So I've been reading Jeremiah this month and it's been blowing me away. Like I said in a previous post, I spent most of debrief in Beijing mapping out the kings of Judah and Israel to find this Manasseh guy who did all this ridiculous stuff to make God so angry at Judah. Well, I found him and most of what he did was worship pagan gods and defile the temple that Solomon built to God.
This part is huge.
I can't help but fall over reading this. For THIRTY CHAPTERS, God has raged and hurt and poured out His holy wrath on the people of Judah for their wickedness. He's called Israel a harlot and a whore. He's called her ungrateful and said she's not worth it….and then chapter 31 starts, "At that time…" and God says this:
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you. Again, I will build you so you will be rebuild, Virgin Israel. Jeremiah 31:3-4
Our God is a God of redemption, y'all. What gets me is that He says "VIRGIN Israel" knowing full well that she's not a virgin – knowing absolutely everything that she's been doing and how she's been violating the COVENANT (I will be your God and you will be My people) that was created in the beginning – with Adam and Eve, with Abraham, with Moses at the Exodus, with Moses and Joshua and Aaron in Moab in Deuteronomy, through King David – this covenant that God has reiterated over and over and over again. He KNOWS Israel did wrong, and yet He calls her Virgin Israel.
The chapter continues to sketch out the redemption that will come soon to the Israelites and later to the world as a whole through Jesus Christ.
What kind of love is that??
He will still pursue us because His love is everlasting and He won't go back on His covenant. He isn't finished working on us and he'll continue to work on us. Even when we mess up, justice will be served, but He will still see us as Virgin Israel – His bride. The one He met under the covering on Mount Sinai. The one He died for on the cross. The one He tore the veil for into the Holiest of Holies.
