Please explain Jeremiah 3:18.
Jeremiah 3:18 reads, “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 as an inheritance to your fathers” (NKJV). Let’s break this precious verse down.
“In those days”: This is speaking of the return of Jesus Christ as “King of kings and Lord of lords” to subdue His enemies and to establish His Millennial Kingdom (see Revelation 19:11-20:4).
“The house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel”: To appreciate these words, it is important to know that the Twelve Tribes of Israel were divided as a nation in 931 B.C. when Solomon’s son (Rehoboam) became king. We read of this sad account in 1st Kings 12:1-19. Verses 16 & 19 say, “Now when all Israel saw that the king (Rehoboam) did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, ‘What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David. So Israel departed to their tents…So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.” When the Lord comes, He will reunite the house of Judah and the house of Israel and they will walk in peace and harmony forever.
“They shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers”: After the nation was divided they were eventually invaded, conquered and dispersed throughout the nations. In order to reunite the nation, God will graciously restore them to the land of promise from all those nations. The prophet Ezekiel was inspired to write about this in Ezekiel 37:15-28. In verses 15-17 God told him to take TWO STICKS and to write JUDAH on one and EPHRAIM and JOSEPH on the other and then join them together. In verse 18 the people asked him, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” Ezekiel then told them, in plain and simple words, that God would gather the house of Judah and the house of Israel from their dispersion and unite them as one in the promised land. Verses 21-22 declare this wonderful truth: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided again.”
Before we close this meditation, we feel compelled to remind all who read these words that God’s Word will never fail and if He has promised to bless Israel in this way He will surely “bring it to pass.” There are those today who teach that because of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah God has cast them away forever. They go on to teach that the “church of God” is now the “spiritual Israel of God” and that all the blessings that were promised to the literal nation of Israel have been given to the church and that those blessings must be “spiritualized.” But our passage today refutes that teaching, for God’s promises to Israel are to be TAKEN LITERALLY and thus Israel will indeed be restored, first spiritually (see Jeremiah 31:31-33) and then physically to the land of Israel (as we have just seen). Perhaps it would be fitting to close by quoting the words of the apostle Paul from Romans 11:25-29: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (270.3) (DO)