When Will That Time Arrive?
By Dean Collins
You know that time you have been waiting for… that time of relief, that time of reconciliation, that time when you feel full instead of empty. We often live our lives waiting for that time to arrive. In chapter 31 of Jeremiah, we find the prophet in the middle of a dream. In his dream he had a vision of things to come. He saw a moment in time where all the destruction and exile were over, and God’s people were together again. No more northern and southern kingdom but a whole nation and a completely restored people of God.
In chapter 31 we find a beautiful reminder of God's desire to rescue his children and bring the world to new place of love and flourishing. There are so many reasons for us to have hope. Here are just a few of them.
1) God will redeem us from hands too strong for us. How many times have you felt like the situation you were facing was bigger than you could handle? The addiction is too strong. The hole is too deep. The difficulty is too great. The Lord gave the promise to Judah that they would be redeemed from hands too strong for them.
2) There is hope for your future. Judah and Israel had spent seasons rebelling against their Heavenly Father and time in captivity at the hands of a foreign leader who did not worship the God of heaven. In the midst of that, God said there is hope for your future, and your children will return home.
3) It is a good plan to set up road markers and guideposts so you know your boundaries and your path home. God provides both through His word, His spirit, and His family.
4) We have a new covenant from God, sealed by the blood of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection that assures both a way back to God and a flourishing eternity.
5) God will write his promise on our hearts so that we can love each other and end the madness of the world we live in.
The New Testament scriptures give us the rest of the story that Jeremiah couldn’t imagine. The restoration of Israel would one day mean the restoration of all people, all nations, and all creation. In Romans, the apostle Paul wrote that at just the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Jeremiah could see a time of restoration, but he didn’t understand that the way to full restoration of all things and all people for all time would come because God would send his son to pay for the sins of everyone.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that because of the new covenant, we have God’s laws written on our hearts and minds, and God will remember our sins no longer. What a great and wonderful moment we now experience because of the gift of God to us through Christ. Some days we will still struggle because we still live in broken spaces that await Christ’s return and our final restoration. But we know that the moment Jeremiah longed for has arrived for us through Christ. We may have to wait a bit longer to see all things made new. However, as we face the challenges of today, we live confidently that we are not alone and now enjoy “that day” of hope fully because of Christ!
It's all going to be okay!
Thank you, Father, for the gift of salvation through Christ our Lord! Thank you for the assurance that all things will one day be fully restored. Today we live confidently that you will not only meet our daily needs but that you have met our greatest need of forgiveness of sin through Christ. Use us to share your love with another and show us how to bring them hope. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Jeremiah 31:1, 11, 17, 21, 31, 33-34; Hebrews 10:16-17, 13:20-21; Romans 5:6 ESV
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