Welcome back to the Daily Bible Podcast! We're so glad you've joined us. And now your hosts, Pastor PJ and Pastor Rod...

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition, the Daily Bible Podcast. Bernard, thanks for whatever you just said. I'm sure it's gonna say something now that I wish I hadn't thanked you for, but just in case, it's just the normal status quo. Good job, Bernard. Welcome back to, the Daily Bible Podcast. Yes. Welcome back. Happy Friday everybody. It's Friday. Congrats students out there. You guys made it through the first week back in school for the majority of you. And you survived, which is great. It's I know it's been a long week in some regards and yet first week of school was always nice 'cause it was like, man, there's not, I don't really have much in the way of work to do, much assignments to do first week of college. Radically different syllabus shock. It's like, how am I ever gonna be able to figure out all of this? That's in front of me. Seminary, same thing. Wailing your doctoral program. I'm sure you were looking at that going, I'm still shocked. This is impossible. I still feel like it is impossible. I may not finish this program with man, it's impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. I don't know if God is with me in this. I'm just saying, do you not think so? I don't know. I don't know, man. Yeah. Yeah, you are pursuing that. I think we've talked about that a little bit but give us an overview right now. What are a couple of classes that you're taking or what are you focused on right now? Yeah we have talked about it, but I guess so I, here's what I know, it's three years long. At the end of it, I produce a dissertation that's that's done with supervision by one of my seminary profs, and I'll find out who that is. I think in the next semester, maybe the second one I took. I took an intro class intro to doctoral writing and research. I've taken a class about the cooperative program. I've taken a seminar about the theological process of biblical counseling, which was super enjoyable. Loved that. It was a long, it was long days. I was in a seminar from, I think Tuesday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM or 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and the class all day is awesome in some ways and also very taxing in others. But that was fantastic. I really enjoyed that. That's good. And right now I'm in a contextualized writing class, which is, I'll take this class, I think four times over the course of these three years. And it teaches me how to write the paper. And so the unique thing about this program is that you write the paper from the very beginning. So you start working on it, you start your presentation, you start thinking about all the things that you could write about. You narrow it down, you pick something. And then over the next three years, I'm writing it the whole time basically. That's super helpful. 'cause at Masters they didn't. They didn't give us an idea of what our final project was gonna end up looking like. They basically said, Hey, just focus on your classes right now, the modules and just know that everything you're doing now is going to factor into that final project that you're gonna do. But they didn't tell us about it until going into our last module set. Yikes. And they're like, oh, by the way here's what you're gonna do. It's like a hundred page paper, please. Yeah. So yeah, thankfully I get to have some help all along the way, and I really appreciate that. In fact, I've already read, I don't know, five or six books about how to write a paper that's awesome. Things to avoid, how to do it right? Lots of emphasis on avoiding plagiarism. And what's interesting is that none of these books are talking about ai, right? Which, of course, they're all published before that. Right now it's a very hot button issue because AI can make it so easy to do that in, at least in theory, in an indiscernible way, right? And so your character and integrity on are on the plate right now to say, look, don't do that. You're paying to learn how to think and to write. Don't export that's your job right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's like growing up in high school, it was the Cliff notes or the Pink Monkey notes or the Spark Notes Yeah. Of the book. It was like you can do that, but you're robbing yourself in the end. But not, and I don't think, I think those books, in addition to reading, would be really helpful. I understand there the whole. Point is to learn how to read and understand it well by yourself, but sometimes you just need help. I was so opposed to them because of that very reason. They had such a stigma around them. If you read them, you use them, you're cheating. You're not doing the right thing. But I'm thinking, man, if I could just get help to understand it going into it, it's kinda like what we're doing right now, right? You could look at what we're doing is cliff notes to understanding the Bible, but we're trying to help you so that you can read it better. And if that approach was taken in so many of my English lit papers and so many of my English lit books, I think that would've been really helpful to me and caused me to like it a lot more. Yep. Yeah, Bible cliff notes maybe that maybe we should rebrand our podcast. We'll see what Bernard thinks about that. Yeah, probably not though. Probably not. Let's jump into speaking of the Bible. Let's jump into our DBR for today. Jeremiah 30 and 31. Big chapters in front of us, especially chapter 31, but chapter 30 is going to begin to forecast. 31 is going to de develop more. And that is the the return of the remnants. And this is gonna have both a near term focus and a long-term focus Near term, they're gonna come back under the reign of Cyrus of Persia. So Cyrus is gonna be the one that's gonna send the exiles back. And so when he says there, God does, in verse three, I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judas says the Lord. And I will bring them back to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall take possession of it. That happened partially under Cyrus, but there's still a future, there's a long-term fulfillment of this that we read about down in verse nine, but they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. And so this is looking forward to the. Ultimate David, the anti type to the type the type being King David was the prototype, he was the example. And the anti type is the one that fulfills that. And so that is the one that is gonna be the true David, that is Jesus as we know him, the descendant of David. And so that's verse nine is looking all the way forward to the reign of Christ during the millennial kingdom. And so God is forecasting this regathering of the people. And in the meantime, he is going to also announce that judgment is gonna come against the enemies. He says in verse 11, I'm with you to save you. I will make a full end of all the nations full end should stand out to us because so many times he tells Judah, I won't make a full end of you. But here he says, of the enemies of Judah, of the enemies of God. He says I will make a full end of. Them. God is prophesying through Jeremiah the good times that are coming for Israel, both on the back end of the 70 years of captivity, but even more at the millennial kingdom and the regathering that's gonna take place during that season. Chapter 31 then is significant because of what it contains really in the back half of the chapter. And so he opens with some language that reminds us of God's faithful promises to Israel. Verse three, he says, I have loved you with an. Everlasting love. Therefore, I've continued my faithfulness to you. Those are important words for us to understand that God has not abandoned his people. In fact, in verse nine, he talks about a return that is going to involve repentance from the nation of Israel. With weeping they shall come and with pleas from mercy, I will lead them back. I will make them walk by Brooks of water and then he goes on. He says, for I'm a father to Israel in. Eem is my firstborn. Verse nine, the weeping return. I don't think that's talking about the return under Cyrus. I think that's talking about the return that Zechariah chapter 12 is prophesying about when he says that they're gonna look on him, whom may have pierced, and they're gonna mourn, they're gonna weep over the crucifixion of Jesus and realizing the part that they played in that. And that mourning over that is gonna lead them to a repentance and to a genuine faith. And I think that's what he's talking about there in verse nine. And so the first half of the chapter is dealing with the millennial kingdom themes there Matthew two 18, a voice is heard in Ramah lamentation. Bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children because they are no more. This is talking about the dark before the dawn. This is what takes place in is fulfilled, at least in part according to Matthew. In Matthew chapter two, when Herod goes after the firstborn, or not the firstborn, but the children. Ages two and under he quotes that as a reference there. So up until verse 31, we get just these allusions to these comments about this future that's gonna be good for the people of Israel when so much had gone wrong for them so far. Yeah. A couple of quick comments on chapter 31 that I think are. Interesting. First of all, in verse two, he says, thus, as the Lord, Jeremiah, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. And I love that imagery. The fact is, we sometimes think that grace is only available to us in certain times, in certain seasons of life, but what we see here, God's power isn't localized. We don't have to go to church to be blessed. You should go to church 'cause that's what God wants you to do. But his power is not. Only localized to one specific location. It's not the temple, it's not the church. His power is everywhere available, even in the wilderness. And I can imagine so many different scenarios that we would go through where we are in a wilderness kind of situation and we need God to provide. Here we see God is the God of the heavens, the earth, the land, the seas, and here in the wilderness. So don't wherever you are, God can find you and he can supply the strength that you need. Another interesting note here I find in verse nine, you referenced it here. I'm a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. I find it interesting because he's not talking to the southern kingdom. This includes the southern kingdom. But I do find it fascinating that we're, we have to conclude, he's talking about more than the southern kingdom, and this has to be further than the immediate return that we'll see in about 70 years. We can believe that and understand that because the Northern Kingdom is basically obliterated. They're scattered. You cannot gather them right now because they don't exist. They exist. They exist actually, but you don't know where they are. They're all over the place and God says, I'm gonna regather you. We have to believe then that this is not talking about the return after exile, the post exilic return, but the ultimate return, which Pastor PJ you just talked about a second ago. So I would agree for the, for that reason, 'cause he's talking about the Northern Kingdom here. I guess my curiosity is why he speaks to the Northern Kingdom. Why not Southern Kingdom as well? And I that's a question I don't have an answer to, but I do find that fascinating. So two things that I saw, but of course the highlight of this chapter is coming very soon. Yeah. And on that note too, verse 15 that I was citing Rachel's children were Joseph and Benjamin and they were the representatives really of the northern kingdom. Joseph, specifically his son, em, was representative of the northern kingdom. So you're right, he is addressing the north. And maybe because the assumption was. That the southern kingdom would be there because the southern kingdom was gonna still be there post exile. The southern kingdom was gonna be the kingdom that's realized post exile. So maybe this is God saying, Hey, don't forget even the northern kingdom, I still have a future in view for them too. That's a great point. Chapter 31, verse 31, though it's a good way to remember. This is a key passage in the Bible, Jeremiah 31 31, and following there because this is what's called the New Covenant. And so you've got the mosaic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the. Covenant. You've got the Levitical covenant, you've got all these different covenants that we find in scripture. This one's the new covenant, which is significant because it's been partially inaugurated for us today. At the cross, when Jesus is in the upper room, he says, this cup is the blood of the new covenants and so has been partially inaugurated, but this is the covenant that's gonna be fully inaugurated at the millennial kingdom. And last into eternity as well. And so we get some of the promises that are made here specifically for Israel, where he says, I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, they shall be my people. That will be fully realized in Revelation 21. In fact, that is quoted in Revelation 21 when God is gonna say. I am their God. And they are my people now in that permanence of relationship there verse 34, no longer shall each one teach his neighbor saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. I will forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sins no more. There's gonna be other passages, including in Ezekiel that expound upon the new covenant, but this is this promise that God is gonna have a unique relationship with Israel, one that they've never known before. And it's not going to revolve around the Mosaic covenant any longer. It's not gonna. Revolve around the sacrificial system of the temple any longer. It's going to be a relationship that God is entering into with his people. And we know from the New Testament that the means of inaugurating that covenant is not gonna be the blood of bulls and goats as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter nine. But rather the blood of Jesus, the great high priest, he's gonna bring his own blood to the table, and that is going to be, that's what he's alluding to there in the upper room with his disciples. That's gonna be what inaugurates the new covenant and makes such a significant relationship between God and his people. And it's hard to ignore. Verse 36 and following. You see here it says, if the fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever. God is appealing to the fundamental nature of things, how things work. The sun rising, the sun is heading the, you see here in verse 35, the fixed order, the moon and the stars and light by night. He says if those go away, then you can suspect that I'm going to give up on Israel. Short of that, though, I have a plan for them. I will fulfill it. How do you read this? And not walk away saying, I think God's got a plan for Israel. Totally. I feel like a hundred percent feel that's the, we talk about nails in the coffin of PSA. This is the nail in the coffin in my view, things like this. This is obviously not the only place that we would appeal to, but God's care for Israel as a nation, as an ethnic people group seems to be highlighted here. Now, we're not saying that Israel, as she is today, as a nation, is exactly God's people A as we see here in scripture. They're certainly part of them, though. And we're not gonna excuse them and say that all that they're doing militarily is the right thing we're gonna say. They have a right to be a nation and a right to defend themselves. But that doesn't mean everything that they do say, think, smell, is suddenly justified by scripture. What we are saying to be clear is that God has a plan for Israel. He's gonna protect them, he's gonna preserve them. And in the last days, in fact, the millennial kingdom, he's gonna regather them and he's gonna show himself faithful to all the commands that he made in the promises here. Yeah. And another thing that I've seen recently is some will accuse dispensationalist of making the argument that God cares about Israel more than he cares about anyone else. That he loves Israel more than he loves the church, and that the church is second to Israel and will always be second class citizens. I don't think that's our argument at all. I don't think you find that taught in scripture. We're simply saying God still has a future for his people. He does care about them. He does also care about the church. The thing that God cares about more than anything else though, is his own glory. And that's what he's after more than anything else. And it's gonna show up in the way that he regather Israel, just as it shows up in the way that he saves the church today. The argument's not, Hey, God cares about one more than the other. It's that he cares about both and he's not done, he's not done with Israel yet. And God's okay with caring about people differently. Yeah. Let's just be clear about that. God is just, but he's not always. Yeah. Are we okay with that? Are we okay with the fact that God is, he distributes his blessings in different ways? We live in a different dispensation than they did. Our blessing arguably is far greater. We have exactly what Jeremiah 31 31 was pointing to. Yeah. We enjoy the very blessing that God promised to his people, saying, this is what you're going to know. Someday. Yeah. That someday is today. For us, what an incredible blessing that is, and I think we, we can't look at history and say those guys had it better than I did, or can't look at the future and say, those guys are gonna have it better than I do. We all have different blessings and different privileges at our time and in our station. I think we need to acknowledge that and be okay with the fact that God distributes blessings as he sees fit. Yeah. Some people are taller, some people are shorter, some people are stronger, some people are weaker. All those things. God factors. God factors, and he determines it. Yeah. Something that is probably also worth noting here, because we're talking about covenant language here, new Covenant. There's a brand of theology, new covenant theology that emphasizes the new covenant above and over all other covenant relationships that God has made with his people throughout the scriptures. And so here we have the new covenant being forecast, and I've already said that it's being, it's inaugurated there at the crucifixion of Christ. It's important to note that the new covenant does not in and of itself abrogate or set aside every other covenant that God has made with his people. For example, the Abrahamic covenant we believe is still in effect. The new covenant has not superseded that it's not replaced it the Davidic covenant has yet to be fulfilled in completion. The new covenant has not superseded that it's not replaced, that rather the new covenant is now operating alongside of both the Davidic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant. The mosaic covenant has been fulfilled in Christ, all of us, regardless of where you fall, dispensationalism, covenant theology, all of us can agree on that. But as far as the new covenant is concerned it's not something that you look at all the other covenants and say they find their terminus, they find their fulfillment in the new covenant. It's operating in parallel with some of these other covenant promises that still are yet to be fulfilled by God, including the land promise to Abraham and the Abrahamic Covenant and the throne of promise to David in the Davidic Covenant. Amen. Hey, let's let's pray and then we will be done with this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. God, we are so richly blessed to know you through the new covenant that we get to enjoy because of Christ, because his blood has indeed inaugurated that on our behalf. And we get to approach you as our Father. We get to know the forgiveness of sins that you talk about here. We get to know you in a much deeper way Lord than Israel ever was able to know you during that time. And we are so thankful for those blessings. Help us not to take them for granted. Help us not to treat them with contempt and to think that these are just things that we will always have and we're we're we deserve them rather than seeing them as what they are such a rich blessing from you. And so we pray that we would take advantage of one of those rich blessings, which is to have the word of God and your spirit dwelling within us to help us understand it on a daily basis, and that we would give ourselves over to the study of your word every single day, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Keep in your Bibles. Tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Bye y'all. Bye.

Well, thank you for listening to another magical episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, folks! We're honored to have you join us. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about our Church at compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review, to rate, or to share this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on, and we hope to see you again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said