Spoken Gospel podcast with a photo of David and Seth

Jeremiah Overview: Jesus, the new Jeremiah

About This Episode

Seth and David walk through dozens of examples where Jesus completes the narrative arc begun in Jeremiah and brings the hopes of Jeremiah's ministry to completion.

Listen Now Read Show Notes

Listen On

Apple Podcasts Youtube Spotify

Jesus as the New Jeremiah: How the Weeping Prophet Foreshadows the Messiah

Show Notes

In this concluding episode of the Spoken Gospel series on Jeremiah, hosts David and Seth explore the profound connections between the prophet Jeremiah and Jesus Christ. Far from being a generic comparison where Jesus simply fulfills every Old Testament figure, the parallels between Jeremiah and Jesus are uniquely intentional—so much so that the average Jewish person on the streets of Jerusalem recognized Jesus as a new Jeremiah during his earthly ministry.

Why the New Testament Trains Us to See Jesus in Old Testament Characters

The practice of reading Jesus back into Old Testament figures is not an arbitrary interpretive move but one that the New Testament authors explicitly teach. The Gospel writers consistently point out parallels between Jesus and characters like David, Abraham, Moses, and Jeremiah, training readers to see how Jesus fulfills patterns established centuries earlier. Matthew's genealogy demonstrates that Jesus is the son of David, fulfilling the promises of 2 Samuel 7, while the broader narrative shows Jesus as a new Abraham who brings blessing to all nations.

The Old Testament writers themselves were aware that they were participating in patterns that would project forward onto the Messiah. Jeremiah understood himself as a prophet like Moses, the one prophesied in Deuteronomy 18, yet he also recognized that the new covenant he predicted had not yet arrived. This awareness suggested that God would send another prophet to inaugurate that moment. Additionally, many of Jeremiah's prophecies are deliberately stripped of his personal voice so that God's voice takes the forefront, a literary choice indicating that these words transcend their historical moment and speak to God's people through all time until final fulfillment.

The Evidence That Jesus Is Uniquely a New Jeremiah

The most direct biblical evidence for viewing Jesus as a new Jeremiah comes from Matthew 16:13-14. When Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was, they replied that some identified him as John the Baptist, others as Elijah, and still others as Jeremiah. This public perception arose simply from observing Jesus at a distance—ordinary Jewish people who grew up hearing the stories of Jeremiah naturally drew connections to this rabbi from Nazareth.

One striking parallel is that both Jeremiah and Jesus were single men. Jeremiah is the only prophet in Scripture whom God explicitly commanded to remain unmarried, a prophetic symbol embodying the sterility, death, and divorce coming upon Israel. His singleness represented the exile of God's people. When Jesus appeared as a single man—equally countercultural for his time—he carried forward this prophetic tradition. Yet while Jeremiah's singleness symbolized God as a husband whose wife had left him, Jesus's singleness carried the opposite meaning: he came as the bridegroom, betrothed to God's people, ready to enter a new covenant marriage. His first miracle at the wedding in Cana and his identification as the bridegroom throughout his ministry confirm this role. Where Jeremiah embodied divorce and exile, Jesus embodied betrothal and restoration.

Jesus Sounds Like Jeremiah: Shared Language, Parables, and Prophecies

The content of Jesus's teaching would have immediately reminded anyone familiar with Scripture of Jeremiah's ministry. Both called the religious establishment a "den of robbers." Both critiqued Jerusalem for idolizing the temple while neglecting justice and mercy. Jeremiah warned in Jeremiah 7:4-6 not to trust in deceptive words about the temple while failing to execute justice, care for the vulnerable, or forsake other gods—and Jesus delivered nearly identical critiques to the religious leaders of his day.

Both prophets described Israel as a nation that kills its own prophets, and both employed the same parables and imagery. Jeremiah 23 depicts the leaders of God's people as corrupt shepherds who steal, kill, and harm the flock, while also promising that God would send a new shepherd. Jesus declared himself the good shepherd in John 10, contrasting himself with the hired hands who abandon and exploit the sheep. Jeremiah used the image of a fruitless or rotten fig tree to describe the religious elite, and Jesus cursed a fig tree in Mark 11 as a prophetic symbol of the temple's fruitlessness. Most significantly, both prophesied the destruction of the temple for its sins—a proclamation that ultimately led to Jesus's death.

The Yoke of Death That Leads to Life

In Jeremiah 27, the prophet entered the royal court wearing a wooden yoke, declaring that submitting to Babylonian oppression was God's will for Judah's survival. When the priest Hananiah smashed the yoke and prophesied that Babylonian oppression would end in two years, Jeremiah responded that Judah would now bear an iron yoke instead of a wooden one. The leadership's refusal to accept the lighter yoke of submission to exile resulted in a heavier burden and a seventy-year captivity. Obedience to the covenant meant accepting death in hope of return.

This imagery illuminates Jesus's invitation in Matthew 11:28-30, spoken to weary religious leaders burdened by their own attempts at self-salvation. Jesus offered a light yoke to those heavy-laden with the impossible weight of earning God's favor through religious performance. The Pharisees had constructed elaborate laws around the Sabbath to ensure perfect keeping, yet this self-preservation strategy only increased their burden. Just as Judah's leaders tried to preserve their sovereignty by refusing to submit to Babylon, these religious leaders tried to secure their standing by refusing to die to their own control. Jesus invited them to rest from self-salvation by taking up his yoke—the cross—trusting that resurrection lay on the other side. The lighter yoke was always death to self-preservation, followed by God's promised restoration.

The Gospel Authors Present Jesus as the New Jeremiah

Matthew's Gospel intentionally presents Jesus as fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecies. In Matthew 2, after Jesus flees to Egypt as a child and Herod massacres the infants in Bethlehem, Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31, the chapter announcing the new covenant. Jeremiah prophesied that before the new covenant's dawning, there would be an outpouring of weeping among the mothers of Israel. Matthew sees this fulfilled in the slaughter of the innocents, positioning Jesus's return from Egypt as the beginning of the new covenant era—hence Jesus's announcement in Matthew 4 that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The pattern of Jeremiah's suffering also maps directly onto Jesus's passion. God commanded Jeremiah to enter the temple courtyard and proclaim its destruction; the religious leaders questioned his authority, put him on trial, and imprisoned him; eventually he was brought up from prison. Jesus followed an identical trajectory: he entered the temple courtyard, pronounced judgment, faced questions about his authority, endured a trial, and was executed. Yet while Jeremiah emerged from prison, Jesus rose from the grave itself. Jeremiah declared that killing him would mean shedding innocent blood—the exact phrase Judas used when returning his thirty pieces of silver, recognizing he had betrayed the one who was supposed to end a corrupt religious system and inaugurate a new temple in the form of Christ's kingdom.

The Cup of Wrath Becomes the Cup of the New Covenant

In Jeremiah 25, God commanded Jeremiah to take the cup of divine wrath and force the nations to drink it, causing them to stagger and fall under judgment. Even if they refused, they could not escape, because God had already judged His own people—and if He judged Israel, the nations would certainly not go unpunished.

Jesus stood in the Garden of Gethsemane and spoke of this same cup, the cup of God's wrath for the sins of the world. He asked if it could pass from him, then submitted to the Father's will and drank it. What Jeremiah could only pronounce as judgment upon others, Jesus absorbed into himself. He experienced the wrath that should have destroyed the nations, dying in their place. This transformed the meaning of the cup entirely.

At the Last Supper, Jesus declared the wine to be his blood of the new covenant. The cup of wrath that should have caused humanity to stumble drunkenly into death became, through Christ's sacrifice, the cup of covenant blessing. The wine that once represented judgment now represents the aftermath of wrath already dealt with—not wrath itself, but the blood that proves the wrath has been satisfied. What should have led to a funeral became the wine at a wedding. Even Jesus's first miracle at Cana hints at this transformation, turning water from purification jars—water meant to address divine wrath—into wine for celebration. Those who drink Christ's blood in faith receive forgiveness; those who refuse face intensified judgment, because if God did not spare His own Son, He will certainly not spare those who reject that sacrifice.

The Book of Jeremiah ends with a surprising scene of hope: the faithless King Jehoiachin, who surrendered to Babylon and robbed God's temple, is raised from prison to sit at the Babylonian king's table, receiving food for the rest of his life. This prisoner of his own making, deserving of his captivity, receives mercy and restoration. He stands as a symbol for all of Israel—and for all humanity. The book that chronicles covenant-breaking and exile concludes with a feast, a welcome for prisoners and scallywags who have been raised up by a gracious king. In Jesus, the new Jeremiah, this hope finds its ultimate fulfillment: those who take his yoke, die to self-salvation, and drink the cup of his covenant will be raised to the King's table forever.

Transcript

David: [gentle music] It's the wine of God's wrath, which should make us stupor and drunkenly fall to our death. But because Jesus did that, we actually drink it as the product of God's wrath-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... being the blood that was spilled-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... by the death, and so we're tasting the aftermath of it. Like, that be- it's not wrath we taste, it's the result of wrath-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... being blood, knowing the wrath is dealt with.

Seth: Yeah. It's now sweet wine.

David: Like, blood has been s- instead of... Yeah, which makes it sweet. Yeah. Man, and I do love that idea of, like, the wrath that should have led to a funeral instead became the wine at a wedding.

Intro: [upbeat music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible is about him. In each episode, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. We are concluding our journey through the Book of Jeremiah today, and we are looking at the aspect of Jeremiah that I know the least about, and that is Jesus as a new and better Jeremiah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I've studied Jeremiah a lot in college. I studied it whenever we did the introduction, and this idea that's actually quite broader than I thought it was when you first-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... brought it up, of Jesus being the new Jeremiah, I kind of cast aside, and I was like, "Yeah, Jesus is the new and better every biblical character."

Seth: Yeah.

David: And you're like, "No, no, no, uniquely, there's something happening with Jeremiah mapping onto the life of Christ-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that I know very little about," so I'm very excited to learn from you.

Seth: Yes.

David: So how are you feeling about Jesus as the new Jeremiah?

Seth: I'm super excited to take you through all of that stuff-

David: Whoo!

Seth: ... uh, because it's not particularly surprising-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... because as you said, it's like, isn't Jesus the better version of every good [chuckles] character in the Bible?

David: Right.

Seth: I'm like, "Yes," but there is something special about Jeremiah's role in the biblical story, and how Jesus carries on the ministry of Jeremiah. So-

David: That's awesome. Uh, two questions-

Seth: Okay

David: ... I guess, meta, before we hop into the details.

Seth: Yes.

David: One: wh- and just because we have the time maybe to ask this question-

Seth: Yes

David: ... why should we be looking for Jesus as the fulfillment of biblical characters in, like, an escalation-

Seth: Oh

David: ... or something? Like, as we, like-

Seth: Like, as just a category or as an idea?

David: As a, as a hermeneutical category. Um, and then two, what's the proof that Jesus is uniquely a new and better Jeremiah? Like, what's the... What, why should we be looking for Jeremiah in the ministry of Jesus? Why are we even asking the question?

Seth: Yeah, well, I-

David: So those are the two.

Seth: I mean, the answer to the, that question-

David: Mm

Seth: ... is the same. The answer to both questions-

David: Oh

Seth: ... is the same.

David: Okay.

Seth: It's because the New Testament authors train us to do so.

David: Mm.

Seth: Uh, so frequently, the New Testament authors are going to point out parallels between Jesus and Old Testament characters all the time.

David: Okay.

Seth: Um, and the same goes with Jeremiah.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's like the New Testament authors want us to draw parallels between Jeremiah's ministry and Jesus's ministry-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and they write their gospel accounts to show that to us, or they'll do it to show us how Jesus is like David.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew-

David: Right

Seth: ... wants to prove that Jesus is a son of David-

David: Right

Seth: ... fulfilling the character arc of David in the Old Testament, the promises that God made in 2 Samuel 7.

David: Right, or like a new-

Seth: Uh

David: ... Abraham, who brings blessings to all nations.

Seth: Yes.

David: It's like, it's... We've been trained to see this.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So the, the answer is, why do we do this? Is because the New Testament authors want us to do this.

David: Mm. Yeah.

Seth: The New Testament authors want us to look back and see Jesus as the fulfillment or the continuation of a story that began in David or in Jeremiah-

David: Mm

Seth: ... but also because the Old Testament writers knew that they themselves were part of patterns-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that would be projected into the future and onto the Messiah.

David: Right.

Seth: So I think Jeremiah understands that he's not just another prophet.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: We talked about this at length, but he's another prophet like Moses.

David: Right, from Deuter- prophesied in Deuteronomy 18?

Seth: Yes, who prophesied in Deuteronomy 18, and that prophet is... He's not gonna be the last one, because there's a new-

David: Right

Seth: ... covenant that hasn't happened yet.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That more than likely, God will have another prophet to begin that moment-

David: Who's like Moses and Jeremiah.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Seth: Uh, and so... And we- I don't know if we talked about this a ton, but a lot of Jeremiah's prophecies are kind of scrubbed-

David: Mm

Seth: ... of his personal voice-

David: Mm

Seth: ... so that the voice of God, like, takes the forefront. So even though we know Jeremiah's speaking them, it's... The, the main character, the main speaker, is God-

David: Mm

Seth: ... more than it is Jeremiah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I would say that's probably a literary choice on Jeremiah's part, to show that the words that he's speaking aren't just words that he said as a historical character, but things that God is saying to his people through all time, that will one day be fulfilled yet again.

David: Okay.

Seth: Right?

David: Can I break that down-

Seth: Yes

David: ... into, like, three points? 'Cause I think that's really helpful. So the New Testament authors train us to look back-

Seth: Mm

David: ... to see how Jesus fulfills themes, patterns, characters.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so they have taught us how to read our Bible, so we're following their lead.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: The Old Testament projects those patterns forward, and even people were aware and cognizant of how they were sitting in-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... patterns like Jeremiah, knowing that he's the new Moses, but knowing that ultimately it wasn't the completion of that pattern, and so they're looking forward.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: So the New Testament teaches us to look back, the Old Testament teaches us to look forward. But then you also brought up a cool third point, which is, there's this forefront divine author of Scripture, who is saying th- things-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... through his word-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that are all connected-... regardless of which epoch or testament they occur in-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... there's one forefront author that overshadows even the characters of the Bible to tell a unified story. So of course they connect-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... because of the unified authorship of scripture being-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... God.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay, that's really helpful.

Seth: Yeah, and that would be the really quick way. So why should we be looking for Jesus as the new Jeremiah? For all those reasons.

David: Love it. Okay.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So, uh, is- but, but then focusing on Jeremiah in particular, uh, we haven't done this with every prophet.

Seth: No, we haven't.

David: So why particularly are you excited to be like-

Seth: Uh

David: ... "Well, let's really give a whole episode [chuckles] to Jesus being the new Jeremiah?" 'Cause we don't have, like, a Jesus is a new Haggai episode.

Seth: We don't have that. [laughing]

David: [laughing]

Seth: We don't have that one. Um, it's because of Matthew 16:13-14.

David: Sure, blame Matthew. [chuckles]

Seth: Uh, so Matthew, "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples-

David: Mm

Seth: ... 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'"

David: Mm.

Seth: So what is Jesus asking in this moment? Jesus is asking his dep- disciples, "Who are people saying that I am? What is people's perception of me?" And one of the common perceptions about Jesus was that he was a new Jeremiah. So just from the public-facing side of his ministry, from what people could tell just by observing Jesus at a distance-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... was that, "Man, Jesus seems to be a lot like Jeremiah." So the first reason why I'm excited to talk about this is, like, this was something that just the average Jewish guy on the street seemed to pick up about Jesus.

David: Mm.

Seth: Not-

David: Maybe somebody who wasn't even a follower of his.

Seth: Maybe not somebody, not even a follower, just somebody on the street. "Who do people say that I am?"

David: It's like, "Oh, that guy's like Jeremiah."

Seth: That guy's like Jeremiah.

David: Mm.

Seth: And then on top of that, the biblical authors are going to pack their gospel accounts with references to the story of Jeremiah, uh, in their description of Jesus's life and ministry, particularly when it comes to J- what Jesus says about the temple in Jerusalem.

David: Mm.

Seth: And Jesus himself understands that he's bringing to fulfillment what Jeremiah predicted, the New Covenant.

David: Okay.

Seth: "This is the New Covenant in my blood."

David: All right.

Seth: Uh, yeah.

David: I'll, I'll let this episode slide then.

Seth: You'll let it slide. [chuckles]

David: We can do it.

Seth: We can do it. [laughing]

David: [laughing]

Seth: Have I convinced you yet? Uh-

David: Yeah, I'm convinced. I'm ready for the journey.

Seth: Uh-

David: Where do you wanna start?

Seth: Let's just start with a really basic observation.

David: Okay.

Seth: Uh, Jeremiah and Jesus were both single.

David: Okay. Yeah.

Seth: Um, Jeremiah is the only prophet in scripture where God commands his singleness.

David: Mm.

Seth: And I, well, I don't think I can say this to the same degree, but as far as I'm aware, Jeremiah is the only single prophet-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in scripture. He's the only one specifically commanded to remain single.

David: Right, but he might have been.

Seth: He might have been the only single prophet-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in scripture who was single.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And Jesus-

David: He's definitely uniquely single.

Seth: He's uniquely single.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah, that's the, that's the big point.

David: Yes.

Seth: And this would've been as out of step for his time.

David: Absolutely.

Seth: Um, and so the fact that Jesus is also single would've been out of step for his time.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But Jeremiah's singleness is a prophetic symbol in the same way that Jesus's sim- uh, singleness is a prophetic symbol.

David: Absolutely. Yeah.

Seth: Um, so Jeremiah is told in Je- Jeremiah 16:1-2 that he's not going to get married-

David: Mm

Seth: ... he's not gonna have kids, he's not gonna attend funerals or attend weddings-

David: Right

Seth: ... because he, in his own body, is going to, to, um, [lips smack] embody-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the exile-

David: Symbolize

Seth: ... of God's people.

David: The exile.

Seth: It's like, God's, God's people are gonna die.

David: Okay.

Seth: They're gonna be fatherless, they're gonna be childless, they're not gonna get married anymore.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's all gonna go downhill. So Jeremiah, by remaining single, is proving in his own life the sterility and the death coming to Israel, to Judah.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so Jesus, when he picks up that same singleness, is in the vein of Jeremiah. It seems as if in his own l- ministry, as he was living-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... he's embodying the exile of God's people yet again.

David: Mm.

Seth: So that's the first... Like, just on the nose, they're both single men. So if you're the average guy on the street in Jerusalem, like, "Oh, there's only really one other single prophet"-

David: Mm.

Seth: ... and that was Jeremiah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Jesus is kinda like Jeremiah.

David: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Seth: Right?

David: Yeah. Oh, yeah, single prophet, Jeremiah, maybe? Yeah, that's interesting.

Seth: That's right. Yep.

David: Uh, can I just sidebar?

Seth: Yes, please.

David: And just n- notice something I've never noticed about the prophetic nature of Jesus's singleness. [chuckles]

Seth: Yes, please. [chuckles]

David: [chuckles] And it's like, it's fascinating that what would it have been like if Jesus had a devoted wife that he loved dearly?

Seth: Yeah.

David: I would've always felt like, as the bride of Christ, I was second class to her.

Seth: Oh, yeah.

David: Like-

Seth: Yep

David: ... but his singleness shows me he is open to fully love me-

Seth: Mm

David: ... as his bride.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I don't- there's not a competition there.

Seth: Yeah. We can just... Let's just land this plane then.

David: Okay. [chuckles]

Seth: Let's like, so what's the point of Jeremiah's singleness?

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: To prove the sterility and the divorce that is coming upon Israel.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: What's the point of Jesus's singleness, though?

David: Mm.

Seth: It's, in a sense, it's the exile of God's people, but ultimately, it's the fact that he is betrothed-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... to God's people.

David: He's the bridegroom.

Seth: He's the-

David: He calls himself that.

Seth: He's the bridegroom. His first miracle is-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... making wine at a wedding.

David: Right. It'd be really weird if the bridegroom was already married. [chuckles]

Seth: That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

David: It's really weird.

Seth: So the reason Jesus is single is for the opposite reason in some ways, that Jeremiah is single.

David: Uh, his singleness is divorce-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and he's a, he's a lone, uh-

Seth: He's like God

David: ... bachelor.

Seth: He's like God, whose wife has left him.

David: Yep. And but Jesus is- he, he, he's leaving a marriage, Jesus is entering one.

Seth: Right, and then Jesus too-

David: And he has to be single for both of those to make sense. [chuckles]

Seth: That's, that's exactly right.

David: [chuckles]

Seth: So Jesus is single as a symbol that he has come for a new covenant, a new creation, a new marriage with his people.

David: Oh, that's cool.

Seth: Right?

David: I love that.

Seth: Isn't that cool? [chuckles]

David: That's awesome. Okay.

Seth: Um, but so that's, like, the theological significance of that moment.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But a ton of other reasons why-

David: Okay

Seth: ... people would see Jesus as a new Jeremiah.... one is the stuff he says.

David: Mm.

Seth: So, and Jesus, in denouncing Jerusalem and the religious establishment of Judah at the time, he just sounds a lot like Jeremiah.

David: Mm.

Seth: So he uses the same language. He calls the, ah, the religious establishment a den of robbers, just as Jeremiah calls them-

David: Yes

Seth: ... a den of robbers. He critiques Jerusalem for their idolatry of the temple-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in the same way that Jeremiah critiques Jerusalem for their idolatry of the temple, ah, and for failing to obey the heart of the Torah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: "You should have done all those things, and also love mercy and sacrifice."

David: Mm.

Seth: And Jeremiah says the same thing in Jeremiah 7:4 and 6.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Um, he kinda combines those things together. He says this: "Do not trust in these deceptive words. 'This is the temple of the Lord, this is the temple of the Lord, this is the temple of the Lord!'" So Jeremiah's saying, "Don't trust that the temple's gonna protect you in any special way. For if you had truly amended your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice-

David: Mm

Seth: ... with one another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place." So Jeremiah sounds a lot like Jesus there-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... denouncing the trust in a religious order without the mercy and justice that that religious order is supposed to represent.

David: Yes.

Seth: He sounds like Jeremiah.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Jesus sounds like Jeremiah. Um, both Jeremiah and Jesus describe Israel as a country that kills its own prophets.

David: Oh, wow.

Seth: Um, "Oh, Jerusalem, the one that kills its own prophets." Jeru- Jeremiah and Jesus both say this.

David: Mm.

Seth: They even make use of the same parables. Jeremiah, in, ah, chapter 23, refers to the shepherds of God's people, the leaders of God's people, the priests, the prophets, the kings, as corrupt shepherds-

David: Mm

Seth: ... who are stealing and killing and hurting God's people.

David: This is John 10?

Seth: And Jesus says the same thing. And then Jeremiah specifically says, "I will send you a new shepherd."

David: Oh, wow.

Seth: And so Jere- Jesus comes out and says-

David: "I am the new shepherd"

Seth: ... "I am the good shepherd, and your people are still- and your shepherds are doing what? They're hired hands. They're stealing and killing and taking."

David: Yep, they've come... Yeah, they've come to kill, steal, and destroy.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Jeremiah also uses this image of, like, a fruit- a fruitless or a rotten fig tree-

David: Oh

Seth: ... to describe the religious elite and the political order of Jerusalem, and Jesus does exactly the same thing in Mark 11-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and, and Luke 19. So if you're just-

David: When he curses the fig tree.

Seth: When he curses the fig tree.

David: As a picture of the destruction of the temple-

Seth: That's exactly right

David: ... and the fruitlessness of Israel's religion.

Seth: That's right.

David: Fascinating.

Seth: And they both prophesied the destruction of the temple.

David: Yeah, importantly [chuckles] yeah.

Seth: Uh, importantly, s- super importantly-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... they both prophesy the destruction of the temple-

David: Mm

Seth: ... for its sins. So if you're just the average guy on the street, and you grew up hearing the stories about Jeremiah-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... you would've drawn the conclusion that, "Man, Je-

David: This guy is-

Seth: ... this guy sounds like he really likes Jeremiah [laughing].

David: Yeah [laughing]. This guy is like a cover band for Jeremiah.

Seth: [laughing]

David: Okay, that's, that's fascinating. I mean, are there more?

Seth: I mean, that's, that's a pretty exhaustive list.

David: Okay.

Seth: But there's pro- there are more, but-

David: Yes

Seth: ... we'll leave it there.

David: I mean, yeah, there's lots of quotations and allusions and things like that.

Seth: Yeah, it's like-

David: Okay

Seth: ... yeah, there's so much.

David: Uh, w- why should we care?

Seth: Oh, great question. [laughing]

David: [laughing]

Seth: It's... I have a whole section, is why does this matter [laughing]?

David: Oh, well, great. I can't wait to hear it. [laughing]

Seth: We, um-

David: I'm like, "Cool, cool, cool."

Seth: Cool. Let's, let's keep going. Yeah, yeah. We should care for one of the reasons I've already suggested, is that in the same way that Jeremiah embodies the exile of God's people, the divorce of God's people, his life, in effect, in the words that he says, are all about the death and eventual return of God's people, right?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: That's what his singleness represents, that's what the content of a lot of his prophecies is, "You must die, you must die, you must die. I'm embodying a living death-

David: Mm

Seth: ... I'm gonna go into prison, I'm gonna come back out again, but at the end, you'll return."

David: Yeah.

Seth: So Jeremiah embodies this exile, but also s- at points and times, the hope of restoration.

David: Yeah.

Seth: He gets pulled up out of prison, you know? He's still alive at the end of the story.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: The reason we should care that Jesus is a new Jeremiah is because he's embodying the exile and the resurrection of God's people.

David: Yes.

Seth: We all must die.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But he's also doing something that Jeremiah did not do. He rose from the dead and si- sat himself at God's right hand. So what is the ultimate end of those who followed Jesus into the grave?

David: Mm.

Seth: Who obeyed the covenant, who joined themselves in this new covenant, who are married to this new groom? Resurrection.

David: Yep, in the new kingdom.

Seth: In the new kingdom.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And how do we know? Jesus embodied it in his own life.

David: Mm.

Seth: And not just in his resurrection, but by doing the things Jeremiah was forbidden to do.

David: Right.

Seth: Jeremiah was not allowed to go to funerals.

David: Right.

Seth: Jesus attends them all.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And does what?

David: He raises the dead.

Seth: He raises the dead.

David: Disrupting funerals.

Seth: Jeremiah wasn't allowed to go to weddings. Jesus makes weddings better.

David: He's like, "Let's really party." [chuckles]

Seth: Yeah, that's right.

David: [chuckles]

Seth: Jeremiah was not allowed to have children or to marry, but we are called his bride, and brothers and sisters of one another.

David: He's made millions of sons and daughters.

Seth: That's, that's exactly right.

David: Yeah. [chuckles]

Seth: So, like, Jesus... The reason why Jesus is a new Jeremiah matters-

David: Mm

Seth: ... is if Jeremiah is embodying the death of God's people, Jesus shows us what it looks like to be the new li- to experience the new life of God's people.

David: Oh, that's so good. Just as Jeremiah's physical representation, a- along with the words that he spoke-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of the death that Israel must face, it, it represented the inevitable nature of Israel's destruction.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, so in the same way does Jesus's death and resurrection-

Seth: Mm

David: ... show us the inevitability of our life in him, if we simply trust the death that he's calling us to.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Simply. You tell me never-

Seth: Simply. [laughing]

David: ... you tell me, you tell me never to use-

Seth: [laughing]

David: ... simply or only when talking about the, the trusting J- Jesus-

Seth: Trust-

David: ... trusting Jesus with our lives.

Seth: Simply.

David: Uh, yeah, w- I mean, what, what else? You've got this picture of a- of exile-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... being death, and then re-entry into the kingdom being life.

Seth: ... so let me just give you an example of this from the Book of Jeremiah.

David: Okay.

Seth: So at one point in Jeremiah, chapter 27, Jeremiah is speaking to the prophets, priests, and political leadership of Israel.

David: Okay.

Seth: And he comes into the royal court wearing a wooden yoke on his back. [chuckles]

David: Like a performance art piece.

Seth: [laughing] Yeah, like a- in this yoke, walking in, and he's saying, "This yoke represents Babylonian oppression." And- [laughing]

David: Like a political demonstrator.

Seth: [laughing] He-

David: I love it

Seth: ... he really is. He really is! And he comes in and says, "If you want to survive, Judah, you must put the yoke on your back. You must go into exile. You must accept Babylonian power. You must submit to it. This is God's will."

David: Dang.

Seth: [laughing]

David: Just walks into-

Seth: Yes

David: ... a courtroom, like a king's palace-

Seth: [laughing] A king's palace

David: ... wearing a yoke.

Seth: Like a, like one you... Like a wooden yoke you would put on oxen-

David: Okay

Seth: ... donkeys or something.

David: And so, like, he would, like-

Seth: Just like-

David: ... have his arms up on it or something like that?

Seth: Yeah, yeah, something like that.

David: Okay, like this crossbeam.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Okay.

Seth: Exactly right.

David: Walks in just wearing that, and they'd be like, "What is this-

Seth: Yes

David: ... yakadoodle doing?"

Seth: And then the-

David: Show some decorum.

Seth: Then the, uh, priests, uh, look at this thing, at this, this spectacle, and the chief priest, or one of the priests, his name's Hananiah.

David: Mm.

Seth: And he's like, "This isn't true. In two years, Babylonian oppression will end. We don't need to worry about this. We have no reason to do this." And then he takes the yoke and smashes it on the ground-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and splinters it. And then Jeremiah's response is, "Because you splintered this, you won't have a yoke of wood anymore, you'll have a yoke of iron."

David: Oh, which you, like, probably couldn't even stand with.

Seth: Yeah, it's like this heavy, heavy yoke-

David: Crushing

Seth: ... of oppression, and he goes on a couple chapters later to mention, "The exile will be 70 years long."

David: Oh.

Seth: So it's like, to what extent did the leadership of Israel extend their exile in Babylon?

David: Oh, man, we don't know.

Seth: That's a question-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... we do not know. But the point is, at that point in time, the l- the leadership of Israel increased their guilt-

David: Gosh

Seth: ... and chose a heavy yoke versus the light yoke of Babylonian oppression.

David: So the original idea of, like, Babylon coming in and taking them was meant to be a kindness, a lighter yoke that could more easily splinter, that wouldn't be as heavy to carry, but because they wouldn't submit to that one, there became this heavy yoke-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of iron.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I don't know the, the mechanics or, like, the specifics-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... like, oh, it would've been easier for them. But-

David: Sure

Seth: ... the idea is, is like, obedience to the covenant would've been to submit to exile in hope of a return.

David: Right, and that, and that submission to death-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... is actually a light yoke.

Seth: Is a light yoke.

David: Okay.

Seth: So all that's Jeremiah, right?

David: Uh-huh. Yep.

Seth: Fast-forward to Jesus's day, Matthew 11, Jesus is talking to disciples and Pharisees, and Jesus is in this extended dialogue with the religious leaders of his time.

David: Ah.

Seth: And they are not listening to him. They're not repenting. They don't recognize who he is. They're plotting to kill him. He pronounces woes against the hard-hearted religious establishment, and then he says this: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and learn from me, because I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Because my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

David: Mm.

Seth: This one, I don't know how directly Jesus is invoking Jeremiah.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, maybe, maybe, maybe there's some argument to be made. But I think it is fascinating that Jesus calls us to take up a yoke.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And what is that yoke? What must the yoke be if we're thinking biblically, if we're thinking along the lines of Jesus? It must be the yoke of death.

David: Yeah, his cross.

Seth: His cross.

David: Everyone, everyone who comes after me must take up their cross.

Seth: Cross, and-

David: Must take up their yoke.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Judah's yoke was the same.

David: Mm.

Seth: They had to go into death.

David: Right.

Seth: Right? That was the lighter yoke, but their rebel- their refusal to accept it made the yoke harder, made it a yoke a burden, made it... I mean, it was the death and damnation of many of Israel's leaderships at the time, right?

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: The, the prophet who prophesied against them died almost immediately after having come into conflict with Jeremiah and his word.

David: Mm. It's fascinating to think about this, 'cause you have... We have religious leaders with obstinate hearts, and he's saying, "Take my yoke upon you," which means they already must have a heavy yoke on them. 'Cause they're weary, they're heavy-laden-

Seth: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

David: ... right? So he says, "You're heavy-laden. You have a heavy yoke on right now."

Seth: Yes.

David: Um, and if we are mapping on the context of Jeremiah, it's the, that heavy yoke that the religious leaders had was, "We can do it ourselves. We don't need to submit to death. We can create life and flourishing on our own. We don't need to obey God. We don't need to die. We can figure it out on our own." And Jesus is saying, "Actually, the lighter yoke is for you to trust me, to die to your own control, die to your own ingenuity, to die to your own sin-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and just, like, let me take control.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Trust me, that there's life on the other side of it."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: "You'll find rest there, actually.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, go to Babylon. It's okay."

Seth: Yep.

David: Like, "Go to death, you know, and y- you can flourish there." But that takes a lot of trust to, to die and accept the death-

Seth: Yes

David: ... that he's asking. So, like, I understand what Jeremiah's asking the religious leaders to do-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... uh, of his day, the kings and the prophets. He's saying, "Babylon's coming. Don't resist.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Just let them take you to-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... uh, their, their country. Let them do what they're going to do."

Seth: Yes.

David: "Don't fight." I get that.

Seth: Yes.

David: That makes sense. It's a political move.

Seth: Yes.

David: When Jesus is saying, "Take my yoke on you. Learn from me, 'cause you're weary and heavy-laden," what's he asking us to do?

Seth: Yeah.

David: In this context.

Seth: In this context, I mean, I think part of the answer is, what is the hope of going into exile for, for Jeremiah's people?

David: Mm.

Seth: Is the hope of return-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the hope of a renewed covenant, the hope of the flourishing God promised back in the day, right? So Jesus is inviting us-... to die-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: to take his yoke upon us, in hopes of what? The new covenant.

David: Right.

Seth: The law being written on our hearts, right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I think what he's inviting us to do is, he's inviting us- and I think you already kinda hinted at it.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's like, we have to give up all of our attempts at self-preservation-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and self-salvation.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Judah was trying to save their nation by preserving their nation, by ps- preserving their se- sense of sovereignty. "We're not gonna submit to Babylon. We're gonna continue to be Judah."

David: Mm.

Seth: "And Judah's gonna be Judah, and we're not gonna submit to them, because we have a vested interest in being our own sovereign nation."

David: Right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yes.

Seth: And I mean, that's every human heart since, like, [chuckles] day one. We are gonna define what's g- right and wrong for ourselves.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "I'm the final arbiter of decision. I will submit to no king besides my own mind." And Jesus is saying, "That's exactly what you have to die to."

David: Mm.

Seth: "You have to die to what your heart wants and says is right, so that God can write a new law on that heart, and you can be invited into the new covenant life, which, by the way, promises resurrection life."

David: Mm. Yeah, it is fascinating to think about, um, self-preservation-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... in that sense, and even with how much covenant is in Jeremiah, and law-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is in Jeremiah, thinking about where this is positioned in Matthew 11 and 12-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... is like, you know, right... Y- he's talking to religious leaders. They have... They think they're righteous. Jesus is singing a dirge, and they're not listening. [chuckles] He's singing a funeral song-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and they're like, "No, we'll live forever." And he's like, "You're unrepentant, therefore, it's gonna be really bad for you. It's gonna be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah."

Seth: Yep.

David: You know, uh, "But anybody who wants to take on my yoke and die and accept exile, you know, you can... It'll be, it'll be rest."

Seth: Yes.

David: And then right after that, he goes into a story about rest.

Seth: He does!

David: He goes into a story about Sabbath.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And it's all about the tension between, what does it mean to keep the law-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... to obey the covenant?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And is it this self-preservation, letter of the law, obedience, where we're trying to be in control and figure it out, and preserve ourselves, and buffer ourselves-

Seth: Yes

David: ... or is it this-

Seth: Yeah, because the, the Pharisees had added all these laws to the Sabbath-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... so they could keep it perfectly.

David: Right.

Seth: You know, and Jesus critiques them for all those things.

David: Yes.

Seth: Yeah.

David: A- and he's like, "Man, just, like-

Seth: "What if you-

David: ... come and rest"

Seth: "What if you rested in death with me?"

David: Yeah.

Seth: "What if you rested from all these attempts at self-salvation and self-preservation?"

David: "But if I don't do this, this, this, and this, will I be fulfilling the covenant?" And you have this anxious mind-

Seth: Right

David: ... that I think Jeremiah said they'd be given over to.

Seth: Yes, he does say that. [chuckles]

David: [chuckles] And he says-

Seth: He says that

David: ... "What if I don't, what if I don't do it? What if I don't do it?" And it's like, just come and die to that.

Seth: Mm.

David: Come and die to your attempts to self-preserve-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and just actually rest.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And in that death to self-salvation-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... you will find life.

Seth: That's right.

David: That's a better way.

Seth: Yeah. [gentle music] We're just exploring, like, how Jesus is a new Jeremiah.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: We've talked a lot about just the accidents of his ministry, the things that he says, and the way that they parallel things that Jeremiah says-

David: Yep

Seth: ... um, and the way that any man on the street would start drawing parallels. And then from there, we've gone like, "Well, what does symbolically some of those things mean?"

David: Yes.

Seth: Right?

David: Right.

Seth: In addition to all these things we've been talking about, the gospel authors are also feeding us ways in which to see Jesus as a new Jeremiah.

David: Okay.

Seth: So a really simple one is in Matthew 2. In Matthew 2, Jesus goes to Egypt-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and a- while-

David: As a child

Seth: ... as a child. He goes to Egypt as a child, and then right after that, uh, Herod sends his Gestapo and kills all the infants in Bethlehem-

David: Mm, mm

Seth: ... trying to kill this would-be Messiah. And Matthew quotes Jeremiah, and he quotes from Jeremiah 31, the section talking about the dawning of the new covenant.

David: Mm.

Seth: And before the dawning of the new covenant, there is this outpouring of weeping and grieving of the mothers of Israel.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so Matthew is looking at Jesus's history, and he's saying, "Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a new covenant that would come, but it would only come after this mass weeping." And then he comes along, and it's like, "That happened with Jesus."

David: Yeah.

Seth: Jesus goes into Egypt, like, like Jeremiah did, and then as he's there, there's this mass weeping, and when he returns, he brings the new covenant. What does Jesus say in Matthew 4? "Repent- "

David: Yeah

Seth: ..." the Kingdom of God is at hand."

David: Yes.

Seth: Matthew is inviting us to see Jesus as a new Jeremiah in the story of his own life-

David: Mm, mm

Seth: ... and that the, the political events of his day are part of what Jeremiah meant when he said that there would be this mass mourning on the eve of the new covenant.

David: Mm. I'm sure there are so many more.

Seth: There are so many more. I mean, I think the most on-the-nose one... I mean, these are all pretty on the nose.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But what Jeremiah's most famous for is his critique of the temple establishment and his prophecy that the temple and Jerusalem would be burned to the ground.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Jesus does the same thing-

David: Mm, mm

Seth: ... and it's that claim that actually gets him killed.

David: Right, it's the main thing that the religious leaders bring as the charge against him to ask for his death.

Seth: That's right. And in Jeremiah's day, Jeremiah's story follows the same pattern as Jesus's life. So Jeremiah goes into the courtyard of the temple.

David: Mm.

Seth: God tells him to go specifically into the courtyard of the temple, proclaim the temple's destruction, after which time, the religious leaders come up to him and say, "What authority do you have to do these things?" Put a, a trial on, and put him in prison. Uh, and then eventually, he's brought up out of the prison.

David: Wow.

Seth: Uh, and then Jesus's life kinda plays out this same scenario.

David: Yes.

Seth: Jesus goes into the courtyard of the temple, pronounces the downfall of the temple, calls them all a fruitless fig tree, curses a fig tree.

David: Mm.

Seth: All the religious leaders start questioning his authority to say things like this. He's eventually put on trial, and he is killed.

David: Thrown into the prison of the grave.

Seth: Thrown into the prison of the grave, and then raised r- back up out of it-

David: Wow

Seth: ... just like Jeremiah. And-... I'll throw this one in for free Jeremiah says that if they would kill him, they would be shedding innocent blood.

David: Mm.

Seth: And Judas, whenever he gives the money back to the Pharisees for betraying Jesus-

David: Wow, right

Seth: ... he quotes Jeremiah, and he says, "I have betrayed innocent blood."

David: Mm.

Seth: So Judas even recognizes that he's killed the new Jeremiah, who [chuckles] like, who is anticip- right? Who is supposed to bring about an end to a corrupt religious system-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and the beginning of a new temple in Jesus, in, in, a new temple-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in this new kingdom Jesus is building.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So why does it matter that Jesus is a new Jeremiah? Because it also means that there's a new religious order.

David: Mm.

Seth: Jeremiah prophesied the temple would die.

David: Yes.

Seth: Jesus prophesied the temple would die, but what's taking its place?

David: Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven [chuckles] is at hand.

Seth: That's ex- that's exactly right. So why is it important? Because Jesus is bringing about what Jeremiah was anticipating-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the end of a corrupt temple system and the replacement of it with true religion in Jesus Christ.

David: Mm. Yeah, and replacing a divorced bride-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and a, you know, and an unwilling bachelor [chuckles]

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: With a-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... happily, happily, eternally married couple of-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... Christ and his bride, the church.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, like, it's hard to not end the meditation after all these episodes on Jeremiah, on the final marriage of God and his people.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Like, if Jeremiah is about the covenant broken-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and the promise of restoration, then Jesus deals with the broken covenant and brings that restoration.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's, he, he, he marries his whoring bride and turns her back into a virgin-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and makes her blameless, and beautiful, and perfect, and eternally loves her, ah, never to be broken again.

Seth: That's right.

David: Ah, yeah.

Seth: Which is, again, significant why Jesus says at the Passover meal-

David: Mm

Seth: ... "This is the new covenant in my blood," like, the new, the new marriage in my blood.

David: Mm, mm.

Seth: "I'm dying to be married to my people."

David: That's right.

Seth: "I'm being what Jeremiah hoped for."

David: Mm.

Seth: "I'm bringing it about." You wanna hear something else?

David: Uh, as long as it's about-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... the new covenant. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] It's, um, kind of about the new covenant.

David: Okay. [laughs]

Seth: Uh, it's about something else, actually. [chuckles]

David: Oh, fine. [chuckles]

Seth: Um, so another parallel that the gospel authors draw between Jeremiah and Jesus.

David: Mm.

Seth: So here's what, uh, God says to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 25, verses 15 and on: "Thus says the Lord, uh, the God of Israel said to me, 'Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink, and stagger, and be crazed because of the sword that I'm sending among them.' "

David: Mm.

Seth: "So I took the cup of the Lo- from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it, Jerusalem and its cities, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolation. I went to Pharaoh and had him drink it, and then to the land of Uz, and to the Philistines, and to Edom and Moab." And in this vision, Jeremiah takes this cup of God's wrath and force-feeds it to all the na- the leaders of the nations around the world-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... causing them to be judged for their evil. [chuckles] Okay?

David: Okay, yep.

Seth: Forcing them to drink th- this wine of wrath.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then verse 28, God says this: "And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of Hosts, "You must drink. For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning the sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," declares the Lord of Hosts.'" The way that he ends that, he says, "If they refu- if the nations refuse to drink, remind them that they cannot escape my judgment because I first judged my own people."

David: Right.

Seth: "And if I-"

David: "If I judge my own people, I'm of course going to judge you."

Seth: "So drink the cup."

David: Yes.

Seth: "Drink the cup."

David: Mm.

Seth: Okay.

David: Okay.

Seth: So this is, like, a pretty big prophetic moment-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in Jeremiah's life.

David: I would say so.

Seth: And it's another parallel to Jesus's life.

David: I mean, big time.

Seth: In the Garden of Gethsemane-

David: Mm

Seth: ... Jesus talks about this same cup of the wrath of God for the evil and injustice of the world-

David: Mm

Seth: ... right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: For the sins of the world. And Jesus, at first, asked God to not drink it.

David: Right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: He says, "But-"

David: "If it's possible, let this cup pass."

Seth: "But not my will-

David: Mm, mm

Seth: ... but yours be done."

David: Right.

Seth: And then what does he do? He drinks the cup.

David: Right.

Seth: He dies. He's destroyed. He goes into exile, just like Israel-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... just like Philistia, just like Edom.

David: He experiences the wrath of God-

Seth: He does

David: ... as not only the people of God, but the Son of God.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So this is a, an innovation that Jesus brings about.

David: Mm.

Seth: In Jeremiah, the hope for justice is that the nations that cause evil and do evil are destroyed.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Jesus comes along and drinks th- the destruction of injustice on himself-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and dies in their place.

David: Right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yes.

Seth: So anybody who wants to be forgiven of their injustice and sin can come to Jesus and be rescued from the cup of God's wrath.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: This is the gospel, right?

David: Yes, right.

Seth: This is the gospel-

David: Yes

Seth: ... um-

David: Yeah, it turns the cup of God's wrath into the cup of God's covenant.

Seth: Right.

David: It turns the wine of drunkenness and judgment into the wine of a wedding feast.

Seth: That's right. That's exactly right.

David: That's crazy. [chuckles]

Seth: And it intensifies the judgment for those who refuse-

David: Refuse to drink it

Seth: ... to drink the cup of Jesus's blood.

David: Ah, because it's n- he says, "If I w- if I... I already judged my own people. I'm of course gonna judge you."

Seth: Mm.

David: Now he's saying, "I judged my own son."

Seth: "And if you refuse to drink his blood of the new covenant-

David: Oh, man

Seth: ... how will I not-

David: Of course

Seth: ... how will I not punish your injustice-

David: Right

Seth: ... and evil?"

David: Mm.

Seth: So-

David: And the other, and the other way to, to say that is, uh, you know, since he gave us his own Son, how will he not also give us all things?

Seth: That's right.

David: 'Cause the other way is the positive way.

Seth: If he's given us forgiveness in Jesus, how will he not give us everything else?

David: He'll forgive everything.

Seth: He'll forgive everything.

David: Yeah, right.

Seth: That's right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So Jesus fulfills this.

David: Mm.

Seth: He offers the forgiveness that God's people would hope for, and the, the, the certainty of justice against-

David: Mm

Seth: ... evil, and oppression throughout the world, and sin throughout the world.

David: Well, he drinks the cup that all nations, all people must drink. He drinks it for us.

Seth: Yes.

David: And now all we have to do is receive it-

Seth: Right

David: ... as the new covenant cup.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Wow.

Seth: ... yeah!

David: I mean, that's powerful.

Seth: It's super powerful.

David: Um, I will be thinking about that the next several times [laughing] I take communion.

Seth: [laughing] Yeah.

David: Like-

Seth: I w- and I kept thinking about that.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, that wine of wrath-

David: Right

Seth: ... that Jesus, Jesus drinks on my behalf-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... that should have been poured into my mouth?

David: Right.

Seth: That now I'm drinking the blood of?

David: Right.

Seth: I mean, it's no wonder that Paul says, "Some have drinken unworthily and died." [laughing] It's like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... you know, there's like-

David: It's very in-

Seth: This is a potent-

David: Very important

Seth: ... cup of wine!

David: Yes.

Seth: This is powerful alcohol.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, this is either my entire eternal life or my eternal condemnation.

David: Right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yeah. I mean, it's fascinating, 'cause it's, it's the, it's the wine of God's wrath, which should make us stupor and drunkenly fall to our death. But because Jesus did that, we actually drink it as the product of God's wrath, being the blood that was spilled-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... by the death, and so we're tasting the aftermath of it. Like, that be- it's not wrath we taste, it's the result of wrath-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... being blood, knowing the wrath is dealt with.

Seth: Yep.

David: Like, so-

Seth: It's now sweet wine

David: ... blood has been s- instead it... Yeah, which makes it sweet. Yeah. And I do love that idea of, like, th- the wrath that should've led to a funeral, instead became the wine at a wedding.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Like, I do love that picture, too.

Seth: Yeah, that's right.

David: Um, yeah.

Seth: I mean, that's even hidden in Jesus's first miracle, the weddings of Cana.

David: Totally.

Seth: He turns the water into wine, and that water is in rites of purification jars.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, water that was supposed to, like, assuage some of the wrath of God.

David: Yeah. [chuckles]

Seth: That's the wine we drink and enjoy now, yeah.

David: Oh, it's so good.

Seth: Oh, man.

David: That is so cool.

Seth: Jesus is the new Jeremiah.

David: Jesus-

Seth: If-

David: I, I agree.

Seth: You agree.

David: You have convinced me. [laughing] That is amazing, Jesus is the new Jeremiah. Man, anything else to throw in before we close this down and-

Seth: Oh

David: ... and put a, put a full stop on the Book of Jeremiah?

Seth: I mean, two things.

David: Two things.

Seth: One, I'll just throw this one out, another reason to see Jesus as the new Jeremiah. Jeremiah describes himself as a lamb being led away to slaughter.

David: Mm.

Seth: And Luke does the same thing in the Book of Acts, in exactly the same way that-

David: Man

Seth: ... that Luke will describe Jesus's sacrifice on the cross.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Jeremiah's imprisonment and, you know, all the sufferings that he went through, were a type of what Jesus did when he died for us on the cross.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So Luke is just doing the same thing.

David: Man.

Seth: But hard pivot-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to nothing about Jesus as the new Jeremiah-

David: Okay

Seth: ... but to the very last scene in the Book of Jeremiah.

David: All right.

Seth: So the very last scene in the Book of Jeremiah is taken from the Book of Kings, actually. It's, like, almost, like, an edit- like an edited form of the end of Book of Kings-

David: Oh, okay

Seth: ... is added right here. And Jehoiakin, Jehoiakim's son.

David: Okay.

Seth: So the evil King Jehoiakim, responsible for one of the waves of exiles, right?

David: Mm.

Seth: And his son is placed on the throne for three months, but he's such a sympathizer with Babylon, he just surrenders really quickly, robs God's temple, sends it all to Babylon, and just follows God's treasures into Babylon and just lives in Babylon. Zedekiah is the next king of Israel, and Israel's history goes on without Jehoiakim. But the very, very last scene is that this faithless king, after Israel has been entirely destroyed, that they've dissolved into the nations around, is that this faithless king is raised up and sits at the royal table of the king of Babylon.

David: And raised up from prison?

Seth: Raised up from prison.

David: Like Jeremiah.

Seth: Like Jeremiah, sits at the royal table of Babylon, is given food for as long as he lives. Uh-

David: Tiny glimmer of hope for a horrible person.

Seth: Yes, and really, he's like a cipher, a symbol for all of Israel-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and for all humanity.

David: Mm.

Seth: We're all Jehoiakim.

David: Right.

Seth: We're all in prison, of our own making-

David: Yep

Seth: ... or a, a, at the power of others.

David: Yep, and of our own dessert.

Seth: Uh, yes, of our, of what we deserve.

David: Right.

Seth: And God-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in His mercy and love, will raise us up to a king's table.

David: Take off our prison clothes.

Seth: Take off our prison clothes, and give us all that we need for as long as we live.

David: Man. [laughing]

Seth: [laughing] That's-

David: Yeah, and that's how the book ends.

Seth: That's how the book ends, yeah.

David: Is this hope of a return, and a feast, and a welcome-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... from the king-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... for prisoners and scallywags.

Seth: Scallywags. [laughing]

David: [laughing]

Seth: That's what, that's what we are. [laughing]

David: [laughing] Well, Seth, thank you so much, and thank you, too, to Christine, who-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... you guys put so much thought and care into studying Jeremiah over the last month. So-

Seth: Yes

David: ... I got to reap the benefits, all of our listeners get to reap the benefits. So we honor and thank you guys for doing that so well, and we thank all of you for following us along in the Book of Jeremiah. We're so grateful for this community. We love walking through books of the Bible with you. Thank you for all your prayers, your engagement, your support. We, uh, we just appreciate you all. We hope Jeremiah, um, just blesses you deeply as you dive into it. Uh, thank you for listening, and we will see you next time. [upbeat music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube.

Related Resources

Free videos sent straight to your inbox.

Jesus as the New Jeremiah: How the Weeping Prophet Foreshadows the Messiah

Show Notes

Why the New Testament Trains Us to See Jesus in Old Testament Characters

The Evidence That Jesus Is Uniquely a New Jeremiah

Jesus Sounds Like Jeremiah: Shared Language, Parables, and Prophecies

The Yoke of Death That Leads to Life

The Gospel Authors Present Jesus as the New Jeremiah

The Cup of Wrath Becomes the Cup of the New Covenant

Related Resources

Introduction to Jeremiah

View our devotional on Jeremiah 1

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Jeremiah Overview: A Prophet of Inevitable Death podcast

Listen to the Jeremiah Overview: Prophecies to an Unfaithful Bride podcast

Listen to the Jeremiah Overview: Jesus, the new Jeremiah podcast

Listen to the Jeremiah Overview: A Prophet Like Moses podcast