Advent Rest

“At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.
Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer. 31:1-3).

What a scene! Those words – dripping with promise – begin a chapter with hardly a parallel in all Scripture. And to hear them in their context! After so much rebuke from the “iron prophet of the LORD” (Jeremiah 1:18), for a people who would lose their homeland, their daily life, and their temple, for a people who would struggle in a foreign nation with seemingly no hope of return, Jeremiah bids them to lean in and to listen: there will come a day of rest.

“At that time, declares the LORD.” And the hearer must ask, what time? But if the hearer could only move past the when and hear the promise, for what a glorious promise it is. “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” What a day that will be for his people! A day for his people to receive his everlasting love. A day of return. A day full of tambourines and dancing and a day of planters planting. (If you keep reading Jeremiah 31, it sounds like quite a party! What else would you do in a land you call home?)

Listen up, you who cannot see how this may work out: there will come a day when you will return. You will come home. Those “from the north” and those “from the farthest parts of the earth” will come home. What about those on the fringe, those for whom life is difficult? They too will return: “The blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together.” They are all coming back. (Read Jeremiah 31:1-9 and see it in such beautiful, poetic language–rest for the weary!)

And make no mistake, this glorious day of return from captivity in Babylon, it would not come about because of who they were, and not because of what they had accomplished, but because God made the move. He moved - he who is grace in the wilderness; who appeared far away; who has loved with an everlasting love; who continues in his faithfulness. 

The one who promised rest through the prophet Jeremiah, he always has his people’s salvation in view. Always. This is how he works.

And the one who comes to give rest, he always has my salvation in view. And can you lean in and listen to Jeremiah 31, dripping with promise, for you too? 

The LORD–who came and who is coming–what a day for you, a day for you to hear from him: “I will give you rest.”

What day? This day! And rest he brings this day, for you, O weary ones. The Coming One says it’s the weary ones, not the self-sufficient, who qualify. His promises are not for those who have it all together, but for those who are exhausted with eyes that betray them so they cannot see how this all comes together. 

He came to give rest to the weary. Rest for the weary one who looks at you from across the table. Rest for the weary one who looks at you in the mirror. Rest for those with slumped shoulders. Rest for those who go round and round in arguments. Rest for those who are tired of hospital monitors beeping, who are overwhelmed by the latest “bad news.” Rest for those with plans that do not turn out, with pleas that go unheeded, with prayers that appear unanswered.

Is he not for you as he was for them, O weary ones? He speaks a word: “I have continued my faithfulness for you.” This is a direct word from him who does not need to rest, but who is your rest. He who came, and who is coming, all so he can deliver his promise to you.

He’s steady. He’s big enough for you. O weary ones, O long-time waiting and watching ones, O ones who are late to the game, he is your rest this busy season, and always.