Part One of "God Sees His People's Sins" from Jeremiah 2:1-8

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2014 9:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  Rebellion:  God Sees His People’s Sins

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 2:1-8

            Message of the verses:  We begin a new chapter in the book of Jeremiah and also in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Jeremiah.  He entitles this second chapter in his book :  “The Prophet Preaches” and it covers chapters 2-6 of Jeremiah.

            Introduction:  Jeremiah is a young man when he begins his ministry for the Lord as we have learned in chapter one.  I have heard many young men preach the Word of God, and although many of them usually did not take up their whole allotted time to preach they would eventually make up for it because when they got older they would take more than their allotted time.  I have seen several of these young men continue to be used of God and for that matter are still being used today by the Lord.  We will see Jeremiah’s first two messages to the people of Judah in these six chapters we are about to look at.  In an end note to this chapter Dr. Wiersbe explains “The break at Jeremiah 3:6 indicates that two messages are recorded in these chapters, the first from 2:1-3:5, and the second from 3:6 to 6:30.  Later, Jeremiah’s messages were written down by his secretary, Baruch, but King Jehoiakim burned the scroll. So Jeremiah dictated them again and added new messages to the book (Jeremiah 36).”

            Dr Wiersbe writes the following important information for his readers at the end of his introductory commentary:  “Four major themes combine in these messages:  rebellion, repentance, righteousness, and retribution.”  As we go through these chapters in Jeremiah we will look for these four themes. As we look at chapter two it would be good for us to realize that much of the book of Jeremiah is written in Hebrew poetry and for a summary on what that means you can go to the introduction to the book of Psalms.  We will be looking for ten pictures that Jeremiah paints in this second chapter of his book.

            An unfaithful wife (Jeremiah 2:1-8):  “1 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2  "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ’Thus says the LORD, "I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown. 3 “Israel was holy to the LORD, The first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them," declares the LORD.’" 4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD, "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty? 6  "They did not say, ’Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of deep darkness, Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?’ 7 “I brought you into the fruitful land To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. 8 “The priests did not say, ’Where is the LORD?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit.”

            In an earlier SD we began to see that the Lord made a covenant with the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai and that covenant was like a marriage covenant between Israel and the Lord.  The problem was that after the second generation the people of Israel did not serve the Lord and they actually went after false gods.  In the Scriptures the idolatry they committed is often called adultery or prostitution.  This shows that the covenant was like a marriage covenant.  I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that the problem that Israel had after they got into the Promised Land was that they failed to drive out all of the inhabitants of the land and they were the ones who worshiped idols, thus Israel began to worship their idols and this was what the Lord hated.  They were still doing this in Jeremiah’s day and so he tells them about this at the beginning of his first sermon to them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  After the Lord saved me almost 40 years ago I like the children of Israel have to continue to conquer “the land” just should have done.  This is a picture of what believer’s have to do in their walk with the Lord, and that is to continue to fight in the power of the Spirit so that their, and my life can be pleasing to the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember that the successful walk of the believer is a series of new beginnings.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Mark and Luke.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “Where did the locusts go when they left Egypt during the plague?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/24/2014 9:53 AM