Image result for Jeremiah 31 37Todays readings.. 1 kings 4&5, Jeremiah 31, Mark 5

            It has only been in my lifetime that it has been possible to send rockets into distant space to explore its’ extent – and they have discovered that it appears to be limitless!   This thought was prompted by our Jeremiah chapter 31 today – which has two remarkable statements! 

            First, reading from v.31, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers … to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke…”  [v.31,32]

            The “new covenant” is something we can visualize, that it will happen when Jesus returns, it will be the time when God “will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [v.33]:  this covenant climaxes with the declaration, “for they shall all know me … for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” [v.34]

            The second remarkable statement is in v. 37 “Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.”

            These prophecies were made through Jeremiah more than 2,500 years ago. Now, in my lifetime, men have thought they had the ability by using powerful rockets to find the boundaries of space – and found that (as far as they can reach) that it is limitless!  And here on earth God’s chosen nation have, to some extent, been regathered to their ‘holy’ land after being driven out more than 1,900 years ago.

            A final thought for us – is a prophecy yet future – it is in v.23. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “‘The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’   

            We have seen the first stage of the restoration of the “fortunes” of God’s nation and the verses which follow will see the wondrous fulfilment of the rest of the chapter when God will complete his work to “watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.”

            May we have lived in such way that we will “rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”[1 Peter 4 v.13] and achieved by the return of the Lord Jesus and, by his grace, we will be there, to witness remarkable wonders – which today we can only dimly imagine.