John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 23:20

"The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly." — Jeremiah 23:20 (ASV)

He confirms what he had said, so that the hypocrites with whom he was dealing would not think that their punishment would be light and would soon pass away. For although they might have seen that God’s hand was armed against them, they still took comfort, because they expected it would only be for a short time. Therefore, Jeremiah here reminds them that they were greatly deceived if they thought they could dissipate like a cloud the vengeance that was near, for God would not cease to punish them until He had destroyed them.

Another false sense of security also deceived the ungodly: they were not terrified by the Prophet's threats, because they thought that God was, in a way, toying with them whenever He proclaimed ruin. And, undoubtedly, the wicked could not have indulged themselves so securely if they had not disbelieved that God’s word would be fulfilled. Since, then, God’s threats did not strike hypocrites with terror, the Prophet here declares that there was no reason for them to entertain the vain hope that God only spoke words and that His vengeance would not be carried out.

Turn back, he says, shall not the anger of Jehovah until He has performed and confirmed the thoughts of His heart. Jeremiah shows that God had not spoken in vain through His servants, unlike men, who often speak rashly, for their tongues frequently outrun their intentions. But he reminds them here that God is far different from men, for He always speaks in earnest, and His prophetic word is a sure evidence of His hidden purpose, as will be declared again presently. This is why he mentions the thoughts of His heart.

Yet, we must not think that God is like us, as though He reflects on this and that, forming many purposes as different things come into His mind.

No, such a crude idea cannot be entertained and is inconsistent with the nature of God.

But Jeremiah, using a type of metaphor, calls God's counsel His thoughts—that fixed and unchangeable counsel which He declared through His prophets. Indeed, God sometimes threatened in order to lead people to repentance, but we must remember that He neither varies Himself nor changes His purpose.

Therefore, whatever the prophets announced in His name flowed from His hidden purpose, and it was as though He had made His own heart known to us. It is no small praise for prophetic doctrine that God, as it were, connected His heart with His mouth. The mouth of God is the doctrine itself, and he now says that it had proceeded from the depth of His heart.

It therefore follows that there is nothing ineffectual (or deceptive, as they say) in God’s word, for He here declares that whatever He had committed to His servants were the thoughts of His heart. And to confirm, or establish, must be applied to the execution of His thoughts.

The sum of it all is that God now pronounces a sentence against the people which could not be reversed, for He had definitively decreed to destroy those who were obstinate in their sins.

But he seems to refer to the word ichul, which means, as I have said, to fall, and also to abide or to lie upon. According to this meaning, he now says that the anger of God would not turn back, so as to change its course, until it had completed what had already been decreed—namely, what God had resolved concerning the destruction of the people.

Then he adds, In the extremity of days ye shall understand the knowledge of this thing. This is the literal rendering, but we can offer a simpler version: “Ye shall perceive the knowledge of this matter,” or “Ye shall know what this means.” The Prophet, no doubt, exults over the insensibility of those who could not be moved by such terrible warnings.

We know how great the hardness of the ungodly is, especially when Satan possesses their minds and hearts. Indeed, no iron or stone possesses as much hardness as is found in the perversely wicked. They, in a way, assail God with the greatest obstinacy, as though they were victorious, for they despise all His warnings and threats.

Therefore, the Prophet derides their insolence, or rather their madness, and says, “Ye shall understand,” but too late. For by extremity of days, he means the time which God had appointed for His anger. Yet God had warned them in due time so that they might repent before His judgment came.

It was now, then, as though he left them in their own stupor and said that they could not, however, escape the hand of God through their perverseness, according to what Paul says, Let him who is ignorant, be ignorant
(1 Corinthians 14:38).

He undoubtedly checks the arrogance of those who rejected all sound doctrine and all right counsel.

So, then, the Prophet teaches us here that hypocrites gain nothing by setting up their own stubborn resistance and arrogance in opposition to God, for they will find, though too late, that God has not spoken in vain. We then see that by extremity of days is to be understood that time when the door will be closed, because they did not respond to God in due time when He invited them to Himself and set before them the hope of salvation.

Another truth is also taught us here: that we are to seek God while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6). For if we abuse His forbearance and despise Him who speaks to us today, we will find out too late, and not without the most grievous sorrow, that we have been deceived by the devil, because we did not pay attention to God calling us.