Jeremiah 30:3,11

Jeremiah 30 is all about the restoration of the people of Judah and Israel. It speaks of mainly the final restoration, in the last days (hence references to the ‘time of Jacob’s trouble’).

‘ “For behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,” says the LORD. “And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”’ (Jeremiah 30:3)

The Jews were sent away from their land because of their sin. God was punishing them justly for their sin, and so had them taken captive by Babylon (and later by other nations before being completely dispersed by the Romans). But God was saying that this was just temporary. It is only chastisement (v. 14). He will restore them.

Does this not encourage us greatly today? There will have been times when we have felt so far from God, if we have been Christians for very long at all. There are things we do that we shouldn’t, and things we don’t do that we should and all in all it leads to us being taken captive, separated from our home land, far from the love we have known in Christ. Furthermore, God may punish us further for our actions in some way. And yet He promises always to restore us. All it takes is repentance, for the blood of Christ has already washed our sins away.

‘ “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.”’ (Jeremiah 30:11)

The LORD will never make a complete end of us. It’s never ‘all over red rover’. Where there is sin, there is always more grace. What a happy thought!