Jeremiah 33:1-9, Call to Me and I Will Answer

Jer. 33:3 is an oft quoted verse, and rightfully so in that it reveals a great truth about the LORD.  However, as always, it needs to be kept in it’s context in order to apply it properly today.  Here are a few observations.

·       Jer. 33:3 should be quoted along with Jer. 33:2: “Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name).”  God had already told Jeremiah (32:27): “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is there anything too hard for Me”?  If God does not show the one who calls on Him “great and mighty things, which you do not know” then He is not the faithful God He says He is.  This is all about God’s character!

·       The immediate context is “Israel’s salvation” and her bright future.  It is the same thing we have noted in Isa. 40-66: the context is God’s promise to Abraham and the doubts some might have had as God’s promised to bring great judgment upon rebellious Israel.  Read Jer. 32.  Jeremiah was told by the LORD to purchase a field (32:1-15), something Jeremiah struggled to understand (32:16-25).  Why buy a field if the Babylonians are about to remove Israel from the land?  God’s answer (32:26-44) is that there is nothing too hard for Him, including the promise to give Israel a future in the land even though He is about to remove them from the land.

·       Furthermore, in Jeremiah 33:19-26, God’s promise to David forms the context.  That is another promise that must be fulfilled, given the faithfulness of God. 

·       The connection between Jeremiah 32 and 33 is seen in the chronology.  Both take place in the tenth year of Zedekiah (32:1; 33:1).  The siege had been going for a year.  Times are desperate, and Jeremiah is in prison.  Remember that God had promised to see Jeremiah through his hard ministry (Jer. 15:19-21).  Yet, Jeremiah was in prison, and there were powerful people who wanted him dead.

·       The great and mighty things God was promising in 33:3 included the return of captives, both from Israel and Judah (33:7).  But the greater accomplishment of God would be the cleansing of the people from their iniquity (33:8), and the salvation of the Gentiles as well (33:9).  The salvation of a soul is the greatest miracle, far exceeding a healing or casting our of a demon.  That is why Jesus, before the cross, could promise His disciples they would perform greater works than He after the cross (Jn. 14:12). 

So yes, let us hold to God’s word through Jeremiah.  Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.  Pray for the saving work of Christ to be applied to your family and neighbors and world.  Nothing is too hard for the LORD!