An Everlasting Love
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 44, “I Will Turn Their Mourning into Joy,” on Gospel Library
Start
“I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” the Lord says in Jeremiah 31:3. He said it to a people who were about to lose their city.
Read Together
Jeremiah spent most of his life warning Jerusalem. Chapters 30 to 33 turn from warning to comfort, even as Babylon’s army closed in (Jeremiah 32:1–2).
3The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
15Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 16Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
What It Teaches
The word “lovingkindness” in verse 3 is the Hebrew hesed, the same covenant love Isaiah wrote about. The Lord says he has “drawn” his people with it, the way you pull someone close.
In verse 15, Rachel weeps for her children and will not be comforted. Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and here she stands for every mother in Israel who lost children to war and exile. Matthew heard her weeping again when King Herod killed the young children of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16–18).
The Lord answers her in verses 16 and 17. “Refrain thy voice from weeping,” he says, because “thy children shall come again to their own border.” Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, makes that promise sure. Because he rose from the dead, families parted by death will be together again.
Verse 13 gives this week’s title. “I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them.” He takes the sorrow itself and turns it, the way the Savior’s death led to the empty tomb.
Talk About It
Who in our family or ward is mourning right now? How could we help the Lord turn their mourning into joy?
Take to Church
The Lord loves us with an everlasting love. He promised Rachel her children would come home, and through Jesus Christ he keeps that promise.