God is upset at the nations that took possession of Israel’s land. Israel had upset Him, and that’s why it was allowed to happen. Everyone will get what’s coming to them. Except…

Except God offers mercy where it is not deserved, where it is not earned.

He lets the hard things come that His people will turn to Him and look to Him for salvation.

God promises to bring His people back to the land from which they were scattered.

This happened with physical Israel. The land was desolate and in ruins. God has restored it. People absolutely didn’t think it could happen. The church came up with a doctrine that the church had replaced Israel, specifically because people didn’t believe that Israel could be reestablished as it has been.

We have not replaced Israel, but we are told that we become part of Israel. The promises to God’s children come to us as believers in Jesus who have been adopted into God’s family.

What are the promises? There is a promise to remove our uncleanness. We read about that also in 1 John 1. We have a promise of a new heart and Spirit. Do you believe that? We receive the Holy Spirit as believers.

We need that or we can’t belong to God.

What about the promise to cause us to walk in His ways and to be careful to obey?

We are told that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. We must do what is right if we are submitted to Jesus as our Lord and living by the Spirit.

The promises are true and are ours in Christ Jesus.

There is also a promise of no famine. While so many churches have lost the truth, lost even the gospel, we will be fed by the Lord Himself by His own Word given us and revealed to us by the Spirit in us.

And we must always remember that the fulfillment of these promises isn’t because we’ve earned it. It’s not for our sake, but for the sake of His holy name that God offers so great a salvation.