GOD’S CALLING FOR REPENTANCE

Jeremiah 3:6-4:4 / Keywords 3:15

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

Unfaithful Israel

3:6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.

11 The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘I will frown on you no longer,

for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘I will not be angry forever.

13 Only acknowledge your guilt—

    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,

you have scattered your favors to foreign gods

    under every spreading tree,

    and have not obeyed me,’”

declares the Lord.

14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

19 “I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children

    and give you a pleasant land,

    the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’

I thought you would call me ‘Father’

    and not turn away from following me.

20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,

    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,”

declares the Lord.

21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,

    the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,

because they have perverted their ways

    and have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 “Return, faithless people;

    I will cure you of backsliding.”

“Yes, we will come to you,

    for you are the Lord our God.

23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills

    and mountains is a deception;

surely in the Lord our God

    is the salvation of Israel.

24 From our youth shameful gods have consumed

    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—

their flocks and herds,

    their sons and daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame,

    and let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against the Lord our God,

    both we and our ancestors;

from our youth till this day

    we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”

 4:1 “If you, Israel, will return,

    then return to me,”

declares the Lord.

“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight

    and no longer go astray,

2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way

    you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’

then the nations will invoke blessings by him

    and in him they will boast.”

3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground

    and do not sow among thorns.

4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,

    circumcise your hearts,

    you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire

    because of the evil you have done—

    burn with no one to quench it.

 

1. This is Jeremiah’s prophecy during the times of King Josiah. When the people of Israel turned away from God and openly worshiped idols despite God’s warning, God sent her away to captivity in Assyria (8). And Judah did not learn a lesson from Israel. They kept their appearance at the temple but did not worship God wholeheartedly.

 

2. In today’s passage, God calls Israel to return and Judah to repent their unfaithful hearts. He begins his calling with a promise of hope. He is faithful and forgiving (12). He promises spiritual leaders after his own heart (15). When his name is glorified, Judah and Israel will be united and receive their inheritance again (18).

 

3. As God was glad to call them his children and be called their ‘Father’ (19), he also heard their cries and desired to cure them (22). God’s rebuke for them also called them to acknowledge their sin and return to him. They had to circumcise their hearts to the Lord (4:4). God desires our hearts of worship (Rm 2:28-29) while he waits to pour his blessing on us (4:2).

 

Prayer Father, I find my hope in your grace and forgiveness. I am blessed to come to you and call you my Father. Thank you for Jesus, my good shepherd. Please help me to be faithful to you and live in your presence.

One Word Repent and return to God