In scholarly circles, Jeremiah 30-33 carries the title, “Book of Consolation,” because of its hope-filled tone and promises of restoration and new covenant. The weeping prophet we encounter in the pages of Jeremiah, who grieves over both the message of judgment he must proclaim and the hardened hearts of his hearers, gives way to an exuberant prophet of hope and joy for this four-chapter leaflet.
Restoration lies on the horizon, “For the Lord will ransom
Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they” (31:11).
Confidence in restoration rises up greater than any destruction the Babylonian
hordes might unleash. So much so, Jeremiah puts his money where his mouth
is and buys a field at Anathoth from a relative, saying, “This is what
the Lord says . . . once more fields will be bought in this land” (32:42,
43). The Lord will create a new day beyond the horror of judgment and exile.
The high point of Jeremiah’s “Book of Consolation”
is found in 31:31-34. The coming restoration is about more than deliverance
from Babylon and return to Jerusalem. It is about more than gathering the
scattered flock of Israel and reconstituting the nation. The deliverance and
restoration God will bring about also has to do with forgiving sin, transforming
the heart, and creating a new kind of relationship with His people. This culmination
of God’s building and planting anew among His people is described in
terms of a new covenant. Everything about Jeremiah’s prophecy moves toward
this pinnacle of God’s purpose. Even judgment is a step in the Lord’s
plan to create this new relationship with the house of Israel and the house
of Judah.
Jeremiah 31:7-14 anticipates this coming activity of God with
exuberance. There is singing and shouting (vv. 7, 12), dancing and gladness
(v. 13), abundance and bounty (vv. 12, 14), and satisfaction and praise (vv.
7, 14). The passage rings with the sounds of celebration. A party is taking
place in response to God’s deliverance, restoration, and new covenant
relationship with His people. And why not? It is good to be in covenant with
the Lord. The Lord takes His commitment to His people so seriously that forgiveness
and healing flow when death and destruction are deserved. There is abundance
in living obligated to the Lord that causes those who receive to abound in
joy.
Jesus captures this language of new covenant and the joy that
surrounds it in His celebration of the Passover on the night He was betrayed.
The cross shadows the Lord’s Supper so heavily that we sometimes miss
the celebrative nature of this feast. This is a time to recognize and rejoice
in deliverance. This is an opportunity to receive a new covenant and to enter
into a “marriage” with Christ that will culminate at the end in
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). The eschatological references
Jesus makes in the institution of the Lord’s Supper point us in the direction
of this interpretation. The new covenant—this relationship of obligation
made possible through the Lord’s broken body and shed blood—is a
tremendous gift to be received with joy, even as we give ourselves away to
the Groom who makes the proposal.
Deliverance and restoration are the need of every human heart,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans
3:23). One would think the offer of such, freely made in the eternal Lamb
that was slain but lives so we too might walk in newness of life, would attract
a line of eager seekers. What the good news of the gospel attracts instead
are often distant observers and tentative testers. Like a nervous bride or
groom at the altar seized by cold feet, entering into a relationship with
the divine Lover is shrouded by fear. Anticipated changes and sacrifices leave
people wondering if they want any part of this new life in Christ as His bride.
Wouldn’t a live-in relationship short on commitment suffice? We pull
back from covenant and commitment.
The Lord sees us in the grip of many things stronger than we
are—sin, the past, habits and addictions, and fear, to name a few—and
answers our predicament by creating forgiveness, deliverance, new life, and
reconciliation. This salvation is created “out of nothing.” The
Lord enters into the chaos of our reality and makes something new and good
spring forth from it out of the depths of His love and mercy. The Lord then
encounters us with this newness, and proposes to us that we join Him in its
abundance.
The Lord counters our fears about change and sacrifice by giving
us a glimpse into the abundance of life lived restored, redeemed, and reconciled.
The picture is not of a wake or funeral but of a celebration. The song sung
doesn’t ring with the emptiness of a dirge but with the fullness of a
hymn of praise. An exuberance of life, found in a covenant relationship with
the Lord, makes the sham jewels we cling to lose their luster in light of
the pearl of great price.
When the Lord of life offers us the opportunity to live in the
abundance of His life for all of eternity, we should declare, “How can
I refuse?” An abounding joy in saying yes to being the bride of Christ
makes the obligation of the covenant relationship move from, “Do I have
to?” to “All that I am and all that I have is yours.” We freely
give ourselves to the One in whom we have found the fulfillment of all our
hopes and dreams; to the One we know we could never live without; to the One
who leaves us breathless in wonder that He could love us so. We realize those
awful-sounding words, like consecration, commitment, surrender, sacrifice,
and being crucified with Christ, aren’t a call to endings but to beginnings
we cannot fully grasp or imagine. We say in response, “I do.”
(For the full manuscript of this sermon
go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons”)
The focus of the series has been Jesus our Hope and receiving
His coming. This message fits into the series as a call to bind ourselves
to the Lord in covenant. Often the message of salvation is preached in terms
of a gift God offers us. Like a present, we simply have to reach out and take
the gift freely offered to us, open it, and it will be ours. Like many word
pictures, this one can be pushed too far. While it illustrates grace well,
it falls woefully short in describing the relational nature of the new life
God invites us to enter. Salvation is not something we receive like a present
to do with as we please. Salvation is a reality God invites us to enter, that
flows from His person and finds its shape in relation to Him. Salvation without
covenant is impossible. We have pointed people to the hope that is Jesus and
prepared them to receive His coming. Now we must call them to give themselves
away to the Savior who has given himself to them.
The love obligation that is marriage best illustrates biblical
covenant and becomes the driving motif for calling the people of God to bind
themselves to the Lord. The preferred context for preaching this message could
be participation in Wesley’s Covenant Service within the life of the
community of faith. The Covenant liturgy becomes our response to the covenant-making
God who invites us in Jesus to become His bride.
The congregational barrier to be overcome is the fear we have when it comes to commitment. Covenant requires the surrender of our wills and wants for the sake of relationship. Surrender sounds like a death to us, because, in some very real ways, it is. So we hesitate. We fear and doubt. We hold back from God. Solemn, serious funeral music fills the air, and we are not sure we want anything to do with it. God provides us with a different image to describe the covenant life. It is an image designed to make us want to throw ourselves into the arms of Jesus and strike up the Wedding March. Celebrate a wedding as you preach this message and call your people to say, “I do” to the Lord.
