Jeremiah 31:3

The Bible says in Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” We have already read much in the book of Jeremiah about Israel’s failure and God’s judgment against Israel because they refused to repent of all their sins. They lost their nation, they lost their freedom, they had a dramatic change in what their future would bring or not bring, but they did not lose the most important thing of all. They did not lose God’s love for them. Jeremiah 31:3 is a great verse that reminds us all of God’s “everlasting love.” If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, probably the most important truth for you to never forget is the fact that Jesus loves you. He will always love you because He loves you with an everlasting love. That means that His love will never fail. That means that no matter how much you fail Him, He will keep loving you. That was definitely the message being given to the Israelites because they had failed terribly.

One of the things that happen to people when they fall away from serving the Lord is that they feel in some way that the Lord no longer approves of them, and thus they cannot serve Him any more. Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. Once God puts His love on someone, He never takes it away. “Having loved His own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end,” it says of Jesus in John 13:1. One of the great reminders about the never-ending love of Christ for every believer is found in Romans 8:31-39, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?[32] He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?[33] Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.[34] Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There are many ways in which God proves His love for us. The greatest way was that He sent His Son to die in our place on the cross of Calvary. It says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Another way in which God proved His love toward us is given in the last part of Jeremiah 31:3 where the Lord said, “therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Notice that God said, “I have drawn thee.” The word “drawn” means “to pull” and it includes the idea of seizing a hold of something. How did you come to Christ and why did you come to Christ. You came to Christ because God grabbed a hold of you and pulled you to Jesus. That was an act of love on His part. Not only did Jesus die for you on the cross 2,000 years ago, but God also came to you personally and attracted you to Christ. How much God loves each believer. If He had not loved us so much, we would have never been able to get saved. We would have stayed in darkness and stayed as slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In the next several verses in Jeremiah chapter 31 the Lord is telling us many more things that He will do for believers in order to prove His love for us. The Lord says in Jeremiah 31:4-7, “Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.[5] Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.[6] For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.[7] For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.” I can see at least three important positive aspects of the future that the Lord has planned for all believers: the first is happiness, the second is prosperity, and the third is spirituality. Everyone wants to be happy. The founders of America in the declaration of Independence stated that every human being had a God-given right to at least be able to pursue happiness. Thankfully, the Lord not only gives people the right to pursue happiness, He will also bring every believer into a state of eternal happiness. When the sorrows and troubles of this life are over, every believer will enter into perfect happiness. Jesus spoke about what would happen to believers after the judgment, and Jesus said in Matthew 25:21, “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Notice all the words that refer to a future happiness as described in this passage we are looking at in Jeremiah chapter 31: “tabrets,” “dances,” “make merry,” “sing with gladness,” “shout,” “praise ye.” Just because the Lord has a joyful future prepared for us does not mean that we cannot be joyful now too. As a matter of fact believers ought to be the happiest people on the earth because we do have a bright future prepared for us by the Lord Jesus. Should there be anything more joyful than knowing that Jesus is your Savior, that He died for you, and that all your sins are forgiven? If you do not have joy, perhaps you should pray the prayer found in Psalm 51:12, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” It also says in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

One aspect of the prosperity that God has planned for us has to do with the fact that God will always take care of His children. We all have material needs in this world, and it makes sense to do what you can to prepare to supply those needs; but there is always the need to depend upon what the Lord will do for us. Believers have nothing to worry about in this regard, because the Lord has promised to take care of your material needs each day. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

God has a bright future planed for this world spiritually speaking. One of the problems with the world in the age in which we live has to do with the fact that so few know the Lord and so few are interested in the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Try talking to people about the gospel of Christ and just see what percentage of them are genuinely interested. How wonderful it would be if everyone was a spiritual person who did want to know about Jesus and serve Him. Guess what, that is exactly what God is going to bring about in the future. It says in Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” And as we just read in Jeremiah 31:6, “For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.”

There is one more important truth to notice in this passage in Jeremiah that demonstrates God’s love for His children. God said to them in Jeremiah 31:4, “Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel:” According to her own deeds, was Israel a virgin at this time in its history. No not at all. The exact opposite was true from the standpoint of just looking at Israel and its sins, and yet God called Israel a “virgin.” God looked at Israel and saw no sin. God was talking about the future and the good things that He has planned for Israel. Guess what, if you are a believer in Jesus, God looks at you and sees no sin also. This is called imputed righteousness. We who believe in Jesus have a righteous standing with God. This truth of imputed righteousness is found in Romans 4:1-5 that says, “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 31:8-10, “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.” In this promise to one day return Israel to the promised-land, there are several important spiritual principles that remind us how the Lord deals with all believers. For one thing, the Lord said in verse 9, “will I lead them.” The Psalmist said the same thing in Psalm 32:1-2, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.” There is no way that any human being is smart enough to guide their own steps in this world of uncertainty and potential dangers. How wonderful for a believer to know that the Almighty God guides every step of him or her.

Not only does God promise to guide us as a shepherd guides His sheep, but the Lord also promises to “keep” us “as a shepherd doth his flock.” This concept of being “kept” by the Lord fits in perfectly with the concept of eternal security. The Lord Jesus is going to keep my soul. In other words He will guard my soul and keep it safe forever. He will not allow it to be lost. Jesus told us that He was a shepherd. Jesus said in John 10:11-16, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.[12] But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.[13] The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
[14] I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.[15] As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.[16] And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”

We started this passage of scripture in Jeremiah with the Lord saying in chapter 31 and verse 3, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” And now we end in this part of Jeremiah chapter 31 where the Lord tells us that he will lead us and keep us. What a great Savior Jesus is for His children.

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