Returners of the Lost Ark
” ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD ,
‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD ,
‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt-
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,’ ”
declares the LORD .
“Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD , “for I am your husband. I will choose you-one from a town and two from a clan-and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD , “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD .’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD , and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD . No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance. (Jer. 3:11ff)
One of the classic movies of my children’s generation is the Indiana Jones saga Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the movie the lost Ark of the Covenant is finally found, and unleashes its wrath on its Nazi discoverers. After the interest generated by the movie I happened to view a TV documentary (on the Discovery Channel maybe?) claiming that the Ark was in fact in Ethiopia guarded by a band of Coptic Christians, only one of whom could ever view the Ark. This highly favored fellow was appointed for a lifetime.
In contrast to these tales about the famous Mosaic relic, we have Jeremiah telling the rebellious Israelites that a day will come when the Ark will no longer be remembered at all. “It will never enter their minds…” he tells them. Why? Because Jerusalem itself will in fact replace the Ark. It will be the Throne of the LORD, and all nations will come there to honor His name.
I’m no expert in prophecy, but it seems like this special event still lies in the future. There has in fact been a return to Jerusalem–in 1948 the State of Israel was established–but not quite like the one described here with all nations coming there to honor the LORD. In fact most of the nations nearby the present day Israel would like to destroy it.
But even if the specific prophecy of this passage is yet to be fulfilled–and what a glorious day that will be–the principle for acceptance applied to the “returners” is nonetheless valid. The LORD bids His faithless chosen people to return to Him, and assures them that He will be angry with them no longer. They need only acknowledge their guilt and their rebellion against their God. He even goes so far as to declare that He, the LORD of All, is their husband. And as their husband, will even accept them back despite their prostitution to foreign gods.
During my time in the grief group after Susan’s death, I often heard the widows in the group comment on how they view the Lord as their “husband.” They looked to Him to take care of their needs in place of the human husbands that were gone. Frankly, this idea didn’t compute with me. Instead I focused on the idea out of Genesis 3: “It is not good for man to be alone.”
So even though I don’t relate to the idea of the Lord being my husband, I do relate to how a husband feels when he has lost a wife. If my pain of losing Susan is any indication, then the Lord must be miserable at the loss of His wife, Israel. Indeed, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, and expressed longing that they might return to Him: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
So it is with us would-be disciples of our Lord. So often we are not willing! Yet the eternal promise is true for us as it was them. “I will frown on you no longer.” That’s a wonderful promise for the new year. May the Gentle Husband who reaches out to His wayward wife smile on us as we daily confess our tendency to rebel, and repent of those actual instances in our lives when flesh has triumphed over the spirit.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.