Jeremiah 27:1-22

 

J. Vernon McGee has, “In chapter 27 the message is to go out again to all the nations that they are to yield to the king of Babylon.  This time his message is illustrated---“Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah.”  God reminds these nations that he is the Creator and he gives power to whomever he chooses (vs. 6).  Although God clearly told these nations to yield to the king of Babylon, they did not obey.  Had they done as he said, they would have saved literally thousands of human lives (vs. 8).  Halley says, “Jeremiah put a yoke, like that worn by oxen, on his neck, and went about the city, saying, ‘Thus shall Babylon put a yoke on the necks of this people.’  One of the false prophets, Hananiah, with brazen impudence, broke the yoke (28:10); and, as a punishment died within two months (28:17). Jeremiah chapters 46 through 49 cover the specific prophecies of the each of these nations. 

 

“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD to me:  Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck, and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.  And command them to say to their masters, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel---thus you shall say to your masters:  I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to me.  And now I have given these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.  So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.  And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the LORD, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.  Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.  For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.  But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the LORD, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’  I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, ‘Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!  Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?  Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie in my name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’  Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD:  Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you.  Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live!  Why should this city be laid waste?  But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.  For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem---yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:  They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,’ says the LORD.  ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’”  Comment:  The pillars and the brass Sea weighed tons, the pillars and Sea having to be cut up by the Babylonians to cart away to Babylon, as Jeremiah recounted in his historic chapter 52, written ‘after the fact.’  This massive amount of brass never made it back to Jerusalem, to my knowledge.  The silver and gold utensils and goblets made it back, but that’s about it.  The ark of the covenant is still missing, and is thought to have never been taken to Babylon.  One of those mysteries which won’t be solved until Jesus returns.  The two pillars, one on each side of the entrance of the Temple, standing 18 cubits high, were made of bronze, hollow, but three inches thick, twelve cubits in circumference.  That’s a lot of bronze just in the two pillars, and couple that to the brazen Sea.

 

Jeremiah 28:1-17

 

Halley says, “Bonds and bars, Jeremiah put a yoke, like that worn by oxen, on his neck”  J. Vernon McGee has, “In chapter 27 the message [that started in chapter 27] is to go out again to all the nations that they are to yield to the king of Babylon.  This time his message is illustrated…” by Jeremiah being told to make bonds and yokes like oxen use and to put them on his neck, and then to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre and Sidon “by the hand of messengers”.  History shows us these kings ignored God’s warning through Jeremiah.  The two principal capital cities of the Phoenician Empire were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar in 573BC (he conquered Tyre, the land portion of the city, while the island-fortress part of the city remained unconquered until Alexander the Great’s time).  Moab and the Ammonites were also overrun by the Chaldean army, as Syria was also.  Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar conquered all the way to the Egyptian border, and even defeated the Egyptian army twice.  God continued to deal successive military blows against the Phoenician Empire as well. The Phoenician capital city-states of Tyre and Sidon had been guilty of infecting first Israel, and then Judah with their nasty pagan religion of Baal-worship which included child sacrifice.  The island portion of Tyre with their Phoenician navy and merchant marine did survive through the time of the Persian Empire, and was even used to augment the Persian navy in its battles with Greece.  But when Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, he remembered this and wiped out the island fortress city of Tyre, forcing the remaining inhabitants that could flee with their naval and merchant marine ships to flee to Carthage.  When they relocated to Kirjath Hadeschath (Carthage) and Iberia (Spain), the Roman Empire, in turn wiped them out there, most of them who could escape having fled up the Atlantic coast of Europe and getting ethnically absorbed with the peoples living in those lands.  It doesn’t pay to ignore God.  J. Vernon McGee basically tells us that in verses 2-4 one of the false prophets, named Hananiah, refutes the prophecy of Jeremiah while claiming that he is giving the true Word of God to the people.  Jeremiah told the people that Hananiah was a liar, telling the people lies.  He actually took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, saying, “Thus saith the LORD; even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years (verse 11).”  God said to tell Hananiah that he would die within the year (verses 15-17).  “He died, just as God said he would.  You would think this would alert the people and they would say, ‘Look, Jeremiah is the one who is calling the shots.  Jeremiah is the one who is giving us God’s Word.’  However, they were not convinced, but went on in their rebellion against the Word of God.  Judah listened to the wrong voices, and we have done the same thing in our own recent history.  Since the time of World War II we have not had any true leaders in this country.  [If you don’t believe that, watch Oliver Stone’s movie JFK]  Someone once asked Gladstone, the great English jurist, what was the mark of a great statesman.  He gave this answer: ‘A great statesman is a man who knows the direction God is going for the next fifty years.’  My friend, we certainly have not had leaders like that.  As a result, we have missed a great opportunity as a nation for leadership in the world,” [don’t believe that, read “Open Veins of Latin America” by Eduardo Galeano, “Killing Hope” by William Blum, and “Blackwater” by Jeremy Scahill—this is not the kind of leadership God wanted America to be involved in!  We have innocent blood on our hands.  J. Vernon McGee continues]  “and the great middle class of our nation has been corrupted.  We are headed down, just as England went down, and just as Judah went down.  We have refused to listen to the Word of God.”  [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol. III, pp. 398-399]  Very prophetic, that J. Vernon McGee.

 

“And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was in Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, ‘Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.  Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.  And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will brake the yoke of the king of Babylon.’  [Now of course, the LORD had spoken no such thing through this false prophet, as we’ll now see.  We’ll also see the sarcastic side of Jeremiah when he confronts false prophets, it’s kind of cool, his response.]  Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD, and the prophet Jeremiah said, ‘Amen!  The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied to bring back the vessels of the LORD’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.  Nevertheless, hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:  The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms---of war and disaster and pestilence.  As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.’”  Man, you can just see the sarcasm dripping out of Jeremiah’s speech here.  It really gets to Hananiah, as we’ll see next.  “Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.  And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD:  Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’  And the prophet Jeremiah went his way” Jeremiah obviously following the Proverb “Answer not a fool according to his folly.”  “Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD:  You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.’  For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him.  I have given him the beasts of the field also.’  Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.  Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth.  This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.’  So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.”  Doesn’t pay to be a false prophet going head to head with a real prophet of God, just doesn’t pay.  But did the people start heeding Jeremiah when Hananiah died?  No they did not, to their own downfall, sadly.

 

Jeremiah 29:1-32

 

This was written after Jeconiah and the best of the people and craftsmen had been taken to Babylon.  In this letter Jeremiah is advising them to be peaceful and obedient captives.  He also mentions the promise of God to return them to Judah and Jerusalem in 70 years.  But we see here also that there are false prophets in captivity in Babylon who keep up their fight against Jeremiah.  What fools, they’re in Babylonian captivity and they still don’t believe either Jeremiah or God.  J. Vernon McGee says, “Chapter 29 records Jeremiah’s letter to the people who had been taken into captivity when Jehoiachin [Jeconiah] was king (see 2 Kings 24:10-16).  The complete captivity of Judah came eleven years later (2 Kings 25:1-7).”  God’s instruction to them is recorded in verses 1-7.  “That is, settle down in Babylon.  Don’t think you will be released any moment.  Go ahead and plan for your future---get married and establish homes, because you are going to be there a long time.  ‘Seek the peace of the city’ in which you are living, and pray for it.  They were not to rebel or instigate a revolt.  They were to settle down and be law-abiding citizens…God tells them the exact number of years they will be in captivity (verse 10), then assures them that he has not forsaken them but will restore them to their homeland.  There were false prophets in Babylon who refused to accept Jeremiah’s letter as a message from God.  [Amazing, isn’t that?  The ultimate in stupidity and denial of the fact that here these false prophets are in captivity, just as God through Jeremiah said they would be, and they’re still saying Jeremiah’s prophecies weren’t of God.  That’s got to the ultimate in denial and lack of brains.]  They wrote letters to Jerusalem claiming that God had appointed a new priest and that Jeremiah was to be silenced.”  God has the final word, though, in verses 30-32.  “God speaks very impressively in history.  He has told Judah that what is happening to them is happening because of their sin. He will always judge sin.  God has not changed.  Many people would like to think that the God of the New Testament is different from the God of the Old Testament.  He is the same Person [i.e. Yahweh was the pre-incarnate Yeshua, Jesus, cf. John 8:58 and Exodus 3:13-14; John 1:1-14]; he hasn’t changed one bit.  He hasn’t grown old.  He hasn’t even learned anything new.  He is the same God.  Not only has God spoken in history, but he has spoken in his Word…”

 

Verses 1-23, “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive---to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.  (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)  The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah [that could be Jeremiah’s brother], whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.  Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters---that you may be increased there and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:  Do not let your [false, obviously, by context here] prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.  For they prophesy falsely to you in my name; I have not sent them,’ says the LORD.  For thus says the LORD:  ‘After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the LORD, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and go pray to me, and I will listen.  And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.  Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’---therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity---thus says the LORD of hosts:  Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.  [Remember Jeremiah chapter 24 about the two baskets of figs, one so rotten it couldn’t be eaten, and the other, the good figs?  Again, we see those Jeremiah is addressing in this letter are the basket of good figs, and those left behind in Judea and Jerusalem are the basket of rotten figs, so bad that they can’t be eaten.  In Jeremiah’s final accounting of how many went captive in each of the three deportations, (Jeremiah chapter 52) most of those who remained up through the final conquest of the land of Judah and Jerusalem died of the sword, famine and pestilence.  The final number taken captive was only 745 people.  In 605BC, the first deportation, 3,023 persons were taken to Babylon. In the second deportation when Jeconiah was deported, 832 persons were taken to Babylon (597BC).  Everyone left in the land of Judah, it’s cities, and Jerusalem, except for a mere 745, died during the final invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC.  Those who died, probably numbering in the multiple thousands or more, maybe hundreds of thousands, were the “bad figs.”]  And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth---to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not heeded my words,’ says the LORD.  ‘Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah [not Zedekiah the king of Judah.  Jeremiah just named the two false prophets who were in Babylon prophesying falsely, and stirring up the people, which Nebuchadnezzar would have viewed as stirring up rebellion right under his nose, a capital offense---and don’t forget, this letter is sent by way of Nebuchadnezzar, it is posted from king Zedekiah’s messengers through the king of Babylon to the people of the captivity in Babylon.], who prophesy a lie to you in my name:  Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.  And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them.  Indeed I know, and am a witness,’ says the LORD.”

 

The LORD places a curse on Shemaiah the Nehelamite

 

Verses 24-32, “You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, ‘Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying:  You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the LORD over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks.  Now therefore why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you?  For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”  The LORD right here is telling Jeremiah to go to this guy Shemaiah, and deliver a message to him from the LORD because of the false letter he sent back to Jerusalem, trying to get Jeremiah in trouble for sending his letter to Babylon.  We’ll see next what God tells Jeremiah to say to this Shemaiah.  This letter reaches Zephaniah the priest, and he reads it to Jeremiah.  The LORD responds immediately, telling Zephaniah through Jeremiah to tell those in Babylon what he’s going to do to Shemaiah.  “Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:  ‘Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite:  Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie---therefore thus says the LORD:  Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family:  he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for my people, says the LORD, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.’”

 

Jeremiah 30:1-24

 

Halley has, “Chapters 30,31, A Song of Restoration, For both Israel and Judah, with Messianic foregleams…”  Verses 1-3a picture the Day of the LORD, during the Great Tribulation, with verse 3b making reference to the beginning of the Messiah’s Millennial rule with the return of both Israel and Judah to the Promised Land.  Verses 4-7, J. Vernon McGee also identifies these verses with Day of the LORD prophecies, “Jeremiah sees the great Day of the LORD coming of which the other prophets, including Isaiah, also spoke.  They said it is to be a day of darkness and not of light, that the people [of Israel and Judah] will go through the night of the Great Tribulation Period before they will see the brightness of day.  In effect, God is saying, ‘You haven’t seen anything yet.  The Great Tribulation Period will be far worse than what you are going through now.”  Verses 8-9 “Out of this awful time of trouble, the people of Israel will return to the land.  David will be raised from the dead and will rule over them as they enter the kingdom age.”  When shall all this occur?  Verse 24 “In the latter days”, i.e. this prophecy is for the future, the days ahead of us, this hasn’t been fulfilled yet, because you don’t see King David walking around the streets of Jerusalem yet as an immortal being.

 

Verses 1-9, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ‘Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying:  Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.  For behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, “that I will bring again the captivity my people Israel and Judah,” [“…” King James Version.  That one part of that verse underlined has been twisted by the NKJV translators to mean the opposite of what it does! Gotta watch these new translations like a hawk] says the LORD.  And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’  Now these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah.  [Comment:  Israel has long been out of the land of Palestine, as a study of Kings and Chronicles shows (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/3.html through http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/4.html).  So this has to be referring to “a future captivity and regathering” of Israel and Judah, wherever the nations (plural) that make up the ten tribes of Israel are today.  We know where Judah is, the restored nation of Israel, filled with Israeli Jews.  But the ten tribes of the northern House of Israel are still missing.  They’re out there, now grown large into nations, but they’ve just been historically ‘lost’ from view.  God will be restoring them as well as all Judah, all the Jews worldwide, to their ancient Promised Land as the Millennial Kingdom of God starts after the Messiah’s return to earth.]  For thus says the LORD:  ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child?  So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale?  Alas!  For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.  For it shall come to pass in that day’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them.  But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (verses 5-9)  This is the time (verse 9) of the 1st Resurrection to immortality, where we see here King David is raised to life, to become the King of Israel forever, reigning under the Messiah, Yeshua haMeshiach, who is now King of the whole earth, cf. Zechariah 14:9.  Verses 10-14, “‘Therefore do not fear, O my servant Jacob,’ says the LORD, ‘nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of captivity.  Jacob shall surely return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.  For I am with you,’ says the LORD, ‘to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you.  Yet I will not make a complete end of you.  But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.’”  Verses 12-15 is the LORD reflecting on why he must send Israel (whomever they may be as nations now) and Judah into captivity in what will amount to World War III, the Great Tribulation.  Then in verses 16-17 the LORD says what he’s going to do with the enemies of Israel and Judah who have been used to punish them.  Verses 12-15, “For thus says the LORD:  ‘Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe.  There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines.  All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound off an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased.  Why do you cry about your affliction?  Your sorrow is incurable.  Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.’ (verses 16-17)  ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured, and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey.  For I will restore health to you and heal you from your wounds,’ says the LORD, ‘because they called you an outcast saying: This is Zion; no one seeks her.’

 

The future restoration of Judah, Jerusalem and Israel

 

Verses 18-24,  “Thus says the LORD:  ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its own plan.  Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.  Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.  Their nobles shall be from among them, and their governor shall come from their midst; then I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach me; for who is this who pledged his heart to approach me?’ says the LORD.  ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.’  Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth in fury, a continuing whirlwind; it will fall violently on the head of the wicked. [read Ezekiel 1:4-28 to see possibly what this ‘whirlwind’ could be referring to, the LORD’s portable throne, pretty scary thing to behold, even for you Star Trek fans.  Read it in the New King James for clarity, realizing what this thing looks like and its capabilities will knock your socks off—a Klingon Warbird wouldn’t stand a chance!]  The fierce anger of the LORD will not return until he has done it, and until he has performed the intents of his heart.  In the latter days you will consider it.”  “In the latter days” makes this a prophecy for the end-times, times just ahead of us.  For a graphic picture of where we as the Body of Christ, are in time element, and what those “latter days” will be like, log onto the this website’s commentary on the Book of Revelation, starting at: http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/revelation1.html.

 

Jeremiah 31:1-40

 

J. Vernon McGee has this to say, “I have labeled chapter 31 “the ‘I will’ chapter,” because “I will” occurs fifteen times, and the One who says it is none other than God [Yahweh, the pre-existent Jesus Christ].  When God says “I will” fifteen times, he is telling us what he is going to do…This prophecy [of the return of the people to the land, both Israel and Judah], where God is the God of all the families of Israel has not yet been fulfilled, that time has not come yet.  The present return of Israel [i.e. the Jews, Judah, not the northern ten tribes of “the House of Israel”] to the land cannot be interpreted as being the fulfillment of this prophecy because they have not returned to God…[some of] the people have returned to the land, but they have not returned to the LORD.”  And more importantly, the House of Israel, the ten northern tribes, whomever they are nationally, have definitely not returned to the land.  After the short 28 year-long return and stay of the Black Sea Scythian-Israelites, they promptly left the Middle East again, returning to the Russian steppes, and then disappearing historically from view.  These verses are talking about a complete return to the land by all 12 tribes (verse 8) from “the north country”.  J. Vernon McGee says, “It is going to be such a big undertaking to bring the people back to the land [that] you might think that God would leave the blind and the lame behind and just bring the best physical specimens.  God says, ‘Nothing of the kind. I am going to bring them all back.’”  In verse 9 he talks of Ephraim as his first-born, and that is first-born as accounted for the inheritance of the Blessings of Abraham (I Chronicles 5:1-2).  So the LORD just mentioned one of the ten northern tribes, the head tribe, and it is not Judah.  Judah, Genesis 50, provided the kings for Israel and Judah, but Ephraim and Manasseh were the two “birthright” tribes which were prophecied to inherit the incredible birthright blessings of Abraham.  So God is talking about a complete return of ALL Israel to the land (verse 10).  “God judged Israel [all of Israel, but the House of Israel in the 700s BC and now Judah], but he also said ‘He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.’  God is not through saying what he will do (verses 13-14).  Verses 15-22, God shows mercy on Ephraim, whoever that tribe became nationally, we’ll see when the LORD draws Ephraim back to the Promised Land.  Verses 23-30, God prospers Judah in the land.  Verses 31-34, God defines what the New Covenant is.  It is not here for Judah or Israel yet as a people.  But the apostle Paul said the New Covenant is here right now for Christians and Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua.  Paul quotes these verses applying them to believers in Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrews 8:6-13.  Those verses are almost an exact duplicate of what we have here in Jeremiah 31:31-34, except they’re applied to us in Hebrews 8.  They won’t be applied to Israel or Judah as a whole until after Jesus Christ returns to the earth.  Verses 35-37, God’s Millennial Kingdom promises for both Israel and Judah are irrevocable, which shoots the evil “replacement theology” of Catholic and many Protestant denominations down in eternal flames.  God’s promises are for Israel, all 12 tribes.  God is basically saying ‘If the laws governing the moon and stars, the laws of astrophysics, and the laws of the moon’s gravity which make the tides can be abrogated, annulled, then my promises for Israel, all 12 tribes, can be annulled.’  Verses 35-37 are some pretty strong words for those who would teach the damnable lies of replacement theology and Amillennialism.  Verses 38-40, Jerusalem will stand forever, at least during the Millennial Kingdom period.  We know from Revelation when the whole plan of salvation is finished, the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven and sit basically on the territory of the entire Middle East (1,500 miles by 1,500 miles), cf. Revelation 21.

 

Verses 1-14, “‘At the same time,’ says the LORD, ‘I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.’  Thus says the LORD:  ‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness---Israel, when I went to give him rest.’  The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.  Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!  You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.  You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food.  For there shall be a day when the watchman will cry on Mount Ephraim, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’  [Comment:  Since at this point when Israel is safely regathered into their land, Samaria to the north of Judah, there will be no need of military watchmen.  This is a different kind of watchman.  The Jews know all about this because the Hebrew Calendar has been entrusted to them.  This watchman is watching for the first crescent of the new moon of the seventh month, which marks the beginning of the Holy Day of the Feast of Trumpets, which begins the Fall Holy Day observances of Trumpets, Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.  See http://www.unityinchrist.com/calendar/HebrewCalendar.htm to learn more about how the Levitical priests were entrusted to calculate the Hebrew Calendar and Holy Days, and have done it accurately now for 4,000 years.  It is an amazing story.  As Zechariah 14:16-19 shows, Israel and the whole world will be keeping the Holy Days of God spelled out by Leviticus 23.  For more on this, and what these days represent see:  http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows2.htm.  This prophecy in Jeremiah 30-31 is about the start of the Millennial Kingdom of God on earth.  For more on that subject, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm.]  For thus says the LORD:  ‘Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations;  [“Jacob” often referred to the two birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, cf. Genesis 48, “let my name be named on them.”  His name, “my name”, was Jacob.  The Jews often think the term Jacob refers to them, but it doesn’t, it refers to Ephraim and Manasseh.]  Proclaim, give praise, and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!  Behold I will bring them from the north country, [“north country” = WWIII United States of Europe, NWN of Jerusalem, probably concentration-labor camps] and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng shall return there.  They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them.  I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.  [Ephraim is not Judah, the Jews, but the leading tribe of the northern ten tribes called the House of Israel throughout Kings & Chronicles.  Ephraim & Manasseh, Genesis 48, 1st Chronicles 5:1-2, became the two leading and “birthright inheritors” of the ten northern tribes of Israel.  We can see by direct context, in this sentence that “Jacob” is referring to Ephraim, and where Ephraim was, so was Manasseh.]  Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.  For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. [For who this nation “stronger than he” is, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm.]  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD---for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together [dancing sin?  No way, man]; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them to rejoice rather than sorrow.  I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance [i.e. the tithes will be flowing in, the basic income tax of God’s theocratic government is ten percent, maximum.  The whole government and priesthood will run on 10 percent, period, compared to what we pay in taxes now.  (Some of us pay a whapping 85 percent or more of our income on taxes in the socialist nations, and a good 50 to 60 percent income taxes and hidden taxes, in the good old US of A!)  A separate tithe will be saved by the people, so each person can afford to go to God’s Feast days and have a good time.  But this 2nd tithe amounts to saving ‘vacation money’, for God’s Holy Days will truly be spiritual retreats and vacation times of refreshment, dancing and fellowship. Log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm  to see how this tithe system will work in the future World to Come as the Jews call the Millennial Kingdom of God.], and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,’ says the LORD.

 

God’s Mercy on Ephraim

 

Verses 15-22, “Thus says the LORD:  ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.’  [Comment: “God spoke here of satiating Israel’s souls with abundance during his Second Coming.  Then right in the midst of all this joy and blessing and singing and dancing he gave a prophecy of lamentation and weeping.  Now, it’s interesting.  First, the prophecy was talking about the joy and dancing and being satiated with the goodness of God, and then this interesting little prophecy of lamentation was placed right in the midst of that prophecy.  From Matthew’s Gospel, we know this prophecy relates to the mothers in Bethlehem whose children were slain by Herod the Great.  Herod ordered all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem be slain because he wanted to destroy the Messiah.  So, according to Matthew 2:18, this prophecy (“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”) was fulfilled at the time of the birth of Christ.  But it is just one of those interesting things the way that God has slipped it in here.  Right in the middle of a prophecy concerning all of the joy, the blessings, the peace, and the merriment of his Second Coming is this little prophecy of his First Coming.”  Pastor Chuck Smith, in his The Word For Today NKJV study Bible, p. 998  But this verse is also a part of another prophecy, as we will see in verses 16-17.  Verse 15 also represents those mothers who have been brought out of captivity, and their children weren’t brought out with them at the same time, and they think, naturally, that they’re dead.  But you see, even in the captivity of the tribulation, of those the LORD has chosen for survival, he has also chosen their children for survival as well, though at times some of those children have been separated from them ‘in the camps.’  So we must also look at verse 15 in context with verses 16-17 and this whole regathering of Israel theme being expressed in chapters 30-31.]  Verses 16-17, 18-22, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.  There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border.”  “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:  You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for you are the LORD my God.  Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated.  Because I bore the reproach of my youth.  Is Ephraim my dear son?  Is he a pleasant child?  For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,’ says the LORD.  ‘Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went.  Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities.”  All the northern House of Israel now, represented by their head tribe, Ephraim, will make what the Jews call Alyia, the journey back to the Promised Land in Palestine, as verse 21 prophecies.  “How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter?  For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth, a woman will compass a man” (verse 22).  Now the only thing I think this could represent is that due to the severity of World War III, single women will far outnumber single men.  This happened in post-WWII Germany, where right after World War II German women outnumbered German men by 5-to-1.  There is another short little prophecy somewhere in the Old Testament where it says five women will take hold of one man, wanting to be called by his name, i.e. be married to him, thus having his name.  This speaks of the severity of the Great Tribulation, showing it fits the pattern of a World War.  Other nations will suffer just as severely, God is no respecter of persons.

 

Future Prosperity of Judah

 

Verses 23-25, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:  ‘They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities, when I bring back their captivity:  The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!  And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks.  For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.’”  In the previous verses, the LORD just showed how he is going to bless all the returning northern House of Israel, by addressing Ephraim, the lead tribe of that ten tribed nation [made up of remnants of all the nations each tribe had become somewhere out in the world during the past 3,000 years since 700BC].  Now the LORD has just addressed Judah, the lead tribe of the southern House of Judah [made up of one half the tribe of Benjamin, all the Levites, and the tribe of Judah, at the time of their separation under king Rehoboam, son of Solomon.]  So what the LORD has just shown us in verses 15-25 is that he is going to bless both the northern House of Israel, returning to the Promised Land, and he is going to equally bless the returning House of Judah.  Equal treatment, as Judah and Israel become a united Kingdom again under the just resurrected King David and the returning Messiah Yeshua haMeshiach, Jesus Christ.  In the very next verse, verse 26, we get a glimpse of how the LORD communicated some of these prophecies to Jeremiah.  I’m sure Jeremiah also heard at times the LORD’s voice speaking to him.  But this is interesting.  Verse 26, “After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.”  Dreaming such a vision, prophecy, must have been sweet to Jeremiah, considering he was in jail at this point in his life.  In the next set of verses the LORD shows these prophecies are addressed to the two Houses, the House of Israel and the House of Judah, like I just said.  This proves it, to all those who would teach you that the Jews are all Israel and that there were no “lost ten tribes of Israel.”  Verses 27-30, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.  And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,’ says the LORD.  ‘In those days they shall say no more:  ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’  But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”  That last little statement about sour grapes shows that the sinful lifestyle picked up by the fathers (and mothers too) will no longer be passed onto the children.  Criminal lifestyles will be halted at the level of those who have them, ending with their end.  The spiritual care for children by the theocratic-religious system of the time, running the way it ought to, will prevent this wrecking of future generations. 

 

The New Covenant

 

Verses 31-34, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah---not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the LORD:  ‘I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’”  Now Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Christ, has just defined the New Covenant in plain and simple language.  I will stick to his simple definition, explaining what the New Covenant really is, not deviating from this simple explanation.  Theologians like to add all kinds of things, saying the New Covenant is this, or that, and the worst lie that they teach is that the New Covenant means you don’t have to keep God’s Law.  What a damnable heresy, and that perverted teaching is directly opposite of this simple definition out of God’s own mouth to Jeremiah which we just read.  I have six simple points which help explain the New Covenant which do no deviate from God’s simple explanation here.  1), The New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant, where the Israelites heard all the conditions of it (God’s Laws) and promised, all on their own power, to obey (verse 32).  2), “I [Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Christ] was a husband to Israel & Judah.  The Old Covenant was a marriage covenant between Yahweh (Christ), Israel and Judah.  3), The  apostle Paul teaches us that the New Covenant is active right now in all believers.  Hebrews 8:6-13, “But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.  Because finding fault with them, he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah---not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:  I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’  In that he says, ‘A new covenant,’ he has made the first obsolete.  Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”  Notice by the very terms of the New Covenant, it doesn’t say that the Law of God are done away, simply that the Old Covenant is becoming obsolete, and ready to vanish away.  Did Jesus ever say the Law of God had vanished away?  Let’s read Matthew 5:17-19, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  [now when “the Law or the Prophets” is lumped together like that, it has to be referring to the Old Testament Law & Prophets]  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (verse 17).  Now most “liberal” theologians stop right there and say Christ fulfilled all the Law so you no longer have to keep the Law, it is done away.  Is it done away?  Let Jesus Christ continue through verses 18-19, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (verse 18).  Stop right there.  Has heaven and earth passed away yet?  No.  That doesn’t happen until God creates the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21:1.  Now in verse 19 Jesus adds more emphasis to verse 18, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”  The New Covenant teaches us that God will write his laws in the minds and hearts of believers, because Paul was applying it to the Church, the Body of Christ here in Hebrews.  4), The New Covenant, no matter how theologians want to define it, is simply what God defines it as in these verses, God writing his laws in the hearts and minds of believers.  (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm for a complete coverage on the subject of the Grace of God.)  5), How does God write his Laws in our hearts and minds?  He does so by placing his Holy Spirit within believers when they ask and receive Jesus Christ into their lives, after hearing and understanding the Gospel of Salvation. (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm)  Then Jesus Christ and God the Father come and dwell inside the believer by the Holy Spirit who now dwells inside the believer.  John 14:15-18, 26, “If you love me, keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you forever---the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you…But the Helper [King James Version: Comforter], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”  The Word of God is not living in the minds of people who dwell in the world, people who do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  But you can see through these verses, the Word of God, Jesus (and Yahweh in the Old Testament Word of God) becomes the Living Word of God to believers, because the Holy Spirit explains the meaning of what Jesus has said in his written Word.  John 16:7,13-14, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you…However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatsoever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are mine.  Therefore I said he will take of mine and declare it to you.”  Acts 5:32, “And we are his witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”  Obedience to God’s laws and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.  Willful disobedience to God’s Laws will quench God’s Spirit within us, but with God’s Holy Spirit active within us, when we do try to obey, our puny efforts to obey are backed up, fortified by power coming into us from God’s Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit is imparted into a new-believer, a lifelong process of sanctification is begun (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm and read through that whole section for a full treatment of that subject.)  2nd Timothy 1:6-7, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  For one thing, and this may sound strange to Gentile Christians, Paul admonishes Timothy to “stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”  In the early Church the chief way one asked Jesus Christ to come into their lives, bestowing the Holy Spirit within them, was through baptism and the laying on of hands.  Paul personally baptized Timothy.  He did not baptize many people in his ministry, but Timothy was one of those people.  For more information about the practice of Baptism and the laying on of hands which the apostle Paul performed on Timothy, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/baptism/What%20is%20Baptism.htm.  In verse 7 Paul tells us what the Holy Spirit bestows within us, how he empowers the mind of a believer, he tells Timothy the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of power and of love (cf. 1st Corinthians 13:4-8) and of a sound mind.  Many new-believers have experienced that power in being able to walk away from addictive habits and sins, such as alcoholism, drugs, and the addiction of cigarettes, and many other destructive addictions, often on the spot or in a short period of time.  And the changes are usually permanent.  The Holy Spirit delivers power to the believer to successfully overcome any sinful lifestyle.  That is an explanation of how God’s Holy Spirit helps write God’s laws within our hearts and minds, which is the defining action of the New Covenant.  The Old Covenant were the Laws of God written on tables of stone, the New Covenant is the Laws of God are written on the hearts and minds of believers.  In no way does the New Covenant ‘do away’ with the Laws of God.  6), Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a prophecy of God promising all Israel and Judah will come into this New Covenant relationship with Yahweh, the Messiah, Christ---when?---at the 2nd Coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  What is this saying, prophecying?  Since the New Covenant is for believers, this is prophecying all Israel & Judah, both Houses, will enter into a Salvation relationship with the Messiah after his glorious coming in power to save them (cf. Zechariah 14:1-15; 12:1-14).  I sincerely hope those six points have successfully and Biblically defined the New Covenant, what exactly it is, for you.  The New Covenant does not teach the abrogation or disobedience to God’s Law in any way, shape form or manner.

 

Does Replacement theology stand a chance in light of these next three verses?  No

 

Verses 35-37, “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its wave roar (the LORD of hosts is his name):  ‘If those ordinances depart from before me,’ says the LORD, ‘then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever.’  Thus says the LORD:  ‘If heaven above can be measured [with our feeble attempts, the Hubble is trying, but can’t come close], and the foundations of the earth searched beneath, I will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,’ says the LORD.”   These three verses (along with all the Millennial Kingdom of God prophecies in both Old and New Testaments) clearly show that the LORD, Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Christ, has not replaced Israel and Judah with the Church.  JESUS CHRIST HAS NOT TRANSFERRED ALL THOSE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF GOD PROMISES TO HIS CHURCH.  All those supposed Christian teachers and denominations who teach replacement theology are theologically shot down in flames with these three verses in the Bible.  For further study on this subject, log onto these links and read through them:  http://www.unityinchrist.com/romans/romans9-11_4.htm ,

http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_1.htm ,

http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/replacementtheology.htm. 

 

Millennial Jerusalem

 

Verses 38-40, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that the city shall be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.  They surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill of Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.  And the whole valley of the dead bodies [resulting from the battle of Armageddon] and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD.  It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.’

 

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