In 17:19-27 we have Jehovah's warning concerning the keeping of His Sabbath. God told Jeremiah to go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem and tell all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates that they should take heed to their souls and bear no burden on the Sabbath day. On the Sabbath they were not to bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem; they were not to bring out any burden from their houses; and they were not to do any work (vv. 19-22). They were told to sanctify the Sabbath day, as Jehovah had commanded their fathers, who did not listen to Him or incline their ear. If the present inhabitants listened to Jehovah and sanctified the Sabbath day, then the kings and princes who sit on the throne of David would come through the gates of the city, and the city would be inhabited forever (vv. 24-25). However, if they did not listen to Jehovah and sanctify the Sabbath day, then He would kindle a fire in the gates of the city, and the fire would devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be extinguished (v. 27).
The Sabbath signifies that God has done everything, completed everything, and prepared everything and that man must stop all his work. Working on the Sabbath is profane. To work on the Sabbath is an insult to God and to what He has accomplished. Instead of working in such a way, we should take in God as our enjoyment, drinking of Him as the fountain of living waters. To sanctify God's Sabbath is to stop our work and to take what God has done for us.
The New Testament also is mainly of these two aspects: to receive God as the living water for our enjoyment (John 4:14; 7:38) and to stop our work. God has accomplished everything, and He is ready for us to enter into His eternal enjoyment in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we will not work; we will only drink, praise, enjoy, and rejoice. This is God's economy.
In 16:10—17:27 God gave a further statement concerning Judah's sins. How marvelous it is that even in such a portion of the Word we can see something regarding God's economy.