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Tag: jeremiah

  • Behold, the days are coming

    In case you missed the introduction to this post and if impressions of the post image below lead you to current impending events, we are continuing here in Jeremiah’s prophesies about Judah in the 7th c. B.C.

    God’s Nation under No One

    Jeremiah 8:

    Sin and Treachery

    4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
    When men fall, do they not rise again?
        If one turns away, does he not return?
    5 Why then has this people turned away
        in perpetual backsliding?
    They hold fast to deceit;
        they refuse to return.

     Jeremiah 9:

    Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
        and put no trust in any brother,
    for every brother is a deceiver,
        and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
    5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
        and no one speaks the truth;
    they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
        they weary themselves committing iniquity.
    6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
        they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

    7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
    “Behold, I will refine them and test them,
        for what else can I do, because of my people?

    23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

    25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—

    Circumcise your hearts you people without God!

    Who do you trust?

    This message from Jeremiah is written to the political and religious leaders of Judah (the circumcised sworn to obey the Lord). The Lord’s messenger is severe in words given to the prophet by the Lord God.

    What leader will step forward to lead as the Lord would lead?

    No one, says the Lord. The Lord directs Jeremiah to be absolutely clear that it is the Lord speaking to the leaders of Judah; not just a man. The difficulty of Jeremiah’s obedience will reap earthly consequences most unpleasant at the hand of men in power.

    Yet are we not obliged to obey the Lord?

    Our leaders hope God will speak against or act against our enemies. Yet as Jeremiah’s story unfolds the Lord makes clear that Judah’s enemy in another nation is the Lord’s servant completing His will.

    Is it not right that the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth should punish His own for disobedience?

    Judah will fall, as all nations will fall. For the Lord endures while the nations fall and are no more remembered.

    Yet God is gracious. For the Lord makes a way for sinners, even the nations to come to Him in Christ Jesus.

    Righteous jews such as Daniel and others will influence leaders and others of the nations who have not known the Lord. God has purpose in this, while the Lord warns the nations (gentiles) of the futility of the worship of idols. The Lord warns even those who claim His Holy Name.

    Jeremiah 10:

    Idols and the Living God

    10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:

    “Learn not the way of the nations,
        nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
        because the nations are dismayed at them,
    3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity…

    Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
        and they cannot speak;
    they have to be carried,
        for they cannot walk.
    Do not be afraid of them,
        for they cannot do evil,
        neither is it in them to do good.”

    6 There is none like you, O Lord;
        you are great, and your name is great in might.

    7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
        For this is your due;
    for among all the wise ones of the nations
        and in all their kingdoms
        there is none like you.

    8 They are both stupid and foolish;
        the instruction of idols is but wood!

    Behold, a 21st c. Lesson from a Prophet from 7 centuries Before Christ

    What should we take from the warning of Jeremiah to Judah?

    In these last days the most powerful of nations turn against the Lord. We turn our backs on righteous ways and run to the power of sin in this decaying world.

    The Lord God brought even his own chosen people to destruction, because of their worship of idols.

    Do we not have more idols than the hills of Samaria?

    Vengeance is the Lord’s; he will repay! [Hebrews 10:30]

    • Who will lead your actions in this nation of sin?

    It is the question of Jeremiah. It is the question of these last days.

    What is your answer?

    The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.  [1 Timothy 1:15]

    Are you and I not two of these?

    Christ Jesus is my Lord. He saved me.

    What is your answer to the hard questions from the LORD? What is your answer, fellow sinner, to a merciful savior of souls like ours?

     

     

     

     

  • God’s Nation under No One

    God’s Nation under No One

    Leadership Crisis Ahead for the Nation

    Although things have been going along well for the past few decades, change is inevitable. As we think back to the differences between past leaders of our nation, we must tremble for the day fast-approaching of a choice between the lesser of two evils.

    A nation cannot long endure divided by strife and torn apart by godless men and godless women.

    We will reap what we sow, as did Rome… as did the Kingdom of David… and as it is with powerful nation after nation throughout mortal history. For it was King Solomon who said: “Nothing is new under the sun.”

    What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.

    Ecclesiastes 1:9 

    The Kingdom of Israel, God’s own nation, fell into division after Solomon’s death circa 920 B.C. A divided kingdom left Jerusalem in Judah to the south. Examination of the years following the initial division of God’s own Nation reveals a predictably repetitive theme not unlike an evaluation of these last days of this post-modern kingdom.

    Kings (or Presidents, Premiers, Prime Ministers, Princes, Emperors & other earthly titles)

    Josiah, king of Judah (640–609 B.C.), had nearly rebuilt Judah, with Jerusalem as its central place to worship God, into a kingdom of strategic importance to  The background of our story begins during times of increased Judean influence within a declining Assyrian Empire. But life turns quickly for a powerful nation.

    Judah under King Josiah & Assyria c. 650 BC
    Judah under King Josiah & Assyria c. 650 BC

    The Bible documents the problem of a nation (or king or president, etc.) who does not follow God. This includes the next king, son of Josiah.

    And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

    2 Kings 23:32

    Think how many now would fit this description of godlessness in their leadership style and substance. Nothing is new under the sun and evil in the sight of the LORD is a common theme preceding God’s wrath allowing the fall and defeat of God’s own nation.

    {See just a few references of evil leaders in the history behind the link above.}

    Therefore I ask US: When did we no longer acknowledge that we are ‘one nation, under God, indivisible?

    Judah would eventually fall in 586 B.C.

    Jeremiah

    The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

    God speaks to His nation, under no one (except evil leaders). God speaks of their evil through the words and actions of the prophet, Jeremiah.

    14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

    16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me.

    They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you…

    The defeat of a nation under no one begins

    Jeremiah 2:

    11 Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
    But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
    12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
    declares the Lord,

    … Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
    19 Your evil will chastise you,
    and your apostasy will reprove you.
    Know and see that it is evil and bitter
    for you to forsake the Lord your God;
    the fear of me is not in you,
    declares the Lord God of hosts.

    … But in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’
    28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
    Let them arise, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
    for as many as your cities
    are your gods, O Judah.

    What was will be.

    Jeremiah 5:

    12 They have spoken falsely of the Lordbabylonian empire 606-536BC
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
    no disaster will come upon us,
    nor shall we see sword or famine.
    13 The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
    Thus shall it be done to them!’”

     …

    21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.

    22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?

    I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
    though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

    23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.

    To be continued: 

    “Behold, the days are coming…

  • Reflections: Jerusalem – a city of sacrifice

    Reflections: Jerusalem – a city of sacrifice

    siloette of jesus on cross[ Lament over Jerusalem ]

    “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

    the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!

    How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

    – words of Christ Jesus – Mathew 23:37

    destruction-of-jewish-temple-70-ad-lgThe Temple of Herod would be destroyed when Jerusalem again fell in the year of our Lord 70, not even four decades after the Crucifixion and Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross; followed by His glorious resurrection of the body, appearances to many believers and physical ascension into the clouds.

    Yet prior to the controversial proclamations of John the baptizer and miracles of Jesus in the Temple and throughout Judah and many places, God had remained silent for centuries while Jerusalem suffered the consequence of a disobedient people who always rejected God and ridiculed or killed the Prophets of the LORD.

    TempledestructionCaptive Jerusalem before Christ lay vulnerable to the swords of the nations, even prior to the conquests of Rome. The LORD allowed its fall into ruin, for His people had not listened to their Prophets; therefore the LORD kept silence beyond their generations into the centuries.

    These are the words of Jeremiah the Prophet, after the LORD had warned the people… after the people refused to listen… after the LORD allowed the calamity of which His Prophet had warned:

    Lamentations 1 

    How Lonely Sits the City

    1 How lonely sits the city
        that was full of people!
    How like a widow has she become,
        she who was great among the nations!
    She who was a princess among the provinces
        has become a slave.

    2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
        with tears on her cheeks;
    among all her lovers
        she has none to comfort her;
    all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
        they have become her enemies.

    3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
        and hard servitude;
    she dwells now among the nations,
        but finds no resting place;
    her pursuers have all overtaken her
        in the midst of her distress.

    4 The roads to Zion mourn,
        for none come to the festival;
    all her gates are desolate;
        her priests groan;
    her virgins have been afflicted,
        and she herself suffers bitterly.

    …

     18 “The Lord is in the right,

        for I have rebelled against his word;
    but hear, all you peoples,
        and see my suffering;
    my young women and my young men
        have gone into captivity.

    19 “I called to my lovers,
        but they deceived me;
    my priests and elders
        perished in the city,
    while they sought food
        to revive their strength.

    20 “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;
        my stomach churns;
    my heart is wrung within me,
        because I have been very rebellious.
    In the street the sword bereaves;
        in the house it is like death.

    Minor-Prophets-TimelineBy the time Ezra and Nehemiah returned to the site of the destroyed Temple, God’s chosen people had completely forgotten the Law.

    For a time they repented. Then once more God was forgotten in the land and Jerusalem remained only a dark shadow of promise once made to a people who failed to keep the Law in the words of their mouth and meditate on it every day and every night.

    Have contemporary believers in Jesus Christ also done what is evil in the eyes of the LORD in these last days?

    Hear the hastening approach of our Lord, King of the New Jerusalem…