The Terrible Goodness of God: Text: Jeremiah 30:4-11
Introduction: The World Turned Right Side Up
We live in an age that has declared war on all distinctions, and consequently, on all sanity. Our culture wants a world without consequences, a harvest without sowing, and a crown without a cross. It wants the comfort of salvation without the terror of judgment. It wants a God who is all mercy and no majesty, all comfort and no correction. In short, it wants a God who is not God at all, but rather a celestial butler, on call to affirm our every disordered desire.
But the God of Scripture, the God who actually exists, is not so easily tamed. He is a consuming fire, and His love is a terrible thing to trifle with. He loves His people far too much to leave them in their sins. And so, when we come to a passage like this one in Jeremiah, we are confronted with the terrible goodness of God. It is a goodness that is willing to wound in order to heal. It is a goodness that will drive His people into the crucible of affliction so that He might burn away the dross and bring forth pure gold. Our text describes a time of unparalleled distress, a time of cosmic agony, and yet, it is shot through with the golden thread of a sovereign and saving promise.
Jeremiah is prophesying to a people on the brink of catastrophic judgment. The Babylonian exile is looming. And yet, in this book of comfort, God speaks of a future restoration that goes far beyond a mere return from Babylon. He speaks of a trouble so great that it makes all other troubles look like a summer shower. But He also speaks of a salvation so complete that it will swallow up that trouble forever. This is the grammar of the gospel. Before the resurrection, there must be a death. Before the coronation, there must be a cross. And before the final peace, there must be the time of Jacob's distress.
The Text
4 Now these are the words which Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah: 5 “For thus says Yahweh, ‘We have heard a sound of trembling, Of dread, and there is no peace. 6 Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? 7 Alas! For that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it. 8 ‘And it will be in that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off your neck and will tear off your bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. 9 But they shall be a slave to Yahweh their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. 10 Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares Yahweh, ‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar And your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, And no one will make him tremble. 11 For I am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you; For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not make a complete destruction of you. But I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished.’ (Jeremiah 30:4-11 LSB)
The Unprecedented Anguish (vv. 5-7)
The prophecy begins with a scene of pure terror. God is not sugarcoating what is to come.
"For thus says Yahweh, ‘We have heard a sound of trembling, Of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it." (Jeremiah 30:5-7)
God hears the sound of trembling, of dread. There is no peace, no shalom. The covenant curses threatened in Deuteronomy are coming home to roost. The imagery here is visceral and intentionally shocking. God asks a sarcastic, rhetorical question: "Can a male give birth?" The idea is absurd, unnatural. And yet, that is the scene. Every mighty man, every warrior, is doubled over in agony, hands on his loins, with a face drained of all color, like a woman in the hardest throes of labor. This is a picture of complete incapacitation. The strength of men has been turned to water. Their courage has dissolved. This is what happens when God Almighty sets Himself against a people.
And the reason for this terror is "that day." In the prophets, "that day" or "the day of the Lord" is shorthand for a time of divine, historical intervention. It is a day of reckoning. And this particular day is unique: "that day is great, There is none like it." This is not just another bump in the road of Israel's history. This is the big one. This is "the time of Jacob's distress."
Now, dispensationalists have often taken this passage and restricted it to a future seven-year tribulation for ethnic Israel. But that is to flatten the rich texture of prophetic fulfillment. The prophets often spoke in a way that had a near fulfillment, a far fulfillment, and an ultimate fulfillment. This distress certainly applied to the horrors of the Babylonian siege and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. It certainly applied to the even greater horrors of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans, a tribulation Jesus Himself said would be unequaled (Matt. 24:21). And in principle, it applies to any time God brings His covenant people through a period of intense, refining fire.
But notice the hinge upon which the entire passage turns. At the end of verse 7, after describing this unparalleled horror, we have this glorious, sovereign, three-word promise: "But he will be saved from it." The Hebrew is more literally "saved out of it." God's promise is not to help them sidestep the trouble. He is not promising an escape from the fire, but a rescue out of the fire. The distress is not pointless. It is purgative. It is the necessary labor pang that will bring about a new birth.
The Sovereign Reversal (vv. 8-9)
Following the promise of salvation, God describes the nature of this deliverance. It is a radical reordering of loyalties and liberties.
"‘And it will be in that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off your neck and will tear off your bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall be a slave to Yahweh their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.'" (Jeremiah 30:8-9)
The yoke of foreign oppressors, the Babylonians and others, will be shattered. The bonds of slavery will be torn off. But this is not a declaration of libertarian independence. Man is never autonomous. You will always serve somebody. The question is not whether you will have a master, but which master you will have. God breaks the yoke of Babylon so that He can place His own yoke upon them. He frees them from slavery to strangers so that they can become slaves to Him.
And notice who they will serve: "Yahweh their God and David their king." This is a stunning promise. Jeremiah is writing centuries after David was dead and buried. This cannot be a reference to a simple restoration of the historical Davidic monarchy. The Targum, the ancient Jewish paraphrase of the Old Testament, rightly interprets this as the Messiah. The prophets consistently looked forward to a new and greater David who would fulfill all the promises of the Davidic covenant (Ezek. 34:23-24; Hos. 3:5). This is a promise of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God will raise up this Davidic king for them. The ultimate freedom is not the absence of a king, but the service of the rightful king. The yoke of sin and tyranny is heavy and crushing. The yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). The salvation promised here is not merely political; it is messianic. It is a deliverance that comes only through submission to Christ the King.
The Great Comfort (v. 10)
Because of this messianic promise, God gives His people a profound word of comfort.
"Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares Yahweh, ‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar And your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, And no one will make him tremble." (Jeremiah 30:10)
The command "Fear not" is grounded in the promise "I will save you." God's salvation is comprehensive. It reaches to the people scattered "afar." It extends to their "seed," to future generations. The result of this salvation is true shalom. Jacob will return, be quiet, and be at ease. The trembling described in verse 5 will be replaced by a security so deep that "no one will make him tremble."
This is the goal of God's redemptive work. He does not save us and leave us in a state of perpetual anxiety. He saves us into a state of rest. This is the rest we enter by faith in Christ (Heb. 4:3). It is a foretaste of the final, eschatological rest when the new heavens and the new earth are established, and the people of God dwell in perfect security. The world promises peace and delivers anxiety. God brings us through terror to deliver a peace the world cannot give and cannot take away.
The Divine Distinction: Chastening vs. Destruction (v. 11)
The final verse of our text provides the theological foundation for everything that has come before. It reveals the heart of a covenant-keeping God who must deal with sin, but who will never abandon His people.
"For I am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you; For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not make a complete destruction of you. But I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished.’" (Jeremiah 30:11)
Here we have the central distinction that governs all of history. God deals with the pagan nations, the enemies of His people, with utter destruction. Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Rome, they rise, they serve God's purposes as rods of His anger, and then they are broken and thrown into the dustbin of history. God will make a "complete destruction" of them.
But with His own people, His dealings are different. "Only I will not make a complete destruction of you." Why? Because of His covenant promise. Because He is "with you... to save you." This is the essence of the covenant: Immanuel, God with us. Therefore, while God will judge the nations, He chastens His people. This is a critical distinction. Judgment is retributive; it is the outpouring of wrath. Chastening is corrective; it is the discipline of a loving Father.
God is explicit: "I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished." God's grace is not a sentimental slush that overlooks sin. That would be unjust. God is holy, and He cannot abide sin, even in His own children. The sins of God's people are, in a very real sense, more grievous than the sins of the pagans, because they are committed against such great light and love. Therefore, He must discipline them. The time of Jacob's distress is this just chastening. It is the Father's rod, applied in love, to bring His wayward children to repentance.
The author of Hebrews picks up this very theme. "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" (Heb. 12:6). If you are without discipline, he says, you are an illegitimate child, not a son. The suffering of the saints is not a sign of God's absence, but a mark of His loving, fatherly presence. It is a sign of our adoption.
Conclusion: The Yoke of the King
So what does this ancient prophecy mean for us, the Church of Jesus Christ, the Israel of God? It means everything. We are the people who have been saved "out of" the ultimate time of Jacob's distress. At the cross, our great David, Jesus the King, entered into the unparalleled agony. He was the one who cried out in dread, whose face was pale, who endured the wrath of God so that we would not have to. He endured the ultimate judgment so that all we would ever have to face is the Father's chastening.
Therefore, when we face our own trials, our own times of distress, we must see them through this grid. This is not the wrath of God. That was exhausted at Calvary. This is the chastening of our Father. It is His loving hand shaping us, correcting us, and preparing us for glory. He is breaking the yoke of some lingering sin off our necks. He is tearing away some bond of idolatry. He is reminding us that our only true freedom is found in joyful slavery to Him and to David our King.
The world is trembling. There is no peace. Men's hearts are failing them for fear. But for the people of God, the command is clear: "Fear not." Do not be dismayed. For the Lord is with us to save us. He will bring us through the fire and into His quiet rest. He has promised it, and the King He has raised up for us will see to it.