Return & Repent

Well hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are back from vacation and ready to go. We're at Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 15 through 22. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Oh, no coffee.
Okay, someday, someday. All right, we'll just go paragraphs by paragraph, okay? Yeah. Go ahead. Thus says the Lord. Oh, we need to pray. God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for time together. Thank you for your word. God, please help us. Help us to understand your word. Help us to know how it should apply to our lives. Teach us, God. We need your Holy Spirit to help us. In Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. Thus says the Lord.
Her voice was hard and rare, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, cares they are no more. Thus says the Lord, refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears. For your work shall be your reward, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border.
I have surely heard Ephraim. bemoaning himself. You have chastised me, and I was chastised like an untrained bull. Restore me, and I will return, for you are the Lord my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented, and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I speak against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.
Set up signposts, make landmarks, set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you set, turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these cities. How long will you dad about, oh, you backsliding daughter? The Lord has created a new thing of the earth, a woman, child, and compass, man. Okay, so we need to ask ourselves our ABCs. A, what is this? About. B, what's the? As far as I'm aware. And C, what are we? Called to. All right, so it's really hard for me to kind of Just miss this right away because this is one of the passages that Matthew will point out talking about Jesus.
So when the wise men go and they tell Herod about Jesus' birth, right? Oh, go and find him so I can pay homage to him also, right? And what does Herod do once he realizes he's been duped and the magi go a different direction? He tries to kill all the boys. Yeah, he kills all the kids, all the boys two years and under in Bethlehem. And Matthew points to here. Matthew points to verse 15.
A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. And I think one of the things that's happening there is that Jeremiah isn't just talking about that one verse, but he's referring us back to this whole section of Jeremiah chapter 31. And so when he's talking about a remnant of Israel being saved, I have loved you with an everlasting love, he had said in verse 3. And then, hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it to the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. And yet there's mourning and lamentation. I think this is just one of those clear ways that Matthew wasn't just kind of willy-nilly picking stuff out randomly, but he was showing like, God's done this, right? God has saved his people. He's turning Ephraim back.
And that's really what he was talking about in verse 16 and 17, right? What's he saying? What's he getting at in verse 16 and 17? To be comforted because they shall come back. Yeah, right, so he's Yeah, stop crying, right your work gonna be rewarded Right hope in your there's there's hope in your future Children's gonna come back right the exile is not gonna last forever good and then versus 18 and 19. What's he saying?
He's talking about Ephraim. Yeah, Ephraim right the northern tribes those tribes that were taken away by Assyria and He's telling them, like, you know, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. Return to me, restore me, and I will return for you are Jehovah, my God. And he's saying, so turn back, repent, repent, come back. And in verses 21 and 22, what's he essentially saying?
That one's just a confusing part. Yeah, right. Sign, set up signposts, make landmarks, say your hearts towards the highway, the way in which you went, right? So you went this way, you're going to come back. Yep. Right. Turn back, oh, virgin Israel. Turn back to these, your city, right? You're going to come back. And there's something amazing, right? Stop just yadding about you backsliding. Oh, you backsliding daughter. Don't just sit there with teeth in your mouth, flapping your gums, right? Come back.
God's done an amazing thing. So, uh, I'm just going to jump to the C calling or call to action or pointing to Christ, right? That this is what Jesus did. Things don't be slack jawed, right? Emmanuel has come. Even though Rachel was heard with weeping, as there was a voice in Ramah crying out, right, because the people are being exiled to Syria, is killing people and taking them away and scattering them. He's saying, you're going to get to come back. And he does this in Jesus Christ.
So what do you think is the best verse to summarize this section, if you were to underline something? Probably 21 to 22. 21, 22. Okay. Well, I think it's pretty obvious. I like verse 15. So, uh, well, anything for you specifically with a call to action, something you want to take away as something you need to do or think about. I think it's a large part of it. It's repent. It's repenting from what you have done. Okay, yeah, so there's repenting, but there's also God's promise of restoration. God's going to do the bringing back. Good. Are you ready to pray? Yep.
Father, we thank you so much that you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ, the one born of a woman, born under the law, who perfectly obeyed every command. Lord, we thank you that even though there was a voice crying out, for wickedness, even from someone who called himself the King of the Jews, Herod, slaying even all the children. Lord, even then, Lord, You do not let the darkness win over the light. And so, Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, the light of the world, into the world and shining into our hearts. Father, we pray that you would please let us love you and follow after you. In Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and the peace of Jesus Christ. And we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.