Opus 2026-299: End Times Wish List

We were reading through Jeremiah 32.  As is too typical of prophecy we had read a long recital of doom and gloom for Israel because of their rebellion and hard hearts.  Then there was a sudden change of topic.  We started reading in verse 23,

(Jer 32:23 KJV)  And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them:

This continues to verse 36,

(Jer 32:36 KJV)  And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;

and then, cold turkey, the narrative reverses itself.

(Jer 32:37 KJV)  Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:

Then the rest of the chapter talks about all the wonderful things God is going to do with them.  Okay, that is what it says.  My problem comes when everyone talks about the Jews having a change of heart and God gathers and restores them.  I will concede that point is made other places, but not here.  There is not drop of repentance, no turning back to God, no ounce of desire to reform.  Instead you have God imposing this change upon them.  This is expressed several ways.  Here is one,

(Jer 32:40 KJV)  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

I shared with the group that if this was the only passage I had to go on I would become a Five Point Calvinist.  God is taking a bunch of rebellious sinners, sprinkling some pixie dust, and turning them into God fearing robots.  Pardon the language.  That is a paraphrase.  Fortunately for me I have read other places in prophecy where it declares He will gather them when they repent.  I don’t really believe in pixie dust.

I do believe in reading what the Bible says and making my declarations accurate.  If you want to say this documents a forced conversion but other places bring in the free decisions of the converted, fine.  Just don’t act like this says something it doesn’t say or act like there are no qualifiers other places.

In deliberating on this issue a thought came to me.  Maybe we should interpret prophecy the same way we are told to understand the parables of Jesus: There is one main point and anything beyond that begins to stretch the truth.  Applied here that would point out that Jeremiah was warning Israel what would be happening to them because of their refusal to obey.  The emphasis was not on an establishment of an eternal kingdom at the end of time.

It is a good thing that our salvation is based on our faith in the shed blood of Jesus rather than our interpretation of prophecy.

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