Chuck Larsen

Jeremiah had predicted that the Ark of the Covenant would lose its significance. It would not even be remembered. It was the “box” in which Judah had attempted to keep its God. In Jeremiah 3:17, he explains that God will break out of the box. The passage says, “At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.” Martens explains, “For all the reverence given to the ark in the past, Jeremiah announces, it will not even receive mention in the future because the presence of God will be so much greater and more overpowering. His throne in Jerusalem will be like a magnet to which nations will come. The presence of God will not be symbolized by the ark, hidden in the holy of holies, access to which is by the high priest alone. No, God’s presence will now be symbolized by the entire city, openly accessible to all.”^[1]

Constance says, “Jeremiah predicted that Jerusalem would be the throne of God and that all nations shall be gathered unto it. The two long-divided parts of the nation, Judah and Israel, would finally be reunited to dwell in the Promised Land.” I think it’s a little more significant than just the two nations of Judah and Israel. The phrase that “all nations shall gather” makes for interesting reflection when we compare it to what happened in Acts 2. The gathering of God’s people during that Passover season brought pilgrims from every nation to Jerusalem. After Jesus ascension, the Holy Spirit fell upon the Apostles who began to speak to all the people present, and they all heard it in their own language. I would suggest that there was an elimination of religious distinctions, God exploded from the many boxes people put Him in, and all people will be gathered together. Constance goes on to say, “The elements of the promise include godly leaders, the absence of outward elements of worship, the dwelling of God’s presence with them, a godly life, a successful witness to the world, and a unified nation.”^[2]

People will then be changed. Their stubbornness will be dissolved and their hearts open to the one true God and to one another. Speaking about the Hebrew term for stubbornness, Mackay explains, “The term describes those who are certain they have the capacity to make decisions for themselves, and once they have made them, there is no deflecting them from their resolution…”^[3] There will be no more radical religious hatreds and animosities. The stubbornness of man in keeping God in their personal boxes will be over. God will have broken free and revealed Himself in person to the world, and “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father” and peace and harmony will reign in the Kingdom of God.

^[1] E. A. Martens, Jeremiah, Believers Church Bible Commentary (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1986), 55.

^[2] Mrs. T. M. Constance, Jeremiah, vol. 1 (Dickson, TN: Explorer’s Bible Study, 1978), 21.

^[3] John L. Mackay, Jeremiah: An Introduction and Commentary: Chapters 1–20, vol. 1, Mentor Commentaries (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2004), 194.

The religious elite in Judah expected the sacrificial system to be their salvation in contrast to the fate that befell the Northern Kingdom. They trusted in rituals, rites, and regulations to save them. Jeremiah explains how God wants our hearts, not our sacrifices. He wants our love. Like the bronze serpent, the temple, and the now the Ark of the Covenant had become their idols. They actually thought they had God in the box, i.e., the Ark of the Covenant. The very symbols that had served Israel in the past had become the objects of worship instead of the God who they represented. Speaking of the coming of a new relationship with God, Jeremiah explains that things will be different. He says in Jeremiah 3:16, “And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.”

The very object that signified the presence of God in their midst won’t even be remembered nor missed at all. In the context it’s apparent that this is a positive thing. Constance says, “They were no longer to speak of the ark itself because they would have that which the ark was intended to foreshadow. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His coming, has put out of people’s thoughts the material Ark of the Covenant, because its meaning is fulfilled in Him. In Jesus Christ we have a covenant of grace which can never fail and never be broken.”^[1] While on the cross the veil in the temple that separated man from God’s presence was split in half from top to bottom. We often think of that as offering us access to God. We can now come freely, one and all, into His presence. But another aspect of it might be that it opened the access from God to man as well. He, in the person of His only Son, came from the Holy of Holies and entered into our presence as well. Jesus surely was “God with us”, or Immanuel!

But He not only “was” God with us. He will literally be God with us in the future and He is now God with us as well. There is a sense of the fulfillment of this prophecy in a mysterious way in the Church itself. Matthew seems to refer to the existence of the Church in this time period as the presence of the mystery form of the Kingdom of God. Ryken says, “We no longer need the ark of the covenant because God himself is with us, by his Holy Spirit. We are no longer divided by pride or race; we all worship together, drawn by the attractive power of God’s presence.”^[2]  It was the elimination of religious ritual that Jesus brought to bring God’s people back together. People from every tribe and nation will gather together in the Kingdom to worship the God who will reign with them. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

^[1] Mrs. T. M. Constance, Jeremiah, vol. 1 (Dickson, TN: Explorer’s Bible Study, 1978), 21.

^[2] Philip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 60.

This verse reminds me of the lyrics from Linda Ronstadt’s song, “A Long, Long, Time.” It’s from the perspective of a lover who’s been jilted. She writes, “Love will abide, take things in stride, Sounds like good advice but there’s no one at my side. And time washes clean love’s wounds unseen. That’s what someone told me but I don’t know what it means. Cause I’ve done everything I know to try and make you mine. And I think I’m gonna love you for a long, long time. Caught in my fears, blinking back the tears, I can’t say you hurt me when you never let me near.” But here’s the line that struck me most, “And I never drew one response from you. All the while you fell all over girls you never knew…” If you ever heard that song, you know that you can almost see Linda crying through the verses. Jeremiah indicts Israel with a similar sin. He calls for them to repent in Jeremiah 3:13, “Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.” God’s love abides!

Craigie describes the situation well. He says, “Beyond all the requirements of the covenant regulations, God continued to love those who had long since ceased to love him and earnestly desired their return to him. If it is correct that the words were initially declared in the context of a northern ministry of the prophet, they held the potential of enormous comfort to those who heard them. For the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom had long since lost their independence; for approximately a century, they and their predecessors had had time to reflect on the dreadful end to which the apostasy of a previous age had led. And yet now, in the midst of a time of hopelessness, the divine word comes again; still it addresses sin, but it offers also the gracious invitation to repentance, beyond which lay the possibility of a new relationship.”^[1]

Huey acknowledges, “The first indispensable requirement for repentance and reconciliation with God is the admission of sin.”^[2] Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet. One commentator says, “I can just see Jeremiah now, in full command of his powers, his eyes running with tears so characteristic of him, repeating the invitation to that broken and lonely country of Israel. ‘For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever’. The divorce laws said that there was no second chance. Yet God’s love transcends our frailties and offers us a new marriage with Him.” Then in verse 13 come “…words that would have changed her life. ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity’. …As it is true for a nation, so it is also true for an individual. How have we responded?”^[3]

^[1] Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1–25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 57.

^[2] F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 16, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 75.

^[3] John Guest and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 19, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1988), 45.

Jeremiah confronts the Kingdom of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, as being worse than the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Northern Kingdom was rotten to the core and fell well over 100 years before the Southern Kingdom. During that 100 plus years, the Prophets used what happened to the Northern Kingdom as an example of what would happen to the south. Because Judah had Israel as an example and still didn’t stop their wicked ways, they were worse than Israel. Further, Judah kept up the pretense of religious expression. Israel at least was honest about their sins. Jeremiah’s favorite terms for Israel and Judah were “Faithless Israel,” “Apostate Israel,” “Faithless Judah” and “Apostate Judah.”

Sometimes the phrases might be used to refer to both nations as in Jeremiah 3:12. It says, “Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD; ‘I will not be angry forever.’” The opening word in this passage really means simply “turn.” There is no Hebrew word for “return.” It is used to refer to those who have broken covenant promises. The plea is to “keep your word.” Turn from going astray and do the right thing. It’s often used in reference to marriage. Craigie says, “In the context of marriage, it denotes such acts as desertion and the establishing of a relationship with another person; in the context of covenant, it denotes the failure to maintain the responsibilities of relationship. And, as the basic designation of Judah in this passage, it points to the nation’s fundamental flaw: it was not so much a breaking of the divine law, as it was a failure in relationship with God, from which all other calamities flowed.”^[1]

The two Kingdoms were at different stages of their rebellion. As Calvin points out, “The kingdom of Israel had now been overthrown, and the people had been banished into Assyria, Persia, and Media. They had been scattered, and the name of the kingdom had been obliterated.”^[2] Judah was still residing in their land. This tells me that no matter how far gone we might be, there is always hope! In his commentary on Isaiah, Ray Orland says, “If Satan discourages you, if your sins hold you back, if your shame tells you to hide, if your conscience says you’ve gone too far, God says, ‘Return, for I am merciful.’ The God whom you’ve offended tells you to return to his mercies. And God’s word overrules every objection. Remember that. Remember that the cross of Christ was the gushing forth of the ocean of God’s mercies for stupid sinners. It’s the costly display of the love of God at the cross of Christ that restores our souls. When your faith is weak, his love is strong. That’s the gospel. Believe it.”^[3]

^[1] Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1–25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 55–56.

^[2] John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 172.

^[3] Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. and R. Kent Hughes, Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 228–229.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 721 BC. They had turned from the God that delivered them from Egypt to serve the pagan gods in the land that God had given them and that they had failed to drive out. Many of the Old Testament prophets exposed the sins of Israel as the cause of their destruction. They had become a wicked nation and God allow her behavior to have its consequences. The Southern Kingdom had fallen away also. Jeremiah says they were even worse than Israel. In Jeremiah 3:9-11 he says, speaking of Israel, “Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD. And the LORD said to me, Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.”

It seems like God declared Judah’s rebellion worse than their Northern sister’s rebellion for two reasons. First, Judah failed to learn from what had happened to Israel. She saw it and didn’t take it seriously. The second reason seems to be Judah’s pretensions of righteousness. She kept rituals and gave lip service to regulations and practices but did not truly have a pure “heart” for God. One commentator says, “God wants our love, as we want the love of our children and of our friends, and cannot accept anything, however valuable, in its stead: so Christ wants the pure, deep, lasting affection of our souls. No ceremonies, or services, or even sacrifices, will compensate for its absence (see 1 Cor. 13). And the measure of our love will depend on the depth of our sense of God’s forgiving love toward us.”^[1]

Susan Maycinik wrote, “The line between obedience and performance can be a blurry one. Yet it is an important distinction to grasp, because obedience leads to life, and performance to death. Obedience is seeking God with your whole heart. Performance is having a quiet time because you’ll feel guilty if you don’t. Obedience is finding ways to let the Word of God dwell in you richly. Performance is quickly scanning a passage so you can check it off your Bible reading plan. Obedience is doing your best. Performance is wanting to be the best. Obedience is saying yes to whatever God asks of you. Performance is saying yes to whatever people ask of you. Obedience is following the promptings of God’s Spirit. Performance is following a list of man-made requirements.”^[2]

^[1] H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., St. Luke, vol. 1, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 194.

^[2] Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 371–372.

The Northern Kingdom had turned their back on God. They had become enamored by the pagan practices of the Nations living in the land that God had given to them. They had failed to drive out these negative influences and generation after generation fell further and further into the miry pits of their neighbors. God let their rebellion take them as deep into the mud as they were willing to go thinking that sooner or later they would see the errors of their way and come home. In Jesus’ story of the prodigal son that’s exactly what happened and Jesus made it clear that’s always what God wants. Yet, that’s not what happened with Israel. Israel never saw the error of her ways and God let his unfaithful bride suffer the consequences of her sin. Jeremiah 3:7-8 says, “And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.”

Judah could not learn from watching what had happened to the Northern Kingdom for some reason. I’d agree with Willis who says, “They saw what happened to their northern cousins (3:7b), but they assumed their own better fortunes were a result of their goodness or, more likely, because they worshiped in the right place (Jerusalem) and had the right royal family (the House of David).”^[1] They had put their confidence not in a personal, loving, and faithful relationship with their God, but rather in the rituals along with their heritage. But they proved no better than their northern neighbor. One commentary says, “Sin has a domino effect. … It is painful for a parent, including the divine Parent, to witness a child launched on a path of self-harm. God was saddened over Judah’s learning deficit, for she failed to learn from the mistakes of others. Judah’s spiritual obtuseness dashed God’s high hopes that she would be an improvement over Israel. God’s disappointment extended to both sisters—Israel and Judah.”^[2]

Judah thought that some external ritual would suffice to quench God’s possessive love for His people. But God always wants more than rituals. He wants our hearts. God wants us to love Him as He loves us. Jesus made it clear that the greatest commandment was to love God. The Pulpit Commentary says it well, “God wants our love, as we want the love of our children and of our friends, and cannot accept anything, however valuable, in its stead: so Christ wants the pure, deep, lasting affection of our souls. No ceremonies, or services, or even sacrifices, will compensate for its absence (see 1 Cor. 13). And the measure of our love will depend on the depth of our sense of God’s forgiving love toward us.”^[3]

^[1] Timothy M. Willis, Jeremiah/Lamentations, College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 2002), 54.

^[2] Larry L. Walker, Elmer A. Martens, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Lamentations, vol. 8 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005), 326.

^[3] H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., St. Luke, vol. 1, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 194.