Jeremiah 32

Introduction

The major idea in Jeremiah chapters 30-33 is that in the end God’s grace will reign over God’s people by way of a New Covenant brought into effect by a new King.

With Babylon at the gate though, this message of God’s grace was perhaps a bit hard to believe.

For Jeremiah, it was confusing.

[INTER] God was justly pouring out His judgment on Judah for its sins; why would God change course and suddenly pour out His grace on His people in the future?

How would that grace not contradict His justice?

[TS] That’s the question we’ll attempt to answer as we look at Jeremiah 32 in three PARTS…

Major Ideas

Part #1: Trying to Shut Up the Truth (Jer. 32:1-5)

[EXP] The year is 588-587 BC, one year away from Jerusalem being completely overrun by the Babylonians. Zedekiah has been king of Judah for ten years. He’s had plenty of time to recognize Jeremiah as a true prophet of God. Instead, he labels Jeremiah a traitor and locks him up.

Jeremiah 37 tells us that Jeremiah was forced locked up in a dungeon, but later Zedekiah sends him to the court of the guard, which was where the guards who protected the temple lived. There was likely an area there set aside to keep prisoners.

Jeremiah was there because of the prophecies he had delivered.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand fo the king of Babylon, and he will take it.’ (v. 3)

“‘Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians), but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’ (v. 4)

“‘he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,’ declares the Lord. (v. 5a)

Then perhaps Jeremiah gives his own advice based on what God has said, “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.” (v. 5b)

[INTER] Given what Jeremiah has been declaring as the word from the Lord, why do you think Zedekiah not only wanted to lock him up but shut him up as v. 3 says?

One, in a time of national crisis, when Zedekiah is trying to rally the troops, he probably didn’t like someone like Jeremiah saying, “The Lord says we should give up and take our punishment.”

Jeremiah’s truth sounded like treason to Zedekiah.

Two, what Jeremiah had been declaring as the word of the Lord didn’t just sound like bad news for Jerusalem nationally; it also sounded like bad news for Zedekiah personally.

He would be taken to Babylon and remain there until the Lord visited him. The Lord’s visit might have been good for Zedekiah or it might not have been good for Zedekiah. In the end, Zedekiah would never left Babylon. He was either executed or died in a Babylonian prison.

[ILLUS] Like Zedekiah, we all have a hard time accepting the truth when the truth is bad news that we’ve brought on ourselves.

When I was in elementary school, I made a really bad grade on some worksheet. Rather than showing my parents, I tried to wad it up and hide it in our trash can. (I wasn’t smart enough to throw it away before I got home.)

The next day I walked through door after school and was suddenly being spanked. I wanted to pretend I didn’t know why, but I knew. My dad had found the paper with the bad grade on it.

I don’t remember what I said besides, “No, Daddy, No!” but I probably tried to blame the teacher, “You know, she’s not a very good educator, father.”

I may have tried to blame the subject, “Dad, listen, we all know math is dumb and useless!”

I can guarantee you that the last thing I did was take responsibility for the bad grade that I earned.

[APP] Just like I waded up the truth about myself and hid it in the garbage can, Zedekiah tried to hide the truth about himself by shutting up Jeremiah in a cell.

But the truth about who we are—the truth that we are all sinners who must take responsibility for our sins by repenting of sin and calling on Jesus to save us from the eternal consequences of sin—that truth won’t be shut up.

Even when the news is bad news that we’ve brought on ourselves, let us do the opposite of Zedekiah—let us listen to the Word of God, take responsibility, and repent.

[TS]...

Part #2: Buying a Field in a Down Market (Jer. 32:6-15)

[EXP] With the Babylonian siege underway, the real estate market in Judah was taking as far as the Jewish people were concerned. No doubt, many were trying to sell out before they were carried off to Babylon.

Jeremiah’s cousin was one such individual, and God told Jeremiah to buy his cousin’s field.

The purchase was a symbolic promise from God.

God’s people were being exiled, but He would bring them back. “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought (by God’s people) in this land,” (Jer. 32:15).

[INTER] Two questions: (1) Why should Jeremiah have believed this promise? (2) What would’ve made this promise difficult to believe?

Obviously, Jeremiah should’ve believed this promise because it was given by God.

However, it would have been a difficult promise to believe because the promise was so contrary to present reality. Judah was being swallowed up by the Babylonians, and the people of Judah were being carried off to Babylon.

How would God’s people ever buy houses and fields and vineyards in this land again?

[ILLUS/APP] We should remember though that God’s future promises run against the grain of our present situation.

God promised Abraham and Sarah a son when they were well past their childbearing years.

God promised Moses and the people of Israel freedom in a promised land when they were slaves.

God promised Mary a Son who would be the Savior although she had never been with a man.

God promises often run counter to the bleakness of our situation. That’s why they provide us with hope.

His perfect record in keeping those promises in the past should’ve convinced us by now that, “Nothing is too difficult for (Him)!” (Deut. 32:17).

[TS] Those are the very words that Jeremiah’s uses in this next part…

Part #3: A Question and an Explanation (Jer. 32:16-44)

Jeremiah’s Question (vv. 16-25)

[ILLUS] In v. 17, Jeremiah makes it clear that He doesn’t actually doubt God’s power to keep His promise. So, if Jeremiah doesn’t question God’s power, what does He question?

Maybe the simplest way to say it is, Jeremiah questions the justice of God.

[EXP] In v. 18, Jeremiah says that God shows lovingkindness to thousands, but justly repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them.

He sees everything that people do and gives to everyone according to their deeds.

That’s justice.

Now, He poured out lovingkindness on Israel by rescuing the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and bringing them into the Promised Land. But when they took possession of it, they rebelled against Him.

That’s why Babylon’s siege ramps are outside Jerusalem’s walls.

That’s why the city is given over to the Chaldeans.

That’s why there is sword, famine, and pestilence—because God said there would be sword, famine, and pestilence if His people rebelled against Him!

That’s justice!

But what God has promised by commanding Jeremiah to buy the field isn’t justice. It’s grace.

I think Jeremiah is asking how God’s grace doesn’t undo God’s justice.

[TS] Let’s look at how God begins to explain in v. 26ff…

God’s Explanation—His Justice (vv. 26-35)

[EXP] Nothing is too difficult for God: He can be perfectly gracious and perfectly just at the same time.

He explains to Jeremiah that justice will indeed be poured out (vv. 28-29).

Israel has been doing only evil since its youth (vv. 30-32).

And Israel’s evil has often been a spitting on God’s grace (vv. 33-35).

[INTER] But stop and consider: How is God’s grace magnified by Israel’s wickedness?

Grace isn’t grace if it is given to the deserving.

[TS] Israel is as undeserving as it gets, and yet God reiterates His grace in the next part of His explanation.

God’s Explanation—His Grace (vv. 36-44)

[EXP] Verse 36 begins with, “Now therefore,” which refers back to Judah being brought low in vv. 28-35. From its lowest point in Babylonian captivity, God will graciously raise Judah up to heights previously not imagined.

He will gather them back and cause them to dwell in safety (v. 37).

They will be His people, and He will be their God (v. 38).

He will give them one heart, i.e., an undivided heart, that fears Him only—an undivided passed down to future generations (v. 39).

He will make an everlasting covenant with them, a covenant that guarantees that He won’t turn away from them and that they won’t turn away from Him (v. 40).

He will rejoice over them and plant them in the Promised Land once again with all His heart and soul (v. 41).

He is going to bring about all the good that He is promising to them (v. 42).

Jeremiah may wonder how all this grace will work with all God’s justice, but God guarantees, “Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses (all throughout the Promised Land), for I will restore their fortunes,” (v. 44).

[INTER] Look through vv. 36-44 and tell me what God’s grace is conditioned upon. Is it conditioned upon Israel’s obedience? It is conditioned upon anyone or anything?

It is. God’s grace is conditional.

Now, it is not conditional based upon Judah’s obedience. Judah has already proven disobedient toward God, that’s why Babylon is at the gate.

But God’s grace is conditional upon God’s faithfulness.

About eleven times in these 9 verses God says, “I will” or “I am going to”. Only once does God say to His people, “They shall,” as in, “They shall be My people,” but not because they’ll make it happen because God will!

[ILLUS] R. C. Sproul once said, “What does that impenitent, unconverted person hear when they listen to a sermon and they hear this announcement, ‘God loves you unconditionally’? Let me tell you what he hears. He hears this: ‘Well, God loves me just as I am. I don’t have to repent of my sins. I don’t need a savior. I don’t have to worry about going to hell because a God who loves everybody unconditionally won’t ever send anybody to hell. So, I can keep on living a hellish life just as I am and never worry again about offending God because He cannot be offended, so unconditional is His love.’

Sproul says, “I can’t think of a more perilous message to communicate to people than to stand there and announce the unconditional love of God.”

I think Jeremiah is saying the same thing in this chapter of Scripture although in different terms.

Jeremiah is essentially saying to God, “I can’t think of a more perilous message to communicate to Judah than to have me announce the unconditional love of God.”

But given his place in the history of salvation, Sproul saw what Jeremiah couldn’t yet see: Sproul saw Jesus as the condition upon which all God’s love and grace rests.

Sproul went on to say, “God has placed an absolute condition upon the salvation of any person. That person must embrace Christ by faith and trust in Him and Him alone, or that person will know only the divine wrath forever.”

[APP] How does God’s justice on sinners and His gracious love toward sinners not contradict one another? God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus!

Romans 3:23–26 NASB95

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

All the sins committed by God’s people were paid for by Jesus on the cross.

In the death of Jesus, the justice of God was satisfied.

All the righteousness needed by God’s people was supplied by Jesus as He rose from the grave.

In the resurrection of Jesus, those who have faith in Him are justified.

[TS]...

Conclusion

It’s understandable that Jeremiah would be confused about how God could be so gracious to people who were such great sinners without diminishing His own justice.

The mystery is revealed, however, in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.

His blood is the blood of the New Covenant, the blood of that everlasting covenant that guarantees that God will not turn away from us and that we will not turn away from Him.

Trust in Jesus who satisfied the justice of God on your behalf on the cross.

Trust in Jesus who justified you before God when He rose up from the dead.

Trust in Jesus because all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Him.