The following is an excerpt from volume 2 of The Christian’s Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus à Brakel (hardcopy).

The Future Conversion of the Jews Examined in Light of Jeremiah 31:31-40

Proof #5: This proof we derive from Jer 31. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (vs. 31); “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people” (vs. 33); “… they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (vs. 34); “If those ordinances (that is, of day and night) depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever” (vs. 36); “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord” (vs. 37); “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord” (vs. 38); “And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron (these were unclean places) … shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever” (vs. 40). That the spiritual benefits recounted in verses 33-34 are the benefits of the New Testament, and that the Gentiles have become partakers of them, is a certainty. However, the Gentiles would not be the sole partakers of these benefits; the text states that Israel and Judah will also partake of them. The names of Israel and Judah refer to the Jewish nation. They never refer to the church—the believers among the Gentiles. These are never denominated by the names of Israel and Judah in the New Testament. Not only would a remnant become believing, but they would “all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them”; that is, the entire seed of Israel would not be cast away, but would be saved. This would occur after a great destruction and dispersion. Jerusalem would be rebuilt and be further expanded, and also the unclean places in Jerusalem would be removed. There is no room for an exception here, namely, that mention would be made here of the deliverance from Babylon, for:

(1) all that has been related would occur after the coming of the Messiah (vs. 22), and after the infanticide at Bethlehem (vs. 15);

(2) after the restoration from Babylon, Israel did not partake of these benefits in either a spiritual or physical sense—a fact which is beyond dispute;

(3) they were removed and broken down after five hundred years. This restoration, however, would be of everlasting duration. It is thus evident from these texts that the Jewish nation will once most certainly be converted, and be re-established in her country.

Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Vol. 4, pp. 528-529