Category: Jeremiah–BibleTrekToday
Covenant Breakers Reward
Scripture reading for August 13th: Jeremiah 34-36
Jeremiah had an interesting life and a difficult message. He was sent by God to God’s people with a message of judgment and rebuke. He was told up front that they would not listen. (Jeremiah 1:19) In today’s reading, Jeremiah gives a final warning to the last king of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem and captivity. He urged King Zedekiah to go peaceably into captivity and told him that God would take care of him there. (Jeremiah 34:2-5)
Zedekiah was desperate when he received this message from Jeremiah. Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonian army and only two other cities of Judah were holding on. Zedekiah made a vow and covenant before the Lord to free all the Hebrew slaves in the city. The law of God commanded them to do this every seven years so they were only doing the will of the Lord. They initially obeyed, but then changed their minds and took back all the slaves. (Jeremiah 34:10)
God doesn’t look favorably on covenant breakers. He sent Jeremiah with another word for Zedekiah. “Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before Me in the house that bears my Name. But now you have turned around and profaned My Name; each of you has taken back his male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become slaves again.” (Jeremiah 34:15-16) Repentance is choosing to do what is right in God’s sight. Turning back to the old way when you promised to go another is profaning God’s Name!
The Lord carefully marks vows we make before Him. (Ecclesiastes 5:2-7) When we make a covenant with God and others, God expects us to keep that agreement. In that day, the agreement was made by killing an animal and splitting it in half. The covenant makers would walk between the pieces and swear that God could do to them what was done to the animal if they broke the covenant. (Jeremiah 34:18-19) It was a visual reminder of the cost of keeping a covenant. God’s decree over these covenant breakers was strong: ” The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, . . .I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air.. .” (Jeremiah 34:20)
The New Covenant
Scripture reading for August 12th: Jeremiah 30-33
Out of all the gloom and doom of Jeremiah’s messages come words of hope and a glorious future! Their God would not abandon His people forever, but would have pity on them. He would be their God and they would be His people. (Jeremiah 31:1-2) Those who survived the siege would find favor in the desert and God would come to them.
“The Lord appeared to us in the past saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and dance with the joyful.” (Jeremiah 31:3-4) God’s love is not fickle. His love is everlasting and His tender mercies draw His people back to find comfort and hope. God would build them again in their land and restore their joy.
Now God promises restoration and a gathering of His people from the lands where they were scattered. This writing of Jeremiah mirrors Isaiah 35 where the redeemed of the Lord come back with singing to Zion. “Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness instead of sorrow. I will satisfy the priests with abundance and my people will be filled with My bounty,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:13-14)
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . ” “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34) This new covenant promised writing of the law on hearts and minds instead of on stone. It promised personal relationship with God for each person. Best of all it promised forgiveness of sins and a blotting out of any memory of those by God. Restoration would be something new and better! Praise the Lord.
Knowing God!
Scripture reading for August 10th: Jeremiah 21-25
Many people claim to know God and speak for Him. Jeremiah’s day was no different from ours. There were many self-appointed prophets giving a message of peace and safety to people who were living in sin and idolatry. (Jeremiah 14:13-15) These were not pagans, but people whose ancestors made a covenant with the Lord to walk in faith and obedience. What does it mean to really know God?
Jeremiah used the example of King Shallum (Jehoahaz) , son of Josiah, who had gone into captivity. He focused on building a bigger palace and exploited the people of God for his own gain. “Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father (Josiah) have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy so all went well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” declares the Lord? “But your eyes and your heart are set on dishonest gain, on shedding of innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”” (Jeremiah 22:15-17) This wicked king was sent ahead into captivity as an example to the people; Jeremiah used his failure to follow his godly father as an example to the people.
Knowing God is very practical. It is humbly following the ways of truth and justice laid out by God in His law and word. It is being merciful to the poor and needy. It is confronting injustice and defending those whose innocent blood is being shed. It is refusing to be under the oppression of sin and unbelief, but truly knowing the heart of God by faith in His holy word!
We must be vigilant today concerning our own knowledge of God. He has given us His word and His Holy Spirit to take that word and reveal a true knowledge of God to each person. No longer do we need to be deceived by self-appointed prophets or political leaders. We are each called to live by God’s word and speak truth to our neighbors. We are to live a practical life that demonstrates we know God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Some leaders of our nation and even some leaders of God’s church are speaking lies that take innocent life and oppress and extort from God’s people. Check out their lives and fruit!
The Blessed Man!
Scripture reading for August 9th: Jeremiah 16-20
Jeremiah was told by God not to marry or have children in Judah because of the terror of coming judgment. (Jeremiah 16:2-4) God was sending a great disaster upon His people that was coming because of their own wickedness. In the face of Jeremiah’s warnings, no one was listening or paying heed. They had become hard and stubborn and refused to repent and humbly follow God. They were hardened even further by the prophetic preaching of this true prophet!
At the heart of this people’s trouble was unbelief! “This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5) Their sin nature made them the center of their own life and caused them to come under a curse. They depended on their flesh and man-made idols instead of the Lord who had shown Himself faithful and miraculously provided for them again and again.
But what about those who continue to trust in the Lord and remain faithful to Him in the midst of an idolatrous and humanistic society? Jeremiah speaks a word of encouragement to those who have ears to hear! “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8) Faith keeps us connected with God, even in times of judgment and trouble. The coming drought and famine would bring misery and suffering to the land, but God would be the source of refreshing to His people.
This seems so simple that a child could understand it. However, man’s heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. (Jeremiah 17:9) The flesh is proud and wants to do things it’s own way. We have trouble discerning our motives. We who trust the Lord allow Him to search our hearts and deliver us from wrong thinking. We listen to His word and run to His throne of grace and mercy for help in time of need. We place our confidence in God Himself and our hope is in His unfailing love. Be blessed!
Excuses!
Scripture reading for August 5th: Jeremiah 1-6
“The word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”” “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” (Jeremiah 1:4-6)
Have you ever made excuses for why you can’t do something? Has your mom or dad or preacher ever asked you to do something and you looked for all the reasons why you couldn’t? Have you felt fear rise in your heart at the thought of beginning a new job or going to school? Because of sin and Satan, we are creatures bound by fears and centered on ourselves. Change is often difficult and we become our own worst enemy by positing endless excuses.
Jeremiah was a young man when God spoke to him about a plan for his life. This plan would take Jeremiah out of his comfort zone and involved public speaking. Jeremiah was being called to speak before nations, not just the local people. He immediately thought up some excuses! “I can’t speak” and “I am only a child” came first into his mind. Public speaking is one of the top fears even today. I know personally that as a young man, I was terrified to get up in front of people.
God immediately rebuked Jeremiah and told him to stop his excuses. God made promises to Jeremiah to calm his fears. He told him that He would be with him and rescue him! What comfort that should have brought! I wonder if Jeremiah’s mind raced to think of the kind of dangers that God might rescue him from?
God also touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put His words in his mouth. He spoke a prophetic word to Jeremiah that would define his mission. “See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10) He then gave him a vision of an almond tree. This tree was the first tree to bloom in Israel and signaled the coming of spring. Everyone watched the almond to know when spring had arrived. God promised Jeremiah, “I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled.” (Jeremiah 1:12) God knows how to deal with our excuses!