Regeneration: A New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-40)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2014 9:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Regeneration: A New Covenant

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Jeremiah 31:31-40

            Message of the verses:  From my very early years of being a believer in Jesus Christ I can remember these verses as Jeremiah writes about the New Covenant, a section of Scripture that is also seen in the book of Hebrews as that author shows how this New Covenant is also for those in the Church age.

            “31 “Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33  "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34  "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

    “35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 “If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD. 38 “Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39  "The measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. 40  "And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever."”

            I have to include the first paragraph of Warren Wiersbe’s commentary because of how powerful it is:  “Any plan for the betterment of human society that ignores the sin problem is destined to failure.  It isn’t enough to change the environment, for the heart of every problem is the problem of the heart.  God must change the hearts of people so that they want to love Him and do His will.  That’s why He announced a New Covenant to replace the Old Covenant under which the Jews, had lived since the days of Moses, a covenant that could direct their conduct by not change their character.”

            It was during the long days in which the nation of Israel was under the Old Covenant that they experienced revival on different occasions.  For instance there was a renewal of the Old Covenant under Moses as seen in the book of Deuteronomy, as this happened just before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land.  Before Joshua died this also reaffirmed the covenant as seen in Joshua 23-24, and when Samuel came on the scene he also called the nation to renew their vows as seen in 1 Samuel chapter twelve.  We saw revivals in Hezekiah’s reign and also in Josiah’s reign, but none of these lasted, so can we conclude that there was a problem with the Old Covenant?  I think not, but a problem with the people, and specifically the heart of the people.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The fact that the blessings didn’t last is no argument against times of revival and refreshing.  When somebody told Billy Sunday that revivals weren’t necessary because they didn’t last, the evangelist replied, ‘A bath doesn’t last, but it’s good to have one occasionally.’  A nation that is built on spiritual and moral principles must have frequent times of renewal or the foundations will crumble.”  I can had a hardy AMEN to that statement, as I pray for revival in our country each and every day.

            Now we will look at what is in the New Covenant and in some cases see the differences between both the Old and New Covenants.  First of all the New Covenant is not just a renewal of the Old Covenant, but the reason it is called new is because it is New.  We can see from our text that the New Covenant is inward for the Law of God is written upon the hearts of those who accept this New Covenant, (More on that latter).  The Old Covenant was national, with the nation of Israel, while the New Covenant is personal as each person must put their faith in the Lord in order to receive a new heart, as this new heart brings about a disposition toward godliness.

            The Old Covenant tried to control conduct, however the New Covenant changes the character of the person who has it, for we see in Romans 3:20 these words “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”  Now as we look at what Jeremiah writes about the New Covenant we see “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."”  We may ask when will the Jews experience this New Covenant, and the answer is that some, but few are experiencing it in the Church age, but they will experience this more in the Kingdom age, the 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth that is spoken about in the book of Revelations and also seen in Zechariah 12:10-13:1.

            Now for those of us who have already accepted this New Covenant understand that it is because of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross that we can experience the wonderful benefits of the New Covenant.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Because the church today partakes in Israel’s spiritual riches (Rom. 11:12-32; Eph. 3:1-6), anyone who puts faith in Jesus Christ shares in this New Covenant (Heb. 8:6-13; 10:14-18).  It’s an experience of regeneration, being born again into the family of God (John 3:1-21).”

            Now as we look at verses 35-37 we see the permanence of this New Covenant that God has made as he, through Jeremiah, tells that He is in control and that nothing can stop this from happening and this must have been a comfort to those who had been taken to Babylon.  In verses 38-40 we see what will happen in the future with the city of Jerusalem and as we look at Ezekiel chapters 40-48 we see an extended version of this.

               Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is a song that expresses what I feel about being a part of this New Covenant and the son title is “A Family of God” and the chores goes as follows:  “I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God-I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!  Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod; For I'm part of the family, the family of God.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Live like I am, and that is a part of the family of God.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-11.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Rebekah” (Genesis 24:15-19).

Today’s Bible question:  “During Israel’s age of peace, prosperity and prominence, who was king?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/30/2014 10:46 AM

 

  

           

Reconciliation: A New People PT-3 (Jer. 31:21-26)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2014 8:41 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Reconciliation:  A New People PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 31:21-26

            Message of the verses:  We look at the final sub-point from this second main point in Warren Wiersbe outline from the ninth chapter of his commentary.

A Restored Judah (Jer. 31:2126):  “21"Set up for yourself roadmarks, Place for yourself guideposts; Direct your mind to the highway, The way by which you went. Return, O virgin of Israel, Return to these your cities. 22 “How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-A woman will encompass a man." 23  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes, ’The LORD bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy hill!’ 24 “Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmer and they who go about with flocks. 25 “For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes." 26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.”

            Jeremiah is telling the Jewish people to mark the road that they are taking to Babylon because they will be traveling back the same way when God brings them back to Jerusalem.  Now as we look at the remaining part of verse 21 we will have a much more difficult time in understanding it for as Dr. Wiersbe writes there have been many different interpretations of this last part of verse 21.  I will include his endnote to help us understand that Jeremiah was not speaking of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ which is what many others believe he is talking about.  “To defend this verse as a prediction of the virgin birth of Christ is an exercise in futility.  The word for ‘woman’ means ‘female’ with reference to virginity.  The nation is the only virgin mentioned in the context (Jer. 31:4, 21).  There is no definite article in the text; it simply says ‘a female’ and not ‘the woman.’  The Hebrew word translated ‘surround’ (compass) has nothing to do with the conception of a child.  It’s possible that the statement is a Jewish proverb for an amazing and unthinkable thing.”

            As we look at this text we can see that it speaks of the end times when God will restore the fortunes of Judah along with Israel as we looked at earlier.  How can God do this one may ask?  Well it is all about God’s grace, mercy, lovingkindness, along with His plan for His people, for we can see in His Word that He surely does have a plan for Israel and for Judah as they will be one nation during this time.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the longsuffering of the Lord as I can see it demonstrated in this section of His Word.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord will give me a good night’s sleep as I am very tired at this point.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-11.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance of man, He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven on the earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Egypt” (Genesis 37:36).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who offered to draw water for Abraham’s servant and his camels?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/29/2014 9:07 PM

 

 

Reconciliation: A New People PT-2 (Jeremiah 31:2-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2014 9:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Reconciliation: A New People PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 31:2-20

            Message of the verses:  We move this morning into our second sub-point from chapter 31 of Jeremiah.

            A Restored Israel (Jeremiah 2:2-20):  “2 Thus says the LORD, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness- Israel, when it went to find its rest." 3 The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. 4 “Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. 5 “Again you will plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria; The planters will plant And will enjoy them. 6 “For there will be a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim call out, ’Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.’" 7 For thus says the LORD, "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise and say, ’O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.’ 8 "Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here. 9  "With weeping they will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn."

            “10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare in the coastlands afar off, And say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock." 11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12 “They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD-Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their life will be like a watered garden, And they will never languish again. 13 “Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow. 14 “I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness," declares the LORD. 15 Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more." 16 Thus says the LORD, "Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD, "And they will return from the land of the enemy. 17 “There is hope for your future," declares the LORD, "And your children will return to their own territory.  18 "I have surely heard Ephraim grieving, ’You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained calf; Bring me back that I may be restored, For You are the LORD my God. 19 ’For after I turned back, I repented; And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ 20 “Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," declares the LORD.”

            It was in 722 BC that the Assyrians captured the Northern Kingdom of Israel and lead them into captivity.  According to 2 Kings chapter seventeen the Assyrians brought some of the people back into the land, but they became a mixed breed of people and were hated by the Jews.  We can see this hatred all the way to when Jesus was on the earth.  When we look at John chapter four we see the story of the Samaritan woman whom became a believer, but as we look at that chapter we can also see that there was a great hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans.  Now as we look at the promises in our section from Jeremiah for today we see that these promises refer to the end times.  I am not so sure that many of the people of Israel know exactly which tribe that they came from today.  However we know that God knows which tribe that they our from as He will call 144,000 that is 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel to minister during the tribulation period as seen in the 7^th chapter of the book of Revelations.  I have mentioned in several of my SD’s that when the nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms that many from the Northern Kingdom moved to the Southern Kingdom because of the false religion that was set up in the North.  The bottom line is that God knows who belongs to what tribe and will have no problem calling the 144,000 during the end times to bring forth the gospel to a dying world.

            These nineteen verses speak of God restoring Israel, that is the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom into His family as He speaks to them like a Father to a son, and even calls Ephraim His first born.  Now I want to quote a paragraph from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary and then an endnote to finish this part of this SD.

            “Matthew later referred to verses 15-17 (Matthew 2:16-18).  Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two leading tribes in the Northern Kingdom (Gen. 30:22-24).  Jeremiah heard Rachel weeping at Ramah, where the Jewish prisoners were assembled for their long journey to Babylon (Jer. 40:1).  Her descendants through Joseph had been captured by the Assyrians, and now her descendants through Benjamin (the Southern Kingdom) were going to Babylon.  Her labor as a mother had been in vain!  (Remember, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.)  But God assured her that both Ephraim and Judah will be restored (31:16-17), and therefore her sacrifices will not be in vain!”

            “How does this relate to Matthew’s quotation?  As Rachel died she named her son Ben-oni, which means ‘son of my sorrow,’ but Jacob named him Benjamin, ‘Son of my right hand,’ (Gen. 35:16-20).  In His humiliation and suffering, Jesus Christ is the man of sorrows, but in His exaltation and glory, He is the Son of God’s right hand (Acts 2:22-36).  Jacob made Bethlehem a burial place, but Jesus made it a birthplace!  The Bethlehem mothers, bereft of their sons, wept in despair, but just as God promises comforted Rachel, so their sacrifice would not be in vain.  No matter how many enemies try to destroy Israel, the nation will not perish, for their Messiah reigns and will come one day and deliver His people.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I see in this section is the faithfulness of the Lord as He has made a promise to Israel and will keep it so also as He gives promises to the Church, which I am a part of, He will keep those too.  One of the promise that He has made to the church is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, a promise that we will begin to study next month, a wonderful promise that one day will take place, and I hope it will be in my life time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord with all of my heart and do not lean on my own understanding.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bartimaeus” (Mark 10:47).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did the Midianites sell Joseph?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/28/2014 10:45 AM

Reconciliation: A New People PT-1 (Jer. 31:1, 27-30)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2014 9:32 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Reconciliation: A New People PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Jeremiah 31:1, 27-30

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we begin a new chapter in the book of Jeremiah and a new main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline, in which there are three sub-points for us to look at as we go through this 31^st chapter of Jeremiah.  Dr. Wiersbe explains what we can expect as we look at this chapter as he writes “In this chapter, Jeremiah described the people of God and the new things the Lord would do for them.  He first spoke to a untied nation (1, 27-30), then to Israel (vv. 2-20), and finally to Judah 21-26).”  Notice that we will not cover this entire chapter under this main point as we will look at the remaining verses (verses 31-40) in the next main point from Wiersbe’s outline.

            A United People (vv. 1, 27-30):  “1 "At the same time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."”  “27 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28  "And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29 “In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 “But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

            It was because of the foolishness of Solomon, (the wisest man to ever live), and his son Rehoboam that the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom which made up ten of the twelve tribes, and the Southern Kingdom which made up the other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin and was also called Judah.  As we read the history of this in the book of 1 Kings we see that this was the plan of God for this to happen, and this is one of the mysteries that we just have to take by faith because it is difficult to understand.  Once this split took place the Northern Kingdom started their own religion, and it was a false religion, and because of this many of the people who lived in the Northern Kingdom decided to move to the Southern Kingdom, thus it actually represented all of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Southern Kingdom.  Therefore the ten tribes from the Northern Kingdom are not lost as some have said.  When the nation of Israel was reborn in May of 1948 it was decided by the leaders to call it Israel, and this was the plan of God.  “15 The word of the LORD came again to me saying, 16  "And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ’For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ’For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 “Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 “When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ’Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ 19  say to them, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand."’ 20 “The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 “Say to them, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms (Ezekiel 37:15-22).” 

            Okay back to our test and we see that Jeremiah writes that God compares Israel and Judah to seed, which He will grow them and as we have seen in Ezekiel God will grow one nation and not two, and this is also seen in verse 27 of Jeremiah 31:  “"At the same time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."””

            As we have studied the book of Jeremiah thus far most of it has been God tearing down the Southern Kingdom because of their many sins, and the taking of them into exile, as this was three segments of them being removed from Judah, in 605, 597, and lastly in 586.  Now we see in this section that God is going to rebuild them and rebuild them into one nation as we have looked at.  As we look at verses 29-30 we see a proverb and I want to use the “Message” to help us better understand what this proverb means as it seems a bit more difficult when looking at the NASB.  “29 “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore, Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache. 30 “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.”  It seems that the children of those who went into exile were saying that they were paying for the sins that their parents and grandparents did, and they were not happy about it.  However we must remember the words of Paul who wrote “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:    As we read in verse thirty of the Message it says that each person will pay for his own sin, and we must remember that this is a paraphrase version of the Bible, but what he writes there is true for those who have not asked the Lord to save them from their sins realizing that He paid for their sins and all they have to do is accept this payment in a personal way, not in a corporate way as if to say that they do not have to personally accept sacrifice for them.  Romans 10: 9-10 says “9  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  I am thankful that I can trust the Lord to care for my sins and because of that I have been born into His family, and because of that I can serve Him all the days of my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To serve the Lord.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him a name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Hebrews.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me?’”

Answer in our next SD.  6/27/2014 10:20 AM    

Redemption: A New Beginning PT-3 (Jer. 30:18-24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2014 10:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  Redemption:  A New Beginning PT-3

Bible Reading & Mediation                                      Reference:  Jeremiah 30:18-24

            Message of the verses:  We will look at the third sub-point under this first main point from the 9^th chapter of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Jeremiah.

            The Calm After the Storm (Jer. 30:18-24):  “18 "Thus says the LORD, ’Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob And have compassion on his dwelling places; And the city will be rebuilt on its ruin, And the palace will stand on its rightful place. 19 ’From them will proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who celebrate; And I will multiply them and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant. 20 ’Their children also will be as formerly, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all their oppressors. 21 ’Their leader shall be one of them, And their ruler shall come forth from their midst; And I will bring him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk his life to approach Me?’ declares the LORD. 22 ’You shall be My people, And I will be your God.’" 23 Behold, the tempest of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping tempest; It will burst on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has performed and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart; In the latter days you will understand this.”

            As we look at the end of verse eighteen we see the following statement “And the city will be rebuilt on its ruin.”  Dr. Wiersbe has a interesting endnote that helps explains what this means:  “Visitors to the Holy Land visit Tel Aviv and various other ‘tells’ and learn that the Hebrew word tel means ‘a mound of ruins.’  Cities devastated by war or natural calamities rarely relocated; the survivors simply rebuilt the city on the ruins of the old one, thus giving future archeologists something to do.”

            We have been talking about two different horizons as we study this chapter in Jeremiah and also in the next three chapters we will see this too, that is that part of Jeremiah’s prophecy is for the return of the exiles to Jerusalem after the 70 years of captivity and then the other horizon is that of the end times as Jeremiah writes in verse twenty-four. We have also seen in this chapter and in particular in verse 20 of today’s verses that the Lord will punish all those who have done harm to Israel.  Let’s look at the promise that God gave to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."  We see in these verses a number of things that the Lord will do for Abram and his future family.  He promises to make him a great nation, and this has and will continue to be fulfilled through the family of Abraham (God changed his name from Abram to Abraham).  God has blessed the name of Abraham and made his name great.  We see that the religion of the Jewish people have Abraham as their founder, and also the Muslim religion has Abraham as their founder, and we know that the Christian “Religion” came through Abraham and his greatest Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now in verse three God says that those who bless the Jews He will bless and those who curse them He will curse.  I have heard that you can take the major empires of the world and chart their rise and fall by how they treated the Jewish people.  We begin with the Assyrians and the Babylonians who destroyed the towns and cities of Israel but were then destroyed themselves.  What we see in this promise is that those, either nations or individuals, who hate the Jews just because they are Jews will be cursed by the Lord.  As we look at our current administration in this country we see this very thing happening, and along with how our country is not looking at homosexuals we must be fearful of the very existence of our country, a country that was built on the principles of the Judeo-Christian religion.  How fast we have fallen.

            I want to focus in on verse twenty-one:  “21 ’Their leader shall be one of them, And their ruler shall come forth from their midst; And I will bring him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk his life to approach Me?’ declares the LORD (NASB).”  “Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?’ declares the LORD (NIV).”  “21 Their nobles shall be from among them, And their governor shall come from their midst; Then I will cause him to draw near, And he shall approach Me; For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the LORD (NKJV).”   This verse is speaking of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fact that He will be their King and their Priest, for we read that He will draw near to the Lord, and only a priest can do that.  Now as true born-again believers we too are priests who can come into the presence of God in prayer, but Dr. Wiersbe writes “This is the language that applies especially to the Jewish high priest, who alone entered the, Holy of Holies on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16).  Only Jesus Christ, who is both King and Priest (Heb. 7-8), can qualify to fulfill this prophecy.” 

            Now we will conclude with the conclusion of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this first main point:  “To summarize:  The people of Judah and Jerusalem will experience terrible trials at the hands of the Babylonians.  They will end up wearing the Gentile yoke, bearing the wounds caused by their sins, and having endured the storm of God’s wrath.  But God would eventually deliver them, breaking the yoke, healing the wounds, and bringing peace after the storm.  All of this will be a foreshadowing of what will happen to the Jews in the end times as they go through the Tribulation, meet their Messiah-King, and enter into their kingdom.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I wrote a few days back that learning all of these things about the end times should give me an urgency to tell others about how it is that they can avoid what the Bible calls the tribulation period, by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  God gives this promise in Revelations chapter three to the church of Philadelphia “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 3:10).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Stephen” (Acts 7:58-59).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book states that Jesus is ‘heir of all things.’?”

Answer in our nest SD.

6/26/2014 11:22 AM

 

Redemption: A New Beginning PT-2 (Jer. 30:12-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2014 8:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Redemption: A New Beginning PT-2

My Worship Time                                                                  Reference:  Jeremiah 30:12-17

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will be looking at Jeremiah 30:12-17, which is the second main point from Warren Wiersbe’s outline on the 30^th chapter of Jeremiah.  He entitles the ninth chapter of his commentary “The God Who Makes Things New.”  Every person who has been born again through the blood of Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross, through His death and resurrection has been made new as they have received a new spirit from Him at the time of their conversion.  Although we are not speaking of a spiritual rebirth in this section of Jeremiah we are speaking of a rebirth of the nation of Israel which would take place after 70 years of their exile into Babylon.  This was so very important in the scope of God’s plan for the salvation of those who would accept what Christ had done for them because the Messiah would come through the nation of Israel, through the tribe of Judah, and through the family line of King David, and so all of this had to be preserved.  Jeremiah is also writing about the end-times in this section of his book, a time when Israel would be brought back into their land as described in chapters 36-37 of Ezekiel, and a time when Jesus Christ would rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem after a period which is called the tribulation period, a period which will last for seven years in which the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet will have control of the whole world.  At the end of that time there will be a great battle in which the Lord Jesus will return to planet earth as described in Revelations chapter 19 and will slay th antichrist and false prophet and chain Satan and put all into the lake of fire.  Jesus Christ will then make the earth a place similar to what it was made after God created it and will rule for 1000 years at which time Satan will be unchained and allowed to lead a group of people in a short battle where they will swiftly be defeated and thrown into hell.  At this time the heavens and the earth will be burned as described in 2Peter 3:10-12.  The great white thrown judgment will then take place where all unbelievers will stand and be judged and then thrown into the lake of fire.  Jesus Christ will then bring down the New Jerusalem which is the place where believers will dwell as they go into eternity serving the Lord Jesus Christ with works that are not described, but we know will be wonderful.  Now back to Jeremiah.

            The healed wound (vv. 12-17):  “12 “For thus says the LORD, ’Your wound is incurable And your injury is serious. 13 ’There is no one to plead your cause; No healing for your sore, No recovery for you. 14  ’All your lovers have forgotten you, They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the punishment of a cruel one, Because your iniquity is great And your sins are numerous. 15 ’Why do you cry out over your injury? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great And your sins are numerous, I have done these things to you. 16 ’Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity; And those who plunder you will be for plunder, And all who prey upon you I will give for prey. 17 ’For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ’Because they have called you an outcast, saying: "It is Zion; no one cares for her."’”

            Habakkuk asked the Lord whey He did not judge Israel (Judah) for all of her many sins and God answered that He would judge them as He was raising up the Chaldeans to be His instrument to judge them. Habakkuk did not like the answer that he got from the Lord because he said that they were more wicked than the children of Israel and in this case the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Well we learn in this section of Jeremiah that God will judge all the nations who have treated Israel wrongly and in particular Babylon for they are the nation who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple of God.  Now we must remember that we have been looking at two horizons in this section of Jeremiah (chapters 30-33), for part of his prophecy will take place right away, and part will take place at the end of the age.  God did judge Babylon as seen in the fifth chapter of Daniel, but as we read chapters 17-18 of Revelations we will see that God will judge Babylon again, the religious Babylon and the economic Babylon during the tribulation period. 

            Let us take a look at the 3^rd chapter of the book of Joel to see that God will punish the Gentile nations who have punished Israel.  We also see this in the 16^th verse of Jeremiah 30.  “1 Yes, in those days and at that time,  when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2  I will gather all the nations  and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  I will enter into judgment with them there  because of My people, My inheritance Israel.  The nations have scattered the Israelites  in foreign countries  and divided up My land. 3 They cast lots for My people;  they bartered a boy for a prostitute  and sold a girl for wine to drink. 4 And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia--what are you to Me? Are you paying Me back or trying to get even with Me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads. 5 For you took My silver and gold and carried My finest treasures to your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory. 7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the LORD has spoken.”  This is from the HCSB version of the Bible and I have only copied the first eight verses of the last chapter of the book of Joel to give a flavor of what the Lord will do to the nations who have done great wrong to the nation of Israel.  This chapter amplifies what Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 30:16.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What we see in this section of Jeremiah, along with the 3^rd chapter of Joel is the justice of God in action.  God punished Israel, then He punished the nations and will punish the nations in the future who have treated Israel in a way that is sinful.  We also see the plan of God in action as His plan is to use Israel to bless the world as He said to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3, and He has blessed the world by brining the Messiah through the people of Israel.  I can learn that God is a God whom I am to fear, but also love because He first loved me.  God’s justice has been taken out on the Lord Jesus Christ for my sins and for all those who will come to Him in repentance asking for His forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Fear the Lord.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10.

5 Have this attitude in yourself that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cedar trees” (1 Kings 5:6, 6:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was stoned after defending himself before the Sanhedrin?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/25/2014 9:45 AM

Redemption: A New Begining PT-1 (Jeremiah 30:1-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2014 9:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Redemption: A New Beginning PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 30:1-11

            Message of the verses:  We begin a new set of chapters from the book of Jeremiah as we follow the writings and the outline of Warren Wiersbe from his commentary on the book of Jeremiah which he entitles “Be Decisive” and under the title he writes “Taking a stand for the Truth.”  As we read through the book of Jeremiah and study its content we find that Jeremiah had and did stand up for the truth of God and did this many times in difficult places.

            As we begin our study in this new section, which covers chapters 30-33, we will find that Jeremiah will be giving a commentary on chapter 29:11 which states in the NIV “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”  We will find out in this four chapters that Jeremiah will be talking about two different horizons, one that will focus in on the return of the exiles from Babylon, and then one that will go all the way to the end times where he will focus on how the Lord will bless Israel during those difficult times in which He will return to planet earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

            “1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2  "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. 3 ’For behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ’when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The LORD says, ’I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’"  (Jeremiah 30:1-4).”

            As we look at the first four verses of this chapter we see that God tells Jeremiah to write in a book all the things that He had told Jeremiah, and I suppose that is how we got the book of Jeremiah that we are not studying.  As we look back at Jeremiah 29:11 we see that that verse and the first four verses have similar things in them.  We see both horizons that Jeremiah is writing about as God did indeed bring back Israel to the land from Babylon and God again brought Israel back to the Land in May of 1948, never to leave it again, although there will be much trouble as we see even in our life time.  The Prime Minister of Israel told the United Nations last fall that Israel was in the Land to stay and quoted a section of the book of Amos. 

            The broken Yoke (verses 4-11):  “4 Now these are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah: 5 “For thus says the LORD, ’I have heard a sound of terror, Of dread, and there is no peace. 6 ’Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? 7 ’Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it. 8  ’It shall come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ’that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. 9 ’But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.  10 ’Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the LORD, ’And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar And your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, And no one will make him afraid. 11  ’For I am with you,’ declares the LORD, ’to save you; For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished’”

            We can see much trouble that will come about for Israel as described in verses 4-6, however in verse seven we read that the whole world will experience trouble “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”  This is what Bible scholars call the second half of the tribulation period which will last for three and a half years.  In verse eight we see that God will remove the yoke from Israel’s neck “8  ’It shall come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ’that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.”  He uses the term “that day” a term that Warren Wiersbe has written an endnote which I will quote here:  “Isaiah used the phrase ‘in that day’ at least forty-four times by Jeremiah only seven (4:9; 20:8; 39:16-17; 49:22, 26; 50:30).  In chapters 12-14 of Zechariah ‘in that day’ is used nineteen ties with reference to end-time events relating to the restoration of Israel and the return of the Lord.”  With this endnote we cans better understand the significance and importance of those three words.  We can look at our Lord’s words in the 24^th chapter of Matthew in what is known as His Olivet Discourse, the following which also speaks of not only “that day” but also “Jacob’s trouble.”  “21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ’Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ’There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 “Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 “So if they say to you, ’Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ’Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

            We don’t see as much about the “end times” in the book of Jeremiah as we do in the other prophets, but we will see some of it in chapters 30-33, and I truly enjoy studying about the end-times, as that is our hope as Paul wrote to Titus:  “Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following to conclude his commentary on these verses:  “The promise of Jeremiah 30:9 applies to the future Kingdom Age, following the Tribulation, when the Messiah shall reign over His people.  You find corresponding promises in 23:5 and 33:14-26.  When Jesus was here on earth, His people said, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us’ (Luke 19:14), but in that day, they will recognize their Messiah-King and welcome Him (Zech. 12:8-14:21).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have written the following verses in other SD’s that help to show me how I am to act and how I am to live my life in view of knowing about the end times:  “10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! (2 Peter 3:10-12).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Live the way that Peter is writing about in the above verses.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-10

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard quality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Philemon.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What kind of trees did Solomon obtain to build the temple?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/24/2014 10:17 AM  

 

Jeremiah Writes Some Letters PT-3 (Jeremiah 29:24-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/23/2014 9:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Jeremiah Writes some Letters PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Jeremiah 29:24-32

            Message of the verses:  Before we get into the text for today’s SD I want to briefly look at Jeremiah 29:4 “"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”  What I want to point out are the highlighted words of this verse, and we can see that God sent each individual person that He desired to send into exile.  God had a purpose for sending each of these individuals into exile and had control over all their circumstances in order to get them to Babylon.  As I thought about this morning it gives me comfort to know that God is in control of my life just as He is in control of all lives on planet earth.  We may not realize this all of the time, but it is surely true.  I have been retired from my main job that I had for almost 35 years and have wanted to move from the house we are living in, but for reasons I will not get into I am still here, and so I must trust the Lord who has kept me here for His reasons, for He is in control.

            Jeremiah’s word of warning (vv. 24-32):  24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25  "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ’Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26  "The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27  now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ’The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.’"’" 29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30  Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, 31  "Send to all the exiles, saying, ’Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie," 32  therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people," declares the LORD, "because he has preached rebellion against the LORD."’"”

            As we end this 29^th chapter of Jeremiah we see another letter comes onto the scene, and this letter is from Shemaiah who is another false prophet who went into exile and he wants Jeremiah put into stocks or probably even killed for what Jeremiah is saying about the length of the time of the exile.  The chief temple officer Zephaniah allowed Jeremiah to read this letter which we have seen before “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, (Jeremiah 21:1).  Jeremiah must have been friends with Zephaniah for him to allow Jeremiah to see this letter.  Again we see God punishing another false prophet and this as the death of the other two false prophets which we saw in our last SD should cause the people to believe Jeremiah is a true prophet of the Lord.  We have mentioned before that God has plans for these exiles as when we look at the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ we can see that it goes through: “Mt 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”

            We will conclude this portion of this SD with some very insightful words from Warren Wiersbe who ends his eight chapter of his commentary on the book of Jeremiah saying:  “What life does to us depends largely on what life finds in us.  If we seek the Lord and want His best, then circumstances will build us and prepare us for what He has planned.  If we rebel or if we look for quick and easy shortcuts, then circumstances will destroy us and rob us of the future God wants us to enjoy.  The same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay.

            “God’s thoughts and plans concerning us come from His heart and lead to His peace.  Why look for substitutes?”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know that I am not always going to do the things that please the Lord even though I desire to do so, but like Paul writes to the Romans “18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me (Romans 7:18-20).” 

My Steps of Faith for Today:    When I fall down I must remember the statement that the old Scottish preacher said “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-9.

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Joseph” (Mark 1:20).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book tells about Onesimus?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/23/2014 9:48 AM