The Resurrection of Our Lord: Old Testament, Jeremiah 31:1-6         

Jeremiah 31:1-6 

There is a beauty about this short Old Testament reading. And the beauty comes from both the promise spoken here and that which secures it for eternity. Dear old Dr. Mitchell at the seminary used to quote Jeremiah 31:3 to the “young bucks” sitting before him daily preparing for Christian ministry. And I think he quoted it often because He didn’t want us to forget what drove our Lord and what should always drive us: love. And when I use that word, I don’t at all mean the warped, sappy meaning which our world has attached to it. It is so convoluted in our day that what the Lord speaks of through His prophet has no similarity to the world’s bill of fare in the love department.

Jeremiah reminds God’s people of the love and tenderness shown to them with the Lord as their guide in the wilderness wanderings. “I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (31:3). And reading on, the promises lead the people to knowing there will be a day when wandering will cease and a homeland will be found. God will “pay the price” and His people will be drawn home for all eternity. That price will be the shed blood of His dear Son. And the willing love poured out for you and for me seals the transaction (I use that word reverently) and settles us in the land of the living, never again to wander. God be praised!