Jeremiah 30:18 - Meaning and Application

Here we are given further hints of the favor God had stored up for his people after their time of misery ended.

First, the city and the temple would be rebuilt (Jeremiah 30:18). Jacob’s tents, and all his dwelling places, had felt the weight of the captivity, because they lay in ruins when the people were taken away. But when the exiles return, those homes will be repaired and lifted up from their ruins. In this way God will show mercy on the places that once stood as signs of his judgment. Jerusalem will be built on its own hill, on the same ground where it stood before, even though it now looks like a broken heap. The site was fit for a city, and the city will rise again there. The one who can turn a city into a heap (Isaiah 25:2) can, when he chooses, make a heap into a city again.

The palace, meaning the temple, God’s own palace, will remain as it was before. It will be rebuilt according to the old design, and the worship of God will continue there as it had in the past.

Second, the sacred feasts will be celebrated again (Jeremiah 30:19). From the city, the temple, and all the homes of Jacob, there will come thanksgiving and the sound of people rejoicing. They will go to temple worship with joy, and they will return from it with the same joy. The voice of thanksgiving is the same as the voice of gladness, because whatever gives us joy should also move us to praise God. If anyone is cheerful, let him sing psalms. What makes us glad should also make us thankful. Serve the Lord with gladness.

Third, the people will grow in number and become great again. They will not be few, and they will not be small, but will become many and honored, and will have weight among the nations. God says, “I will multiply them and I will glorify them.” It is a mark of honor for the church when many are added to it who are saved. Even a people who have been greatly reduced and despised can be multiplied and honored by God. They will be restored to their former dignity. Their children will be like they were before, playing in the streets (Zechariah 8:5), and will inherit their parents’ property and standing as before. Their congregation will be firmly established before God in civil life and in worship. There will always be faithful magistrates in the council of elders to uphold order, and faithful worshipers in the assembly of the saints. As one generation passes away, another will rise up, and so the congregation will remain established before God.

Fourth, they will be blessed with good government (Jeremiah 30:21). Their nobles and judges will come from among themselves, from their own nation, and they will no longer be ruled by strangers and enemies. Their ruler will rise from within their own people, one who has shared their suffering in captivity. This points to Christ, our ruler, David our King (Jeremiah 30:9). He is one of us in the truest sense, made like his brothers in all things.

God says, “I will cause him to draw near.” This can be understood in two ways. It may mean the people, Jacob and Israel. God would bring them near to him again in temple worship, as they had been before, and into covenant with him as his people (Jeremiah 30:22). He would bring them near to himself in fellowship. Who has set his heart to this, made a covenant with it, and brought it into bonds, to come near to me? Very few do so. No one can do it except by God’s special grace drawing them near. Whenever we come to God in any holy service, we must set our hearts to it. The heart must be prepared for the duty, fixed on it, and held to it closely. God chiefly looks at and requires the heart, but the heart is slippery and will drift away unless much care is taken to bind it fast, like a sacrifice tied with cords.

Or this may refer to the ruler, since a single person is being spoken of. Their governor would be properly called to his office and would draw near to God to seek his guidance in every matter. God would cause him to come near, because otherwise who would be willing to take responsibility for such a weak people, with so much ruin on their hands? But when God has work to do, even work full of discouragement, he raises up the people needed for it.

This also points further to Christ, in his role as Mediator, that is, the one who stands between God and his people. Christ’s proper work is to draw near to God, not for himself only, but for us and in our place, as the high priest of our confession. The priests are said to come near to God (Leviticus 10:3; Leviticus 21:17), and Moses also drew near (Exodus 20:21). God the Father caused Jesus Christ to draw near in this way as Mediator. He appointed him for it, set him apart for it, anointed him for it, accepted him, and showed that he was pleased with him.

Jesus Christ, being caused by the Father to approach God as Mediator, also set his heart to the work. That is, he bound himself to it and took it upon himself, for his heart, and for his soul, that in the fullness of time he would be made an offering for sin. His own willing commitment, joining with his Father’s will and his compassion for fallen people, moved him to this work, and his own honor kept him faithful to it. This also shows that he entered it with full purpose, freely and gladly, and treated the difficulties in his path as nothing (Isaiah 63:3-5). In all this, Jesus Christ is truly wonderful. We may well ask with admiration, Who is this who sets his heart on such a task?

Fifth, they will be taken again into covenant with God, according to the covenant made with their fathers (Jeremiah 30:22). “You shall be my people,” and it is God’s good work in us that makes us his people, a people for his name (Acts 15:14). “I will be your God,” and this is the heart of that part of the covenant, God’s good will toward us.

Sixth, their enemies will be dealt with and brought low (Jeremiah 30:20). God says, “I will punish all those who oppress them,” so that it will be clear to everyone that it is dangerous to touch God’s anointed (Psalm 105:15). The last two verses belong here. The whirlwind of the Lord will fall with pain on the head of the wicked. These same verses were already given in Jeremiah 23:19, Jeremiah 23:20, where they were a warning of God’s wrath against wicked hypocrites in Israel. Here they are aimed at the wicked oppressors of Israel. Their wording matches Isaiah 51:22, Isaiah 51:23, where God says, “I will take the cup of trembling out of your hand and put it into the hand of those who afflict you.”

God’s wrath against the wicked is shown here as very terrible, like a whirlwind, sudden and impossible to resist. It is also very painful. It will fall with pain on their heads, so they will be hurt as well as frightened. It will keep pursuing them. Whirlwinds usually pass quickly, but this one will keep going.

It will accomplish what it was sent to do. The Lord’s anger will not turn back until he has carried it out. His purposes of judgment, like his purposes of love, will all be fulfilled. He will do what his heart has planned.

Those who will not take this to heart now will later be unable to push the thought aside. “In the latter days,” they will think about it, when it will be too late to stop it.