Jeremiah 2:9 The Backslider
Some believe if one backslides, they could lose salvation. This is a belief that has come into mainstream use although it is not a New Testament term. The truth is, backslider is a Hebrew Scripture term that God uses for His people Israel, Jeremiah 2:19.
19Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken Yehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord Yehovah of hosts.
Far from resulting in a lost believer, backsliding is the very thing God uses to correct an individual. It is the remedy for the individual whose heart goes away from God. Again in Jeremiah 3:14:
14Turn, O backsliding children, saith Yehovah; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
God tells his children who backslide that he bring them back to Zion. These are not lost, they are still His. And in Hosea 14:4:
4I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Backsliding is not a condition of losing salvation, it is when one of God’s children has a contrary lifestyle. They are in disobedience, but they are still His, who he loves.
The final solution for the backslider is in Jeremiah 31:22.
22How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for Yehovah hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
Within Jeremiah 31 is the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:22 is the one of the events that leads to establishing the new covenant. The only time when a woman has compass a man, gone around, was Mary’s conception. This brought forth the Messiah.
Backsliding is a condition of contrary lifestyle to God. It is what God uses to bring us back to Him, as in the parable of the Prodigal Son. A backslider is not lost, but for the backslider new birth is the final solution.
God loves His children and will use their disobedience to bring them back to Him. As He states in Psalm 89:33-34.
33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
We are secure because He says so.
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