Jeremiah 3:22, commentary and pictures

The Lord calls his backsliding children to return to him with the promise to heal their unfaithfulness, and they answer by coming to him in humility as the Lord their God in whom alone is salvation. The call reveals him as tender, compassionate and fatherly, waiting with pity to hear confession and accept penitence, yearning over his children as a father pities his children, willing to receive, bless and restore every trusting soul. His promised healing is gracious pardon and acceptance, removing unfaithfulness, restoring to favor and blessing, and imparting strength and cleansing until his people are fully fitted for him. The turning itself answers his loving initiative, for he first draws sinners by his Spirit to see they cannot save themselves, and his warnings and corrections are sent to save them from ruin, so the invitation is urgent to seek mercy now without delay while his Spirit pleads. Returning requires a thorough, wholehearted choice to repent and obey, with sincere repentance, deep humility, confession, putting away idols and clearing all that blocks the heart to receive his help.

God's Call to Return

The Lord calls his backsliding children to return to him, with the promise to heal their backsliding and unfaithfulness. His mercy remains open to sinners who seek his pardon, and the promise holds gracious even after lukewarmness and sin. He tenderly invites the wayward back with compassion rather than harshness, ready to hear confession and accept penitence. The promise gives hope to all who have fallen into sin that they are still called back.

The call reveals him as tender, compassionate and fatherly, waiting with pitying tenderness to hear the confession of the wayward and to accept their turning. He yearns earnestly and tenderly over his children in all trials and temptations, pitying those who reverence him as a father pities his children. He watches for grateful response as a mother watches for the smile of recognition from her child, and he will never forget one soul that trusts in him. He is willing to receive, bless and restore the sinner, and mercy is still extended to those who have fallen.

The turning is a response to his loving initiative, for he first draws sinners to himself. By his Spirit he makes them recognize that they cannot save themselves, and they must heed his call to return. His correction and warnings, his reproofs and judgments through message after message by his prophets, are meant to save them from unhappiness, deception and ruin.

The invitation is present and urgent, calling backsliders now, just now, without delay to return and seek mercy and pardon. It calls for a willing choice to belong wholly to the Lord while mercy is still calling and while the pleading voice of his Spirit may be heeded. Those separated from him may fail to hear the call.

His promised healing means gracious pardon and acceptance, removal of unfaithfulness, and restoration to his favor, blessing and spiritual help. When the unfaithful return with sincere repentance and humble confession, he returns to them, comes back to them, and fully restores them. He imparts strength to those who sincerely seek him, and his purifying and cleansing of a peculiar people separates every carnal thing from them until they stand like gold seven times purified and are fitted for translation.

Our Response and Restoration

The verse itself supplies the answering words of the people, who come to Him in humility, acknowledging Him as the Lord their God, confessing their sin and disobedience, and declaring that salvation is to be found in Him and not in other powers, places, or hopes. That coming is an invitation to repent and receive mercy, restoration, and spiritual help, and those who return with all the heart through confession and repentance receive His gracious acceptance and restoration. Humbling the soul before God belongs to this answer, for it is connected with receiving His help and restoration when the church is in spiritual peril.

Returning requires a thorough, wholehearted and zealous choice to repent, be converted, and obey the truth, with sincere repentance, deep humility, and humble confession. It means clearing away what blocks the heart and confessing wrongs, putting away idols, sorrowfully ceasing to turn from given light, and humbling the soul before God to receive His help. His promise remains gracious even after lukewarmness and sin, but those who return must repent zealously.

In its setting the call came when outward reform had not changed the hearts of the people, and loyalty to Jehovah was necessary for His favor and for prosperity, so that another turning away would bring fatal consequences. After entering Canaan they gradually went into idolatry, forgot instruction, followed their own inclinations and imaginations, and could no longer be protected, so He permitted enemies to overcome them and scatter them as captives in strange lands. Yet captivity and scattering did not end His willingness to receive them if they turned back, for when they return He pardons and heals their backsliding and restores them to His favor. To save them from ruin He sent warnings, reproofs, and judgments through His prophets message after message, yet they wandered farther and farther from Him, persecuted and killed His messengers, and finally rejected and crucified His only begotten Son when He came to save them. So also Christ in His ministry waited, prayed, worked, and wept while calling the Jewish people to turn back from apostasy and promising to heal them, but the nation would not receive its Messiah, and its rejection of Him led to its ruin.

Those separated from God may fail to hear His call, since His correction and warnings are meant to save them from unhappiness, deception, and ruin, but separation keeps them from hearing. While some accept the call, others resist it and remain in danger of rejection. Departure from Him leaves even backslidden parents without His wisdom to perceive Satan's devices and resist his snares.

When those who have become divided and estranged acknowledge their condition, clear away and confess wrongs, and turn back, they are restored and reconciled and Jesus comes among them in power and fellowship. David illustrates the required response, for when convicted he poured out his soul in penitence and humiliation and valued the favor of God above all else, even his crown. The same return protects the tempted individual only as long as he clings to God's power rather than trusting himself, for God shows him the danger of his condition and calls him back, and coming fully to the Lord breaks Satan's hold and turns parents from leading children away from truth. It is to be made for discouraged and lukewarm youth through loving personal effort to restore them, and at festive seasons such as Christmas and New Year not only by bringing offerings of means according to ability but by giving self unreservedly to God as a living sacrifice, rejoicing that the Saviour lives to make intercession in the presence of Jehovah. In the home it means each Christian must first bring his own heart into subjection to the will of God and gain a personal experience in the things of God, then deciding as Joshua did to serve the Lord with the whole house before working for others, for missionary work must begin at home and not leave children to go to destruction while seeking to bring others into the kingdom, and the manifestation of God's power in the family is evidence that divine aid will be given in working for others.