es.] Believers, when
sin has been extirpated in them, shall have the freest access to God.
When His will shall have become theirs, and when, at the same time, His
dominion over the whole world appears more visibly, they shall
unconditionally rule with Him. How this dignity of theirs has its
foundation in Christ, is seen from Rev. i. 5, 6, where the words:
[Greek: kai epoiesen hemas basileian, hiereis to theo kai patri
hautou], stand in close connection to [Greek: ho archon ton basileon
tes ges], and to [Greek: kai lusanti hemas apo ton hamartion hemon en
to haimati hautou.]

Ver. 23. "_And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:_ Ver. 24.
_Dost thou not see what this people are speaking, and say: The two
families which the Lord hath chosen, He hath now rejected them, and my
people they despise, that they should still be a people before them._"

It is scarcely conceivable how modern interpreters can assert that by
"this people," not the Israelites, but Gentiles, the Egyptians or
Chaldeans, or the "neighbours of the Jews on the Chaboras," (_Hitzig_),
or the Samaritans (_Movers_), are to be understood. In advancing such
assertions, it is overlooked [Pg 473] that the Prophet has here quite
the same persons in view as in the whole remaining section, and as in
these chapter's throughout, viz., those among Israel--and to them more
or less all belonged, even those most faithful--who, because they saw
Israel prostrate, for ever despaired of its deliverance and salvation;
and, indeed, for the most part, in such a manner as to give to this
despair a good aspect, viz., that of humility. They imagined, and said
that the people had sinned in such a manner against God, that He was
free from all his obligations, and could not at all receive them again.
To those the Prophet shows that such a thought is, notwithstanding the
fair appearance, blasphemy. All despair abases God into an idol, into a
creature. Faith holds fast by the word, by the promise. It says:
Although sin abounds with us, the grace of God does much more abound.
As truly as God always remains God, so surely His people will always
remain His people. He indeed chastises them, but He does not give them
over to death. One need only consider the [Hebrew: tprv] in ver.
20.--The expression "this people," is contemptuous, comp. Is. viii. 11.
The Prophet thereby intimates that those who use such language, cease
thereby to be members of the people of God. The "two families"