Does God’s plan include the repentance of people from Israel, Judah and all nations? Let’s look at Jeremiah 3.
What use was Israel asking God for mercy without repentance?
If a man divorces his wife, and after she leaves him marries another, can he return to her again? Wouldn’t such an act completely corrupt the land? Yet you have prostituted yourself with many lovers. Would you return to me? declares the Lord. Look to the well-traveled paths and see! Where haven’t you committed adultery? On the roadsides you sit in wait for lovers, like a nomad in the wilderness. You have corrupted the land with your cheap and reckless behavior. That’s why the showers have failed and the spring rains have ceased. Still you act like a brazen prostitute who refuses to blush. At the same time you say to me, “My father, my friend since youth, will you stay angry forever? Will you continue to be furious?” This is what you say while you do as much evil as you possibly can. (Jer 3:1-5 CEB)
Did God lament the unfaithfulness of both Israel and Judah?
When Josiah was king, the Lord said: Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees. I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn't, so I divorced her and sent her away.
Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. (Jer 3:6-10 CEV)
What does God declare to the northern ten tribes of Israel about returning to Him?
And the Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord. Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. (Jer 3:11-14 ESV)
What does God predict about the ark of the covenant, Jerusalem and all nations?
“I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days”—the Lord’s declaration—“no one will say any longer, ‘The ark of the Lord’s covenant.’ It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made. At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.” (Jer 3:15-18 HCSB)
How does God speak to them about His heart’s true desire? What is His appeal?
“I said, ‘How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ I said, ‘You will call me, my father, and won’t turn back from following me.’ Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel,” declares the Lord. A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel because they have perverted their way. They have forgotten the Lord their God. “Turn back, unfaithful people, and I’ll heal your unfaithfulness.” (Jer 3:19-22a ISV)
What does God predict the nation will say in repentance, as they return to God?
Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. (Jer 3:22b-25 KJV)
Will all the nations eventually be gathered to the name of God and adopted?
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15 LSB)
Does God’s plan include the repentance of people from Israel, Judah and all nations? You decide!
