Charles Spurgeon Commentary Jeremiah 30

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

Too good to be lost. The prophets said much when they did not write, and this particular chapter and the next were to be carefully written down. God here begins to deal with His guilty people in a way of love and mercy. It is a very remarkable chapter, one of the richest, one of the most cheering in the whole of God's Word.

Therefore, write it in a book.

For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Souls get into captivity. God has ways of restoring them.

Tonight I expect, and believe, that many captives will be restored by the grace of God to rest and comfort. Will you be one of them? Poor mourner, pray now that you may be. Ask of God that tonight God may bring again your captivity.

And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus says the LORD: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

"Why," you say, "I thought you began to read words of comfort. Now there is a drop."

Yes, there always is. Whenever God is going to comfort a man, he first makes him see his need of comfort. There is always stripping before there is clothing; there is always emptying before there is filling on God's part.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

We believe in verbal inspiration. Though some people treat with contempt the very idea of words being inspired, be sure of this: if you do not have inspired words, you are not likely to get inspired men.

Besides, words are to the thought what the shell is to the egg; if you break the shell, you have destroyed the egg. Somehow or other, the thought will ooze out unless it is conveyed in God’s own words.

Observe that the Lord does not say to Jeremiah, Write thee all the thought that I have given thee; but, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

And so they did, and so they will in an even fuller sense, for this is a promise that has fulfillments and fulfillments. Human promises, once kept, are ended; but God’s promises are perpetual; they are springing wells that never run dry. What He fulfilled once, He often takes the opportunity to fulfill again on an even larger scale, as He will doubtless do for His ancient people in the latter days.

You who are in spiritual captivity tonight can derive comfort from these words: I will bring again the captivity of my people. It is God’s way to deliver the captives. What He does once is only an indication of what He is accustomed to doing. It is God’s delight to devise means by which He will bring back His banished ones.

So, in due time, He will end your captivity, and you will enjoy the blessed liberty that is the portion of His people.