#106 "I Will Be Your God; You Will Be My People"

The book of Jeremiah has been on my mind a lot lately. Now, that isn't all that unusual for me to think about Jeremiah. I've felt strangley attracted to Jeremiah for about ten years at this point, and I took a whole class on Jeremiah in seminary. But right now I have two sermons left in a ten-week series on Jeremiah, and I recently finished spending about two months in Jeremiah during my personal devotions. So for the past eight weeks or so I've been thinking a lot about Jeremiah even by my standards.

Last week I came to a conclusion about Jeremiah that I think is worth sharing. But first, a couple disclaimers. I've done some study, but I am by no means an expert on the book of Jeremiah. Also, almost everything I know about the book I owe to Professor Michael Williams, so, while I don't think the following idea is something he specifically said, I've probably pulled the general idea from him.

I think the whole book of Jeremiah can arguably be boiled down to ten words: "I will be your God; you will be my people." This expression, or one close to it, appears several times in the book. (I found seven occurrences with some quick Bible Gateway searches: "I will be your God and you will be my people" [7:23]; "you will be my people and I will be your God" [11:4, 30:22]; "They will be my people and I will be their God" [24:7, 32:38]; "I will be their God and they will be my people" [31:33] "I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they will be my people" [31:1]) That expression describes God's covenant, His special and formal relationship, with His people. When Jeremiah accuses God's people of sin—which he does A LOT in this book—his accusations really boil down to charging the people with being unfaithful to God's covenant. They haven't been living like they are God's people and He is their God. When God brings judgment on His people, that's because those were the agreed upon consequences to their unfaithfulness to the covenant. God uses the judgment to show the people that He is their God and they are His people. He has the right to discipline and even punish them. The false gods the people have been worshiping can't stop the LORD's plans because He is the only true God and His people's only proper God. Then God in His incredible mercy promises a new covenant with His people after all the judgment is complete. They are still His people and He is still their God, and He will make a new, unbreakable, everlasting covenant to ensure that they will always remain that way. I think God's deep desire to be in relationship with His chosen and beloved people underlies everything He says and does in the book of Jeremiah. God's plan, God's purpose is simple: "I will be your God; you will be my people."

I think my argument can be taken even further. I think "I will be your God; you will be my people" is a decent summary of the Bible as a whole. Why does God create the world? The heart of His plan is to create a people to be His own while He is their God. Why does God continue to put up with humanity after our fall into sin? Why does He promise redemption and restoration? Because He wants us to be His people and He wants to be our God. What does God say to Abraham, the man He chooses for the purpose of blessing all nations? "I will establish my covenant…to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (Gen 17:7). What's God doing when He delivers the people of Israel from Egypt? "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God" (Ex 6:7) "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people" (Lev 26:12). What does David see at the heart of God's purposes for his own family and for all of God's people? "You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God" (2 Sam 7:24). Why does Jesus come? Jesus describes His climactic work in His death and resurrection, which we celebrate in the Lord's Supper, as establishing a new covenant. He intends, as Jeremiah said, to make us His people and Himself our God. How do Paul and the author of Hebrews describe God's work in the church? "I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2 Cor 6:16, Heb 8:10). How does God describe the end result of His plan for all creation and all history? "They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God…. 'I will be their God and they will be my children.'" (Rev 21:3, 7). What God wants, what God is doing is bringing us into an intimate, exclusive, loving relationship with Him. Certainly there's more to it than that. God is complex; He is working out things that are more and greater than we can understand. But let's not forget this simple truth: He is our God; we are His people.

Grace and peace,
BMH