Post by Josh on Mar 31, 2012 9:11:37 GMT -8
Jeremiah 31:27 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares the LORD. 29 "In those days people will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' 30 Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth will be set on edge. 31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." 37 This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD. 38 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished."
I'm preparing to teach through Jeremiah in Costa Rica this summer and this passage is probably the thorniest from a prophecy standpoint.
It seems to read literally that the city Jerusalem would never be demolished again after the return of the exiles from Babylon. However, this is precisely what happened in AD 70. And this second uprooting seems to be predicted by both Daniel and Zechariah.
From a partial preterist perspective (my favored view of eschatology), are we to see this reference to Jerusalem in Jer. 31:40 as a reference to spiritual Jerusalem (ie, the church)?
I'm preparing to teach through Jeremiah in Costa Rica this summer and this passage is probably the thorniest from a prophecy standpoint.
It seems to read literally that the city Jerusalem would never be demolished again after the return of the exiles from Babylon. However, this is precisely what happened in AD 70. And this second uprooting seems to be predicted by both Daniel and Zechariah.
From a partial preterist perspective (my favored view of eschatology), are we to see this reference to Jerusalem in Jer. 31:40 as a reference to spiritual Jerusalem (ie, the church)?