◄ Jeremiah 31:3 ►
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
Study Bible
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:

This phrase emphasizes God's historical relationship with Israel. The appearance of the LORD often signifies divine revelation or intervention, as seen in the lives of patriarchs like Abraham (Genesis 12:7) and Moses (Exodus 3:2). It underscores God's active role in guiding and communicating with His people throughout history. The past tense indicates a continuity of God's presence and promises, which are foundational to Israel's identity and faith.

Gen 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said,…
Gen 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared…
Exo 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him……

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

This statement highlights the eternal nature of God's love for His people. The concept of "everlasting" suggests a love that transcends time, reflecting God's unchanging nature (Malachi 3:6). This love is covenantal, rooted in the promises made to Abraham (Genesis 17:7) and reaffirmed through the prophets. It is a love that persists despite Israel's unfaithfulness, pointing to God's grace and mercy. This everlasting love is also a type of Christ's sacrificial love for the Church (Ephesians 5:25).

Psa 103:17 But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion…
Isa 54:8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment,…
Rom 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, …

therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

The drawing of Israel with "loving devotion" indicates God's initiative in restoring and maintaining the relationship with His people. This phrase can be connected to the imagery of God as a shepherd leading His flock (Psalm 23:1-3). The Hebrew word for "drawn" can imply attraction or pulling towards, suggesting God's gentle and persistent call to repentance and reconciliation. This reflects the New Testament theme of God's kindness leading to repentance (Romans 2:4). The loving devotion is a precursor to the new covenant promise of a transformed heart (Jeremiah 31:33), ultimately fulfilled in Christ's redemptive work.

Hos 11:4 I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love;…
Jhn 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me…
Rom 2:4 Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness…

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who reveals His eternal love and faithfulness to His people.

2. Jeremiah
A prophet called by God to deliver messages of both judgment and hope to the people of Judah during a time of national crisis.

3. Israel
The nation chosen by God, often depicted as straying from Him, yet continually pursued by His steadfast love.

4. Babylonian Exile
The context in which Jeremiah prophesied, a period of punishment and purification for Israel, but also a time of promised restoration.

5. Covenant Relationship
The ongoing relationship between God and Israel, characterized by God's promises and Israel's obligations.
Teaching Points
God's Everlasting Love
God's love is eternal and unchanging, providing a foundation of security and hope for believers.

Divine Initiative
God takes the first step in drawing us to Himself, emphasizing His grace and mercy in our relationship with Him.

Covenant Faithfulness
Despite human unfaithfulness, God remains committed to His promises, encouraging us to trust in His steadfastness.

Response to God's Love
Our response to God's love should be one of gratitude, obedience, and a desire to draw closer to Him in return.

Hope in Restoration
Even in times of discipline or hardship, God's love assures us of eventual restoration and renewal.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's "everlasting love" impact your view of your relationship with Him?

2. In what ways can you recognize God's "drawing" in your own life, and how should you respond?

3. How does the concept of God's covenant faithfulness encourage you in times of personal failure or doubt?

4. What are some practical ways you can demonstrate gratitude for God's love in your daily life?

5. How can the assurance of God's love and promise of restoration influence your perspective during difficult times?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Hosea 11:4
This verse speaks of God's tender love and guidance, similar to the "drawing" mentioned in Jeremiah 31:3, emphasizing God's gentle leading.

John 3:16
The concept of God's everlasting love is echoed in the New Testament, where God's love is demonstrated through the giving of His Son for the salvation of the world.

Romans 8:38-39
These verses affirm that nothing can separate believers from the love of God, reflecting the "everlasting love" mentioned in Jeremiah.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8
God's choice of Israel as His people is based on His love and faithfulness, not their merit, paralleling the unconditional love in Jeremiah 31:3.

1 John 4:19
This verse highlights that our love for God is a response to His initiating love, which aligns with the idea of God drawing us with loving devotion.
Sermons
Constraining LoveHomiletic MagazineJeremiah 31:3
Divine LovePrincipal Tulloch.Jeremiah 31:3
Divine Philanthropy Before All TimeHomilistJeremiah 31:3
Everlasting LoveJ. H. Evans, M. A.Jeremiah 31:3
Everlasting LoveT. Davies, M. A.Jeremiah 31:3
Everlasting Love RevealedJeremiah 31:3
God's Love for ManHomilistJeremiah 31:3
God's Will Done At LastS. Conway Jeremiah 31:3
Love EverlastingS. Martin.Jeremiah 31:3
New Revelations of Old TruthsH. J. Bevis.Jeremiah 31:3
Secret Drawings Graciously ExplainedJeremiah 31:3
The Attractive Power of KindnessJeremiah 31:3
The Character of the Divine Love Inferred from its HistoryA.F. Muir Jeremiah 31:3
The Christian Drawn unto GodC. Bradley, M. A.Jeremiah 31:3
The Everlasting Love of GodD. Young Jeremiah 31:3
The Love of Christ PerennialA. Maclaren, D. D.Jeremiah 31:3
The Love of GodJ. Sherman.Jeremiah 31:3
The Love of GodS. Conway Jeremiah 31:3
The Love of God Suggested by Human LoveJeremiah 31:3
The Magnetic Influence of God's Loving-KindnessThomas Spurgeon.Jeremiah 31:3
The Place of Love Among Divine AttributesJeremiah 31:3
The Wonder of Divine LoveJeremiah 31:3
Three WondersW. J. Mayers.Jeremiah 31:3
The Restoration of IsraelS. Conway Jeremiah 31:1-9
People
Gareb, Jacob, Jeremiah, Rachel, Rahel
Places
Corner Gate, Egypt, Gareb, Goah, Horse Gate, Kidron, Ramah, Samaria, Tower of Hananel, Zion
Topics
Afar, Affection, Age-during, Appeared, Continued, Drawn, Eternal, Everlasting, Faithfulness, Kindness, Love, Loved, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Mercy, Past, Saying, Yea, Yes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 31:3

     1055   God, grace and mercy
     1085   God, love of
     1140   God, the eternal
     5013   heart, divine
     5698   guardian
     5844   emotions
     5966   tenderness
     8214   confidence, basis of
     8296   love, nature of
     9121   eternity, nature of
     9136   immortality, OT

Jeremiah 31:3-4

     7725   evangelists, identity
     8724   doubt, dealing with

Jeremiah 31:3-5

     4538   vineyard

Library
What the Stable Creation Teaches
'If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.'--JER. xxxi. 36. This is the seal of the new covenant, which is to be made in days future to the prophet and his contemporaries, with the house of Israel and of Judah. That new covenant is referred to in Hebrews as the fundamental law of Christ's kingdom. Therefore we have the right to take to ourselves the promises which it contains, and to think of 'the house …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What the Immense Creation Teaches
'If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.'--JER. xxxi. 37. In the former sermon we considered the previous verse as presenting the stability of creation as a guarantee of the firmness of God's gracious covenant. Now we have to consider these grand closing words which bring before us another aspect of the universe as a guarantee for another side of God's gracious …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

August the Twenty-First Satisfaction
"My people shall be satisfied with My goodness." --JEREMIAH xxxi. 10-14. And how unlike is all this to the feasts of the world! There is a great show, but no satisfaction. There is much decorative china, but no nutritious food or drink. "Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again." We rise from the table, and our deepest cravings are unappeased. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" We know. We have had a condiment, but no meat; a showy menu-card, but no reviving feast. Nothing but …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

God in the Covenant
But I have been thinking for the last two or three days, that the covenant of grace excels the other covenant most marvelously in the mighty blessings which it confers. What does the covenant of grace convey? I had thought this morning of preaching a sermon upon "The covenant of grace; what are the blessings it gives to God's children?" But when I began to think of it, there was so much in the covenant, that if I had only read a catalogue of the great and glorious blessings, wrapped up within its …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Two Covenants: their Relation
"It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the freewoman. Howbeit, the one by the bondmaid is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise. Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants." -GAL. iv. 22-24. THERE are two covenants, one called the Old, the other the New. God speaks of this very distinctly in Jeremiah, where He says: "The days come, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not after the …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The New Covenant
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."--JER. xxxi. 33, 34. ISAIAH has often been called …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Conversion of all that Come.
"Turn Thou me and I shall be turned." --Jer. xxxi. 18. The elect, born again and effectually called, converts himself. To remain unconverted is impossible; but he inclines his ear, he turns his face to the blessed God, he is converted in the fullest sense of the word. In conversion the fact of cooperation on the part of the saved sinner assumes a clearly defined and perceptible character. In regeneration there was none; in the calling there was a beginning of it; in conversion proper it became a …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Old Things are Passed Away.
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Whether the Active Life Remains after this Life?
Objection 1: It would seem that the active life remains after this life. For the acts of the moral virtues belong to the active life, as stated above [3738](A[1]). But the moral virtues endure after this life according to Augustine (De Trin. xiv, 9). Therefore the active life remains after this life. Objection 2: Further, teaching others belongs to the active life, as stated above [3739](A[3]). But in the life to come when "we shall be like the angels," teaching will be possible: even as apparently …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Waiting Faith Rewarded and Strengthened by New Revelations
'And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A vision of Judgement and Cleansing
'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Perseverance in Holiness
May the King himself come near and feast his saints to-day! May the Comforter who convinced of sin now come to cheer us with the promise! We noticed concerning the fig tree, that it was confirmed in its barrenness: it had borne no fruit, though it made large professions of doing so, and it was made to abide as it was. Let us consider another form of confirmation: not the curse of continuance in the rooted habit of evil; but the blessing of perseverance in a settled way of grace. May the Lord show …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889

Appendix xiv. The Law in Messianic Times.
THE question as to the Rabbinic views in regard to the binding character of the Law, and its imposition on the Gentiles, in Messianic times, although, strictly speaking, not forming part of this history, is of such vital importance in connection with recent controversies as to demand special consideration. In the text to which this Appendix refers it has been indicated, that a new legislation was expected in Messianic days. The ultimate basis of this expectancy must be sought in the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Conversion --Varied Phenomena or Experience.
We have spoken of the meaning of this term, inquired into the nature of the change, and noted its essential elements. We have also learned that there are some who do not need it because they are in a converted state, and that all who are not in such a state of Grace, do need conversion, regardless of anything that may or may not have taken place in the past. We inquire now as to the agencies or means by which this change is brought about. For it is a change which man can certainly not effect by his …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The King in Exile
'And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him. 14. When he arose, he took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt; 15. And was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. "
1 John ii. 1.--"We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." There is no settlement to the spirit of a sinner that is once touched with the sense of his sins, and apprehension of the justice and wrath of God, but in some clear and distinct understanding of the grounds of consolation in the gospel, and the method of salvation revealed in it. There is no solid peace giving answer to the challenges of the law and thy own conscience, but in the advocation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Lord's Supper Instituted.
(Jerusalem. Evening Before the Crucifixion.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 26-29; ^B Mark XIV. 22-25; ^C Luke XXII. 19, 20; ^F I. Cor. XI. 23-26. ^a 26 And as they were eating, ^f the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, { ^b blessed,} ^f he brake it, ^a and he gave to the disciples, and said, ^b Take ye: ^a Take, eat; this is my body. ^f which is ^c given ^f for you: this do in remembrance of me. [As only unleavened bread was eaten during the paschal supper, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

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