Jeremiah 32
Bible Passage: Jeremiah 32
It was kinda tough being Jeremiah, wasn’t it?
He had spent a lot of time trying to warn the people about their impending captivity by the Babylonians but without much success, he was being locked up in the house of Judah, and he was made to buy a field for seventeen shekels of silver, which he probably never got to use for his own benefit (correct me if I’m wrong).
The interesting thing was that Jeremiah had to take the purchase deed, sign it and then gave it to Baruch for him to place it in an earthen vessel for long-term storage (like keeping food fresh longer in a vacuum sealed container), all being done in the presence of witnesses.
The Consequences of the Peoples’ Actions
By that time, it had become apparent that the Babylonians were going to overcome the city, but the people were still blind towards it, like a bat in a really noisy, bass-thumping nightclub that had lost its voice for any eco-location, wearing earmuffs and a trendy pair of sunglasses.
And there, poor Jeremiah couldn’t do much about it at that point in time but cry out to the Lord. Only very few people listened to him, like Baruch. But even he couldn’t much either, except for keeping that purchase deed.
What’s more, the earlier part of God’s response to Jeremiah was also a summary of why they would have to suffer that fate: And that’s simply because the people never listened to God, and they were not turning back to Him. And that was why they would be handed over to the Babylonians.
The Return of the People
But after all that, God assured Jeremiah that He would restore them eventually. The purchase that Jeremiah made would become something like a pledge of the people’s deliverance by God. Although God was angry with His people and were going to punish them, He had by no means left them. He still loved them and that was why that punishment was not going to be for long.
For thus says the Lord, “Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them…”
– Jeremiah 32: 42
And this reminds me of His love for us too. We were once sinners and were suppose to face the eternal punishment. But just as the pledge seen in Jeremiah’s purchase of the field, God had purchased us at a much greater cost: The shedding of blood of Jesus Christ.
The Ultimate Purchase
Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood…
– Acts 20: 28
Are we like the people during Jeremiah’s time, who were very stubborn and refused to listen to the warnings of God? Are we like them who did things that spurred the wrath of the Lord, such that He would deliver them into the hands of the enemy? Are we like them who did not obey God, despite God having put up with their antics for a really long time and across generations?
Since Jesus Christ had already purchased us with His own blood, and we have come to believe in Him, should we behave like the people of Jeremiah’s time, we would be crucifying Him a second time. And, to put it simply, that is bad. Really, really bad…
So let us remember God’s love for us, just as He had loved the people back then. Just as He would remember His people and was willing to restore them, if we would keep His word in our hearts and repent, He would also restore us.
May God continue to guide us all.