Jeremiah 31:36, commentary and pictures

The ordinances are the fixed, enduring order of the sun by day and the moon and stars by night, the heavens and earth, and as surely and as long as they remain before the Lord the seed of Israel will not cease from being a nation before Him forever. The chapter belongs to the revelation about the restoration of Israel, written in a book immediately after the exchange of letters with the captive elders in Babylon. The promise of the return from Babylon is sure, and the testimony about the seventy years to be accomplished in the desolations of Jerusalem is so plain that Daniel understood from the books the number of the years and knew the return was certain, even while he remained perplexed about the relation of the seventy years' captivity to the twenty-three hundred years to elapse before the cleansing of the sanctuary.

The verse does not promise God's favor regardless of conduct, and does not guarantee salvation or special blessing merely through natural descent or being called Abraham's children. God's favor is assured on conditions: obedience, following Abraham's righteous example and doing his works, having the law written in the heart and receiving forgiveness, and when righteousness gives way to evil favor can be withdrawn. The Jews misapplied the assurance of national continuance as an unconditional guarantee that they would always remain the specially favored people, expecting blessings despite wrongdoing, relying on ancestry, presuming on favor, and treating the promise as license to disobey. The verse warns against treating promises of favor as security for people who persist in sin: sins are not ignored, and separation from God by sin brings judgment and bondage.

When John preached repentance because the kingdom of heaven was at hand and baptized in the Jordan those who confessed their sins, the whole nation was stirred and intensely interested in reading these words, and even Pharisees with a high opinion of their own sanctity were convicted to desire salvation.