The Great Homecoming: A Postmillennial Feast Text: Jeremiah 31:10-14
Introduction: The Gospel According to Jeremiah
Jeremiah is a prophet of judgment. For thirty chapters, he has been an unblinking herald of the covenant lawsuit God was bringing against His unfaithful people. He has preached doom, destruction, and exile. He has been thrown in cisterns and stocks for his trouble. And yet, right in the heart of this book of sorrows, we find what has been rightly called the Book of Consolation. Jeremiah 31 is a gold mine of gospel promise, a staggering prophecy of a future so bright it almost seems out of place surrounded by so much gloom.
But this is the biblical pattern, is it not? Judgment and restoration. Death and resurrection. The cross and the crown. God tears down in order to build up. He wounds in order to heal. The exile Jeremiah predicted was not the end of the story, but rather the severe mercy necessary to bring about a greater glory. And this glory, as we will see, is not a quiet, ethereal, spiritualized affair. It is a robust, worldwide, tangible, and festive reality. It is nothing less than the successful evangelization of the world, the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
This passage is a direct refutation of all the sad-faced, pessimistic eschatologies that have so enervated the Church. The picture here is not one of a tiny, beleaguered remnant being airlifted out of a world gone to pot. No, the picture is one of global announcement, a great gathering, overflowing joy, and such material and spiritual abundance that it can only be described as a watered garden. This is a postmillennial feast, and Jeremiah is sending out the invitations. He is telling us what the world will look like when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
We must understand that when the New Testament writers want to describe the blessings of the New Covenant, they reach back to this very chapter. The author of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31 at length to explain the superiority of Christ's work. What Jeremiah saw in prophetic vision is what we are living in now, and what we are marching toward in triumph. This is not about a geopolitical entity in the Middle East; it is about the Church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God, comprised of Jew and Gentile, scattered and now gathered from every nation on earth.
The Text
Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, And declare in the coastlands far away, And say, “He who dispersed Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”
For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
“They will come and sing for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their soul will be like a watered garden, And they will never waste away again.
Then the virgin will be glad in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them gladness for their sorrow.
I will fill the soul of the priests with richness, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares Yahweh.
(Jeremiah 31:10-14 LSB)
Global Proclamation (v. 10)
The prophecy begins with a command for global evangelism.
"Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, And declare in the coastlands far away, And say, 'He who dispersed Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'" (Jeremiah 31:10)
Notice the audience. This is not a private memo whispered to the remaining faithful in Jerusalem. This is a press release for the entire world. "Hear, O nations!" "Declare in the coastlands far away!" The coastlands, or isles, were the farthest reaches of the known world. This is a prophecy with global ambition. The good news of God's restoration is not a tribal secret; it is headline news for every person on the planet. This is the Great Commission in seed form.
And what is the message? It is a simple, powerful declaration of God's sovereignty over history. "He who dispersed Israel will gather him." The same God who judged His people and scattered them among the nations for their sin is the very one who will sovereignly gather them back. The dispersion was His work, and the gathering will be His work. This is not a story of Israel pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. It is a story of divine grace from start to finish. Our sin is the reason for our scattering, our alienation from God. But His grace is the reason for our gathering.
And how will He care for this gathered people? "As a shepherd keeps his flock." This is an image of tender, personal, and protective care. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He seeks the lost, binds up the injured, and defends against wolves. The security of the flock is not in the flock's cleverness, but in the Shepherd's faithfulness. This is the promise of preservation for the true Israel, the Church.
The Foundation of Redemption (v. 11)
Verse 11 gives us the basis for this great gathering. It is not based on Israel's merit, but on God's redemptive action.
"For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he." (Jeremiah 31:11)
Here we have the language of the cross. "Ransomed" and "redeemed." A ransom is a payment made to secure the release of a captive. We were captives, slaves to sin and death. The one who held us, Satan, was "stronger than" we were. We had no ability to free ourselves. But God, in the person of His Son, paid the ransom price. He redeemed us, bought us back, not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).
This is the engine that drives the fulfillment of this prophecy. The gathering of the nations is possible because the ransom has been paid. The joy of Zion is secured because redemption has been accomplished. Every blessing described in the following verses flows directly from this foundational act of redemption. Without the cross, there is no gathering, no joy, no watered garden. But because Christ has conquered our great enemy, all these promises are "Yes" and "Amen" in Him.
The Joy of Zion (v. 12)
Verse 12 describes the result of this gathering and redemption: a people overflowing with joy and abundance in the presence of God.
"'They will come and sing for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their soul will be like a watered garden, And they will never waste away again.'" (Jeremiah 31:12)
Where do they gather? "On the height of Zion." In the Old Testament, Zion was the earthly city of Jerusalem. But the New Testament makes it clear that the true Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the living God (Hebrews 12:22). This is where God's people gather for worship. And what is the characteristic of this worship? Singing for joy. This is not a grim, duty-bound religion. This is festive Christianity. The gospel produces a glad and singing people.
And notice what they are radiant over. They are "radiant over the goodness of Yahweh." But this goodness is not abstract. It is tangible. It is "grain and the new wine and the oil," the "young of the flock and the herd." This is covenantal abundance. God's blessings are not just "spiritual" in some disembodied sense. The gospel is meant to transform the real world. It produces flourishing families, productive farms, and prosperous economies. To try and separate spiritual blessing from material blessing is a form of Gnosticism that the Bible simply does not allow. God made the world, and He is redeeming the world, stuff and all.
The result is that "their soul will be like a watered garden." A watered garden is the opposite of a desert. It is fruitful, vibrant, lush, and full of life. This is a picture of a soul that is deeply satisfied in God. And this satisfaction is permanent: "they will never waste away again." This points to the security and finality of the New Covenant. In Christ, our joy is secure, our life is eternal, and our satisfaction is complete.
From Mourning to Mirth (v. 13)
This overflowing joy is for everyone, and it represents a radical reversal of their previous condition.
"Then the virgin will be glad in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them gladness for their sorrow." (Jeremiah 31:13)
The joy is communal and intergenerational. The virgins dance, and the young men and the old celebrate "together." There are no generational gaps in the joy of Zion. The gospel unites all ages in a common celebration. This is a picture of a healthy, vibrant church, where the wisdom of the old and the energy of the young are all consecrated to the joyful worship of God.
And the reason for this great party is a divine reversal. God Himself says, "I will turn their mourning into joy." Before, in their exile and sin, there was weeping and sorrow. But God does not just put a bandage on their sorrow. He transforms it. He doesn't just stop the mourning; He turns it into joy. This is the alchemy of the gospel. God takes the greatest sorrow, the cross of Christ, and turns it into the source of our greatest joy, our salvation. He takes the sorrow of our repentance and turns it into the gladness of forgiveness. He comforts His people, not with platitudes, but with the solid reality of redemption.
A Satisfied People (v. 14)
The prophecy concludes with a summary declaration of God's ultimate intention for His people.
"I will fill the soul of the priests with richness, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares Yahweh." (Jeremiah 31:14)
Under the New Covenant, all believers are priests (1 Peter 2:9). We are a royal priesthood, called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. And the promise here is that God will fill the soul of His priests with "richness." This is a deep, spiritual abundance. This is not the health-and-wealth caricature; this is the profound richness of knowing Christ, of being filled with the Spirit, of having access to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Him.
And the result for all of God's people is satisfaction. "My people will be satisfied with My goodness." God made us with desires, with longings. The problem is not that we want to be happy, but that we look for happiness in all the wrong places. We drink from broken cisterns that can hold no water. But here, God promises to be the source of our ultimate satisfaction. His goodness, expressed supremely in the gift of His Son, is the only thing that can truly and eternally satisfy the human soul. When we drink from this fountain, we will never thirst again.
Conclusion: Living in the Watered Garden
This is the future of the world that the Bible promises. Not decline and decay, but gathering and growth. Not sorrow and fear, but dancing and satisfaction. The ransoming work of Christ on the cross guarantees the Christianization of the nations. The Shepherd is gathering His flock, and His flock is growing. The goodness of the Lord is overflowing, and it is transforming everything it touches, from our souls to our soil.
We are not called to be managers of a slow-motion collapse. We are called to be gardeners, planting seeds of the gospel in the confidence that our Lord will water them and bring forth an abundant harvest. We are called to live as a satisfied people, radiant with the goodness of God, so that the nations see our joy and hear the word of the Lord. The world is not a desert destined for eternal barrenness. It is a garden in the making, and one day, through the triumphant advance of the gospel, the whole earth will be like a watered garden, and all our sorrows will be gone.