The Honeymoon Is Over Text: Jeremiah 2:1-3
Introduction: A Covenant Lawsuit
The book of Jeremiah opens with God bringing a formal, legal charge against His people. This is not a petty squabble; it is a covenant lawsuit. We live in a sentimental age that wants to reduce God to a celestial therapist, someone who only ever affirms and never confronts. But the God of the Bible is a husband, a king, and a judge. And when His bride plays the harlot, when His subjects rebel, and when His covenant is trampled underfoot, He does not simply look the other way. He brings a case. He lays out the evidence. He pronounces the verdict. And He executes the sentence.
Jeremiah’s ministry was to a nation that was spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. They were going through the religious motions at the Temple, but their hearts were a thousand miles away, chasing after every pagan deity they could find. They were like a wife who keeps her husband's name and lives in his house but sleeps with every man in the neighborhood. They wanted the security of the covenant without the demands of fidelity. And God, through His prophet, is about to call them on it.
But notice how God begins His lawsuit. He does not start with the thunder of condemnation. He begins with a tender, almost heartbreaking, reminder of how things used to be. Before He details their adultery, He reminds them of their wedding day. Before He lists their betrayals, He speaks of their youthful love. This is the kindness of God, which is meant to lead us to repentance. He is establishing the basis of the relationship He is now judging. He is saying, "This is who we were. This is what you have abandoned." This is a pattern we see throughout Scripture. God’s grace always precedes God’s law. His love is the foundation of His demands. He reminds them of their glorious past to show them the full depth of their wretched present.
This passage is a powerful word for the modern church. We too are in a covenant relationship with God. We are the Bride of Christ. And it is all too easy for us to forget the love of our betrothal, to leave our first love, and to begin a slow, subtle drift into worldliness and spiritual adultery. This text calls us back to the beginning, to remember the foundation of our faith, and to see any unfaithfulness on our part in the bright, clear light of God’s foundational, covenantal love for us.
The Text
Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, "Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh,
"I remember concerning you the lovingkindness of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
Your walking after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
Israel was holy to Yahweh,
The first of His produce.
All who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them," declares Yahweh.' "
(Jeremiah 2:1-3 LSB)
The Divine Remembrance (v. 1-2)
The lawsuit begins with God's own memory of Israel's early devotion.
"Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember concerning you the lovingkindness of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your walking after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown." (Jeremiah 2:1-2)
First, notice the nature of this proclamation. Jeremiah is to "call out in the ears of Jerusalem." This is not a private memo. It is a public shout. The truth of God is not something to be whispered in corners; it is to be declared from the housetops. Jerusalem was the center of worship, the place of the covenant sign, the Temple. And it is here, in the very heart of their religious life, that God brings His charge. This is a reminder that judgment begins at the house of God.
And what is the charge? It begins with God remembering. God, who is omniscient, does not "remember" in the sense that He had forgotten. Rather, this is a covenantal term. It means He is calling to mind, for the record, the basis of their relationship. He is bringing the wedding album into the courtroom. He remembers the "lovingkindness of your youth." The word for lovingkindness is hesed, that great covenant word that means loyalty, faithfulness, and steadfast love. God is saying, "I remember your initial covenant loyalty."
He calls it "the love of your betrothals." The relationship between Yahweh and Israel is consistently pictured as a marriage. The covenant at Sinai was the wedding ceremony. And God is looking back to that honeymoon period, the time of the Exodus and the journey through the wilderness. This was their "youth," when their love was fresh and zealous. They had just been redeemed from slavery in Egypt by a series of mighty miracles. They had seen God's power at the Red Sea. And in that initial flush of gratitude and awe, they followed Him.
Their devotion was demonstrated by "walking after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown." The wilderness was a place of total dependence. There were no farms, no supply chains, no safety nets. Israel had to trust God for every drop of water and every mouthful of bread. To follow God into such a place was an act of faith. It was a bride leaving her home to follow her husband, trusting him completely for her provision and protection. Of course, we know from the books of Exodus and Numbers that their walk was far from perfect. They grumbled, they rebelled, they committed idolatry. But God in His grace is here remembering the ideal. He is remembering the faith they did have, however flawed, as the basis for what their relationship was supposed to be. He is judging their current adultery against the standard of their original wedding vows.
A Consecrated People (v. 3)
In verse 3, God describes Israel's special status, which was a direct result of this covenant relationship.
"Israel was holy to Yahweh, The first of His produce. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them," declares Yahweh.'" (Jeremiah 2:3 LSB)
Because of this betrothal, "Israel was holy to Yahweh." To be holy means to be set apart, consecrated for a special purpose. Israel was not just another nation among nations. They were God's exclusive possession. They were His bride, and a husband has exclusive rights to his bride. They belonged to Him in a way that Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon did not.
This holiness is further illustrated with agricultural imagery: they were "the first of His produce." In the Old Testament law, the firstfruits of the harvest belonged entirely to God (Exodus 23:19). They were the choicest part, the representative part, that was given to the Lord in recognition that the entire harvest came from Him. By offering the firstfruits, the rest of the harvest was consecrated. Israel was God's firstfruits from among the nations. He had chosen them, redeemed them, and set them apart as His own special treasure, with the ultimate goal of bringing a harvest of salvation to the entire world through them.
This special, holy status had a severe consequence for anyone who dared to interfere. "All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them." To "eat" Israel means to consume, oppress, or destroy them. Because Israel was God's holy property, to harm them was to commit sacrilege. It was like walking into the Temple and stealing the consecrated bread from the altar. You were not just robbing a nation; you were robbing God Himself. And God is very jealous for His property. The history of Egypt, of the Amalekites, of the Philistines, was a testament to this reality. Those who cursed Israel found that evil came upon them, just as God had promised Abraham (Genesis 12:3).
This principle establishes a permanent truth about how God deals with His people. He jealously guards His own. To attack God's chosen is to pick a fight with God Himself. Saul of Tarsus learned this on the road to Damascus. When he was persecuting the church, Jesus did not ask, "Saul, why do you persecute them?" He asked, "Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4). An attack on the Body is an attack on the Head.
Conclusion: Remembering Our First Love
This passage from Jeremiah is not just a history lesson about ancient Israel. It is a mirror for the Church. We, the Church, are the bride of Christ. We have been betrothed to Him through the New Covenant, sealed with His own blood. Our "youth" was the moment of our conversion, when we were rescued from the slavery of sin and first tasted the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Like Israel, we began a walk with Him in a "wilderness," a world that is not our home, a land not sown with the righteousness of God. We are called to a life of radical dependence, trusting Him for our daily bread, for guidance, for protection. And in this relationship, we too are made "holy to the Lord." We are set apart, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for His own possession (1 Peter 2:9). We are the firstfruits of His new creation (James 1:18).
And the warning remains. God is a jealous God. He will not tolerate rivals in the hearts of His people, and He will not tolerate attacks on His bride from the world. Those who persecute the Church are storing up wrath for themselves. But the primary application here is for us, the people in the pews. God's charge against Judah was that they had forgotten the love of their betrothal. They had exchanged the glory of their divine Husband for cheap, worthless idols. They had committed spiritual adultery.
The question Jeremiah brings to Jerusalem is one we must regularly bring to ourselves. Do we remember the love of our betrothal? Have we maintained that simple, dependent faith of our "youth"? Or have we begun to flirt with the world? Have we started to trust in our own resources, our own wisdom, our own righteousness? Have we, in short, left our first love? (Revelation 2:4).
God begins His lawsuit with a reminder of grace. He reminds us of the relationship we have abandoned, so that we might see the folly of our sin and return to Him. The good news of the gospel is that while Israel was an unfaithful bride, Jesus Christ is the perfectly faithful Husband. He went into the wilderness and was faithful where Israel failed. And He went to the cross to die for His adulterous bride, to cleanse her, and to one day present her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). Our security is not in our faithfulness, but in His. But His faithfulness is the very thing that should motivate ours. Let us therefore hear this word, remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and walk as a bride who is truly and deeply in love with her Husband.