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Forgiveness
Forgiveness – Day 11
Ds Hein Barnard

Forgiveness – Day 11

This is one of the most read chapters in Jeremiah. God promises Israel (Israel and Judah) that they will be His people again (1-14), He will have mercy on weary Israel (15-26) and He will make them secure (27-30). Important: God takes the initiative, not Israel.

This is a confirmation of the covenant God made with Abraham – Genesis 17.

Bible text(s)

Jeremiah 31

31The LORD says, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. 33The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34None of them will have to teach his fellow-citizen to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

35The LORD provides the sun for light by day,

the moon and the stars to shine at night.

He stirs up the sea and makes it roar;

his name is the LORD Almighty.

36He promises that as long as the natural order lasts,

so long will Israel be a nation.

37If one day the sky could be measured

and the foundations of the earth explored,

only then would he reject the people of Israel

because of all they have done.

The LORD has spoken.

38“The time is coming,” says the LORD, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt as my city, from Hananel Tower west to the Corner Gate. 39And the boundary line will continue from there on the west to the hill of Gareb and then round to Goah. 40The entire valley, where the dead are buried and refuse is thrown, and all the fields above the brook of Kidron as far as the Horse Gate to the east, will be sacred to me. The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”

Jeremiah 31:31-40GNBOpen in Bible reader

Forgiveness in the Prophets – 1

Israel and Judah went into exile, but it was only Judah who returned after 70 years from Babylon.  Those in exile needed to reconcile with those that remained in the Promised Land.  There can only be reconciliation between people when they reconcile with God.  This includes forgiveness.

The terms for the relationship with God are the same, but it would not be written on tablets of stone, but in the hearts and minds of people.

This covenant would result in a spiritual transformation of the people and is often associated with the giving of the Holy Spirit.

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