SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2014
3:35 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Pictures 4-7
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah 2:20-25
Message of the
verses: We will look at pictures
four through seven that show us more about the rebellion of the people of Judah
along with the fact that God sees His people’s sins.
A Stubborn animal (Jeremiah 2:20): “20 "For long ago I broke your yoke And
tore off your bonds; But you said, ’I will not serve!’ For on every high hill
And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.”
Jeremiah is comparing the people of Judah to an unruly animal,
one that refuses to wear a yoke. I want
to compare this verse with three verses at the end of the 11th
chapter of Matthew, and in those verses we see that it is the Lord Jesus who is
speaking and the word “yoke” is used in these verses, but it is contrary to how
Jeremiah speaks of the people he is writing to.
“28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you
rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble
in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light.’
As we work our way through the book of Jeremiah we will see that he will often use animals to picture the behavior of the people whom he is writing about.
As we work our way through the book of Jeremiah we will see that he will often use animals to picture the behavior of the people whom he is writing about.
A Degenerate Vine (Jeremiah 2:21): “21 “Yet I planted you a choice vine, A
completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the
degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?”
This is not the only time when Israel is pictured as a
vine in the OT. “1 Let me sing now for
my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved
had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones,
And planted it with the choicest
vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine
vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only
worthless ones. 3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge
between Me and My vineyard. 4 "What
more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I
expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5 “So now let
Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and
it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled
ground. 6 “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and
thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it."
7 For the vineyard of the
LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant.
Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold,
a cry of distress (Isaiah 5:1-7).”
Hosea has the following to say in Hosea 10:1-2 “1 Israel
is a luxuriant vine;
He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made; The
richer his land, The better he made the sacred pillars. 2 Their heart is faithless;
Now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars And
destroy their sacred pillars.”
One more from Ezekiel 17:1-10: “1 Now the word of the LORD came to me
saying, 2 "Son of man, propound a
riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel, 3 saying, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "A
great eagle with great wings, long pinions and a full plumage of many colors
came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar. 4 “He plucked off the
topmost of its young twigs and brought it to a land of merchants; he set it in
a city of traders. 5 “He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it
in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow. 6
“Then it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine with its branches turned
toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and yielded
shoots and sent out branches. 7
"But there was another great eagle with great wings and much
plumage; and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and sent out its
branches toward him from the beds where it was planted, that he might water it.
8 “It was planted in good soil beside abundant waters, that it might yield
branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine."’ 9 “Say, ’Thus says
the Lord GOD, "Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off
its fruit, so that it withers-so that all its sprouting leaves wither? And
neither by great strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots
again. 10 “Behold, though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not completely
wither as soon as the east wind strikes it-wither on the beds where it
grew?"’"
What we see in all of these verses is that God planted
Israel in a fertile place and nurtured them like they were a fine vine, but
they did not want to follow the leading of the Lord, and so the Lord had to
punish them until the time came when they would follow the Lord fully.
A Defiled Body (Jeremiah 2:22): “22 "Although you
wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before
Me," declares the Lord GOD.”
Many of the people of Israel and of Judah though that
they could do good works in order to satisfy the Lord, and for that matter many
people today believe that they can do good works in order to please the Lord so
much that He will allow them to get into heaven, but this is not so. The OT Law shows the righteousness of God and
Paul writes the following in Romans chapter five to show one of the purposes of
the Law: “Ro 5:20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” The Law of God causes transgressions to
increase, and this is good because this will show people that they cannot keep
the righteous Law of God and then they will turn to the Lord for mercy and He
will save them. You have to admit that
you are a sinner before you can be saved by the grace of God. There is nothing wrong with the Law of God,
it is perfect, but we are not. The
problem with man is in his heart, and Jeremiah is a prophet of the heart for he
uses this word more than sixty times in his book.
An Animal in the Desert (Jeremiah 2:23-25): “23 “How can you say, ’I am not defiled, I
have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you
have done! You are a swift
young camel entangling her ways, 24 A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That
sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away?
All who seek her will not become weary; In her month they will find her. 25 “Keep
your feet from being unshod And your throat from thirst; But you said, ’It is
hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, And after them I will walk.’”
The following are two verses from the Gospel’s of Matthew
and Luke that help us better understand these verses in Jeremiah better: “Mt 7:16
"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from
thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
Lu 6:44 “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather
figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.” Jesus is saying that one will be able to know
a person by their fruit. The people
Jeremiah was writing to were saying one thing but doing a completely different
thing.
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“Even if people denied that they were defiled, their actions proved
otherwise, for they were like animals: a lost camel looking for an oasis; or a
donkey in heat, running here and there looking for a mate. As the Jews pursued the false gods of the
pagan nations, their shoes wore out and their throats became dry. How much better had they drunk the refreshing
water from the river of God!”
In verse 25 we see that these people who had sinned so
much though it was hopeless, but that is not true. Paul said that he was the chief of sinners
and the Lord Jesus saved him, so that means that it is not hopeless. We read the following from Charles Wesley’s
hymn “For a thousand tongues to sing.” “He
breaks the power of canceled sins, He sets the prisoner free.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: In order for me to do things that are pleasing to the
Lord I must rely upon the Spirit of God to show me what He wants me to do that
will bring honor to my Lord, and not try to do things on my own.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “The Jews” (1 Cor. 9:20).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What city did Jesus weep
over?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/26/2014 4:27 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment