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The Faithfulness of God

Jeremiah 31:35-37

The first 29 chapters of Jeremiah are all about judgment. Israel was a land of sin, idolatry, and apostacy. For these things God brought judgment upon them. Beginning in chapter 30, the Lord God gave his prophet a message of mercy sure, grace indestructible, and salvation certain for his covenant people, God’s true Israel, all the host of his elect.

Absolute Security

Here, the Lord God asserts the absolute security of his elect, the Israel of God, his church, and assures us of it by his great faithfulness. This assurance is given immediately following his declaration of his everlasting covenant of grace (vv. 31-34). Just as God set his bow in the sky to assure Noah that he would never destroy the earth again by a flood of water, the Lord God here promises us that so long as heaven and earth shall stand, so his covenant, his grace, his mercy toward his elect shall never fail — no matter what! The Lord God here tells us that he will never forsake his chosen. He will never cast them off. He will never reject them. He will never turn his back upon them.

“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.”

Creation’s Witness

The Lord God here uses extremely strong, moving language. He asserts that we will never lose the ordinances of the sun, moon, and stars, the shining of the sun by day and of the moon and stars by night, as long as time shall stand. These great wonders of creation are mysteries far beyond human understanding. That was true in Jeremiah’s day and it is still true today. No scientist of any kind would ever claim to know the mysteries of the sun, moon, and stars, the expanse of heaven, or the profound of the depths of the earth. No brilliant mind has begun to fathom these mysteries, even today — nor will they ever. But they are God’s constant witnesses to us of his faithfulness to his elect. God says that if you can search them out, then he will admit that he can cast off his people. What a strong affirmation of his love, grace, and faithfulness toward his people!

The point made here is that the people of God will never cease to be the people of God. It doesn’t matter what they do. Be their sins never so great, God will never cease to be their God, looking after them and caring for them. And they shall never cease to be his people. — Why? — Because God is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13; Lamentations 3:21-23).

Oh, my soul, every time my foot touches the earth, every time my face feels the warmeth of the sun, every time my eyes behold the moon and the stars of the sky, every time I hear the roaring sea crashing upon the shore, let me hear my God’s promise of faithfulness.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s