Tag: jeremiah

  • The Parable of Degenerate Sisters

    The Parable of Degenerate Sisters

    A Parable from the Pre-incarnate Son of Man to the Prophet Ezekiel

    23:4 Marriage is commonly used in the Bible as a symbol for the covenant relationship between God and his people (e.g. Isa 54:1-8; Eph 5:22-23). 

    Ezekiel 23

    English Standard Version (ESV) (excerpted with literal & brief paraphrase)

    2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3 They played the whore… in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin nipples handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters…

    5 “Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers… 6 clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men … and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin nipples and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands … after whom she lusted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness;they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her.

    11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians (the same kind of men as her sister), all of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of (evil enemies of God)… 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And they came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your nipples and fondled your young breasts.”

    22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side… 24 And they shall come against you… They shall set themselves against you on every side … and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

    28 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

    “You shall drink your sister’s cup
    that is deep and large;
    you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
    for it contains much;
    33 you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
    A cup of horror and desolation,
    the cup of your sister Samaria;
    34 you shall drink it and drain it out,
    and gnaw its shards,
    and tear your breasts;

    for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

    36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. 42 The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

    43 “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her! 44 For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! 45 But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

    46 For thus says the Lord God: “Bring up a vast host against them, and make them an object of terror and a plunder. 47 And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

    A wife, holy and pure, a virgin undefiled, loyal and faithful: is that not the desire of a man? And is this not the highest and holiest desire of the Living God, in whose image we are made man? Is a faithful bride not the desire of Christ Jesus, the returning Bridegroom of His Church?

    Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

    Jeremiah 3:8-10 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”

    A history of divorce

    The LORD GOD has married you and made you His own! It is a most serious matter that a woman would play the whore and give herself to any other. This is the setting of the parable of the two degenerate sisters in Ezekiel 23. It is the history of God’s chosen ones of Israel and Judah.

    Christ Jesus is born a Son of Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. The teachers of the Law come to him and ask about a man divorcing a woman. A woman had no such right of divorce or anything else separate of the rights of her husband as a matter of the Law.

     Matthew 19:3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

    4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh.

    What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

    7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”

    8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

    “… “Because of your hardness of heart…”

    Now the hardness of our hearts urges a wife to dismiss her husband!

    To the parable of the two degenerate sisters, must we now add another who has called herself, ‘christian?’

    Let Christ’s Church with ears to hear hear the distant trumpet announcing the returning Bridegroom of the Church, His Bride:

    Revelation 19:6-10

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

    6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

    “Hallelujah!
    For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
    7 Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
    for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
    8 it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

    for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

    9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

    Even so, come, Lord Jesus, to your beloved church, the faithful who have not put You away by a bill of divorce.

     

  • Taw – Psalm 119

    Taw – Psalm 119

    Psalm 119

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    This is the final letter of the acrostic poem, a series of posts which began with the Hebrew letter Aleph.

    Most Bible references are from the resource: http://www.biblegateway.com/ and most research references, including KJV linked to Strong’s Concordance, are from the extremely helpful online site:  http://www.blueletterbible.org/

    Your further study through these dynamic links on most posts on http://talkofJesus.com are highly encouraged, along with your comments to any and all posts on this site.

    Taw [Tau]

    169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
    give me understanding according to your word!

    KJV Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD:

    give me understanding according to thy word.

    Is this not the very heart of prayer before God?

    Is this not our very need to understand God through Scripture?

    170 Let my plea come before you;
    deliver me according to your word.
    171 My lips will pour forth praise,
    for you teach me your statutes.
    172 My tongue will sing of your word,
    for all your commandments are right.

    173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
    174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
    and your law is my delight.

    Though the Lord chooses us to be His, even by adoption, He does not coerce us to follow Him.  As Adam, we may choose obedience or choose sin.

    As Christ Jesus, the new adam, a second son of man who was before the first; He does not coerce our Christian life, either; though He laid down His Life for our sin.

    Choose Jesus as Lord or choose death and punishment for your sins.

    175 Let my soul live and praise you,
    and let your rules help me.

    Genesis 2:7 KJV And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soulH5315

    1 Chronicles 29:13 KJV Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise H1984 thy glorious name.

    Jeremiah 20:13 KJV Sing unto the LORD, praise H1984 ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

    176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
    for I do not forget your commandments.

    Isaiah quotes this last verse of Psalm 119 in prophesying the coming of our Savior, the Good Shepherd.

    Look upon the Cross of our Savior and upon your own sin.

    Isaiah 53: 

    6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

    7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
    8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
    that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
    9 And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
    although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

    10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
    11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.

    And be also comforted by the last verse of the Psalmist; for our Lord, Christ Jesus also quoted it, and He knows well your soul.

    Matthew 18: 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 

     

  • In God We Trusted – 3

    In God We Trusted – 3

    Disclaimer & claim:

    WE the PEOPLE of the LORD trust God. 
    Nations rise and nations will fall.  The Prophet Jeremiah had warned Judah of their impending fall.

    By now you must see the present application of Lamentations 3.

    The warnings of the Prophets also speak to our nations.

    Noah_Webster_The_Schoolmaster_of_the_Republic

    We the people of the US have forgotten:

    In God we trusted.  Our heritage of faith is buried deeply in disbelief and rebellion.

    Lamentations is indictment of rulers who do not hear the cries of their people or acknowledge the leadership of God. 

    Lamentations 3

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Great Is Your Faithfulness

    3 I am the man who has seen affliction
    under the rod of his wrath;
    2 he has driven and brought me
    into darkness without any light;
    3 surely against me he turns his hand
    again and again the whole day long.

    4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
    he has broken my bones;
    5 he has besieged and enveloped me
    with bitterness and tribulation;
    6 he has made me dwell in darkness
    like the dead of long ago.

    7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
    he has made my chains heavy;
    8 though I call and cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer;
    9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
    he has made my paths crooked.

    Noah Websterauthor of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said,  

    “The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.” 

    Think about this from a man whose mission was to educate our forefathers.

    Civil government, to exist and be durable MUST have the principles of religion as a controlling influence: the MORALITY OF GOD – Good, and not evil.

    19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,  Noah-Webster-source-of-freedom
    the wormwood and the gall!
    20 My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
    21 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

    22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
    23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
    24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

    25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.

    Even responsible leaders of men will look to our future.

    Thomas Jefferson, A Nation of Sheep will have a Government of Wolves

     If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. – Thomas Jefferson, To Edward Carrington Paris, Jan. 16, 1787

    Yet the Prophet both warns and comforts the people who ask, ‘How?’

    31 For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,
    32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
    33 for he does not afflict from his heart
    or grieve the children of men.

    34 To crush underfoot
    all the prisoners of the earth,
    35 to deny a man justice
    in the presence of the Most High,
    36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
    the Lord does not approve.

    40 Let us test and examine our ways,
    and return to the Lord!
    41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
    42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.

    PH-GiveMeLibertyOrDeathHas our history revealed the truth of the complete plea to God of Patrick Henry…

    or just a simple, secular sound-byte?

    Jeremiah had warned those who once spoke of ‘life so dear or peace so sweet.’ Patrick Henry plead: Forbid it, Almighty God!

    58 “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
    you have redeemed my life.
    59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
    judge my cause.
    60 You have seen all their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.

    64 “You will repay them, O Lord,
    according to the work of their hands.
    65 You will give them dullness of heart;
    your curse will be on them.
    66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
    from under your heavens, O Lord.”