The Days are Surely Coming…

(I preached this sermon at Christ Lutheran Church on Sunday, July 20, 2025. It is based on Jeremiah 33:14-18 and 31:31-34)

There’s a version of Christian belief that has gained way too much traction—especially in the American church. It’s the idea that one day, God is going to suddenly snatch all the so-called “good” people off the face of the earth. Planes will crash. Cars will veer off highways. And the so-called righteous will be whisked up into heaven, where they’ll grab front row seats—probably with popcorn in hand—to gleefully watch Jesus throw a divine temper tantrum and rain down destruction on the world.

That’s the world God called very good in the first creation story in Genesis 1, by the way. 

That’s the creation God has promised to restore—not destroy. We see this promise of restoration throughout Scripture:
– In Isaiah 65:17–25, God promises a new heavens and a new earth, where peace and joy abound.

_ In Joel 2, God promises: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.”
– In Romans 8:19–23, Paul writes that creation itself waits in eager longing to be set free from decay and be restored.
– In Colossians 1:19–20, we’re told that through Christ, God is reconciling all things—on earth and in heaven—back to Godself.
– And in Revelation 21–22, the final vision of Scripture, we don’t see escape but restoration: the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to earth, the tree of life bears fruit and has leaves for the healing of the nations, and God dwells with God’s people in a renewed creation.

Scripture and faith aren’t an escape plan from the world. They are a declaration that God refuses to give up on the world God made—and still calls good.

This escape plan version of Christian belief that I described at the beginning is known as Rapture theology, and let me be clear: it is a fraud.

Lutheran professor and theologian Barbara Rossing started here book title The Rapture Exposed with this sentence – “The rapture is a racket.”

It’s a theology that John Nelson Darby created in 1830 and has been popularized in more recent decades here in the US by best-selling fiction books posing as theology, poor quality movies, and mega church pastors with large followings who make a nice profit off the terrifying, wrathful image of God that they proclaim.  Fear sells well after all.  This so-called theology distorts God’s promises into fear, turns faith into an escape plan, and misleads believers to root for destruction instead of restoration.

Even worse—it has real geopolitical consequences. Rapture theology preaches that there must be a final battle between good and evil, a literal Armageddon. And there are leaders, even elected officials, who believe this. They view war, especially in the Middle East, as not only inevitable but necessary to trigger Jesus’ return. Think about that. That’s not faithful. That’s dangerous.

That’s a theology that says: “The days are surely coming because we made them come.”  It’s a theology that proclaims that God is restricted by what we do or don’t do.  It’s a theology that puts us in the driver seat while claiming to follow God.

But the prophet Jeremiah says something radically different:

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”

These aren’t days we cause.
These aren’t days we control.
These are the days God brings.

We are closing our series on Jeremiah today, and next week we’ll begin a new series on Revelation, where we’ll dive deeper into what that book is really about. Let me give you a quick preview:

Revelation is not about abandoning earth. It is not about escape. It is about restoration. It’s about God’s victory over evil—not through destruction, but through the Lamb who was slain.

You can sum it up this way:

• Empire flails about causing destruction before it finally dies off and God wins without a battle and fulfills God’s promise to restore creation. 

In Revelation 22, we’ll see the New Jerusalem—not people being raptured away, but God coming down to dwell with us in a renewed creation. God’s home is with God’s people.

Rapture theology misunderstands all of this. It cherry-picks Scripture and ignores context. One of the most often-cited passages is 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul talks about believers being “caught up in the clouds” to meet Jesus. But Paul didn’t mean it as an escape plan. He used familiar imagery from the Roman world: when a king visited a city, the people would go out to greet him and escort him back in with joy and celebration. Jesus is the true King—he comes to dwell with us. He fulfills the promise of Jeremiah 33 to sit on David’s throne and rule in righteousness.

For this week, we end our time in the book of Jeremiah.

We’ve seen the warnings.
We’ve heard the judgments.
We’ve walked with a prophet who was under arrest, isolated, beaten, and exhausted.

The people have been under siege, they have been exiled or are about to, they have lost everything, and there seems to be no hope. 
And yet, Jeremiah never stopped speaking the word of the Lord.

And now, in these closing chapters, we hear words of comfort and hope.

In both chapter 31 and 33 that we heard today, God says:
“The days are surely coming…”

That phrase means everything.

Because it means things won’t always be this way.

God’s covenant with the people is not over.
In fact, God is doing something new.

In Jeremiah 31, God declares a new covenant—one not carved in stone, but written on hearts.

Why? Because the old ways were not working. The law on tablets, external rules, sacrifices—it couldn’t produce faithful hearts. So God does something new. God doesn’t wait for people to get it right. Instead, God claims the people as God’s own.

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
“I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

This is not a covenant based on performance. This is not a contract with fine print. This is a covenant of grace—one-sided in the best possible way. It’s God putting Godself on the line for the sake of humanity.

God is not waiting for people to get it right.
God is choosing to forgive.
God is claiming the people.
God is restoring Israel—not because of their faithfulness, but in spite of their unfaithfulness.

This is not just comfort for ancient Israel.
It is good news for us today.

Because God’s promise of restoration here is a foreshadowing of what God will do at the end of time.
And we see that again in Revelation.

In Jeremiah 33, God gives the people a name:
“The Lord is our righteousness.”

That’s what it means to be in right relationship with God.
But notice: It’s not about us earning righteousness.
It’s God’s action.
Throughout these chapters, God is the one who acts.

God is the one who makes the covenant.
God is the one who forgives.
God is the one who restores.

Nowhere in these passages does God demand action from the people before God moves.

This is vulnerable love.
This is God putting God’s self on the line.

Not because we deserve it.
But because it reveals who God is.
Because it shows us what God’s promises are really about.

So when Jeremiah says, “The days are surely coming…”, he’s not threatening us.
He’s inviting us.  He’s giving us hope. And hope is not sugar-coating things with false optimism.  Hope sees reality for what it is and declares that God is moving us towards something far better because God has made a promise.  And God always keeps God’s promises.  

He’s calling us to see a world transformed by divine faithfulness.

And I want to invite you to envision those days with me—right now. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”

…when wars will cease, and peace will flourish.
…when weapons of death and destruction are transformed into tools for life and growth.
…when creation is not poisoned for profit, but cherished and nurtured for all and for future generations.

…when dignity is not something you earn, but something you are given simply because you exist.
…when borders are no longer battlegrounds but places of welcome.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”

…when all have safe, stable, affordable housing.
…when voices long silenced are heard, respected, and amplified.
…when no family lives in fear of deportation.
…when addiction loses its grip and is replaced with love, community, and purpose.
…when survivors of trafficking are free, protected, and restored.
…when no one is excluded for their sexual orientation or gender identity—but celebrated as part of God’s beauty.
…when racism dies, and racist systems are transformed into systems of justice and equity.

…when poverty is not criminalized, but addressed at its root—and ended.
…when healthcare is available to all, not just those who can pay.
…when teachers are lifted up as pillars of our communities, not accused of indoctrination.
…when caring for creation is a given, not a partisan argument.
…when politics seeks the common good, not personal gain.
…when peace with other nations reflects the peace we cultivate within.
…when violence and cruelty are no more, and compassion and empathy lead us forward.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”

And friends, they are.

Not because we triggered them.
Not because we forced God’s hand.

Not because we are looking for some escape plan.  
But because God keeps God’s promises.

So we live now—not in fear or escapism—but in hope.
We live like the promise is true.
Because it is.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord.  

Thanks be to God.
Amen.