a.  For more than 40 years, Jeremiah denounced Judah’s sins, particularly apostasy and idolatry.  Nothing will change unless the Lord performs radical surgery, giving His people a new heart. 
          b.  The Lord’s instrument for this surgery was Babylonia, the foe from the north; its king, Nebuchadnezzar, was His servant and His sword, His cup of wrath for many nations. 
          c. The immediate future is a time of almost universal wrath and judgment, on the nations and on their gods.  
          d.  There will be a remnant, restored like life from the grave; it will include survivors from both Israel and Judah, and there will be a Davidic king, and a new covenant centering on changed hearts.
          e.  The Book of Jeremiah presents the prophet’s own experiences of suffering and his expressions of pain, even his complaints against God; but his example of humility and obedience and faith also suggests what the new heart will look like.        
          f.  Jeremiah was explicitly called to be "a prophet to the nations."  People of other countries will share in the future time of blessing, under Israel’s guidance.
          g.  Gentiles play some familiar roles: seducers to sin, faithless allies, instruments of judgment, and eventually prizes of war for Israel.   But some also stand as faithful witnesses of God:  Recabites, Ebed-Melech.