Sunday Morning, August 18, 2019 AM Part 4

So, God help us pray for this in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased, amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 31, and we're going to be reading verses one through 14 this morning.

This is our fourth week in this passage, verses one through 26, and trying to gain as best as we can our understanding of the message that God sends through Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon. They have a lot of concerns, a lot of worries, a lot of questions, but God has been speaking clearly and directly through Jeremiah to them, letting them know what's about to happen to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, it's going to be destroyed. Jeremiah is now writing in 587 BC, next year, the city is going to be destroyed. And those who are in exile already, those who are in Babylon will mourn at the news, but they need to understand why this has come about, and they need to understand what they're supposed to be doing, and what they're supposed to be looking forward to.

And so in the beginning of Jeremiah 30, God tells Jeremiah to write a book, to write a book, to write down the big picture of what is going on, what God is up to, and to send this to the exiles in Babylon.

And in chapter 31, we've been focusing in on Israel, on Ephraim, the northern kingdom, and a word about them, but it's a word about them to the exiles in Babylon. And the title of the sermon has been, and still is, the point of low return, the point of low return.

Here in these 26 verses, we are given the whole pattern, the whole portrait, a mosaic of repentance. And that's the point of low return, repentance. And so it begins this way. Sin is a wasteland, grief is a compass, hope is a signpost, and then we're coming to the last two points today.

Grace is a parade, and Christ is in Zion. And we can sum it up this way, leave the wasteland of sin for Zion. Sin is a wasteland, many people don't believe that today, they label sin as freedom, they label sin as pride, they label sin as creativity, but wherever we find sin, it's a wasteland.

It makes a wasteland of our souls, it makes a wasteland of our families, it makes a wasteland of our churches, it makes a wasteland of our cities, it makes a wasteland of our nation. It has made a wasteland of our world, sin is a wasteland.

When we recognize that we are like the younger son who came to himself in the middle of the pig slop. And Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who recognize and confess that they have nothing, that sin has made a wasteland of them and they have nothing to offer to God.

I've got nothing that God needs. I've got no buy-in to the kingdom of heaven. I can't bring anything to the gates of the kingdom of heaven and say, I know a lot of people are trying to get in here, but I think I have an advantage.

I think I have a little something extra that you might be interested in. It's not that we're smarter than others, that we're wiser than others, we're more committed than others, that we have something in our upbringing, background, socio-political status.

There's nothing. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Sin is a wasteland, grief is a compass. Grief is a compass. When we mourn our sin, when we are truly broken over our sin as God reveals it to us, then we recognize, I don't want to be here anymore.

And we start looking for his direction about where we need to go, how we are to return. And Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Thirdly, hope is a signpost.

We have instructions in Jeremiah 31 to make signs. To make signs of hope by which to return. To take what God has revealed to us and make signs of them and say, this is what he says, this is what life is about, here's how I return to God.

And we talked about when your life is centered around God's truth and you have activated your strength, your energy, your resources to be directed upon the instructions of God, this is what it means to be meek.

This is meekness, strength under the control of God. And Jesus says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So now we come to Jeremiah 31 verses 1 through 14. We're going to talk about how grace is a parade and how Christ is in Zion.

Grace as a Parade of Covenant Mercy

So I invite you to stand with me, if you may, if you can. And we're going to read Jeremiah 31, 1 through 14. Here is the word from our King Jesus Christ. At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people.

Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. Israel, when it went to find its rest. The Lord appeared to him from afar saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

Again, I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel. Again, you will take up your tambourines and go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. Again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria.

The planters will plant and will enjoy them. For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out, arise and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God. For thus says the Lord, sing aloud with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations.

Proclaim, give praise and say, O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I am bringing them from the north country and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth. Among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child.

Together, a great company, they will return here. With weeping they will come and by supplication I will lead them. I will make them walk by streams of waters on a straight path in which they will not stumble.

For I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off and say, he who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. Then they will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion and they will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord, over the grain and the new wine and the oil and over the young of the flock and the herd and their life will be like a watered garden and they will never languish again.

Then the Virgin will rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old together for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow. I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance and my people will be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Grace is a parade. You think of a parade, you may have a negative connotation in your mind just now. Parades are getting co-opted but the majority of parades really are nice community events.

I think of two parades in particular, one that I was fond of on an annual basis when I was when we were living in Tennessee. I was pastoring Liberty Baptist Church and that little church was on Main Street.

We were the only church past which came the annual Christmas parade. And so we all got a front-row seat and we would serve hot chocolate and and we would hang out with the people there. Sometimes we would give things out.

We never had a float in the parade but you know about 20 floats would come by and and then everything would be followed up by the multitude of horses, people riding their horses through town. And that was that was really fun.

I remember that parade. I also treasured this this last 4th of July. We went to see my dad. He lives in Asher, Oklahoma which is even smaller than Middleton, Tennessee where we had lived. And they had a 12-car or 12-vehicle of different types, 12-vehicle 4th of July parade.

And everybody, they didn't all show up at a town square or anything. They all just kind of went to their front yard, everybody in town, and then the 4th of July parade just kind of wound its way through town.

You know it took them about 10 minutes. And the good thing was we were at the start of the parade so we got the most candy possible. I saw my kids, they just started chunking candy. It was really fun.

But you know about a parade, there's always a beginning of the parade and there's an end to the parade. There's a point to the parade. After we got done with the Christmas parade in Middleton, we would gather in our little church auditorium and we would sing Christmas carols.

Or we would do something else. We do something special for Christmas to put the focus upon Christ and his birth. And then with the 4th of July parade in Asher, after we were done with the parade, after a little while we all gathered down at the baseball field and watched the fireworks display after singing the National Anthem.

There was a there's an exclamation point, there's a direction, there's a point to those parades. And we're gonna see that here in our passage as well. There's definitely a parade going on but there's a direction and there's a culmination, there's an exclamation point at the end of this parade.

It's important to remember that those who are in the parade of grace are not elevating themselves to display their politics or their pride or their passion or their patriotism. Those we find in the parade of grace have come to the point of low return.

They have come to recognize that sin is a wasteland. They are broken over their sin and they have turned themselves by the signposts of hope to return to God. It's all about manifesting the glory of God their Savior.

We are to leave the wasteland of sin for Zion. Now let's think about the source and the start of the parade in verses 1 through 3. We see something of that. We have grace upon grace. God provides for this parade every step of the way, even for the very initiation of it.

Now notice in verse 1, at that time declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. And that is language that we see again and again in the Old and the New Testament, covenant language.

God saying, I am going to be your God, you are going to be my people. Now this is said after what? At that time. Well what happened just before that? Well back up to verse 23 of the previous chapter. Behold the tempest of the Lord.

Wrath has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has performed and until he has accomplished the intent of his heart.

In latter days you will understand this. At that time declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. And so what we see here is that the source and the start of the parade is after the storm.

It's after this whirlwind that bursts upon the head of the wicked. It's after the wrath of God has been expressed in a definitive way. It's after the judgment. What's going on here? Jerusalem's about to fall.

Jeremiah is even now writing in the 10th year of Zedekiah. He's imprisoned in the palace. The armies of Babylon are wiping out all the surrounding cities they are approaching. They have surrounded the the city of Jerusalem.

The end is nigh. The wrath of God is about to come down upon Jerusalem like a hammer because of their great wickedness. So wicked are they that they that God has told Jeremiah stop interceding for these people.

And he says and if they cry out to me I am not going to hear them. Jeremiah 11. Why? Because they're just going to treat me like the other gods they are also praying to in the marketplaces at the crossroads in every village and on every rooftop.

And so they are full of idolatry and they are full of injustice and they are full of immorality and God is going to bring a great judgment upon Jerusalem. He's also going to bring great judgment upon Babylon.

After 70 years for Babylon are completed he's going to bring great judgment upon them. But what we see here is God using covenant language toward those who deserve judgment. When God sent some exiles away from Jerusalem to Babylon in Jeremiah 24 he has this picture two baskets of figs and he said one you see is rotten putrid full of worms you can't eat these figs are so rotten and then he says that the other basket I will make this basket a basket of good figs.

But what were they? They were as bad as the other basket. Two baskets of deplorables. But he sends one basket away and God promises by his grace to save redeem to bring repentance and he says these will be good figs.

But the ones who were sent away he's exiles in Babylon to whom Jeremiah is writing he is saying great wrath is going to come but also great grace. Those who deserve the wrath of God those who deserve the judgment of God to them God says I will be your God and you will be my people.

That's grace. To deserve judgment to deserve wrath and then God says I will love you. That's grace. It's after the storm it's away from the sword verse 2 that says the Lord the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness Israel when it went to find its rest.

And so we're looking back at the very very beginning of the parade it's put into historical perspective and we are reminded of Israel when they were in bondage in Egypt. And it says the people who survived the sword.

Well what sword was that that they survived? It was the sword of Pharaoh. Remember the Israelite male infants being drowned in the Nile River being forcibly killed at the point of the sword. So not only did Satan inspire Pharaoh to destroy infants in the name of power but also to emasculate the people of God to so effeminize the nation into a position where no war would ever come out of Israel against Pharaoh.

He knew what to do. And so Pharaoh was trying to kill Israel. He's trying to kill the ancestors of Christ and he puts himself in a position where he is at war not just with Israel but he's at war with God himself.

Pharaoh ended up in a wrestling match with Christ just like Israel but where God brought Israel down so that he might prevail God raised Pharaoh up so that he might be destroyed. He said for this purpose I have raised you up that you would be destroyed.

And so it says that God brings them away from the sword that the people who survived the sword they found grace in the wilderness. Grace in the wilderness where God covenanted with them and provided for them and brought them out of bondage towards their rest toward the land of rest towards Canaan.

And so also they found grace in the wilderness particularly underneath the smoke. In verse 3, the Lord appeared to him from afar saying I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

He appeared to him from afar. That is language from Exodus when God from a distance appears to the people of Israel from atop Mount Sinai. God appeared to Israel from afar. The people worshiped God from a distance as Sinai was all aflame and in smoke thundering and rumbling with the holiness of God.

The people were instructed they could not even touch the die and even the sounds of God's speaking were too much for them and they asked that they would hear it no more. And that is grace. Why? Because God reveals to them what they otherwise would never have known their sinfulness in the light of his holiness along with his provision of a mediator and a sacrifice.

That's grace. That's how the parade of grace gets started that you understand the severity of the sin and the need to repent and return to God. And so God reveals himself to the people he makes a covenant with them because of grace.

Deuteronomy 7 verse 7 says the Lord Moses is talking to the Israelites he says the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples for you were the fewest of all the peoples but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers.

So why did the Lord love Israel and and why did he choose them and why did he set his love on them? It was because he loved them and he said he would. He loves us because he loves us and said that he would?

That's grace. Not because there's something oh I like this quality oh there's a great potential here so I will set my love and choose those who impress me. No. No. So we see God in his grace starts the parade.

He's the source of it. Now notice also the sights and sounds we get in verse 4 and following. He says again I will build you and you will be rebuilt O virgin of Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go forth to the dances of the merrymakers again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria the planters will plant and will enjoy them.

We hear of rebuilding what was broken down and removed will be built again. That's especially meaningful to the exiles who are about to lose everything back home. There's also going to be rejoicing whereas those who went to Babylon hung up their harps in the trees and refused to play their songs anymore.

Now there's going to be songs again now tambourines and dances again there will be rejoicing. There will be repopulation of people. God's people will be in God's place once again. They will not be absent nor will they be few.

There's gonna be replanting the vineyard. The vineyards will be planted again. But all this is a lead it to repentance. Verse 6. For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out arise and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.

As we've talked about Ephraim the northern kingdom was the one who said what do we have to do with you David and the son of David. We are going to look to our own interests. And upon the hills of Ephraim they built shrines to idols and refused to go back down to Zion back down to Jerusalem to worship God.

So we're gonna stay here and worship our gods. But now notice how it's different. Now they cry out from the hills of Ephraim and say let us go to Zion. Let us go and worship God. This is the picture of repentance.

And we without this without a returning to God. And what's the point. What good is it if you were exiled 400 of 800 miles away from home and you make all the effort to come back and somehow you make it back to the land that your ancestors used to live on.

What good is it unless there is a repentance and return to God. There's a lot of glitter and sparkle in a fourth of July parade. But if we don't fortify our patriotism or sing the national anthem or give glory to God and Thanksgiving to God.

What's the point. Same with the Christmas parade but has no nativity. I mean what's the point. So they return and God provides for their entire return all the resources are provided. It says verse 9. With weeping they will come and by supplication I will lead them.

He's gonna lead them by them asking for him to provide for them. He says I will make them walk by streams of waters. They'll have enough water for the whole return on a straight path in which they will not stumble.

A straight and level path. Why. Because I'm a father to Israel. He's a provider. Not only did he provide a straight path and streams of water and the and the understanding to pray to him he also provided the weeping.

He gave them all that they needed for the return home. And so Israel is restored once again as a light to the nation's calling all the Gentiles to come to the God who saves all the way through the parade as they come back.

And as they return as they're heading back to Zion there's the steady drumbeat of grace. Let's even stop there. Notice the scope and the swell of the parade. Verses 8 through 11 tell us about this. The scope is is very broad.

The message that Jeremiah gives is to Jewish exiles in Babylon speaking of a parade of grace that far exceeds their current hope. I mean they've been told they're gonna head home after the 70 years for Babylon are accomplished.

They're gonna go back to the land. But here's a message that talks about others not just able-bodied Jews trying to get back to Jerusalem but here to traitorous Ephraimites who abandoned David who are blind and lame women and infants.

They're coming back. So it's not just for the able-bodied it's not just for the for the pioneers. No even these will be brought and they'll be brought from the remote parts of the earth. And now consider why God scattered his people so far and wide.

Why did God scatter his people throughout the known world. Well their failure it was to make sure that their failure in worshiping him as the one true God of all creation that their failure in worshiping him would be made absolutely clear.

Their judgment sowed the truth of the one true God throughout the known world. And as they lived in these far-off exile places as they began to establish some basic form of communication and explain why it was that they were there they were able to speak the truths of God and of man and of sin and of the hope of redemption found in the promised seed.

And it was for that seed born of a virgin as we saw in the second half of this passage. For that reason Ephraim was called to return to the land to see the newness that God creates. And so it is that Ephraim's return is sung and shouted among the chief of the nations.

So it is the word of God's salvation is declared to the nations and to the far-off coastlands. Do you see it. What. What do they care. What do the far-off coastlands care. What does the chief of the nations care.

That God has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand who was stronger than he. Why would they care. What does what does God bringing Ephraim home have. What does that have anything to do with the everyday life of the chief of the nation's Babylon or the chief of the nation's Persia or the Medes or the Greeks whoever they are whoever's in charge at the moment.

What do the coastlands care. What do the islands care. That this people group was far away and that they repented and came back to worship God on some mountain somewhere in Canaan. Why would they even care.

Because God's activity in the people of Israel is the historical marking of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his keeping his promises to Israel culminates in a long pattern. It culminates in the person in work of Jesus Christ.

The gospel first given to the Jews scattered then among the nations is also then through the Jews given to the Gentiles. And there was a great gathering in look at verse 12. They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion.

Who is the they back up to. Verse 11 says where the Lord has redeemed Jacob redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. Okay. English lesson singular pronoun singular pronoun singular pronoun.

Verse 12 they plural. So it's the they is not in verse 11. Keep backing up. Hear the word of the Lord o nations. And declare in the coastlands afar off and say here's some good news. So who is it who comes and shouts for joy in the height of Zion.

We know the Jews came back. Who else is coming back. Who's going to Zion. How big is this parade. The nations come that even the coastlands come. The far off islanders come to Zion. It's helpful to read other passages that say the same thing.

So back up to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah 42. I just want you to see how big this parade gets. Isaiah 42. And then we'll read some out of Isaiah 49 as well. Behold my servant whom I uphold. My chosen one in whom I saw delights I have put my spirit upon him.

He will bring forth justice to the nations. You will not cry out or raise his voice or make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. And a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.

He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed until he is established justice in the earth. And a coastlands will wait expectantly for his law. Verse 10. Isaiah 42. Sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing his praise from the end of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it. You islands and those who dwell on them at the wilderness in its cities lift up their voices. The settlements where Kadar inhabits of the inhabitants of Selah sing aloud.

Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coastlands. You want to know why missionaries in the 1800s got on boats that had a good chance of sinking with their wife and maybe a small children who most of them often died in the process of going to places like Burma in India in China.

Because of passages like that. Because the passages like this is what they quote when they go. How far does the good news of God's chosen one go. Isaiah 49. Listen to me Oh islands. Verse 1. Listen to me Oh islands.

And pay attention. You peoples from afar islands far-off peoples. You pay attention to this very Jewish thing. The Lord called me from this womb from the body of my mother. He named me he has made me.

He has made my mouth like a sharp sword and the shadow of his hand. He has concealed me and he has made me a select arrow. He has said to me in his he has hidden me in his quiver. He said to me you are my servant Israel in whom I will show my glory.

But I said I have told in vain I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet surely the root justice due to me is with the Lord and my reward is with my God. And now says the Lord who for me from the womb to be his servant.

Capital H. Capital S. This is a messianic promise to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him. Now you just called him Israel. And now he's saying you're gonna gather Israel back to God because the one who represents all of Israel goes by the name of Jesus Christ.

He says for I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God is my strength. He says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation will reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One. To the despised one to the one abhorred by the nations to the servant of rulers.

Kings will see and arise. Princes will also bow down because of the Lord who is faithful the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. And it goes on all the way through verse 13 about everyone being gathered into Zion.

I want us to see the parade of grace being mentioned being constructed for us in Jeremiah 31. God is saying I will be your God you will be my people. I'm going to bring you back. And and the nations are coming.

The nations are coming even from the coastlands. There's two things here. One is extremely Jewish language. Zion can't get much more Jewish than that the promised land Ephraim Judah Jacob. All this is a very very is all very very Jewish categories in Jewish terms.

And yet somehow somehow it's involving the nations and the coastlands. Straight is the way narrow is the gate. Few are there who find their way into the innumerable multitude of every tribe tongue people in nation bought by the blood of the Lamb.

Straight is the way Jesus says. Narrow is the gate. Jesus says. Few are those who find their way into what Jesus also shows as the innumerable multitude in Revelation 7 of every tribe tongue people in nation.

The same group of people in Revelation 5 it says they were bought by the blood of the Lamb. And so grace is what makes the parade route narrow. You can only come in through the one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who is the fulfillment of the entire mediatorial system that he built in Israel.

There's only one way to the Father and that's through the Son. Grace is what makes the parade route narrow. And grace is what makes the procession innumerable. Grace is what makes the gate narrow. And grace is what makes the number too high to count.

Not the righteous. Not the righteous not the righteous sinners Jesus came to call. You put it this way. Don't look at who you are but who Christ is. Don't look at who you are but who Christ is. Don't look at what you have done but at what Christ has done.

That's the lesson that never ends for the Christian. Don't look at who you are. Look at who Christ is. Don't look at what you have done good or bad. Look at what Christ has done. That's where our attention has to be.

That's where our attention has to be. That's the parade of grace. Why is it that God is gathering such unworthy people to himself is for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. It's a parade of grace. It's how we come back.

It's leave the wasteland of sin for Zion. Why. Because Christ is in Zion. The good of the gospel is God. This is verses 12 through 14. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion. They will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord over the grain and the new one and the oil and over the young of the flock in the herd.

Their life will be like a watered garden. They will never languish again. And the virgin will rejoice in the dance. And the young man and the old together. For I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow.

I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance. And my people will be satisfied with my goodness says the Lord. Like apples of gold and settings of silver are these words to people in exile. This is exactly why when Jeremiah wakes up he says my sleep was pleasant to me.

This is what he longs to see. This is the great this is the great dream that was so pleasant to Jeremiah. Because his waking nightmare is taking place in a Jerusalem surrounded starving rapidly degrading into chaos.

But here here is blessedness in a montage of images I think slightly blurred by tears of joy. Here are all of God's people gathered in the heights of Zion at the pinnacle. Here they shine with the goodness of God.

And they point this way and that way to all the different pieces of Eden that God has revived their on their mountain. And in that condition and in that place now that God's people are gathered to God's place they are certainly blessed to live under his glorious rule.

Three ingredients of covenant. God's place and God's place. God's people in God's place blessed under his rule. And what do they do. They rejoice. They dance young and old together. Who does it all. God is the one who makes Zion into Eden.

God is the one who exchanges his people's mourning and sorrow for comfort and joy. God is the one who fills his priests with abundance. God is the one who satisfies his people with goodness. So it's the gospel means good news.

So what is the good of the good news. It's God. The good of the good news is God because he gives himself to his people. I will be your God and you will be my people. What is the good of the good news.

It's God giving himself to those who made in his image giving himself in his son Jesus Christ. Why is all this goodness in Zion. Because Christ is in Zion. And so that's where God's people are going to be.

All of God's people in God's place. And so we look at verses 23 through 26 at the end of the passage. We didn't read it this morning. We read it last couple of weeks. But look at this verse 23. Thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel.

Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities. When I restore their fortunes. The Lord bless you. Oh abode of righteousness. Oh Holy Hill. Talking about Zion the Holy Hill.

Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it. The farmer and they that go about with flocks. For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes at this. I awoke and looked. My sleep was pleasant to me.

So what is Zion called. It is called an abode of righteousness. What is Zion called. It is called a Holy Hill. So Zion is where righteousness dwells where holiness lives. Why. Because that's where Christ reigns now.

Mount Zion in Canaan is a small mountain. It's a few square miles in area. But what is this Zion. The Zion that Christ builds is vast in scope and it has to be. Why it says that Judah and all of its cities dwell together in that one place.

Do you see it. What does it say. Verse 24. Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it. All the cities all of them together in this one place. Who else is there. Well the farmer shows up. The idea is that the farmer with all of his fields show up.

He's in Zion to got to make room for the farmer in his fields. What about the shepherds in their flocks. They're all in there too. So this is one big place one way in the gate is narrow but the group is huge.