Scripture Reading: John 5:39-40; Jer. 23:6; 33:16; 31:33-34
In the foregoing message we emphasized the subject, the content, and the central thought of the book of Jeremiah. As a way of reviewing these matters, in this message I would like to say a word concerning certain crucial aspects of the divine revelation in Jeremiah.
In John 5:39 and 40 the Lord Jesus said to the Jewish religionists, "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." To "search the Scriptures" may be separated from "come to Me." The Jewish religionists searched the Scriptures but were not willing to come to the Lord. These two should go together. Because the Scriptures testify concerning the Lord, they should not be separated from the Lord. We may contact the Scriptures, yet not contact the Lord. Only the Lord can give life.
From the time the Pentateuch was written until today, the Jews have been studying the Scriptures, but they do not know Christ or come to Him, even though the Scriptures testify concerning Him. It is quite possible that this may be our situation as we study the Bible and particularly, in the case of this life-study, the book of Jeremiah. Because of this, I would like to point out that my burden in these messages is not to have a Bible study but to seek Christ as life. Life is different from mere letters (2 Cor. 3:6b).
Furthermore, I am burdened that we would see God's economy in this book. We should not understand the Bible in a natural way but according to the divine revelation regarding God's economy. During the last thirty years, the Lord's recovery of the truths has reached the matter of God's economy, and my messages have therefore been focused on God's economy.
The book of Jeremiah reveals that Christ is made the righteousness of Jehovah to God's elect (23:6; 33:16). Why is it necessary for Christ to be made God's righteousness to God's people? Someone might answer by saying that Christ must be made the righteousness of Jehovah to God's elect people because in themselves they are wicked and corrupt and altogether without righteousness; and unless Christ becomes righteousness to them, God cannot have anything to do with them. Such an answer is good, but it is lacking in light and in vision and remains on the level of a mere Bible study. The best way to answer this question is to answer according to the revelation in the New Testament concerning God's economy.
God's economy is to make Christ everything, to make Christ the centrality and the universality, for the producing of God's increase, God's enlargement, which is the church. The increase, the enlargement, of God is the fullness of God for His expression. The consummation of this fullness will be the New Jerusalem. If we consider the New Jerusalem as it is described in Revelation 21 and 22, we will see that the New Jerusalem is God's eternal increase with Christ as the center and the circumference.
We may say that in eternity past God was a "bachelor," meaning that He was alone without anyone to match Him. In eternity future, however, God will no longer be a bachelor but will have the New Jerusalem as His wife (Rev. 21:9-10). This wife will also be the tabernacle (Rev. 21:3). This wife, this tabernacle, is the increase of God. Thus, the New Jerusalem, the consummation of God's selected people, is the enlargement of God. Christ is the centrality and universality of this enlargement. This is God's economy.
If we see this, we will know why it is necessary for Christ to be made the righteousness of Jehovah to God's people. According to the book of Jeremiah, Israel was wicked and provoked God's wrath, and because of this God came in to punish and chastise them. Actually, Israel's evil and wickedness prepared the way for Christ to come in to be their righteousness. If Israel had been righteous, how could Christ have become their righteousness? It would have been impossible. But according to Paul's thought, their unrighteousness and sinfulness provided the opportunity for Christ to come in and be made the righteousness of Jehovah to them. Therefore, the subject of Jeremiah is Christ being made the righteousness of Jehovah to God's elect as their center and circumference. Eventually, Israel will manifest Christ, who is their righteousness, as their centrality and universality. This manifestation will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
We have seen that the subject of Jeremiah is God's carrying out of His economy through the chastisement of Israel, His elect, in love, with His tender care, compassion, and sympathy, and His judgment upon the nations in righteousness, to match His love, that Israel may manifest Christ, who is their divine righteousness as their centrality and universality, by their being made a new creation with the inner law of the divine life and the capacity of this life to know God (31:33-34). Concerning this, I would like to ask the following question: In what way does God make Christ everything, the center and the circumference, to the people of Israel? Someone might answer this question by saying that the way God does this is for Christ to be incarnated as the Shoot of David, to be crucified, and then to become the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. This, however, is the means by which God makes Christ everything to us; it is not the way in which God makes Christ everything to us.
God's way to make Christ everything to His people involves righteousness, redemption, and the divine life. We have seen that Christ is made God's righteousness to us. Now we need to see that this requires redemption. Without redemption Christ cannot be made righteousness to us. Apart from redemption God cannot give us anything. The basis on which the divine life is given to us is the redemption of Christ.
Redemption is implied in Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the new covenant in 31:33 and 34. The last part of verse 34 says, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." According to Ephesians 1:7, forgiveness is equal to redemption. This verse says, "In whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses." Here redemption and forgiveness are in apposition, indicating that they refer to the same thing. This is our ground for saying that redemption is implied in the word regarding forgiveness in Jeremiah 31:34. God, in the new covenant, will forgive our iniquity. This is a matter of redemption.
God's way to make Christ everything to His elect is by the way of righteousness and by the way of redemption. It is also by the way of the divine life. The divine life is given on the basis of Christ's redemption through God's justification, which is based on His righteousness. Life implies the law of life with its ability and capacity. These three matters — righteousness, redemption, and life — are fully developed in the New Testament. Although the way in which God makes Christ everything to us is developed in the New Testament, it is already revealed intrinsically in the book of Jeremiah. This means that in Jeremiah we see something of the New Testament.
Apparently Jeremiah is a book concerned with Israel's sin and wickedness and with God's chastisement of Israel. Actually this is not the case. The book of Jeremiah, like the Bible as a whole, was not written for this purpose. The Bible, including the book of Jeremiah, was written for God's economy. It was written to show us that God wants to be increased, to be enlarged, in order to have a fullness for the expression of Himself. Since this is the subject and content of the entire Bible, why should the subject and content of Jeremiah be different? The basic element of the divine word in Jeremiah is not Israel's sin and God's chastisement; the basic element is God's economy. This is a crucial matter that we all need to see.
Finally, I would like to ask a third question: What is the ultimate consummation, the ultimate issue, of the revelation in the book of Jeremiah? The ultimate consummation of the divine revelation in this book is the New Jerusalem. We know this by the fact that the entire Bible consummates in the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is the consummation of God's new creation. In the book of Jeremiah, the new creation is indicated by the new covenant in chapter thirty-one. The new covenant produces something new, and this new thing is the new creation. God's new creation is His increase, His enlargement, becoming His fullness.
We use the word fullness here to denote not the riches of God but the expression of God. This word denotes not the riches of what God is but the expression of these riches, the full expression of the rich being of God. We may use a glass of water as an illustration. A glass that is full of water is rich in water. But when a glass of water is so full that it overflows with water, we have not only the riches of water but also the outflow of water as the fullness, the expression, of the water. God's fullness, therefore, is His expression in full. The New Jerusalem, the consummation of the Bible, will be the fullness, the expression, of God.
Eventually, according to the new covenant, Israel will be redeemed, saved, and renewed so that God will be their God and they will be God's people to participate in the enjoyment of the riches of the Triune God. This participation will be in the millennium in the coming age of restoration and will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.
