This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Matthew 2:13-23” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 18, 1996.

We begin our scripture reading this morning in Jeremiah chapter 31, and we are beginning in verse 1. Give your attention to the reading of God’s holy words. At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O Virgin of Israel. Thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things.

For there shall be a day that the watchman upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations, Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together. A great company shall return thither, and they shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble. For I am the Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then shall the Virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. and I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.”

Thus saith the Lord. A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. Thus says the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears. For thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

And then turning over to Matthew chapter 2, verse 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Ramah was there a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not. Pretty.

Our God, we are in great need of the means of grace. And Father, we have gathered here today in order that we might be blessed of you in keeping with those means. Hear us, O God, that your word would prove effectual for us. We know, O Lord, that it does not return to you void. We pray our Father with all earnestness that he would have its full effect in our lives. Bless us, O God, as we increasingly understand that our life is not only by your word, but in it. This we pray through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is exalted at your right hand. Amen. Now undoubtedly, we know a great deal about the Exodus. But how much do we know about the Exile?

In the former event, the exodus, Israel as a nation was born. In the latter event, the exile, Israel as a nation was destroyed. The exile began about 700 years after the exodus, when in the year 721 B.C. Sardan of Assyria overran the territory of the ten northern tribes of Israel, destroying their capital city, Samaria, taking their chief population into captivity and resettling the land with non-Jewish aliens.

To the south, prophets such as Isaiah and Micah warned that a similar fate awaited the remaining two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, together with their capital city, Jerusalem, if there was no true devotion to the Lord, no true desire to follow Him. The end finally came in the year 586 B.C., some place it a year earlier, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. who rose to power twenty years previously because of his great victory at Karchemish over Niko, the ambitious pharaoh of Egypt. In a very short time, Nebuchadnezzar took over Syria and the former territory of the ten northern tribes. He then forced Judah as the remaining sovereign kingdom of the Jews was called, to become a client state to the Babylonian Empire. Shortly after Nebuchadnezzar’s subjugation of Judah, some temple furniture was taken off into Babylon, and then a number of officials and high-born Jews, including Daniel, were also taken off to Babylon.

A few years later, in the year 597, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem to crush a revolt. This time he carried off the king, Jehoiachin, with many others, including Ezekiel. Jehoiachin’s uncle was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar so that he became a puppet governor.

Zedekiah was a very weak man who was himself ruled by a particularly zealous nationalist war party from within the state. This war party advised Zedekiah to revolt against Babylon. There was a prophet speaking at this time, Jeremiah by name. He counseled the king against this alliance of court prophets, elders, and priests. and against their advice to revolt against Babylon and to turn to Egypt in order to find support and help there. In 588, Zedekiah took the bait offered him by his counselors, and Nebuchadnezzar was on the march.

In two short years, Nebuchadnezzar had crushed the Egyptians, the hope of Judah. He had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and he had totally humiliated Zedekiah by executing his sons. And then, immediately after having done that, he put out Zedekiah’s eyes so that the last thing that he saw was the death of his children. Blind Zedekiah and many of Judea’s dignitaries, together with the strength of Judah’s population, were carried off then into captivity. It was the end. Total devastation. It was as if death had come in its complete and utter finality. Jeremiah had foreseen the devastation. He spoke of it this way in his ninth chapter.

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined? We are put to great shame, for we have left the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. Now hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor adore. For death has come up through our windows. It has entered our palaces to cut off children from the streets, the young men from the town squares. Speak, thus declares the Lord. The corpses of the men fall like dung upon the open field and like the sheave after the reaper. But no one will gather.

Relating Jeremiah’s words from his ninth chapter here, referring to the exile, to what we know about the Exodus, and say a text like Exodus 15, I dare say that while Israel’s joy had never been greater than it was at the Red Sea. Her distress and abject depression had never been greater than it was at the Exile. At the Exodus, the joy was that of birth into liberty and into triumph. at the exile, the distress was that of death in confirmation of futility and hopelessness. Read Jeremiah in its entirety, but particularly read his book Lamentations to catch the sense of overwhelming devastation registering upon the souls of these Jews at this time.

It is as if they are no longer alive. It is as if they are but shades condemned to wander among the rubble. At every turn, Wherever they may look, they are compelled to gaze upon the end of their people, the end of their nation, the end of the Davidic dynasty, the ruination of their inheritance. The uselessness, now in their own minds, of that which they had undergirding them previously, the uselessness of the law, and the evaporation of all the promises of God. It was as if it was all lost. They were as good as dead, and for all intents and purposes, the promises of God were dead as well.

Now, no passage quite captures the mood of this dismal setting like Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 15. No passage quite captures the mood or so succinctly states the case. Thus says the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.”

Here, the writer himself summarizes the impact of the Babylonian invasion and the subsequent exile. as it registers upon the consciousness of the inhabitants of the land. They are as a single person. They are as a woman, says the Lord, who is bereft of her children. From the center of the land, that is from Ramah, in the territory of Benjamin, her voice goes up in the most extreme bereavement. in the most extreme bereavement. She is like Rachel, whose weeping and lamentation were heard so many centuries previously. She mourns, Israel mourns, as a woman facing total loss. Total loss!

Whereas the historical Rachel wept for herself, because as death approached, it was now clear to her that she was about to lose the world for which she had lived. Here in Jeremiah, Rachel is portrayed as weeping for her children, because as death overtakes them, it is clear to her she is about to lose those by whom she might yet have access to the world and its dominion. In the earlier case, in Genesis 35, the historical Rachel weeps for herself because in her death she now knows she is about to lose the world for which she has lived. In Jeremiah, Rachel is portrayed as weeping for her children Because as death overtakes those children, it is clear to this Rachel that she is about to lose those by whom she might yet have possession of the world.

And in either case, the refrain can be played and stated, she refuses to be comforted. She refuses to be comforted. This refusal on her part is the indictment of her. In Genesis, the historical Rachel refuses to be comforted and she dies defiantly. In her death, with her last breath, she names the child that has been the cause of her death, Benanni, a name that means son of my sorrow. In this, the naming of this child She seeks to memorialize herself and her great grief in her death so that the child that lives will speak of her, her great disappointment and her severe depression. son of my soul.” In the Jeremiah text, there is no means for her to memorialize herself, you see, because all of her children are dead. There is no one to name. They are no more, the text says. But neither is there any way for her aspirations for a place in this world to be maintained. Such hopes have been completely dashed.

Therefore, she—afresh, as it were—refuses to be comforted, not just because of the natural consequence of great grief, such grief, so to speak, as we might expect from any grieving mother. Rather, her refusal is a statement. It is a protest. It is a resolute, determined, and deliberate protest. Her mourning, her continued lamentation then, becomes a memorial for her because she has not been given what she wanted. In fact, because the means for securing for her what she wanted has been taken away from her. Therefore, she will not—she is determined not to be—competent.

She refuses comfort. In this picture, then, her perpetual grief is as deep and complete as her hopelessness. So strong is her refusal of comfort that left to herself not even news of revival. Not even news of restoration, not even news of resurrection, new life and new covenant can cheer her. Her grief is because she has lost what she wants, and she has lost all hope of getting it.

And as she, left to herself, considers the work of God, the work of God brings only what she doesn’t want, and grants to her a hope for that in which she has no interest ultimately. The situation, therefore, is utterly and completely desperate, both from Rachel’s side, and from the side of faith and righteousness, except God himself. Look, Rachel refuses to be comforted, therefore the only way that she can be comforted is if God changes her. and makes her something different than from what she is. It is therefore necessary for Rachel to be changed. It will not do for her to consider change within herself. She cannot change herself. She doesn’t want to be changed. She has no interest in being changed.

She mourns, she laments, that is her life. She protests, that is her existence. That defines her. That is what supplies content to her character and personality. If she is to be comforted With the comfort that God is able to give, she must be transformed. She must be changed. She must be enabled to receive comfort. She must be enabled to delight in the works and in the person of God. Scripture, all of Scripture, is Calvinist. Isn’t it obvious?

She doesn’t want to be comforted. The only way she will be comforted properly is if she is changed. She must be changed. She must die. That she might be born again. The great promise of God is that he does not leave the Rachel of his people in this condition. The great wonder of Jeremiah chapter thirty one overwhelming testimony is to defend. He does not leave her in this situation. He will change.

With her transformation, her tears will be dried, and lament will be chased from her. In her transformation, her hopes will be more perfectly aimed and honed. And in her transformation, she shall not only witness her own resurrection, but the resurrection of her dead children. and that for purposes not hers, but God’s.

In Genesis, the transformation and the revival of hope is seen in the child that was the cause of Rachel’s death. The dying Rachel has named that child Benani, son of Mysoros. Jacob then comes and renames the child. He calls the child Benjamin, son of my right hand. A name, regardless of what it may indicate concerning Jacob’s intention to memorialize his own strength, speaks far-reachingly of the messianic expectation and that one who is truly the son of the right hand, the Lord Jesus himself, the embodiment of all hope. There will be purification for Jacob in all of this as well.

But now here in Jeremiah, the transformation and the revival of hope is not seen merely in the children who are promised resurrection and restoration, but in the woman herself. The exile is a severe—one can’t imagine anything more severe. The exile is a severe and bitter discipline. by which the woman, Israel herself, is brought to her end, to death itself, in order that she, by the power of God, might rejoice in Him alone, who has the power to raise the dead and to transform hell-bound sinners. Our God will teach these lessons not just in parables, not just in aphorisms, not just in moral maxims, but in the concrete realities of history as they push in upon us. History is what God does to us. It forces us against our wills. And as it is the truth concerning his providence, it makes of us what we aren’t.

The exile, therefore, the end of Israel, as we see here, is actually according to the grace of God, the beginning, in which by the power of God, Israel is reborn, refined, and redefined, having been transformed out of the old life and brought sovereignly into the new life.

But as you know, the historical exile will not reach its full fulfillment. until the coming of Jesus Christ, who for the sake of his people has thoroughly been identified with them, and in his life is driven into exile, and with the slain children of Bethlehem, becomes as a child that is no more he taking their condition to himself only to be preserved by the power of God and raised up by his father. Neither will the exile reach its full fulfillment until Jesus Christ is clearly set forth as the purpose of the exile. Until it is clear that the exile was about Jesus, not just about Jews in Palestine. The one for whose sake Israel is brought low in order that she might be exalted according to the truth of God’s eternal kingdom. And in that day, when the exile reaches its full fulfillment, It will be Christ’s cross and resurrection that shine forth as the means of the transformation of God’s people.

Even the means for the bestowal of an eternal comfort upon those who, like Israel, when left to themselves, are determined to grieve bitterly over the loss of things they had held so dear. That cross and that resurrection, as well as the exile that leads up to them, and even the slaughtered children of Bethlehem, together with their grieving mothers, continue to be instructed to us, lest we forget God’s great power to save and His everlasting love.

How much history, O God, is necessary to teach us not to hold on to the world, lest in having the world we lose our souls? To what lengths, O God, will you go in order to teach us that we must lose our lives in this world that they might be gained for you in eternity. Father, the exile is calculated in the councils of eternity to teach this lesson, which will be spelled out in full when your son, the very Word of God, comes to this world and makes it plain. And Father, he having made it plain, may we not remain fools. Father, we plead your mercy that we would not lament things we cherish, but delight in things you give. We pray this through Christ. Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.