Day 211 Today's Reading Schedule: Jeremiah 29-31
Jeremiah 29: Epistle of Comfort and Encouragement [Content Overview] This chapter contains messages of comfort and encouragement sent to the people living in captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah the prophet advises the Babylonian captives to live a normal life in Babylon and asks them not to be deceived by the words of false prophets and to wait patiently until the 70-year period is completed. In addition, this chapter warns about the tragic end of the false prophets and the people who remained in Judah against Babylon. The first half of this chapter records Jeremiah's letter to the captives (verses 1-6), the middle part explains the return of the captives (verses 10-19), and the second half describes the miserable future of false prophets (verses 20-32). Jeremiah 30: Prophecy of Restoration [Content Overview] This chapter is a statement about the restoration of Judah and Israel and contains a message of comfort to the covenant people who are suffering. At a certain time in the future, God will bring Judah and Israel back from the land of captivity and protect them so that they will not become slaves to worldly forces again and enjoy true peace and rest. Moreover, God will personally intervene and work to fundamentally solve sin, one of the most fatal problems of mankind, and bring God's people into a completely new state. This chapter can be divided into Judah to be saved (verses 1-11), discipline and restoration (verses 12-17), and specific details of restoration (verses 18-24). Jeremiah 31: Restoration of Israel and the coming of the Messiah [Content Overview] The restoration of the Israelites promised on the battlefield is further expanded and specified in this chapter, and the restoration of northern Israel and southern Judah are successively described. In addition, by introducing a new form of covenant that is clearly distinct from previous covenants, it predicts an ideal and perfect community that will never sin against God again, and also mentions specific regulations and characteristics. In particular, this fact is summarized intensively in verses 7-14. In verse 7, the salvation of all the remnant is described, in verses 8-9 the salvation of the remnant among the captives, and verses 10-12 describe the salvation of the remnant among those who fled to the surrounding countries for fear of being captured, and in verses 13-14, all the saved remnants are depicted rejoicing. The first half of this chapter (verses 1-22) mentions the promise of the restoration of the northern kingdom of Israel, and the middle part (verses 23-26) mentions the promise of the restoration of the southern kingdom of Judah, and the latter half (verses 27-40) talks about the restoration of all Israel and the new covenant. |
