30 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. 3 For behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will restore the [a]fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’”
4 Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:
5 “For thus says the Lord,
‘[b]I have heard a sound of terror,
Of dread, and there is no peace.
6 ‘Ask now, and see
If a male can give birth.
Why do I see every man
With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?
And why have all faces turned pale?
7 ‘Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,
But he will be saved from it.8 ‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off [c]their neck and will tear off [d]their bonds; and strangers will no longer make [e]them their slaves. 9 But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
In this passage, God tells Jeremiah to write all these things down, and so we have them still today. It was important that God’s words be written down, so that when these things came to pass, Israel and Judah (and us) would know that it was all a part of God’s plan. He wasn’t just randomly punishing them because they rebelled, they had done that enough times before.
Rather, it was time, as we see in v. 7, and God affirms that this also was part of the plan. In seventy years, they would be restored to their land, but not all of this would come true. In v. 9, God says that they will serve Him and “David their king”, but they would not have a king of the Davidic line for a long time. That is, until Jesus came, who was in all reality, heir to the throne and the promised Lamb, all in one.
It was difficult for many to acknowledge, because they likely expected these things to come together, that they would return to the promised land and that a king of David’s line would be the one to lead them in a revolution. He did indeed come to bring a revolution, and to “tear off their bonds”, but God’s sights were set a little higher than just making a brand new version of Israel. They already did that song and dance, had a “man after God’s own heart” to rule them, and couldn’t make it stick.
No, they needed real salvation, from the bonds of the sin that “so easily entangles”, and so do we. God didn’t just have a plan to bless Israel, but through them the whole world. So yes, God gave them hope for the future, but there was more hope contained in this passage than anyone at the time could realize. That Hope was not just for them, but for all mankind, me, you, and your neighbor too.
God’s plan isn’t done, He is still in the business of breaking bonds, and doing amazing things that we cannot foresee or understand. Put your hope in Him, wait on the Lord, and He will renew your strength (and so much more).