The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 3:18-25 You Shall Call Me, My Father and Shall no More Turn Away from me

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Jer 3:18-25 You Shall Call Me, My Father and Shall No More Turn Away from Me

[Study Aired February 14, 2021]

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

The Lord pleads with us to repent of our backsliding infidelity and return to Him, and that is what we are doing. However, the Lord has divorced Himself from our adulterous ways, and the law prohibits an estranged wife from returning to her husband:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

If the law of Moses were all we had, then we would all be irredeemably lost. According to the law of Moses even if her second husband dies, her first husband is prohibited from taking her back to himself. The apostle Paul was familiar with these words of the law of Moses, which is what prompted the holy spirit to have him to write:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

“You also” demonstrates that Paul understood clearly, as he states three times here in verse 2 through four, our ‘husband’ must first die, and even then “[we] also [the Lord’s wife (2Co 11:2, Rev 21:9)] are become dead to the law… that [we] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…”

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

There we have it. That is the “that His banished be not expelled from Him” spoken of by the “wise woman of Takoa” means:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

The ‘means’ which the Lord has devised that we “be not expelled from Him” is only “through death”, both the death of our first Husband and the death of His wife. Christ is our husband, and as His wife, “[we] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom 7:4).

Our husband, Christ, was once married to a physical nation. They “that know the law” know that Christ had to die to that marriage covenant before He could be married to another wife. While He was here in the flesh, he went only to physical Israel, while at the same time, as did the law itself, prophesying of a time when He would go to the Gentiles:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

This is Christ’s first recorded message to “His own country”. Because He prophesied of being rejected “in His own country” and being sent to the Gentiles, except for the providence of God, He would have lost His life. The rejection by “His own country”, His own people, and even His own family, of His doctrine of eventually going to the Gentiles was just that radical and repugnant to them.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

He again demonstrates that He had to go first to “His own country” when dealing with a Gentile Syrophenician woman:

Mar 7:24  And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Christ called this poor desperate Gentile woman a “dog” right to her face, and at first refused to heal her daughter. But, as a type of all who come to Him, she was desperate, and she was undeterred by being made painfully aware of how unaccepted and rejected she was:

Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Christ rewarded this desperate woman “for this saying” because He knew that His Father had put those words in that woman’s mouth. He knew that she was speaking for Him and confirming His words to us and to “His own country” who were in the process of rejecting Him and His soon to be new spiritual wife. It was the beginning of “the time of reformation” which was prophesied of in the law of Moses:

Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me [Moses was a great reformer]; unto him ye shall hearken;

Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

He and His first wife were both “made of a woman, made under the law”. That law forbade Him marrying a wife He had put away until He Himself died and she “also [died] to the law by the body of Christ; that [she] should be married to another, even to Him wo is raised from the dead…” (Rom 7:4).

Another prophecy from the mouth of Christ Himself concerning the necessity that He must put away of His first wife are His words to the Gentile woman at the well of Samaria:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [spiritual, Rom 2:28-29] Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Let’s read that law again, and then also read where the Lord tells us that He has put away and then divorced His first wife:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

For those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear, those words are just another way of saying:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Here is the Lord severing His relationship with ‘flesh and blood’:

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

If our husband must die before He can marry His wife who was “under the law” (which ‘law’ dictates that she cannot be taken back by her first husband), then it follows that no one who is “under the law” can marry the husband who has put them away. It so happens that even the Gentiles to whom Christ would go are also under the law for this reason:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

For this reason “[we Gentiles] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that [we Gentiles, who were also under the law] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…” Here it is again… both Christ and His wife are “become dead to the law by the body of Christ”:

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Christ cannot take us back as His wife, even after He dies for us, unless “we also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be married to another… even to Him who is raised from the dead”.

Our ‘death’ to “the law of sin and death” is our “judgment [which is now] beginning at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). The judgment which is now on the house of God comes upon us as we “present [our]selves unto God a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1). Our judgment is our “crucifixion with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and it is our “dying daily” spoken of by the apostle Paul:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:19  For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

This is the death which must be taking place within us before “we also [must count ourselves as] dead by the body of Christ, that we might be married to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead”.

In Biblical symbolism our judgment always comes from the north:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [‘Aholiabah’ (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

We will say more about our “inheritance” and to whom it is promised later in this study, but for now we will take note that “the land of the north”, as we will demonstrate, symbolizes our judgment, which ‘judgment’ gradually destroys our old man and chastens us to learn “the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith of Jesus Christ” and must precede our “inheritance.”

Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jer 6:1  O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Jer 10:22  Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

Here in Jeremiah 10, Judah is said to be “desolate and a den of dragons”. Notice how similar these words are to:

Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

The reason Judah is called “a den of dragons” is that she (Aholiabah) through her self-righteousness, has become more wicked than her elder sister Israel (Ahola). The judgment of both the harlot sisters comes “out of the north”:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalemand set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

This prophecy certainly has an outward, dispensational application (Rom 8:22-23), but it is to be applied first and primarily with ourselves (1Co 15:31). This is our “slaying”. This “slaying” is the judgment and death of our old man, and it is only through this judgment and death that we are granted “to be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead.” This is the chastening judgment of the grace of God which “chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust and to live Godly lives in this present age”:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuochastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Greek: G165 – aion, age]; (KJV)

Ezekiel 9:1-7 describes the chastening grace of the Lord’s judgment of our time first as ‘Aholah’ and then as self-righteous, yet also lascivious ‘Aholibah’. The fact these two harlot sisters symbolize different stages of our single experience is demonstrated in a later chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel. It is found in Ezekiel 37, known as the prophecy of “the valley of dry bones”. This is what we are told of the meaning of all these bones and who it is they symbolize:

Eze 37:1  The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
Eze 37:2  And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
Eze 37:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Eze 37:4  Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Eze 37:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] to enter into you, and ye shall live:
Eze 37:6  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
Eze 37:8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in them.
Eze 37:9  Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
Eze 37:10  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army [Rev 7:4 and Rev 14:1 symbolically 144,000].
Eze 37:11  Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Eze 37:12  Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Eze 37:13  And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
Eze 37:14  And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

“I will… bring you into the land of Israel… and place you in you own land” is the inheritance of ‘Israel’, and Israel is the Old Testament type of the Lord’s elect who alone are promised “an inheritance among all them which are sanctified… of this present time” if we keep ourselves from false doctrines and at the same time oversee the Lord’s flock (Act 20:32, Rom 8:18).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified [in “this present time” Rom 8:18]

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory [the inheritance] which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

This promised ‘inheritance’ is not promised to just anyone. Rather it is only promised to a “predestinated… few… who first trusted in Christ”:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his willaccording to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [“in advance as security for the rest”] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The “great army” of Ezekiel 37:10 is ‘great’ only in that it is the Lord’s army. It is symbolized in the New Testament by one hundred forty-four thousand “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Compared to the millions who are called but not chosen, those who cannot go beyond the six milk doctrine of Hebrews 6, this “great army” are but very “few” indeed:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

The promise of “an inheritance” in Jeremiah 3:18 is just one of the many Old Testament verses which give great meaning to all the New Testament promises of an inheritance for the overcoming saints:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [Aholiabah (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” refers to “our inheritance” as “kings and priests” ruling with Christ over the kingdoms of this earth for a thousand years followed by being made judges at the white throne judgment (Rev 20).

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life [“this present time”]?

Just as Joseph was given the throne of Egypt immediately upon coming out of prison, we, too, are given dominion over all of our false doctrines when we come out of our Babylonian prison in “the north” to which we have been carried away as slaves to “the law of sin and death”:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Like Joseph coming out of the dungeons of Egypt, we also “come out of her”, out of the Babylonian religious systems of this world to receive our inheritance with Christ in the heavens immediately in “earnest”, down payment form, in Christ.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Being under either the law of Moses or the law of the Gentiles is our spiritual prison. Scripturally there is no difference between the law of Moses and the law of the Gentiles. Here is what the Holy spirit has inspired to be written for our edification:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It is the holy spirit which says the law of Moses is “a (disannulled) carnal commandment” no more capable of giving life than the Gentiles who “are a law unto themselves”:

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Our time as slaves is spent in our whoredoms in the false doctrines of our Babylonian exile. It is the time we spend being dominated by the fear of men, the fear of death and by the doctrines and laws of Babylon.

This is what Paul tells us of the time we spend under such bondage:

Gal 4:1  But I say that so long as the heir is a child [a spiritual infant], he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all;
Gal 4:2  but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:
Gal 4:4  but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [“under the rudiments of the world”]
Gal 4:5  that he might redeem them that were under the law [“under the rudiments of the world”], that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a sonand if a son, then an heir through God.

When we begin to come out of the prison of being under the law, then we are becoming one with Christ. We begin to be seated with Him, and we are being enthroned with Him in His kingdom within us in down payment form “until the redemption of the purchased possession”:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” is to be given part in the first resurrection, and to rule “with Christ a thousand years” and then to be the judges of the great white throne judgment, which will judge the dead small and great according to their works:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

However, death is not yet destroyed as per:

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Therefore, this prophecy continues:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them [“the nations in the four quarters of the earth” (vs 8)].
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [the ages of the ages]

The lake of fire is the second death (vs 14) which has power over and hurts the second group who “Live not again until the thousand years [and the “little season” of universal rebellion – verse 3] are finished” (Rev 20:7-10), and then we come to “the resurrection of judgment” which Christ spoke of in John 5:28-29. This is the second resurrection, and it is called the “great white throne… judgment”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If there is a first resurrection (Rev 20:5), then this must be the second resurrection. If there is a second resurrection, then there must have been a first death. When did the previous ‘death’ take place? Here is the straightforward answer to that question:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

The first resurrection is also called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”:

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

This union cannot take place until we see ourselves as hopelessly lost, self-righteous Aholibah, the younger, more sinful and self-righteous harlot sister. When we have acknowledged that we were first adulterous ‘Ahola’ and that we, through our self-righteousness, have surpassed the sins we committed while we were under the law, and that through our self-righteousness we ourselves have abused the Lord’s grace, then, and only then, are we in the humbled position of being ‘crucified with Christ [and] dying daily’. It is only from this position that we can be exalted to the throne of Christ and His Father because we have now “acknowledged our transgression” and we know whence we have come, and we know it is all His working from the beginning to the end for our good (Rom 8:28).

Jer 3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto youand I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Luk 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Peter confirms these words of Jeremiah when he tells us:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Coming out of the north signifies coming up through great tribulation and judgment. Coming back to the Lord out of the north signifies the Lord’s judgments in our earth have taught us righteousness:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Ezekiel helps to reveal to us that we are all first the elder sister Aholah. Aholah is elder because she typifies our self-righteousness “mine own righteousness, which is of the law”:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the lawbut that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Aholibah, the younger sister harlot, symbolizes our own self-righteousness as we turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, thereby becoming more wicked than our older sister, our time under the law.

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

When we read of “Judah… with the house of Israel… coming together” to be one again, we are always speaking of the Lord’s elect who are being given “a goodly heritage [an inheritance] of the host of nations”.

Here is the promise of being given “a goodly heritage”, an inheritance “of the host of nations” to rule over in the New Testament:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

This honor is given only to those who the Lord has “crushed to powder”, and who have “judged themselves (1Co 11:31), humbled themselves, and have died with Christ in this present time (1Co 15:31 and Rom 8:18).

These verses speak to the concept of acknowledging our transgressions and judging ourselves:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

Looking to the nations of this world, whether inward nations of this world… all our false doctrines, or outward nations of this world with their militaries; if we are depending on them for our life and safety it is disastrous. There is no salvation but through Christ and His words and His doctrines. He alone has the words of life:

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Joh 14:5  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

In this prophecy the Lord is reminding us of who we were, how we have treacherously treated our spiritual husband, and how unfit to be His wife we are as two self-righteous whores. With the promise of being delivered from His wrath if we will “only acknowledge [our] transgression” I want to include verses 21 and 22, along with our last two verses in which we offer “weeping and supplications” to the Lord for our unfaithful, whorish ways toward Him:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

These verses are ‘Ahola, and Aholibah’ in us acknowledging that [we] have transgressed, and these verses are the Lord healing us of our backsliding. If He does not do so, it will not be done, but He is in the process of doing just that, and we are accepting of “His workmanship” in our lives:

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Here are the verses of our next study:

Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
Jer 4:9  And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

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