Home » Posts tagged 'JEREMIAH'
Tag Archives: JEREMIAH
GOD WILL NOT HEAR
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 5, 2024 – Over and over, I find myself returning to the book of Jeremiah. It draws me – haunts me, even – no matter how many times I read it. If you take out the references to “Judah” and “Israel” and replace them with “Christians” and “Christendom”, Jeremiah is speaking directly to us today. God, through his Spirit, is speaking directly to us today. We need to read Jeremiah this way.
The worldly church hangs its hat on the sound bite John 3:16, neglecting to remind those who delay embracing Truth that at some point it will be too late to do so. The religious fairy tale is that God will save all those who call out to him right up to and including when Jesus comes back, and that we’ll all live happily ever after. But there is such a thing as “too late”. We’ve seen it with Noah. We’ve seen it with Sodom. We’ve seen it with Jeremiah and with the prophecies of Ezekiel.
Are we seeing it again today?
Jeremiah was excoriated by his contemporaries for pointing out that it was too late for the Judeans and Israelites to repent, as God had already decided on their defeat and exile and the destruction of Jerusalem. God even warned the prophet not to offer prayers for his own people, that he “would not hear them”. Not surprisingly, the people who opposed Jeremiah continued to insist that God had their back and would help them defeat their enemies, just like he had done in the past. But things had significantly changed for what had once been “God’s people”. Even while assuming God’s blessings and protection, they’d turned away from God and had adopted lifestyles that were worse than those of the heathens around them.
It’s a tricky situation, to have to inform people that time’s up and their trust in the status quo is in vain. No-one wants to hear that message. Jesus had to deliver the same message to what were formerly his people, warning them that God had left the room already. Not surprisingly, they rejected not only him but his message and continued to delude themselves into believing they were still God’s people, even while they crucified God’s Messiah.
Part of the reason why the “too late” message is so ill-received is that things still seem to be going along fine when the message of doom is being relayed. Jeremiah started preaching 40 years before the destruction of the first temple. Jesus started preaching 40 years before the destruction of the second temple. In both scenarios, people were generally settled on their lees, thinking that God must be OK with the status quo, as he hadn’t really indicated otherwise, had he? I mean, where was the lightning? Where were the thunderbolts? If God were angry with them, wouldn’t he be doing something to make it obvious that he was angry?
But God did do something – he sent prophet after prophet, until finally sending Jeremiah. Then he sent yet more prophets until finally sending Jesus. In between Jeremiah and Jesus, the surviving remnant of God’s people underwent fiery trials, with many of them falling away. There is never a time when God doesn’t let us know exactly where we stand with him, believer or not. It’s not God’s fault that he and his prophets are ignored.
Judaism was already a done deal long before the destruction of Jerusalem by the occupying Roman army in 70 AD. It’s important to note that Judaism didn’t die then; it was already dead 40 years earlier, when Jesus was preaching. I don’t know exactly when it died, but it was already dead then. By the time Jesus showed up, Judaism had become a death cult with no other end for its adherents but death. The worldly Christian church is also a death cult with only death as its end. The precise moment of its fall I don’t know. I just know that it’s dead. You cannot come to God through the worldly church, any more than you can come to God through Judaism. Judaism serves Judaism, just as the worldly church serves the worldly church, and both ultimately serve Satan. You can only come to the living God through the living Word, Jesus Christ, and that only while there’s still time.
I do not have a happy message today. There is a silence in Heaven that precedes the age of God’s final Judgement and wrath. The silence is prophesied to take place during a time when everything seems to be going along fine. John mentions it in Revelation, but a similar silence also took place in the years leading up to the flood (those infamous “days of Noah”) and in the years leading to the destruction of the first and second temples. People misinterpret the silence as God looking past or even downplaying sinful behavior (“surely ‘love’ and ‘belief’ must be enough!”), when in fact God has shut the door and left the rebellious to their own devices. I sat at table this week with men who call themselves Christian and yet who are eager to sign up to slaughter the “enemies of Israel”. I sat at table this week with women who call themselves Christian and yet who brag about having multiple lovers. God is not condoning or looking past these behaviors. He’s left these “Christians” to their own devices.
As difficult as it may be to accept (because the worldly church teaches us otherwise), there’s no point in praying for these people.
God will not hear.
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers… Therefore, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them…. Pray not for this people.
Jeremiah 11:10-14
JEREMIAH IN CHAINS
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, June 13, 2024 – Jeremiah left Jerusalem in chains. Along with the other prisoners, Jeremiah had to walk the perp walk of shame, shackled and humiliated, while Jerusalem lay smoldering in ruins behind him.
It didn’t matter that Jeremiah had spent years begging people to turn back to God to avoid this very thing. It didn’t matter that he’d already done hard time in a slime pit and elsewhere with only a scrap of bread a day to sustain him. He had to suffer along with everyone else, sinner or not, deserved or not. It’s what he signed up for as a prophet.
And why not? Being a prophet of God is not all wine and roses. Jesus wore a crown of thorns, not roses, and was offered vinegar on the cross, not wine. He suffered what he hadn’t earned and endured cruelties for our sake as well as for his. Why should it be any different for us or for Jeremiah? Why should it have been worse for Jesus than for us?
This is a hard truth for many who allege to be followers of Jesus. They recoil at the pick-up-your-cross-daily part of the requirements, the perp-walk-of-shame part of the deal, the grinding poverty part of everyday reality that characterizes true disciples of Jesus, and so they gravitate towards the false prophets who promise them a life of prosperity and blessings. Yet all genuine prophets have had a rough go of it, including Jesus – especially Jesus – because the higher a soul strives, the more that soul will be targeted and tested.
I love God so much it hurts sometimes. But that doesn’t exempt me from being tested and tried. Being a child of God guarantees you’ll be tested and tried until you’re finally fitted for your own crown of thorns.
The roses come later, if and when you make it Home.
___________
I stayed for a few weeks in a household of a few dozen assorted humans, none of whom (other than me) claimed to be Christian. Theoretically, that should mean I was the kindest, most generous, and most patient among the residents, but the reality is far from the truth. I’m humbled by what some of them taught me from their place of unbelief. Even so, knowing I’m a Christian, a few of them watched me like a hawk, swooping in on occasion to bait me, expecting me to snap at them or let loose a tirade or (even better) launch into a sermon so they could have their “gotcha!” moment and triumphantly march me to the door. Thank God I didn’t snap, though I was tempted. Thank God that God keeps me reined in, at least in public.
__________
I wandered into a worship service last Sunday and then a few minutes later wandered back out. The music (live band with amplifiers) was ear-splitting and I had the sense that I was at a rock concert rather than a church service. I’m open to accepting that the fault was all mine for having sensitive ears and expectations that didn’t line up with reality, but is it wrong to expect people to turn off their smartphone and do without their sippy-cup of coffee for just one hour? To me, it’s not enough that they “at least made the effort” to show up on a Sunday morning, any more than it’s enough for a student to pass a course just for showing up in class. Showing up is not the required effort; doing your best at the task at hand is the required effort.
_________
We can only imagine what was going through Jeremiah’s mind as he trudged out of Jerusalem in chains, knowing he’d never return and that Jerusalem and its temple would never return, not to their former glory. Jeremiah was as near starvation as the rest of the prisoners and just as shell-shocked and traumatized by the horrors they’d witnessed, yet he would also likely have been expected to endure more stoically than the others, being a prophet of God. He would have been expected to boost the morale and have a timely, encouraging word from God for them. He would have been expected to be more than merely Jeremiah in chains.
Prophets are always expected to be more than merely human.
We, as born-again believers, bear our own chains. We bear them daily and in all circumstances and some of them are ungodly heavy and cut into us. But the chains don’t come from God, they come from the world, and we’ll bear them as long as we’re here on Earth. The world not only expects us to bear them, it demands that we bear them and that we do so publicly. They like to see us bowed down by their weight. It makes them feel justified for rejecting God.
And if you’re thinking there must be a way for you, on your own volition, to quietly slip out of your chains – remember that God permits them for your edification, and what God permits, you need to endure. God will remove your chains when it’s time. No point in trying to pray them away. The heaviest of Jeremiah’s chains were removed by an enemy of Israel (who had respect for him as a prophet of God, though Israel didn’t), and the rest of his chains Jeremiah bore until he went Home.
This is how it will be for us, because again – why should doing hard time on Earth be any easier for us than it was for Jeremiah or for Jesus?
LAMENTATIONS: WHY YOU NEED TO READ IT
CHARLO, New Brunswick, May 15, 2024 – Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations was written during the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C. It could just as aptly have been written for the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the second temple in 70 A.D. or the fall of Christendom and destruction of the worldly church, which is happening now, albeit in slow motion. I assume the date that will eventually be hung on the fall of the worldly church will be the date when Vatican City is annihilated.
I will not be lamenting that annihilation, but I will also not be rejoicing. We are not to rejoice over God’s vengeance but to quietly stand back and let it happen.
If you haven’t read Lamentations for a while, I urge you to read it again. Moses in Deuteronomy 28 warned the children of Israel of the curses that will befall them if they purposely turn their back on God, and Lamentations describes the fulfillment of those curses in gory detail. (For a description of the destruction of the second temple, read Josephus.) In a nutshell – God himself fights against his own people. You do not want to be at the receiving end of God’s perfect weaponry. You do not want God as your perfect enemy. There is nothing and no-one worse than that.
But Lamentations is not all doom and gloom. Like Deuteronomy 28, there is a glimmer of hope in remembering the blessings that are poured out on the obedient and on the sincerely repentant. There is hope in repentance if the repentant humbly accept their punishment as justified and follow up their repentance with sincere and enduring obedience, but only if they don’t leave it too late. We see in the utter annihilation of the two temples that “too late” is not an empty warning but rather a promise that is delivered to the many. The vast and overwhelming majority of what were once God’s people have perished, are perishing, and will perish as eternal enemies of God. In the end, they will be no more, just as the first and second temples are no more.
Lamentations is a sobering read, as is Deuteronomy 28. I read them both frequently as reminders not to veer to the left or to the right, but to walk straight on. I do not want God as my enemy; I want to keep him as my Heavenly Father forever. The kings and princes and prophets portrayed in Lamentations thought that God would defend them against their enemies because after all they were God’s people, weren’t they, and he’d fought for them before, so why wouldn’t he do it again? In thinking this way, they added the sin of presumption to all the other sins they’d piled higher than the idols of Egypt. They thought that “once God’s people, always God’s people”, but they were wrong.
It is not “once God’s people, always God’s people”, any more than it’s “once saved, always saved”. As Paul warns us, we’re to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not with boasting and presumption. We’re to fear the Lord, not our enemies, lest we make an enemy of the Lord, because for us born-again believers, there’s no coming back from that.
JERUSALEM
JAQUET RIVER, New Brunswick, March 26, 2024 – When they took us away, I didn’t know how far they would take us or how long we were expected to stay. We just went with them because we saw no other option that would lead to life, at least not to a life that was worth living.
We didn’t trust them. I need to get that out there and lay it down at your feet so that you’re clear about our motives. We didn’t trust them but we went with them because we wanted what they offered. We wanted the food and the promise of more food, and the warmth, and maybe even a bed to sleep in. We were tired of being hungry all the time and sleeping on the ground. But we didn’t trust them and didn’t tell the interpreter our real names or where we were from. We lied and then we lied about lying and we didn’t care. We knew they were lying too, but they had food and we didn’t, and so we went with them.
I don’t know where the camp was. They blindfolded us part of the way and changed wagons a few times. I lost all sense of direction and then suddenly we were there, wherever there was. I could smell something cooking, maybe soup. It smelled good. But I couldn’t see anything because they kept us blindfolded until they’d looked us over and decided who to keep. I don’t know what they did with the ones they didn’t keep and I don’t know who made that decision. I just know they took us outside to get cleaned up and not all of us came back inside. We were still blindfolded when they took us to get dressed in some kind of a uniform and then sat us down on long benches in a mess hall. That’s when we were told to take off our blindfolds.
We looked at each other’s freshly combed hair and clean faces across the tables like we were looking at strangers. They wouldn’t let us talk and there was only so much we could say with our eyes. But there was food and there was warmth. And so we ate in silence, grateful for these small mercies and for feeling strangely safe among our sworn enemies.
I think part of the reason they wouldn’t let us talk is that they couldn’t understand us. We couldn’t understand them, either, though we quickly got used to being ordered around by the swords they were always pointing at us, even when we were sleeping. They didn’t trust us any more than we trusted them. The only privacy they gave us was in the latrines or the bathhouse, where we had to go one at a time, never more than one at a time, and never more than for a few minutes. Any longer, and one of them would show up barking an order we didn’t understand and waving a sword in our face.
I’d been a prisoner before, but this was different. They used us for labour, mostly in the fields around the camp and some of us for housekeeping duties like laundry and cooking. There were no fences. We were free to leave if we wanted to, but where would we go? Jerusalem was in ruins. All our villages were destroyed. They knew our shame was chains enough. We all, at some point, thought about running, but none of us did. We stayed where we were because of the food and the warmth, and eventually because of the silence. After what we’d seen, it was better not to speak.
When the sickness started, it hit them harder than us. At first they thought we’d done something to the food and beat us for it, but when they saw that we were getting sick, too, they backed off. It wasn’t the kind of sickness you’d get from food, anyway. It was something else, something none of us had seen before. It would start with coughing and a fever and then blood would pour from every part of their body, like their swords were carving them up inside. From the time the coughing started until death overcame them was a span of only a few days. We looked after them as best we could and then some of us got sick. That’s when they decided to break camp.
I went with them because I didn’t know what else to do. I’d been with them at that point for about six months and gotten used to the harsh incomprehensible barking and omnipresent swords. It’s amazing what you can get used to and grow fond of. I even mourned their deaths, these mine enemies.
I can’t say they treated us well, but it could have been worse and it was far far better than being left to rot in what was left of Jerusalem. When we met up with some other refugees at the Egyptian border, they let us go. They were more concerned about their own survival and so had no more use for us. It was bittersweet to see them trundle off in their wagons. Whatever hate I’d felt for them at the beginning had long since melted into a kind of grateful familiarity that surprised me. They were nothing like I’d expected. Jeremiah had told us as much.
Too bad more of us hadn’t listened.
THE (NEARLY) FOOL-PROOF TEST OF A FALSE PROPHET
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 22, 2023 – I did a Bing search on “Jeremiah” yesterday, and up pops a video in my YouTube feed today about the book of Jeremiah. I’m always game to hear someone else’s take on that booming prophet, so I clicked on the thumbnail and settled back for the show.
And a show it definitely was, as in all style, little to no content.
I listened to as much of the slick presentation as I could (the wrap-around call-centre-style microphone favoured by these types always gives me a giggle), and then clicked off after a few minutes. I couldn’t take any more.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve yet to see a self-promoted “prophet” on YouTube that isn’t a false prophet. While I was mulling over this latest example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, God said to me rather matter-of-factly: “I sent him.” This blew me away for second, as I thought God meant this guy was one his prophets. And then God clarified: “I send false prophets, too. To test you.”
So there you have it. God not only sends us his prophets who speak his Word in sincerity and truth, he also sends us false prophets so we can learn to discern between the two. I guess it makes sense that God sends the false ones mixed in with the real ones, since God’s the one who decides the scope and limit of our tests and temptations as well as our punishments.
Scripture says the best test of a prophet is whether or not what the person says comes to pass. If it does come to pass, chances are good that the prophet not only was sent by God but speaks on behalf of God. If it doesn’t come to pass, well, I hope that person didn’t quit his day job (unless his day job was being a prophet).
Another nearly sure-fire way to discern false prophets is by their looks.
The guy I watched today talking about the book of Jeremiah (or at least I think he was talking about the book of Jeremiah…) was handsome, well-spoken, smooth, and slick. His physical attractiveness made me want to watch him somewhat more than I wanted to listen to what he was saying. I could imagine clicking on more of his videos with the sound turned down, just to watch him.
Attractive people are beguiling. You tend to take what they say as Gospel Truth for no other reason than that they’re enjoyable to look at and so you’re not listening critically to what they’re saying. You’re instead suspending your disbelief and admiring the shape of their nose or the sculpt of their cheekbones or the sweep of their hair. I’m only being honest here. Some false prophets that are not that good looking rely on attractive designer clothes and elaborate sets to catch and hold your attention.
There’s a reason why Jesus was not attractive or rich. God didn’t want good looks or flashy wealth getting in the way of getting his message across. In Heaven, Jesus is drop-dead gorgeous (second only to God in beauty), but during his time on Earth he was described as “not having any form or comeliness that we would desire him”. That means he was not only plain but homely. Some people have even claimed that he was deformed. I don’t know about that, but I do know he wasn’t basing the success of his ministry on his looks. People were attracted to him solely because he spoke God’s Truth and did so with the confidence and authority of sincerity.
When we’re spending time ogling false prophets for their nose or designer labels, we’re not spending time with God. We’re also more prone to accepting false or misdirecting teachings because we tend to swallow whole whatever these people spoon-feed us rather than chewing on it and spitting out the bones and gristle.
So the lesson here today is that God sends us the false prophets as well as the real ones, just like he sends us the rain and the sunshine, and he does so to make sure we’re paying attention and focusing on him. The dead giveaway of most false prophets (besides failed prophecies) is personal charisma premised on beguiling good looks. That’s not to say that physically attractive people can’t be messengers of God. I’m not saying that. David was good-looking. Esther was good-looking. The holy angels, when they appear in glory, are fantastically beautiful. But if you find yourself more drawn to a preacher’s good looks than to what he or she is saying, chances are you’re under the thrall of a false prophet. Once you realize that, you need to get out.
May all your preachers be homely but sincere (and may they not have a channel on YouTube).
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 26 REFLECTION (JEREMIAH 50 – EZEKIEL 19:14)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 26: AUGUST 17
JEREMIAH 50 – EZEKIEL 19:14
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 17, 2021 – Today we say goodbye to Jeremiah and hello to Ezekiel. Theirs are thunderous voices. Both prophets lived during a time when God’s mercy came to an end and his judgement began. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, God is patient, but when time is up, it’s up. There’s no wiggle-room after that. God’s judgement is without mercy. We will not be standing before him on Judgement Day expecting mercy, because there will be none. The time for mercy will be over, just as it was for the children of Israel during the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
- The final chapters of Jeremiah talk about the prophecy against Babylon. Remember that Jeremiah had earlier prophesied that the Israelites should surrender to the Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and live in Babylon as captives. Now we see the prophet foretelling the punishment that God will mete out to Babylon for destroying his people. God used the resources of Babylon to punish his people but also to care for them during their 70 years of exile; but that doesn’t mean that Babylon gets off the hook and is free to loot, sack and slaughter with impunity. Nor does it mean that Babylon can sin with impunity. All are punished according to the measure of their sins, even the people God uses to punish others.
- So when God tells you to flee to Babylon, however morally repugnant it is to you, flee there. But when he tells you to get out of Babylon or get caught up in the punishment due it, get out. We’ll read more about Babylon in the books of Daniel and Revelation. For us born-agains living in the Kingdom, Babylon is the earthly realm of sin and plenty that sadly also includes churches. God will support us and sustain us with Babylon’s plenty for a time, but he expects us to keep ourselves separate from its sin and to flee before he finally destroys it.
- The book of Lamentations was written during Jeremiah’s exile from the Promised Land. Remember that Jeremiah, too, was in exile. The whole remnant was in exile. Even so, God fed them and provided for them physically and spiritually, giving them hope of returning to their home if they turned back to him with their whole heart.
________________________________________
- Ezekiel picks up where Jeremiah leaves off. He is also in exile. But unlike Jeremiah, he is not embedded within the powers-that-be in Jerusalem, because the powers-that-be have all been slaughtered and Jerusalem has been all but destroyed. Instead, Ezekiel prophesizes through visions.
- Ezekiel heard first-hand the horrors that were inflicted on the unrepentant Israelites, particularly during the siege of Jerusalem. Out of starvation, fathers ate their sons, sons ate their fathers, and mothers cooked their own babies. How far from God would you have to be to do those things? THESE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GOD’S PEOPLE, and yet they were indistinguishable from the demon-worshipers around them; in fact, they did worse than them. When those who are genuinely God’s people are hungry, God provides for them, as he did for Jeremiah and Elijah and David. God always finds workarounds and resources for those who are genuinely his people. The rest are left to take matters into their own hands, and what we get are fathers eating their sons, sons eating their fathers, and mothers cooking their own babies.
- How indistinguishable are Christians today from the demon-worshipers around them? All those who worship anything but God and follow anyone but Jesus are demon-worshipers. This is the world. How indistinguishable are most Christians today from the world? It’s hard not to see, in the description of the lead-up to the destruction of those who definitively turned from God, exactly what is happening in former Christian nations today: “Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none” (Ezekiel 7:24-25).
- I met a man the other day who introduced himself as a born-again Christian. He then went on to say that God had asked him to preach but he had said no, and that he hadn’t read the Bible in years – HE’D DEFIED GOD AND HADN’T READ THE BIBLE IN YEARS, AND YET HAD NO PROBLEM INTRODUCING HIMSELF AS A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN! This is the absolute state of where we are as a people – Christians today are no different than the Israelites just before the destruction of Jerusalem. They are indistinguishable from the heathens around them.
- As Ezekiel repeats several times: “Neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have pity.” God’s judgement is without mercy and perfect. During the time of mercy, God’s judgement is mitigated. That means he doesn’t give us the full measure of what we have coming; he softens it, taking into consideration all the factors that made us do what we did or say what we said. But at some point, time is up. And when time is up, mercy is removed from judgement; all that remains is an eye for an eye. May you never experience God’s judgement without mercy, because if you do, you are condemned. There is no longer any hope for you. There is no Paradise. There is only the hell of your own making, forever.
- God doesn’t want us to end up in Hell. He wants us to go to Heaven. He takes no pleasure in punishing us or in our condemnation. In Ezekiel 18:32, God says: “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth… wherefore turn, and live ye.” Until time is up, God is constantly extending his invitation to turn back to him and live. A few chapters earlier, God describes through the prophet how he will bring the dead back to life: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I shall be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20).
- I don’t know about you, but every time I read the words “and they shall be my people, and I shall be their God”, I hear such longing in God’s voice as well as a promise and a statement of fact. He wants to give us everything, if we would only do those things that are right in his eyes. He’s longing for us to do those things. He’s saying: Here, I have everything waiting for you. Everything that you’ve ever wanted. It’s all right here. All you have to do is say “yes” to me and then keep your promise, and I will keep my promise to you.
One of the early chapters in Ezekiel describes a mark that is given to those who are horrified by the rampant sin they see around them. The mark identifies them as God’s people. All those who don’t have the mark are later slaughtered without pity.
Do you think you have that mark? Do you think that God identifies you as one of his, or is the identification only coming from you? Do you claim to be a Christian but live indistinguishable from the world? Do you claim the blood of Jesus as your justification, even while you continue to do what you know isn’t right in God’s eyes? There are many such Christians, even self-professed born-again Christians, just as there were many such Israelites who considered themselves God’s people simply because they were Israelites.
A label is just a label. You can call yourself whatever you want. But a mark is a mark. Better pray that you have God’s.
________________________________________
The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 25 REFLECTION (JEREMIAH 23 – 49:39)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 25: AUGUST 16
JEREMIAH 23 – 49:39
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 16, 2021 – From a 21st century perspective, Jeremiah was like an embedded journalist in war-torn Jerusalem. He was always in the thick of things when reporting God’s Word, but few wanted to hear what God had to say. They preferred tuning into the fake news from the false prophets, as they promised continued prosperity and peace. As we see in today’s reading, only those who heeded Jeremiah’s warnings survived.
- Like Isaiah and other prophets before him, Jeremiah was also given a word from God about Jesus. Through the prophet, God called Jesus a “righteous Branch” of the house of David, a King who would not only reign but prosper (unlike evil kings) and be known as “The Lord Our Righteousness”. During his reign, Israel will be safe from all its enemies. This, of course, is yet another reference to God’s Kingdom on Earth, which exists here and now and is currently being ruled over by none other than The Lord Our Righteousness himself – Jesus. If you’re genuinely born-again, you’re a citizen of that Kingdom and The Lord Our Righteousness is your King. Amen!
- Lovely line a few chapters later, also in reference to the Kingdom: “I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel….” If any of you have spent time walking by a river, you’ll know that the lushest greenery is next to it, the freshest air is next to it, and a natural pathway is next to it, forged by erosion over the centuries. God promises to be a father to us, protecting and guiding us, fighting off our enemies, and correcting us through appropriate punishment when we need it. Note that Jeremiah says that God will “cause” us to walk by the river. That means he’ll make it so that we end up there; it will be his doing – not ours – that we walk along this naturally-forged path in the freshest of air and lushest of greenery, with abundant fresh water for the taking. This is life in the Kingdom for the converted. God always delivers on his promises.
- Much of today’s reading centers on the political intrigues and behind-the-scenes plots involving the kings that immediately succeeded Josiah and also on the problems caused by the false prophets. Recall that Josiah was the only king during Jeremiah’s time that “did right in the sight of the Lord”; all the rest did evil. (Check out 2 Chronicles, last page, for a run-down of the final kings before the 70-year exile to Babylon.) We read about Jeremiah getting arrested and imprisoned in various places, his papers confiscated and burned, and his reputation dragged through the mud, all for speaking God’s Word to God’s people. God doesn’t promise his servants an easy time of it, but he does promise them that they will be renewed and refreshed by his Word and protected by his Spirit. We see this in Jeremiah, in that he continually gets rescued from whatever’s thrown at him. Even the enemies of the Israelites rescue him. God uses every resource he has at hand to protect and support those who are loyal to him.
- Jeremiah told the people that God wanted them to leave Jerusalem and the surrounding cities, go to Babylon, and put themselves under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar, whom God called his “servant”. To the Jews in positions of power in Judah and Israel, this was treason. In their view, Jeremiah was aiding and abetting the enemy by telling the Israelites to cut their losses and surrender to the Chaldeans and Babylonians. Why would God tell his people to desert Jerusalem, knowing that when they did that, the temple would be looted and the city destroyed?
- Jeremiah is very clear that God needs to punish Judah and Israel for their centuries of sins. The punishment is to live in Babylon as captives for a period of 70 years, after which, if they repented and turned back to God with all their hearts, they could return to their lands. God would then punish Babylon. God always has a plan, and God’s plan is always best. Too bad that so few people go along with it.
- The remainder of today’s reading shows that those who refused to obey God’s guidance, as given by Jeremiah, either died in Jerusalem, died fleeing Jerusalem, or died shortly after if they went to Egypt instead of Babylon. God is always very clear about his directives; he doesn’t leave room for misinterpretation. The people were told to surrender and go to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar’s authority and all would be reasonably well with them. However, they chose not to heed the advice. They saw surrender as losing face, and they couldn’t conceive that God wanted them to live as captives under their enemies. They took a position of pride and refused to budge, and it was their downfall. Jeremiah survived and actually thrived as a stranger in a strange land.
- The story of the machinations of the evil kings and their princes, priests, advisors, and false prophets is meant for us to learn from. It is a cautionary tale. Sometimes the right way forward is directly into the arms of the enemy, if that’s where God tells you to go. Always go where God tells you to go, not where human reasoning or pride dictate. God makes use of all the world’s resources to support his children, including resources belonging to enemies. What’s theirs, in some cases, is also ours, if God says so.
The book of Jeremiah shows us the day-to-day life of a prophet of God in ancient Israel. Of all the OT prophets, it probably provides the most details, other than for the book of Daniel. The NT, on the other hand, is full of intimate day-to-day details of lives lived in accordance with God’s will, as we’ll see starting next week. The details are important not only to flesh out the people being described and draw us deeper into their story, but to serve as a guide for what to do (or not to do) under different situations.
________________________________________
The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 24 REFLECTION (ISAIAH 55 – JEREMIAH 22:30)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 24: AUGUST 15
ISAIAH 55 – JEREMIAH 22:30
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 15, 2021 – The book of Isaiah, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly over the past few days, has Jesus written all over it. Most of the book is about Jesus as God’s servant. The final few chapters of Isaiah in today’s reading are more about the fruit of Jesus’ labours, which is God’s Kingdom on Earth, otherwise known as spiritual Zion, the holy mountain, and spiritual Israel. These are all the same place, and their establishment was foretold in scripture, including and foremost in Isaiah.
If you’re born-again, you live in God’s Kingdom on Earth (i.e., spiritual Zion, the holy mountain, spiritual Israel). Establishing this Kingdom is what Jesus came to accomplish by offering himself as the final and perfect redeeming sacrifice. He aced it, and is now seated at the right hand of God, ruling over us born-agains as our King and High Priest. Being redeemed enables us, as Jesus’ followers, to have the same relationship with God as he had, and as Adam once had (before the fall), and as all true prophets have had throughout the ages.
- Isaiah 61:1-2 is the famous verse that Jesus quoted in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth when he came out as the Messiah. In case anyone in the synagogue was dozing off that day, Jesus forcefully and unequivocally stated that he was the fulfillment of that scripture. He left no room for misinterpretation. Then he went on to castigate the hometown crowd for their spiritual blindness and lack of faith, and in so doing incited a lynch mob against him. But Jesus just calmly walked through the midst of them and left.
- In this reading, the “Great Invitation” that was initially given only to the children of Israel is being extended to everyone else who chooses God’s way over the world’s way. What we essentially see here is God petitioning for new believers outside the 12 tribes of Israel. At the same time, Isaiah gives us a run-down of why God is looking for new spiritual blood – the spiritual leaders are blind and greedy and leading the people astray, and the people themselves are unrepentantly following the demon-worshiping practices of the heathens around them. This, as we’ve seen in previous readings, is nothing new for the children of Israel, but God has reached the end of his patience. If his chosen don’t want what he’s offering, maybe someone else will. As for his children who reject him, “the Lord God shall slay [them] and call his servants by another name”.
- Hence, “Christians”.
- I’m sad to see the last of Isaiah in this read-through. I could scour that book every day, never tiring of it and still finding something I hadn’t noticed before, still hearing an echo from something written elsewhere in the Bible. Jesus, I suspect, knew Isaiah by heart. It was, after all, his script. Note that it even mentions the kings, the shepherds, and the angels (Isaiah 60:1, 2 and 3, respectively) coming to worship him. God laid it all out for Isaiah, and Jesus soaked it up.
________________________________________
- Jeremiah is considered by some Jewish historians as a “failed prophet” solely because his warnings failed to turn the children of Israel (particularly Judah) back to God. But that’s not the job of a prophet, to force people to worship God. A prophet speaks God’s Word; he/she doesn’t twist arms and coerce people into doing what they don’t want to do. Even God doesn’t do that. Is God, then, by the measure of these same Jewish historians, a failed God?
- Jeremiah is anything but a failed prophet (and God is anything but a failed God!). On the contrary, and even despite being imprisoned for preaching, Jeremiah never swerved from speaking God’s Truth. There were other prophets also prophesying at the time who lied to the people and told them “everything’s going to be OK”, but Jeremiah warned the Israelites that unless they turned back to God wholeheartedly, “OK” was the last thing everything was going to be.
- For me, Jeremiah’s is the voice of this present age. I think the times we’re in now, with so-called formerly Christian nations collectively turning their backs on God and adopting demonic lifestyles and laws, is much like Israel just before the destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah was singular in his message but pretty much universally ignored, as are all people who speak God’s Truth today. In fact, speaking God’s Truth today can get you arrested, just like in Jeremiah’s day.
- I particularly relate to Jeremiah’s lack of a bedside manner. When there’s plenty of time, you can be soft-spoken, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya; but when time is almost up, you speak plainly and bark orders. Those who want what God is offering will gratefully accept it; those who object to how the message is being delivered are lost anyway, so don’t waste your time on them. Let them go.
- It might be helpful to take note of the kings under which both Isaiah and Jeremiah were prophesying (you can check the list of kings in 2 Chronicles, towards the end of the book). Isaiah prophesied mostly under kings who “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord”, whereas Jeremiah was stuck with the short stick, except for Josiah. After Josiah, all the kings Jeremiah endured “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”. This in large part explains both the trouble Jeremiah had (arrests, imprisonment, etc.) and also the spiritual disaster state that was the children of Israel. We get the leaders we’ve earned through our thoughts and actions, and the Israelites at that time had earned some real doozies. So have we.
What are your thoughts about the final chapter of Isaiah and the opening chapters of Jeremiah? Do you object to Jeremy’s lack of bedside manner, or do you find it refreshing? He certainly doesn’t mince his words, and those who prefer to see themselves as victims rather than as getting back what they put out would obviously object. This is so much like today’s society, where perceived (that is, false) victimhood has been elevated to a new form of secular sainthood by the social justice crowd. Don’t give into them and don’t go along with them. Be like Jeremiah, who stood alone on God’s Truth
________________________________________
For a full schedule of the BIBLE READ-THROUGH, click on the links below.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 