Chapter 33
A second prophecy, at about the same time, introduced by the phrase "The word...came...a second time..." Vs 3 is one of my favorites:
3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. [Jer 33:3 ESV]
I believe God still does this with those who pray and ask. May not reveal things no one has ever known, but surely He does reveal things that I have never known.
2021 - You could make the case that God is only saying this to Jeremiah. It goes on with a message for the inhabitants of the city. It is not a good message. So why would the prophecy first say "Call on me, and I'll tell you", and then say "You're all going to die"? It seems to me that the first part of the message if for Jeremiah alone, a promise that God will inform him of whatever he asks about.
2021 - This verse about CotM:
11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: "'Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!' For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD. [Jer 33:11 ESV]
People will have weddings during the Millennial. Weddings ultimately mean children will be born during the Millennial. And offerings will resume in the Temple of that time.
The chapter, though a second prophecy, continues in much the same vein as the previous chapter. God is being specific about what he will do for Jerusalem in the future. He will restore it, and the whole world will see that God is blessing it, and the world will tremble with that knowledge.
This goes on through vs 13. It is interesting that true prophets preach doom when things are going well, and preach prosperity when all seems lost. It is almost axiomatic.
This verse:
13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD. [Jer 33:13 ESV]
The Shephelah is an area south of Jerusalem running right along the mountain range there. The Negeb is quite a ways further south, and is today a very desolate, dry place almost entirely without vegetation and pretty much impossible to live in. Yet these places are to be inhabited in the Millennial.
Vs 14 starts again with "Behold...", and so indicates a shift in scene. This seems to be looking far ahead, rather than to the return from Babylon. A righteous Branch will spring up. Jerusalem will then be called "The Lord is our righteousness." Isn't this in Revelation? BLB does not find it in Rev. MSB does not mention it in Revelation. So I must have it wrong. Still, MSB says we are talking about the Millennial here.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' [Jer 33:16 ESV]. This is the second time we have seen this phrase about "The LORD is our righteousness". Both times in Jeremiah.
2022 - Hebrew is pronounced "Jehovah sedeq". You don't hear that one very often, nor see it on the banners. But it ought to be.
18 causes me problems:
18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever." [Jer 33:18 ESV]
If we are talking about the Millennial in the previous verse, then surely we are here also. Why in the world will there be any need for, or requirement of, burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices forever? Why are they still there???? MSB implies, without actually saying it, that these things were included in the original Davidic and priestly covenants - that is, both a descendant of David on the throne and a Levitical priesthood to make sacrifices. The Davidic in 2Sa7, the priestly in Nu 25:10-13. Need to come back and study this, because this keeps popping up! (((11/21/19 I think I understand about the sacrifices now. They are required to "complete" the picture. To fulfill prophecy. So that all that came before can be neatly tied up with no loose ends. God would never leave ends loose.))) If there will be burnt offerings and grain offerings forever, then there will be livestock and harvest forever. In that new heaven and new earth, we will have jobs. We will work. We will be able to say "I did that today". This is apparently how God created man. We would not be content without work to do.
2023 - It seems to me today that in Jesus, both King and Priest are combined. This prophecy will be fulfilled in one man. The sacrifices in that time will look backward to commemorate God doing what he said he would do, whereas in Jeremiah's time they looked forward to the sacrifice that would someday come. In the future, there will not be sacrifices of atonement or sin because Jesus has already taken care of all that. But there will still be sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise and harvest and so on. These will be forever.
These verses:
20 "Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken... [Jer 33:20-21 ESV]
This is the second time God has referred to the sign of "undoing the order of the sky" as what it would take to undo His covenant. Seems like this would be a challenge to Satan. Seems there'd be attempts by Satan to demolish the order of the heavens. But I am unaware of any. Maybe this is why God uses it as His sign. Maybe Satan is utterly unable to affect order on so grand a scale. God has reserved this from Satan, showing His power over Satan, and His position as the Master Creator of all that is. Hmm. That is quite interesting. It continues like this to the end of the chapter. Reinforces that the covenant will not be broken.
(11/13/19 - Go back and find that first one that is stated this way. Then find a few verses showing that in the end times, the heavens will be affected. See if this will establish, 1) that only God controls the heavens. The prince of the power of the air only controls to the top of the atmosphere. God has reserved the rest to Himself for all time, and 2) Heavenly portents are always associated with end time events. Hmmm...there was the star that foretold Jesus' birth...)
Too much for a FB post, unless it could be done in parts.
2025 - This verse:
24 "Have you not observed that these people are saying, 'The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose'? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. ... 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them." [Jer 33:24, 26 ESV].
Notice this reference to "the two clans". In NASB95 they are the two families. God has blessed, separately the descendants of Abraham, and the descendants of David. The house of David, as a descendant of Abraham, is doubly blessed - and differently blessed. We pay a lot of attention to God's covenant with Abraham and we build up the Jews as the people of God. What we do not do is challenge the government of Israel and tel them they need to get a legitimate descendant of David as their King. The Bible says that too. It promises that outcome as much as it promises the blessings on the descendants of Abraham.
God chose TWO men upon whom blessings beyond measure were to fall. We need to remember David, too.
Look how this chapter ends in vs 26 above! "I will restore their fortunes!"
Look at this last verse of 33:
25 Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them." [Jer 33:25-26 ESV]
There seems to be a LOT in this verse. First the offspring of Jacob and David are equated, and then they are separated as to who will rule over whom. Or maybe I am just reading too much into it.
2025 - Chapters 32-33 are perhaps along the same lines as Isaiah 7:14. That is, they have a fulfillment in the return from Babylon in that the Jews do come back from the north where they have been scattered and I am sure many come back from Egypt as time goes on. Compared to their captivity, they will live in peace and happiness. It is also true that after Babylon, Israel as a nation never again really turns to idol worship of any kind. So in this sense, the prophecy is fulfilled.
However, the description of Israel in the Millennial is what I would call a more complete, more total fulfilment of this. In that time, they will have peace because Jesus is there and no provocation by other nations will be allowed. In that day, their crops will never fail, their livestock will never has a still birth, and the whole world will wish they were Jewish...while hating the Jews more and more.
So the Millennial is the ultimate typological fulfilment of this prophecy and what happens after the 70 years in Babylon is "enough" to make the prophecy true, but does not blow the doors right off the prophecy, as will occur in the Millennial.
I had never really learned this aspect of prophecy. I have heard the near/far idea but I never really jumped all the way onto that wagon. It always seemed more like an effort to make the Bible true in ways that just felt inadequate to me. I could see that the Bible wasn't wrong, but it felt like being given a brand new car...and when it showed up it was a Chevrolet not a Lexus.
Now I see that there is a fulfillment in the time of the prophet that fulfills the prophecy so that the prophet may be shown to have been sent by God and speak God's true words. A lot, I think I can say most prophecy had a more immediate fulfilment. But it seems that many, and again possibly most, prophecies are just a sort of scale model of what is to come. Near prophecy gives a small inkling of what God says he will do, but because he is God, he does not just do the minimum to make himself "true". Ultimately he goes right through the roof in not only making his own words true, but true in a way more spectacular than we can even picture in them.
That is what is going on with a lot of these Jeremiah prophecies. They will come home and live in peace...relative peace...once they rebuild the walls...but then the AEIV is coming and then the Romans are coming, and the Ottoman Empire is coming, and so on. As Christians, given the New Testament, WE KNOW that the Millennial is also coming.
To my mind, this is a much more "comfortable" way to understand prophecy.