This Sunday we’re continuing our series in Jeremiah.  But the scene shifts a little bit from what we’re used to.  For 10 months, we’ve been hearing about the impending judgment by God of the sinful people of Judah.  But now, the judgment has happened. We went over that last week in chapter 39. This week we’re looking at the aftermath of the judgment and exile in chapters 40-41.

As we shift into the post-judgment world that Judah finds itself in, there are a couple of big questions to answer.  First, in the face of the horrors of the fall of Jerusalem, it would have been natural and right for the people, and even Jeremiah, to privately wonder if the Lord was actually living up to his promises of gathering a remnant to Himself (Jeremiah 23).  Second, the judgment and exile were covenant curses designed to call the people back into obedience and righteousness. The goal wasn’t total destruction, but rather purifying and sanctifying. And so, will these most severe of disciplines work to bring about repentance and righteousness in the people?

Unsurprisingly, our text this week calls us to remember foundational principles of the faith:  The Lord is faithful and gracious, and we are desperately lost in our sin. It is in the face of these two truths that the Lord brings us to the Gospel, to see how Jesus reconciles our sinfulness with God’s righteousness through the Cross.  So, as you prepare to hear from the Word this Sunday, dwell on the magnitude of the Gospel. We often lose the wonder of just what we have been delivered from and what we have been delivered to. This Sunday, as with every Sunday, we will be brought to the foot of the Cross.  See you then!

~Frank