SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2014
8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Message
was Dangerous PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
1:11-12
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we begin the
last major point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary and also from the first chapter
of the book of Jeremiah.
Can you imagine being Jeremiah and waking up one morning
and God speaks to you and tells you that your whole life will be
different? Jeremiah was a priest and
probably had different ideas for what he would do for his life, but God intervened
one day and told him that he was going to be a prophet to the people of Judah,
a people who were disobedient to the Law of God.
As we begin to study the OT prophets, and this is the
second one we have been studying we can see that there are three common threads
that are seen in these books, three common strands of truth that was woven into
their messages. The first thing we see
is something about their past sins, for the nation was disobeying the Law of
the Lord. Next we see something about
their present responsibility, showing the people the need for repentance. And
the last thing we see is a hope for the future, the promise of the glorious
kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ as He will reign on earth to fulfill the
promises that God is giving through the prophets. Now we know more about this kingdom than
those of the OT, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ will return at the end of
the period we call the tribulation period which lasts for seven years as God is
doing a final purging of the nation of Israel.
He will return to planet earth as seen in the 19th chapter of
the book of Revelations with His saints and then separate the sheep and the
goats after which He will set up His earthly kingdom that will last for 1000
years as seen also in the book of Revelations.
As we begin to look at the message that Jeremiah had for
the people we find out that it was not a joyful message that he was given by
God, but it was rather a tragic message of judgment. Dr. Wiersbe says “So dangerous was his message
that people hearing it called Jeremiah a traitor. He would be misunderstood, persecuted,
arrested, and imprisoned and more than once, his life was in danger. The nation didn’t want to hear the truth, but
Jeremiah told them plainly that they were defying the Lord, disobeying the Law,
and destined for judgment.”
As we continue in this SD we will find out that God gave
Jeremiah three promises in order to prepare him for the dangerous mission he
was to go on. Two of these promises were
in the form of visions.
The Almond Tree:
God’s Word will be Fulfilled (Jeremiah 1:11-12): “11 The word of the LORD came to me saying,
"What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an
almond tree." 12 Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I
am watching over My word to perform it.’”
Dr. Wiersbe points out something very interesting about
the almond tree and what it means. He
states that the almond tree begins to blossom in the Holy Land in the month of January,
which gives the people a hope of the spring.
The Lord uses a play of words to Jeremiah for the world for almond tree
is saqed and the word for “watch” is soqed. This word can also men to be
awake. This play on words used by the
Lord to impress him with the fact that the Lord is always awake to watch over
His Word and to fulfill His Word.
When the Lord took Israel out of the land of Egypt as
described in the book of Exodus He took them to Mt. Sinai and there He gave
them His covenant, and this covenant is likened to a marriage covenant. Israel on the other hand had played the
harlot and instead of worshiping the Lord as they told Him they would they
began to worship idols, and this was displeasing to the Lord and so He sent
different prophets to call them back to Himself, and this would be a part of Jeremiah’s
message to the people. Let’s look at an
example of this from the book of 2 Kings 17:13-15, “13 Yet the LORD warned
Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn
from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I
commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the
prophets." 14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their
fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 They rejected His statutes and His
covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He
warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the
nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not
to do like them.” This section tells the
story of what Israel and Judah did, and it is not a pretty picture.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The Lord Jesus
calls those who belong to Him His bride, and so we are actually married to the
Lord because of what He did for us on the cross. God uses marriage to show His people that
they are to be faithful to Him, and that is my desire. However there are forces to deal with that
makes this obedience difficult to accomplish.
Walking with the Lord is hard at times, but I know that He will give me
the strength to accomplish this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To be faithful to the Lord and walk in
obedience to Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Solomon” (1 Kings 3:25).
Today’s Bible
Question: “To what city did Joseph and
Mary take Jesus when He was twelve years old?
Answer in our next SD.
1/21/2014 9:22 AM
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