Jeremiah 32

Understanding Our Covenant with God

Christians in order to have a faith unshakable, it must be built on the promises of God.  The promises of salvation, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a home with God are promises we read about in the New Testament.  Specifically, the New Testament speaks of how these promises are fulfilled already.  As Christians we can speak of God’s indwelling as past event, and legally we are already considered heirs of the will and testament of Jesus Christ.

But in the Old Testament is where the foundations of these promises from God were first laid.  Every Christian should have the desire to enrich their understanding and experience with God by having a knowledge of the circumstances when the promises were first uttered.  Jeremiah 32 is a core passage surrounding the promises and hope we enjoy today in Christ.

Restoration and a New Covenant

On the brink of a Babylonian invasion into Judah, the Lord informs Jeremiah that a relative will come seeking him to purchase land from him (v7-8,).  Judah’s stubborn and unyielding idolatry has led to imminent judgement. Jeremiah knows the invasion from Nebuchadnezzar is imminent and he is puzzled at why the Lord would cause him to purchase land on the eve of captivity.  It would seem to be a useless gesture as the siege ramps make their way to the cities of Judah (v24).

Perhaps there is some home in Jeremiah’s mind that God is calling off the imminent invasion? No, nothing has changed in God’s pronouncement of judgment (v29).  It seems that the Lord is all too willing to give Judah a chance to repent and return back from their idolatries and injustices, but they have repeatedly refused to do so (v33), despite the Lord having done miracles and signs among them.

The sale of land was a gesture with a prophetic message of hope, that despite the invasion, the Lord is promising to bring back the people to the land in “peace and safety” (v37). And as it does elsewhere in the Bible, the promise of a new covenant or a new testament is further explained.  The people will receive a new heart, a new set of values, a new purpose that will be profoundly unified their fellow citizens. This new covenant will be everlasting and God will never stop doing good to them (v40).  The land of which they are being torn from will be repurposed for them in this new covenant (v41).

Later in the New Testament, the Jews, specifically Nicodemus will be rebuked for “not understanding these things”.   Apparently the words “born again” was such an alien abstract idea to Nicodemus that he could not perceive that Jesus was actually talking about this new covenant that is dotted throughout the Old Testament. Today, the term being born again, is so loosely used it hardly means anything anymore.  So how should bible teachers define it?  By seeking its roots, as it appears in passages like this one.

God promises a time of restoration where the people will have a new heart to know Him and He will forever be their God and never stop doing good to them.  Although the words “born again” do not appear in the Old Testament, but transformation and renewal by God’s Spirit appears all over.

For further study, review Ezekiel 36:22-27, a parallel passage to Jeremiah’s and cross reference it with John 3:5 and Nicodemus’ ignorance.  “You are the master of Israel yet you do not understand these things?”