Day 164 – April 3, 2024: Jeremiah 28-32 and Psalm 53

There are a couple of Scriptures in these passages that bear drawing our attention. They are Scriptures that we use universally to describe what the Lord has in store for us today and in the future. Actually, before we get to that we do see that an opponent to Jeremiah, a prophet who spoke a prophesy which contradicted that of Jeremiah, dies because of the wrong prophesy. The false prophet, Hannaniah, broke the yoke which Jeremiah had made, one made of wood, in order to show that in two years Judah would be restored. That did not happen, and Jeremiah says that a yoke of metal, of steel, will be placed upon the people of God and it will not be broken for more than 70 years.

The memory passages are found in Jeremiah 29:11-14 and 31:33-34. The first describes the plans that the Lord has for us which are plans for our welfare, and not for our harm. Now this has to be a long range view into the future, because the present sure is crummy for the people of Judah. Exile is not good, exile feels terrible and tragic, and it is. But God promises that the future will be one of redemption and restoration. It is similar to Romans 8:38 where we read that surely all things work together for good for those who trust in the Lord. Stay tuned because on youth Sunday Gavin will be preaching on this Jeremiah Scripture.

The second Scripture is the promise of a new covenant that will not be written as a law, but on our hearts. This is the new covenant that we find in Jesus Christ. Now, Jeremiah was probably talking about a new covenant that would be in place when the people of God would be restored, but the new covenant in Jesus fulfills the prophesy of Jeremiah perfectly. This takes us to a place where we are assured that our future will be one which is good and that future will be sealed with a new covenant in Jesus Christ which is a covenant of grace, and not of law.