The church receiving grace in the wilderness

“Thus says the LORD, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness-- Israel, when it went to find its rest.” (Jeremiah 31:2)

            Are you enjoying God's rest in living in a wilderness-like world?

                If we think about “wilderness,” we can think of the wilderness where the Israelites at the time of Exodus walked for 40 years toward Canaan, the Promised Land, for rest (Heb. 4:8).  The wilderness was a place of no food and no water (Num. 21:5) from the Israelites' point of view, a place of complaint and resentment against God in unbelief and dissatisfaction.  But the same wilderness, in God’s point of view, was the place where God split the rocks and gave the Israelites abundant drink (Ps. 78:15) and God opened the doors of heaven and rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven (vv. 23-25).  It was the place of God manifesting His power and glory.  The wilderness was the place where God showed His mercy and grace to the Israelites who craved intensely and tempted God (106:14) so God’s anger burned (Num. 32:10).  Now we are living in a world like this wilderness.  I personally think of hymn “My Soul in Sad Exile” when I think about wilderness.  Perhaps that's because I think the wilderness is a world of sadness, of distress, of sins and of deaths.  So we see sorrow and tears in this wilderness-like world.  In a world like this, God gives us grace and that grace is "rest."

                In Jeremiah 31:2, God tells the Israelites through prophet Jeremiah that “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness-- Israel, when it went to find its rest.”  How did God give the Israelites rest?  God gave rest to the Israelites through the word of promise.  Therefore, only those who believed the word of that promise could enjoy God's rest in Babylon, which was like the wilderness of sorrow (v. 13).  Then, what was the word of promise that God gave to the Israelites?  I thought of three things:

                First, God promised to lead the Israelites in the wilderness with lovingkindness.

                Look at Jeremiah 31:3 – “The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”  Since God loved the Israelites with an everlasting love, He brought them out of Egypt and led them to Canaan, the Promised Land through the wilderness.  The same God promised the Israelites, through the prophet Jeremiah, to lead those who survived from the sword of the Babylonians and were taken captive out of Babylon with lovingkindness.  And God promised to lead them out of Babylon, gather them from the ends of the earth, and bring them back to Jerusalem (v. 8).  As a result, the Israelites would return to Jerusalem with weeping and by supplication God led them (v. 9): “O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel” (v.7).  When God heard their supplications, He redeemed them from the hand of the Babylon who was stronger than them (v. 11).  And God promised that He would make them to walk on a straight path in which they would not stumble (v. 9).  God surely heard their prayer when they asked, “Bring me back that I may be restored, For You are the LORD my God” (v. 18).  And God promised to lead them with lovingkindness, to turn them back to God and “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people” (v. 1).

                The Lord, who is the Head of the Church, is God who leads us like sheep and guides us in the wilderness like a flock (Ps. 78:52).  The Lord is God, who delivers us and leads us out of Satan's kingdom like Egypt and Babylon, and now leads us to the green pastures and beside quiet waters (23:2).  “For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death” (48:14).  Therefore, we must enjoy the rest of the soul by believing in the promises of the Lord, who is our God forever and who loves us with eternal love and guides us with His lovingkindness.

                Second, God promised to rebuild the Israelites who were in the wilderness.

                Look at Jeremiah 31:4a: “Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!  ….”  When we think about the God’s promise to rebuild the Israelites, we can think of Jerusalem that was destroyed by the Babylonians.  Of course, God’s good hand was with the Israelites whom God brought back to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the walls and temples of Jerusalem.  But did God only refer to the city of Jerusalem when God promised to rebuild the Israelites?  I don’t think so.  How do we know that? God spoke of the Israelites as "virgin Israel" (v. 4).  How are the Israelites virgin?  They were spiritual adulterers who worshiped idols with God (18:13, 15).  Then, how did God refer to the fornicated Israelites as “virgin Israel”?  This is because God forgave their iniquity and never remembered their sin (31:34), so he saw them as they were pure virgin (Park).  How amazing is this grace and love of God?  God promised to rebuild the Israelites as pure virgin.  Since God would rebuild them, they would be rebuilt.  This was a promise that God would fulfill the work of new creation for the faithless and wandering Israelites (v. 22).  God wanted to bless them (v. 23) and promised to build and plant them (v. 28).  And God promised them to make the Israelites holy to the Lord and they would not be plucked up or overthrow anymore forever (v. 40).

                The Head of the Church and the corner stone is the Lord who promises to build up His Church (Mt. 16:18) and faithfully fulfills that promise.  The Lord is building the church as “a radiant church” (Eph. 5:27).  The Lord is building us up to be the radiant church, “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (v. 27) so that He can invite us to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).  The Lord wants to plant us, His Church, in eternal heaven.  Therefore, we must enjoy the rest of our soul by believing this word of God's promise.

                Third, God promised that the Israelites in the wilderness would go up to Zion to praise God.

                Look at Jeremiah 31: 6, 12a: “For there will be a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim call out, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.'  …  They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion,  ….”  God promised to redeem the Israelites (v. 11) and to make them to go up to Zion (v. 6) and go to God to sing aloud with gladness (v. 7).  God promised to bring the Israelites to God and enable them to praise God by turning their mourning into joy and by comforting them and giving them joy for their sorrow (v. 13).  Also, God promised to bring them to God and praise God by the grace of God to satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes in the wilderness (vv. 14, 25).  All these saved Israelites have no choice but to shout for joy on the height of Zion because God promised to make their life like a watered garden and they would never languish again (v. 12).

                The Lord, the Bridegroom of the Church, is God who makes us to praise Him by turning our sorrows into joy in the wilderness-like world.  The Lord is making us to praise Him by making our souls like the watered garden.  That same Lord is our hope for the future (v. 17) and will bring us into God's eternal rest (Heb. 4: 1, 9).  Therefore, we will enter into eternal rest and will praise God forever.  We must enjoy the rest of our soul by believing in this promised word of God.