Read Jeremiah 33:1-26
God assured Jeremiah that he had only to ask God and God would answer (Psalm 145; Isaiah 58; Matthew 7). God is ready to answer our prayers, but we must ask for His assistance. Surely God could take care of our needs without our asking. But when we ask, we are acknowledging that He alone is God and that we cannot accomplish in our own strength all that is His domain can do. When we ask, we must humble ourselves, lay aside our willfulness and worry, and determine to obey Him.
Verses 15 and 16 refer to both the first and second comings of Christ. At His first coming He would set up His reign in the hearts of believers; at His second coming He would execute justice and righteousness throughout the whole earth. Christ is the righteous descendant sprouting from David, the man after God’s own heart.
As Christ fulfills the role of King, He also fulfills the role of Priest, maintaining constant fellowship with God and mediating for the people. Verse 18 does not mean that actual priests will perform sacrifices, for sacrifices will no longer be necessary (Hebrews 10). Now that Christ is our High Priest, all believers are priests of God, and we can come before Him personally.
God would restore Jerusalem, not because the people cried, but because it was part of His ultimate plan. The Babylonian disaster did not change God’s purposes for His people. Although Jerusalem would be destroyed, it would be restored. God’s justice is always tempered by His mercy.