This review is brought to you by the Kentucky First Jurisdiction Church of
God in Christ Sunday School
Department.
LESSON AIM: By the end of the lesson, we will: realize that God’s promise to
follow punishment with forgiveness and restoration is still a valid promise;
affirm that with God, punishment, forgiveness, and healing come as a package;
and design a thanks offering for hope, healing, and forgiveness we receive from
God.
BIBLE TRUTH: God is willing to forgive and recovery, healing, and
restoration.
Jeremiah 33:2-11| King James Version (KJV)
2 Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord
that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name;
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show
thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
4 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,
concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of
Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is
to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and
in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I
will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the
captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity,
whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities,
whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and
an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good
that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and
for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
10 Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard
in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast,
even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are
desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say,
Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for
ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of
the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the
first, saith the Lord.
In comparing today’s lesson to a parent with their child, we can
liken the oracles within Jeremiah with our human relationships. If mom said, “if
you disobey me, you will be punished!” She meant it, right? Then, when the
child strays away, the parent has to make good on their promise to chasten the
child.
This is what we’re seeing in today’s Sunday School lesson. Jeremiah is anointed to declare the word of the Lord to His people. As God was using Jeremiah
to speak to the nations of Israel and Judah through His prophet, He was
assuring them that He saw the fight they were in. He understood what the
Chaldean armies were doing to them and the siege that they were under. But, He
has permitted this to happen to them, based upon their sins.
Punishment can only last for a season, God also assured His
people that there will be a day of reconciliation, healing, and peace. He said
He’d bring back the captives and rebuild the ruins from the Babylonian plunder
and disaster. In verse 8, God says He will forgive them of their sins.
In verse 9, the prophet dictates that “God’s people shall fear
and tremble”. This is very important to point out. 2 Timothy 1:7 declares that
God has not given us a spirit of fear. The “fear” in Jeremiah is speaking to
reverence. God wanted His people to fear (reverence) Him to the point where
they would keep His commandments and flee from the very appearance of sin.
As human beings, think about what the nation of Israel was
seeing during this time. Dead bodies being stacked up one by one. No people,
animals, or life going on in the city. Just a shell of what used to be their
life. It would be depressing. God, in verse 11, proclaims that there would be
joy and laughter returning to this same place. He said He’d make sure that they
were restored to their previous state, just like they were in the first
Promised Land.
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