Jeremiah 16:19

THE FUTURE CONVERSION OF THE GENTILES

"O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught but lies, even vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?"

Here is a clear prophecy of the Gentiles coming unto the true God, and of their rejection of idolatry, clearly identifying this passage as a reference to the Messianic Age and the spread of Christianity throughout the world. We may be certain that neither Jeremiah nor the people who heard this message had any full understanding whatever of all that was prophetically revealed in such words. Adam Clarke was correct in labeling these verses, "Light in the midst of darkness."[25] This, of course, makes it a parallel prophecy to Jeremiah 16:14-15; and as Clarke stated, "In such dismal accounts (as this chapter) there is need of some gracious promise relative to an amended state of the world."[26] This need is, of course, exactly the reason this pattern of "light in the midst of darkness" is so generally followed throughout the Bible.

"Lies... vanities ... things wherein is no profit ...". (Jeremiah 16:19). "All of these are synonyms for idols."[27]