Jeremiah 33:26 For I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them
This morning there is no sun. In fact, we had an event planned here on the Bill Rice Ranch that we had to cancel because of the murky weather. Now, I say there is no sun, but of course there is a sun and there is a sun in Tennessee. It just so happens that the sun is above the clouds. If I were to fly from Nashville to Phoenix, I would break through the clouds and everything would be as sunny as can be and the earth would be obscured by the layer of clouds below me. This is to say, there is a sun, there has always been a sun, and as long as God wills there will be a sun. God has made a covenant, if you will, with the day and the night, with the sun and with the creation that He has made.
In Jeremiah 33 there were a lot of people who thought that God had cast off His own people, that He had cast off Judah and Israel and no longer regarded them. This is ironic, because the fact is, Israel and Judah were rejecting God. God never turned His back on them to break His covenant. God was keeping to His holiness and His love of His people even in chastening them. This is something very interesting in Jeremiah 33. Verses 25-26 say, “Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant.”
This is at least the third time in this book that God has alluded to this. God is saying, “Look, I made the sun, the earth, and the universe, and everything runs exactly as I set it to run.” God is an active Creator. God created the sun to bring light. So, there are days when we don’t perceive the light, but the sun is always there and it always comes up. Sometimes we say, “Well, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.” That is pretty sure. Do you realize how much is calculated by the sun, the phases of the moon, and so many things that are interconnected in creation? God says, “I will keep My Word to My universe, and I will certainly keep My word to My people.
That is exactly the truth today. A God Who will keep His Word to the universe that He created will keep His Word to you. That is why it is so important to know what God’s Words are. That is why it is so important for God’s people to regard God’s Words through the prophet Jeremiah. We change, but God never does. In fact, it is God’s unchanging intentions for us that lead Him to give us second chances.
In the first part of chapter 33 it says, “The word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time.” Later it says, “I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.” Verse 12 says, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place…” What you see is this repetition of the idea that God came to them a second time, and God says that He will restore things to the way they were at the first.
We change all the time, but God never does. You think of the things that do not change in this universe, the sun, the moon, the stars, things that are as sure as the sunrise. One of the things that is even more sure than that is God keeping His Word to you. Know God’s Word, rest in His promises, and remember that God will always keep His Word to His creation.