“Thus says the LORD, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting”; and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the LORD” (Jer 33:10-11).
In his classic book “The Normal Christian Life,” Watchman Nee describes the ordinary life of a believer who lives according to the truths Paul lays out in Romans 5–8. But “normal” may be the right word for those already inside the faith. To a watching world, however, the life of a believer is not normal; it is paranormal—beyond human explanation. It is not natural; it is supernatural. After all, it is anything but normal to forgive enemies, bless those who curse us, or live joyfully while enduring insults, terminal illness, and financial crises. Consider that Jeremiah spoke these promises of God’s forgiveness and goodness while he himself was locked in chains (Jer 33:1).
While wedding celebrations in the modern State of Israel are not yet the fullness of Jeremiah’s eschatological vision, they are miraculous nonetheless.
But there is another “abnormal” that Christians too easily forget: Jewish couples conducting wedding ceremonies in Hebrew, in the towns and cities of Israel, in the twenty-first century—after two exiles, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the pogroms, the Holocaust, October 7th, and now the resurgence of virulent antisemitism spreading like gangrene through the Western world.
To appreciate Jeremiah’s vision of new covenant blessings (the joy of bride and bridegroom), we must remember it stands as a divine reversal of life under God’s judgment: “Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin” (Jer 7:34). While wedding celebrations in the modern State of Israel are not yet the fullness of Jeremiah’s eschatological vision, they are miraculous nonetheless. They point forward to that blessed day when all Israel will be saved, and songs of joy and praise will resound to the ends of the earth.
Let us, therefore, refuse to live “normal” lives as the world defines them. A life lived for the glory of the God of Israel is anything but normal! “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name: ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know’” (Jer 33:2-3).
