Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Jeremiah 31:12

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Jeremiah 31:12

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.  Jeremiah 31:12

John Calvin says that God’s people would come to sing praises on the high hill of Jerusalem.  By these words, Jeremiah promises the restoration of the Temple.  If God had wanted for His people to have only quietness, wealth, and pleasure, then it would have been better for them to remain in Chaldea, which was great with fertility and pleasantness.  But their return to their own country was to be looked for chiefly that they might be separated from heathens, and might rightly worship God, and so dwell in the promised inheritance.  This is a reminder to us that we are strangers in the world, passing through until our heavenly rest – in the world but not of it.

If God’s people flowed to him in complete faith, He would grant them eternal freedom, much like what believers receive today through the Lord Jesus Christ.  If they  flowed together to the goodness of Jehovah, something better and more excellent than food and sufficiency is promised, and that is spiritual, that the people might ascend to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. 

When God said their soul shall be as a watered garden, He means that their abundance would be perpetual. God promises that the souls of the people would be as watered gardens, because they were not to be satisfied only for a short time, but were at no time to be exposed to want, or famine, or to any deficiency.

He says further, they shall again mourn no more when they are made free.  God’s blessing would be continued to them, so that the faithful would not be subject to the common miseries of men.  But God promises that he would be so favorable to his Church, that it would have a perpetual cause for rejoicing,  For whatever evils may happen to us, God shines on us by His grace, and thus all things turn out for our good, and are aids to our salvation.

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Journaling from my study of a John Calvin commentary. 

I am so thankful for God's perpetual blessings and that my soul will be like a watered garden.  I pray that it is for you also.

Blessing,

Annie