Christianity Unraveled

December 28th, 2019

I was doing some late night reading and jumping through books in the Hebrew Bible when I came across Jeremiah 3:15-16, and it seemed to me to be so utterly profound in a way that I am about to process after I type the verses below:

"And I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those day, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, 'the ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again."

Jeremiah 3:15-16; ESV

Before all this, to gain more context (though, I suggest you read the entire chapter and the surrounding chapters instead of relying on this brief synopsis), Jeremiah claims that God, speaking through him, is saying that Israel has begun again to worship other gods, and, due to these acts of whoredom, Israel has been cut off from God. However, God also tells Israel through Jeremiah to return to him, for he is merciful and will not look on them with anger –

"Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord your God . . . "

Jeremiah 3:12-13

Classically, I have read this section of verses to mean this: If Israel repents of their sin, then God will relent his anger and provide mercy. However, considering that I am perhaps biased by my evangelical upbringing – and truly, the translators probably were as well when translating this -, I propose we investigate these verses and arrive at a different interpretation: God has already allowed his mercy to overcome his anger, and there is no pre-requisite of this mercy.

I suppose you may be reading this with a quizzical stance. How could we possibly allow this option to be plausible when the text so clearly states that there is that condition of needing to acknowledge the iniquity? This is where I suggest that it perhaps is not as clear as we would like (and that none of the Bible truly is).

As we can read using the transliterated words in the Septuagint (I accessed this on the blueletterbible.org), it actually sounds more like a plea of love from God:

'Turn back, you all of Israel who have turned away from me, says the Lord. Indeed my countenance upon you will not be constant since my existence is merciful, says the Lord, and I will not cherish wrath/bear a grudge toward you this age [which has been interpreted to be either an indeterminate period of time, a lifetime, and forever/eternity]. Nevertheless, understand your unrighteousness/injustices since you were ungodly toward the Lord your God of whom you belong. . ."

Like I mentioned before, this doesn't really sound as though God is dictating to the Israelis that they must acknowledge their guilt (repentance) if they want God to relent his anger. Instead, it sounds as though God is saying to the Israelis three things:

Israel has turned away, and God desperately wants them to turn backHis inherent nature is mercy, so he cannot and will not be angry foreverHe is releasing his grudge despite their unrighteousness and unjust acts toward him

Ultimately, I believe that this is all a promise of how he plans to restore Israel – better known as the people who belong to him – to himself. He promises that he "will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and [he] will bring you to Zion" (Jeremiah 3:14). What the symbolism of one and two mean, I do not know. However, I could speculate and say that he perhaps is talking about how slow his process of restoration seems to be.

And this is where I leave us to the verses I so felt importance upon:

And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those day, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, 'the ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again." At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart."

Jeremiah 3:16-18

Please try to read this and then re-read this a few more times. Let the words sink in and permeate your thoughts.

The first thing that we realize is that God is saying that the ark of the covenant will become obsolete. This may seem trivial, especially since we are living in the "new covenant" age and the "old covenant" (as we as Christians have been told) is no longer, so the fact that the old covenant will not be remembered or missed seems as though it matters not. Also, you can read that the inside of the ark contained three items: the ten commandments, Aaron's staff, and a jar of manna. The ten commandments probably symbolized the law that was given to Moses, the staff probably symbolized God's approval of the priesthood of Aaron, and the jar of manna probably symbolized God's provision in the wanderings. And yet, Jeremiah makes no mention of these or the transformation of these when the ark becomes obsolete. Instead, he only mentions the change and remain of one thing: the throne of God.

And thus we come to the outside of the ark. The outside of the ark created the Mercy Seat, a throne on which the presence of God stayed, the dwelling place of the Lord among the Israelites. It was the place where the priests were given commands from God. It was the Mercy Seat. The seat that God chose, his throne, was called mercy. While he could have chosen any other word that we typically think of to describe the core quality of God, such as Love, or Goodness, or Just, he chose Mercy. He chose to describe his rule as that of compassion and forgiveness toward those he has the authority to punish or harm. He chose to describe his nature of his reign as that of mercy. And even so, it seemed as though that throne was only available to leaders and priests. A select few. But all that changed with the prophecy of Jeremiah.

"At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart."

Here we notice three things that arise from the throne of God changing from on the ark to the city of Jerusalem:

All people can access the presence of GodAll people will access the presence of GodEveryone will stop following their own evil heart (sin nature)

Let that sink in. Everyone. Everyone can and will access the mercy of God. God's reign is that of mercy that will be extended to more than just the elite. Than just the selected few. And everyone, everyone, will follow the heart of God.

I do not know when this will be, whether this has happened from Jesus (as he is the King who entered Jerusalem), or whether it will be the future New Jerusalem that has been prophesied about from Ezekiel or Revelation. All I do know is that this is what is in the Bible. And I know that we can't ignore it any longer.

Even so, I must ask myself if I am searching for passages that indicate universal salvation out of fear – because if I continue to travel down this path of questioning, it's likely that I won't believe what traditional Christians believe salvation is, which has been thought out for hundreds to thousands of years. And maybe it's even more likely that I may not believe in Christianity at all at the end of this. And if either of those happen...

But maybe I am searching out of hope.

Hope that God is bigger than conditions and selection. Hope that he is more loving than I see him as now. Hope that his kindness and love overpower his justice. Hope that everyone will be in the presence of God at the end of all of this.

I would rather hope in death that brings nothing than believe that after death comes a separation of people into either the best or worst everlasting life imaginable based on the person's ability or inability to hear about Jesus or think and say the right thing in their short life-span on this earth. But more than that, I would rather hope in a God who has a true unconditional love and mercy that truly triumphs over judgement than in a God of division and anger and an all-encompassing love that doesn't encompass all.

I'd rather hope in mercy.