“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;” vs19

Here are the conditions or the terms of salvation. We must be willing and obedient. We need a new will that enables us to obey. We must be born from heaven to enter the kingdom. The gospel must come with power, so that our heart is changed, and our mind is renewed. We need more than hearing: We need faith, and God’s people WILL BE WILLING in the day of His power [Ps 110:3].

It takes power to save the sinner, but it comes through the gospel.

“But if you refuse and rebel,

You shall be devoured by the sword’;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” vs20

Here’s the other side. If we rebel, even if we’ve heard so much, then we’ll be destroyed. If we planned to obey... or even if our lusts were too strong... it will not matter. Death and destruction are coming. There are no excuses, no exemptions, and no Plan B; it is OBEY the Son or suffer. The Psalmist said,

“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” --Ps 2:11

“How the faithful city has become a harlot!

It was full of justice;

Righteousness lodged in it,

But now murderers.” vs21

We fell in our father Adam, even as Israel failed after a good beginning. The days of David and Solomon are gone, so are the days of righteousness in many. Some began well but returned to the flesh. Others have not been upright since Adam.

Look at what you are. See how you have fallen. You walked with God in the cool of the Garden, and now there’s hypocrisy and hiding. There’s no peace in the soul, because the righteousness of faith is hidden. They are in the streets - children of Satan - because they haven’t come unto Christ. God judges righteously and says that we are sinners, if we have not returned.

Therefore the Lord says,

The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,

“Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries,

And take vengeance on My enemies.” vs24

Vengeance is coming, says the Lord! Let us not be fooled or deceived. Sentence against evil doesn’t happen immediately. God is longsuffering and not willing that any should perish. His patience is salvation, as He sweeps souls into the kingdom over time. There are many, however, who will not change. He waited while the ark was prepared, and then He swept them all away. He calls out with tears, but after the second and third admonition, He rejects. Don’t think because God hasn’t punished you that He won’t: His terms are plain.

“I will turn My hand against you,

And thoroughly purge away your dross,

And take away all your alloy.” vs25

In punishment, however, another thing is pictured: God’s chastisement of His people! In wrath, He remembers mercy. He chastens to purify us. He makes us disgusted with sin and teaches us to fear the Lord, lest we go back to where we came. He is an afflicting God to those He loves. We would not turn, and He would not let us go, so He sent us to Babylon to learn hard lessons - that it is better in the Father’s house. The prodigal finds no man to help him, so he returns, after the pig’s slop is miserable.

Yes, Babylon destroyed many, but the good figs were chastened for good reasons. If you are chastised, return, and He’ll restore you.

“I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” vs26

This is God’s work and God’s doing: He restores the soul. He abundantly pardons. He wounds to heal. He knows that we’re sinners, so He CLEANSES US Himself. This is the grace of a covenant keeping God: it includes hardship and afflictions, which are for our good. The elect will learn the lesson! No matter how foolish or how far we’ve fallen, He brings us home. He makes us willing and obedient.