of the animals, all of the people, it's all there entrapped in the city for two and a half years. We know then that within about a month of that time, by August 14th, 586 BC, Jerusalem was burned from the inside out. They destroyed the temple, they destroyed the wall, they decimated the city, they killed any who were left there who had not died from the famine. We do not know from this account and from the rest of the book how or when exactly Jeremiah died. but we know that his words were preserved and we know that Daniel in Babylon had a copy of the prophecies of Jeremiah and from that ministry was able to deduce the timeline of the release of the captives to go back home to see that it was going to be a 70-year captivity. As this happens and as The attack commences. Zedekiah is more concerned with Jeremiah and his prophecy than he is with the attacking Babylonians. His question is to confront Jeremiah and to say, why do you prophesy? And then, this is funny, Jeremiah apparently had preached this so often that Zedekiah recites the prophecy back to him. Why do you prophesy saying this says Yahweh behold I'm about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will capture it and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon and he will be there until I visit him declares Yahweh. If you fight against the Chaldeans you will not succeed. Zedekiah is angry at the preacher. because the preacher's telling him the truth. And you have to understand here that for years, the false prophets have been saying, it's not gonna be a big deal, it's not gonna be bad, it's just gonna be a couple of years of a little bit of hardship, peace, peace, but there was no peace. Jeremiah was not a lone voice. There were others who were preaching. Ezekiel was one of them. Ezekiel's ministry more to them while they were in Babylon. Jeremiah preaching as they were going to be taken into Babylon. And their messages are similar. That's why we're reading through Ezekiel as we're preaching through Jeremiah to see what God is saying to the people and to the nations and to all of these who are involved. Zedekiah hears a ring of truth to this prophecy. He really is just telling Jeremiah, would you just sit down and be quiet? Stop preaching, stop prophesying. I reject your prophecy, tough. I really do. A couple of commentators said that you almost get in his tone that Zedekiah was probably repeating this over and over and over to himself. And he's beginning to see now the siege ramps being built. And now he's got Jeremiah right there in captivity. So Jeremiah is able not just to preach where he hears about it. Now he is preaching to Zedekiah. And the more Zedekiah hears this, the more he begins to see around him that what Jeremiah has been saying all along is true. You understand that this will happen as we preach and as we work as evangelists and apologists. People repress the truth and our preaching brings that truth to light. It reminds them the truth that they know. And the more that happens, the more agitated they're going to be until that point that they're broken and that they hear the master's voice and that they respond in repentance and in faith. Don't be surprised when people fight against us when we preach the truth. We did the same thing, didn't we? We rejected it. We repressed it. And the preaching brings it to light and it exposes it. And we don't want it exposed. We want it repressed. We want it kept down. Zedekiah didn't want to hear the truth because here is the truth. Zedekiah, you're going to meet Nebuchadnezzar. Now, this is the greatest military ruler in the greatest nation in the world, and it's not going to be a good meeting. You're going to meet him as his captive. You're gonna see him face to face. That's really not the scary part there, by the way. He says he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon and he will be there until I visit him, declares Yahweh. God tells Zedekiah he doesn't need to fear Nebuchadnezzar because God is coming to deal with Zedekiah. the king is gonna answer to the king of kings for what he has done to lead the people in continued sin and rebellion against God. Now we see then in verse six, Jeremiah said, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, behold, Hanumel, the son of Shalom, your uncle is coming to you saying, buy for yourself my field, which is at Anatoth, for you have the legal judgment for redemption to buy it. Now just, we just talk about grinding gears. You remember when you used to have to use a clutch to shift gears? You remember what happened if you didn't use the clutch? You remember that sound. Jeremiah, he's grinding gears here. We go from this accusation from Zedekiah, just stop it, why do you keep saying this, to suddenly this story about a piece of land in the family that needed to be redeemed. And it really confuses Jeremiah. It motivates him first to pray, but then really to go before the Lord and say, what? Where did this come from? And the story is, you'll remember, Here, this relative, Hanumel, the son of Shalem, your uncle, is coming to you. So his nephew is coming, and as he's coming, or his cousin is coming, and as he's coming, he's going to come and say, buy for yourself my field, which is an Anatol. Now, what's an Anatol? Remember, that's where Jeremiah's from. That's where his family still is. And in fact, if you'll remember, we've met his family before. In Jeremiah 12 verse 6, for even your brothers in the household of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they have called aloud after you, do not believe them, though they may say nice things to you. We uncovered a plot. The family was plotting to have Jeremiah killed so that he would stop preaching. Jeremiah just needed to learn to be quiet. He couldn't help it. It was a fire burning in his bones. He had to preach. He had to tell people what God was saying. Well, you know how it is when your family shuts you out. If you don't, glory to God. But if you do, if you've ever had that struggle or you've been cut off from parts of your family, you know something's up when all of a sudden they show back up again and they play nice. I mean, the question is, what do you want? Well, this is, God says, this is what's gonna happen. your family that wanted to have you killed, they need something, something, it's bad. This is about two and a half miles north of Jerusalem. This is where the priests lived. They, by the way, weren't allowed to own land. So it's very interesting that the family of priests has a piece of land that they need Jeremiah to pay for to redeem because they have financial necessities. Adamel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard, he says, according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, buy my field, please, that is at Anatoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for you have the legal judgment for possession and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh. They need help. And they're appealing to Jeremiah. This is an appeal made to the Redeemer, Kinsman. Leviticus 25, 25, if the brother of yours becomes so poor that he has to sell part of his possession of land, then his nearest Kinsman Redeemer is to come and redeem what his brother has sold. Keep the land in the family. And we're gonna see the rest of the chapter, in fact, in God's promises deal specifically with the land God gave Israel. Keep the land in the family. Where else in scripture do we know about the Kinsman Redeemer? That's the story of Ruth, isn't it? Well, here, this land is there. Jeremiah has the right within the family to redeem it so that it doesn't get lost out of the family. And so in verse 9, he says, I bought the field, which was at Anatoth from Hanumel, my uncle's son, and I weighed out the silver for him, 17 shekels of silver. and I signed and sealed the deed and called in witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the commandment and statute and the open copy, and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Nariah, the son of Mahaziah, in the sight of Hanumel, my uncle's son, and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. And I commanded Baruch in their sight, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Take this deed of purchase, that is the sealed one as well as the open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. For thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. I love spending time in this chapter because it was like I was at work in the Bible. I took a contract class on farm and ranch just last week on a new part of the contract that's been unveiled in the world of real estate. And it's all about deeds of transfer and what all of these things mean and looking at the root and Latin so that we can understand the contract, which, by the way, we're forbidden as realtors to practice law. Go figure. So we have a committee of lawyers, and that's always a good thing. We have a committee of lawyers that write all of the contracts for us, and we can't change it unless we give it to an attorney to change. And all of this has special meaning. It has to be preserved, and it all has to be recorded correctly, and it all has to be done legally for the land to transfer ownership. And that's what he's describing. Now, at first, I don't know how big the land was, so I can't tell you a price per square foot. But to buy land for 17 shekels of silver, Oh, what a day. Now, let me explain this. A shekel was 0.4 ounces of silver. So 17 shekels is approximately 7 ounces of silver. Now, it's not that that's a little amount. That actually would have equated to two and a half to three months worth of wages. Now, not a huge price. If I could buy a big acreage lot for three months of pay, I'd take it. But then I did the math, and if we equate this to today, as of yesterday, silver was $32.50 an ounce. Jeremiah paid $220 for this piece of property. I'll take it, sold, sign me up, where can I do this? But the point is not even the silver. It's not the cost. It's not what's happening here. It's the fact that here within a matter of months, the city is gonna be destroyed. Everybody's gonna be taken into captivity that hasn't already. And if they're not in captivity, they're going to be dead. And the Lord is leading Jeremiah through a real estate transaction to buy a piece of property and secure a deed for the transfer of that property. And this is perplexing. This would be the idea that Martin Luther said, even if I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today. The city is all about to be decimated. It's about to be burned. But he goes through this process. of transferring this legal ownership. He weighs out the money on the scale as was required. He had his secretary, his amanuensis there, Baruch, with him to see the process. He had other witnesses. Now, when you talk about an open copy and a sealed copy of the deed, this we know, we found this archeologically. They would take one single sheet of papyrus and write the deed of transfer, and deed just means transfer, to transfer, to deed it to someone, write the deed out twice with a space in between. And then you would tear the deed in half. And one half was the open record that was kept wherever the records were kept. So if you had to see who owns that piece of property, here's the owner. This would be us going to the county courthouse to see who owns the property and the public documents. The other half of that deed was rolled up into a scroll, was tied, and was sealed with a wax seal. And now Jeremiah even gives instructions that he is supposed to take this and put it in an earthenware jar and cap and seal the jar. Now we found these two. Have you ever heard of a little collection called the Dead Sea Scrolls? the cave at Qumran, these were Old Testament scriptures written out on papyrus, rolled up, and put in jars, and the jars sealed, and in that desert climate, in that environment, they were preserved for hundreds, even thousands of years, to the point that they pulled out the scrolls of Isaiah and looked at what we have in manuscripts today of Isaiah, and there wasn't a word difference. God preserves his word. Well, here he's doing this with the deed. He's going to make sure that there's an open copy to prove and a sealed copy that's gonna be preserved so that even as the city is destroyed, perhaps it will be preserved so that when he or members of his family come back, they will have evidence of ownership of the land. Now, the question is, why does that matter? Because we know that everything's going to be burned to the ground. The people are going to be taken into captivity. And as far as they know, not knowing what Jeremiah has been saying all along, they as a nation are done. Israel, Israel was taken in 722 and never came back. We're now 588. We're almost 200 years later, and they're seeing the same thing happen to them that happened to Israel in the north. And they had to be thinking, we're done. What's the point of transferring ownership of land? We're not ever coming back here. Two other points before we make the application there. One of those was that as we look at archeological facts, they have discovered two seals. that read, Berekiah, which is the name Baruch, son of Nariah, the scribe. Now, what did he say he was gonna seal this as? He gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Nariah, who is his secretary, his emancipation, his scribe. You realize that that means it's very possible that in the museum over there, this seal we have preserved, Still to this day, reading exactly that this happened like God said that it happened. The other significant thing here is here we have a scroll that's been preserved, it's been rolled up and it's been sealed with a wax seal. In order to prove title, to prove that you owned the piece of property, what do you have to do? You have to break the seal and unroll the scroll. Do you know that scroll? that nobody's worthy to open, that we read about in the book of Revelation. Do you know what that scroll is? It's the title deed to the earth itself. And in that deed, it describes for us who the owner is. And it's the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. The world is his, it's his footstool. And when he breaks those seals and unrolls that scroll with each of those judgments that are poured out, Jesus is taking what is rightfully his and prying the sin, the sinful fingers of people off of his creation, declaring himself to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. But again, why was this done? Verse 15 tells us. For thus says Yahweh our host, the God of Israel, houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. He's already told him he's gonna bring them back. He's already told him what he's gonna accomplish when he brings them back. And he's already even established in chapter 31, just before this, and we're gonna get back to it, because he gets back to the new covenant. There's going to be a new covenant that's going to be enacted that God is going to do. And part of the promises of that covenant are that the people are gonna be preserved and returned to the land. Now, Jeremiah says, verse 16, after I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, then I prayed to Yahweh. He is confused, but he begins the prayer, and I think we need to learn some from Jeremiah's prayer. He is confused that he's seeking clarity, but listen to how he starts this prayer. He starts, ah, Lord Yahweh. That ah there is literally a sigh. He comes before God and he just goes, but then calls him by his covenant name, Adonai Yahweh. Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you who shows loving kindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them. Oh, great and mighty God, Yahweh of Host is His name, great in counsel and abundant in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds, who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and even to this day, both in Israel and among mankind. And you have made a name for yourself as at this day, You brought your people, Israel, out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. They came in and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice and did not walk in your law. They have not done anything that you commanded them to do. Therefore, you have made all this harmful evil come upon them. Behold, the siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence. And what you have spoken has happened. And behold, you see it. And you have said to me, O Lord Yahweh, buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses. But the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. He's coming perplexed, he's coming confused, and he's really coming to ask God, why are you telling me to do this? What is the point? But notice what he does before he gets to his complaint. He talks about the goodness and the greatness and the loving kindness and the mercy of God, the power of God, God's ability to forgive and God's ability to hold us accountable for our sin. He goes through this list and he starts by saying, nothing is too difficult for you. You are God, in other words. We read that in Genesis 18, 14, is anything too difficult for Yahweh? At the appointed time, I will return to you at this time next year and Sarah will have a son. It was physically impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a son. And God gave them a son. because the question was asked, is anything too difficult for Yahweh? And Zechariah 8, 6, thus says Yahweh of hosts, if it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in my sight, declares Yahweh of hosts? Nothing is too difficult for you. He talks about God being the creator of the heavens and the earth by his great power, by his outstretched arm, by him showing loving kindness to thousands, but repaying the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them. Now, again, we've looked at this. The father is not responsible for the son's sin. The son is not responsible for the father's sin. So what does this mean? We understand what it means. God is going to hold fathers accountable for their sin and their children. When it says their children after them, that means their children who follow them in it. If fathers, you lead your children into sin and they follow you into it, not only am I going to judge you and hold you accountable, I'm going to judge them and hold them accountable. You see, there is no excuse for sin. We cannot say, well, I didn't know I was just doing what I was told. We can't say the devil made me do it. Where does sin originate? Sin does not originate outside of us. James chapter one says it originates in the desires of our fallen flesh. Sin originates here. If you want to blame someone for sin, you can't blame God. He's not the author of sin or of confusion. You can't blame Adam. I know, I mean, I imagine there's a line of people when they get to heaven who want to talk to Adam. But you understand, Adam, in his sin, not authored by God, rooted in his humanity, given by God the freedom and the ability to sin, sinned willfully. But wasn't that all according to God's design? If there had been no sin, there would be no redemption. If there was no sin, there would be no cross. If there was no sin, there would be no need for Christ to come. So God, in accomplishing his purposes and allowing Adam to sin, now we're born with a sin nature. Again, we don't become a sinner when we sin. We sin because we're born sinners. We're responsible for that sin. We are responsible for that sin. Said it in Sunday school. You understand, it's not enough to hate sin. The cults hate sin. That's why outwardly they do so much to pretend they don't sin. It's not enough to hate sin, to hate our flesh. We have to love Christ more than we hate our sin. We need to be walking with him. And look at this, Jeremiah is talking about what God is going to do. And he's talking about, oh, great and mighty God, Yahweh have hosted his name. He is great in counsel. He is abundant in deeds. His eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds, who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. He's talking about all that God's done to preserve the people. You brought the people out of the land of Egypt. with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey." And he says, they came and they took it. You kept your word. You promised the land to your people and they came and they took it. But there was a problem. They came in and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice. Literally, they did not obey what you said and did not walk in your law. They have not done anything that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this harmful evil come upon them. He says the ends at hand, the land that you promised your people, that you gave your people, they couldn't keep it and now it's being taken away. God, if it's being taken away, if the judgment is so severe that we're losing the land and being uprooted from it, you remember that? Torn down, uprooted, cast out. then why am I buying a piece of property and making sure that I have the deed for it? That's the question. The city has given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Why have you told me to buy this land? Why invest in land when the country's about to be destroyed? Well, the significance, of course, is what we know that we've already read. God telling him to do this signifies that the people are going to come back. that the city is going to be rebuilt and that the people one day will resume normal life. Now, I'm not sure what a normal life is. Anybody help me out with that? What is a normal life? But they're gonna resume day-to-day living in the land that God promised to give them, even though for a time they were taken out of it and they were judged. Back in chapter 12, verse 15, it will come about after that, I have uprooted them, I will return and have compassion on them, and I will cause them to return, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. You understand what this means then? It's not just that the people who left are coming back, it means that the family members and some of the individuals even that were taken into captivity were not just coming back to the land, they were coming back to their land. God was gonna restore. Literally the phrase is, if we translate it, God is going to restore their fortunes. Everything you had that you thought you lost, I'm gonna give it back to you. For what? To prove that when God makes a promise, he keeps it. He will do what he has said that he will do. As then God answers, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me? God, and the way he does this, this is just typical of the way God interacts with us so often. Jeremiah starts his prayer and says, nothing is too difficult for you. But then he complains, but why are you doing this? I don't understand. And so God, to remind Jeremiah who he is, Restates to Jeremiah what Jeremiah prayed. Is anything too difficult for me? You see, the root of the doubt here is that Jeremiah doesn't see how God's gonna fulfill the promise and bring the people back. There's not gonna be anything to be brought back to in his mind. Now he says, nothing's too difficult for you, but I don't know how you're gonna do this. And so God says, nothing's too difficult for me. Sometimes we just need to be reminded who Jesus is, who God is. Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. To say that there he is the God of all flesh, literally the God of all humanity, all people, all nations, even Babylon is under God's control and his authority. Is anything too difficult for me? Therefore, thus says Yahweh, behold, I'm about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it. And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set the city on fire and burn it with the houses where people have burned incense to veil on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. Indeed, the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in my sight from their youth, for the sons of Israel have been only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands, declares Yahweh. Indeed, this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and my wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before my face, because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger. They, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned their back to me and not their face. Though I taught them rising up early and teaching, they would not listen and receive discipline. But they put their detestable things in the house, which is called by my name to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-Hanom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it come upon my heart that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin." Don't ever ask God why. He lays out the case here. He tells Jeremiah. Why? Does Jeremiah know this? Jeremiah knows this. But God is reiterating. Because remember from last week, the people are complaining. We don't deserve this judgment. God is not just. God is absolutely just. And he's right. Did you notice, by the way, the word provoke. Three times in four verses. You've provoked me to anger. You've provoked me to wrath. You've provoked me with your evil. He says, you're burning incense to Baal. I'm going to burn your house down. You've set up idols in the temple. I'm going to burn the temple down. You've done all of these abominations of the city. You've offered your children to be burned in the fires to Molech. I'm burning it all down. He's going to judge it. He's going to judge it completely and thoroughly. The height of the sinfulness happened before now. He was under the reign of Manasseh. We know Hezekiah was a godly king and there were some reforms there, but his son Manasseh led the people further into sin than they had ever been. Now his son Josiah brought back a reformation and a revival when they found the word of God cleaning out the temple, but that was only a brief reprieve before now the end was coming and the judgment was going to happen. In 2 Kings we read about it in chapter 21 of Manasseh. He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel. Indeed, he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah as Ahab king of Israel had done. and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said in Jerusalem, I will put my name. Indeed, he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. He even made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, and interpreted omens, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much that was evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger. Then he put the graven image of Asherah, which he had made, in the house of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. The people provoked God. Now we read that and we understand then that this judgment was deserved. We have to understand the wages of sin is death. God is going to judge sin. But for a second time in a chapter, Jeremiah grinds the gears for us. Because as he's praying and asking God to clarify what's happening and why it's happening and what the significance of these things are, and God lays out his case against his people, and you read this and you think they deserve to be judged, they deserve to be thrown into exile, they deserve to never come back, but God had promised long before this that he was going to bring them back. And so he shifts gears in verse 36, and from 36 to 44, he gives seven promises. Now that seems odd to us because of all that we just read about how horrible these people are provoking God to wrath. And his response is to send the judgment, but then with the judgment to give them promises. So now, therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you are saying, it is given into the hand of the King of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence. Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have banished them in my anger, in my wrath, and in great indignation, and I will cause them to return to this place and make them inhabited in safety. and they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me always for their own good and for the good of their children after them and I will cut an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good and I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me and I will rejoice over them to do them good and will truly plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul. For that says Yahweh, just as I brought all this great evil on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. Thus fields will be bought in this land of which you are all saying. It is a desolation without man or beast. It's given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the surroundings of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, in the cities of the Negev, for I will return their fortunes, declares Yahweh. God says here in no uncertain terms, I am not done with these people. In fact, the reality is discipline proves that we're his. He's telling the people, yes, you're being judged and it's not the Babylonians judging you. It's me. Because you are mine. And you're being judged now, but I'm going to bring you back. I'm going to replant. I'm going to rebuild. You're going to return to the land. Seven promises here. God will bring his people back to their land. He will cause them to dwell in it in safety. They will be my people and I will be their God. That's a reference to a line right out of the New Covenant in the previous chapter. There will be harmony. They will have one heart and one way. Psalm 86 11 says, Teach me your way, O Yahweh, and I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. He's going to make for them an everlasting covenant, a covenant they can't break. He's going to rejoice and do good to them, and he's going to plant them in the land. Now the question is, have we seen this happen? And this is where I'm gonna tell you, this is hysterical. There are some, depending on your eschatology, who will take this and they will say that when he says Israel, he really means the church. When he says Israel, he means Israel. And this is funny because I'm careful to know who I'm reading for my commentaries, and I know I've got some Baptist commentaries, and I've got some even more studious and theologically sound Presbyterian commentaries, and I've got some from historic premillennialists and some from amillennialists, and maybe one postmillennial, I'm not sure. I don't pay too much attention. And the best amillennial commentary on this passage says we have to take this literally in light of Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11. That God said he was gonna regather his people in the land, not just the return from exile. He's bringing his people together for the purpose of ultimately all Israel being saved. You understand before Christ comes, Spurgeon says there will be a great revival among the Jews. God will have gathered the people back to the land and they who had been cut out will be by faith grafted back in. What an amazing thing. Zechariah says this, they will see him who they pierced and mourn. There will be repentance. This is the promise. Now I want to show you how this is unfolding and this, this is amazing. In 1948, there were 650,000 Jews in the territory that we know is the state of Israel. It was not the state of Israel at that point in time. Since May 14th, 1948, there have been three and a half million Jews that have returned to the land of Israel. from 6% of the world's Jewish population living in Israel to 49.9% of the Jews in the world now live within the borders of Israel. So before 1948, 6%, now almost half, just a tiny bit under half of all the Jews who are alive in the world today live in Israel. Here's another interesting statistic. Since 2023, applications by Jews to migrate to Israel have increased 500%. God's gathering his people. He's putting them back in the land. We're awaiting a revival. You know the missionaries that I'm supporting and I'm praying for more than any other now? The missionaries I know who are in Israel. Because they're going to be the ones who preach and see like the day of Pentecost, not just 3,000, but millions turn to their Messiah and confess Christ as Lord. To see what God is doing. This means the world can be on the brink of destruction. Jerusalem certainly was. And so what does God tell Jeremiah? I want you to go find a broker and buy a piece of property. Thank goodness I'm gonna have a job all the way to Armageddon. But the point of the transaction was the promise of God. He's going to bring his people back. And that means also he's going to come back for his people. Are you ready for him to come? He's coming. We see these things that are prophesied happening. And I can't believe that there's some people, oh, that's Israel 19, it doesn't matter. History matters. What we see happening and unfolding in the world around us matters. Now, we don't read the scripture based on the newspaper, but when we look at the scripture, we see God active in his world, and we're reminded the commission. to go and make disciples of all the nations. And we do that telling them to flee the wrath to come because Jesus is coming back. This is the ultimate promise of the new covenant. Jeremiah says, why should I buy property when it's all about to burn? And God says, because I'm doing what I promised I was going to do. I'm bringing the people back. I'm keeping my word. I will be your God and you will be my people. Let's pray together. Father, how we thank you for the truth of your word this morning. Not just because we see these things and have found these seals and archeological digs. We know it's true because you tell us it's true. The authority that we trust is the authority of the Spirit through this inspired word. We thank you that we do see the reality of your promises. We've experienced the reality of your promises. As we've repented and believed, we're living in this new covenant, this everlasting covenant, this covenant that can't be broken, this covenant ratified by the shed blood of Jesus. And we long for that day when he returns and takes that scroll and breaks those seals and claims what is his, then we will proclaim worthy as the lamb who was slain. Father, I pray that in the light of eternity, that you would remind us that Jesus is coming back for his people. Those he bought and purchased with his blood, he will ransom and redeem. He has already purged our sins. He will hold us and keep us and will not lose a one. We praise you for his finished work this morning. And we ask that you by your spirit would motivate us to rest in Christ, to surrender to him, not just to live for him or to try to do things for him, but to truly rest in who he is as Savior and Lord. We pray these things in his precious name. Amen.