The Covenant With The Day & The Night

I received a mail from Craig Buckley, asking about “The Covenant of Day and Night” as depicted in Jeremiah 33, specifically Jeremiah 33:20 and Jeremiah 33:25. Questions like, “Is God saying that His covenant can be broken?”, “How can God’s covenant be broken?” These are real good questions and we can find real good answers straight from this passage. I have never came cross them in detail and it is such a blessing that I like to share with you.

Some background information first. The prophet Jeremiah preached from about 628 BC to 586 BC (about 2600 years ago) in Jerusalem. During that time, Babylon took control of Jerusalem. Babylon began taking Jews as captives to Babylon as early as 605 BC and 597 BC. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews would be scattered from their homeland and persecuted. He also said that God would protect the Jews from total destruction and that they would one day return to their homeland. Today, we can see with our own eyes that the Jews have indeed survived widespread persecutions and that they have re-established Israel (in 1948), after 19 centuries of exile and persecutions throughout the world fulfilling the prophecy.

However, if you read Jeremiah 33 closely, you will notice God did not talk about the present “war-stressed” Israel but the future glorified and redeemed Israel (Jeremiah 33:6-9). The most important point-in-case is this: For this is what the Lord says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever. And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me.”  Jeremiah 33:17  

On the throne forever. That is Jesus!

So now we know that with Jesus on the throne of Israel forever, these passages that foretold the future Israel and Jerusalem does not only apply to the Jewish people but all who believe in Christ Jesus, Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29). Thus, the blessings and promises of Jeremiah 33 is not there exclusively to the Jewish people but all who believes in Christ, the promises and blessings of peace and prosperity – health and healing. Stop here and read  Jeremiah 33 again with this new prespective.

Going back to the questions. “Is God saying that His covenant can be broken?”, “How can God’s covenant be broken?”

“This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”  Jeremiah 33:19-22 (NLT)

In essence, what the Lord is saying is that if you can break the day and night time sequence, you can then break God’s covenant. But the last I checked, the sun and moon did not run out of sync and never will! Can the stars and sand be counted? So will the descendants from the covenant > the saints from whom worship the Father and the Son, who inherited the blessings of Abraham and David.

But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.”  Jeremiah 33:25-26 (NLT)

I would not reject / I will never abandon / I will restore! These are beautiful words. It is never God’s intention to break any of His covenants. And the fact, He sealed it with His promises that unless the whole universe collapse such that the moon and sun is out of sync, unless earth and sky are lopsided, His covenants and promises will not be broken! He will not give up His people. Instead He will restore and bless His people – us.

No one, not even the devil has such powers to ruin the laws of day and night, earth and sky. This is because God Himself stakes His very own covenant on them. There is nothing physically bigger and more powerful known to man than the cosmos, so to make our feeble minds understand His greatness of His love, God stake them on His mammoth handy work, but that was in Old Testament times. We now, in New Testament times, has even a better picture of His love, His Son. Unless we know how much the Father love Jesus, who gave up Himself at the cross, the Father’s sorrows, we cannot fully understand His love for us which is even greater than the cosmos.

Hallelujah!!