The Promise of Restored Communion

Following the Father’s dwelling purpose through Scripture

Begin by reading Jeremiah 31:1–9,31–34; Ezekiel 36:16–28; and 37:21–28.

What would restoration require after a people have wounded their relationship with the Father?

The temple’s destruction and the people’s displacement bring a painful question into our search for home. They received a land, heard the LORD’s instructions, and worshipped at a sanctuary bearing His name. Yet injustice and idolatry continued within their life together.

Returning to a place would matter deeply. But the prophets also address the conduct that made life there unfaithful. Through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the LORD promises a restoration reaching into the hearts of His people.

Here communion means shared life in relationship with Him: knowing Him, hearing His word, and living as His people.

The Father speaks into grief

Jeremiah 31 opens with the LORD declaring that He will be the God of Israel’s families and that they will be His people. The chapter speaks of rebuilding, gathering, and mourning turned to joy.

Read verses 8–9 slowly. Among those gathered are the blind, the lame, pregnant women, and women giving birth. The return includes people who need particular care on the journey. They come with weeping, and the LORD undertakes to lead them along a way where they will not stumble.

He gives a reason:

“For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” — Jeremiah 31:9

The Father’s care is made explicit here. His dealings with the people include judgment, yet He continues to speak of gathering and leading them as a father.

The passage gives us a tender picture without asking us to forget the wrongdoing. Their tears and His care stand within the same account of return.

The covenant that was broken

Later in the chapter, the LORD announces what the KJV calls a “new covenant,” naming the house of Israel and the house of Judah as its recipients (Jeremiah 31:31). These names concern the people whose history we have been following.

As we consider this renewed covenant relationship, we must attend to the new work He promises. The verses that follow explain what will be different.

Verse 32 recalls the deliverance from Egypt. The LORD describes taking their ancestors by the hand to bring them out, then names the breach: they broke His covenant.

This helps us understand the promise that follows. The problem is not that He never gave them a word or never brought them near. The people failed to remain faithful to the relationship He established.

What will He do about that failure?

His instruction within their hearts

The answer begins with His own undertaking:

“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — Jeremiah 31:33

The law is His instruction for their life. The promise places that instruction within them. Their inward life becomes part of the restoration He describes.

We can look back to Jeremiah’s warning at the temple entrance. There, people trusted religious words while continuing in wrongdoing. Here, the LORD promises to write His instruction in their hearts.

That connection helps us see why a rebuilt setting alone could not answer the need. Their way of living must also be addressed.

Verse 34 adds knowing the LORD and receiving forgiveness. The promise reaches from the least to the greatest. Neither status nor prominence defines whose life matters within this knowledge of Him.

Pause over those promises together: His instruction within, a relationship acknowledged, knowledge of Him, and sin forgiven. They describe the restoration of people to the One with whom they are to live.

A heart able to respond

Ezekiel 36 begins its explanation of the people’s condition by naming their conduct. They defiled the land through bloodshed and idols, and the LORD scattered them in judgment (verses 16–19).

He then speaks of His holy name, dishonoured among the nations. His restoring action will make Him known there. The people’s renewal belongs within a purpose greater than their own reputation (verses 20–23).

Read verses 24–28 and notice the actions He promises: gathering, bringing, cleansing, giving, removing, and putting within.

He will bring the people into their own land and cleanse them from their idols. He will give a new heart and a new spirit, replacing the stony heart with a heart of flesh.

The contrast gives us a picture of inward change. Stone is hard; living flesh is responsive. We should understand the image alongside the conduct named around it: the people need to be cleansed from idolatry and enabled to walk in His ways.

The following verse explains the direction of that change:

“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” — Ezekiel 36:27

His Spirit and their obedience are joined in the promise. The Father undertakes to work within the people so that their life can be shaped by His instruction.

People, place, and relationship remain together

Ezekiel 36:28 speaks of dwelling in the land given to their ancestors, being His people, and having Him as their God.

We have heard this language of belonging in Exodus. Its return here lets us recognise a continuing purpose through a deeply wounded history.

The land remains significant. So do cleansing and changed conduct. The passage holds these together, allowing us to see restoration as more than movement from one location to another.

For us, this can give substance to the desire for a fresh beginning. We may seek changed circumstances while also asking the Father to expose and address what needs changing within us.

His dwelling among a reunited people

Ezekiel 37 extends the promise to the people’s divided life. The LORD says He will gather them and make them one nation, with one king. He promises cleansing and a people who walk in His judgments (verses 21–24).

Read these statements before considering the sanctuary promised at the chapter’s close. Gathering, unity, cleansing, and faithful conduct belong within the life He is restoring.

He then promises a covenant of peace and His sanctuary in their midst:

“My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — Ezekiel 37:27

The dwelling language we encountered in Exodus is now spoken as hope beyond scattering and division. The Father has not ceased to desire shared life with His people.

The chapter also speaks of His servant David as their king and shepherd. Keep that promise in view as you read onward. It raises a question about the leadership under which this restored life will take shape.

What has become clearer?

The prophets show us a Father who addresses both the loss of home and the inward condition of those who are to inhabit it.

He promises to gather, cleanse, forgive, and renew. His instruction will reach their hearts; His Spirit will enable faithful walking; His dwelling will be among His people.

These promises allow hope to grow without making their wrongdoing insignificant. The restoration He describes reaches precisely into the places where their life has been broken.

We can receive this witness as an invitation to seek Him honestly. Our need for mercy and change does not have to remain hidden beneath a wish for better circumstances. We may bring that need into prayer.

Search the passages yourself

• Who is included in the gathering described in Jeremiah 31:8–9? How does the LORD describe His relationship with them?
• What earlier event does Jeremiah 31:32 recall, and what went wrong?
• What does the LORD promise to do in verses 33–34?
• How does Ezekiel 36 connect inward renewal with changed conduct?
• Which promises appear together before the declaration of dwelling in Ezekiel 37:27?

Continue reading: John 1:1–18. Notice how the account introduces the Word, what it says about dwelling among us, and how God is made known.

Read the passages: Jeremiah 31 · Ezekiel 36 · Ezekiel 37