SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/1/2014
11:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Two more
Pictures from Jer. 4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
4:5-31
Message of the
verses: We will divide this SD into
two sections.
Punishment (Jeremiah 4:5-18): “5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in
Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet in the land; Cry aloud and say,
’Assemble yourselves, and let us go Into the fortified cities.’ 6 "Lift up a standard toward Zion! Seek
refuge, do not stand still, For
I am bringing evil from the north, And great destruction. 7 "A lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make
your land a waste. Your cities will be ruins Without inhabitant. 8 “For this,
put on sackcloth, Lament and wail; For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us."
9 “It shall come about in that day," declares the LORD, "that the
heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will
be appalled and the prophets will be astounded." 10 Then I said, "Ah,
Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying,
’You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat." 11 In that time it will be said to this people
and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the bare heights in the
wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people-not to winnow and not
to cleanse, 12 a wind too strong for
this-will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them. 13 “Behold, he
goes up like clouds, And his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses are
swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!" 14 Wash your heart
from evil, O Jerusalem, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked
thoughts Lodge within you? 15 For a voice declares from Dan, And proclaims
wickedness from Mount Ephraim. 16 “Report it to the nations, now! Proclaim over
Jerusalem, ’Besiegers come
from a far country, And lift their voices against the cities of Judah. 17
’Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about, Because she has rebelled against
Me,’ declares the LORD. 18 “Your ways and your deeds Have brought these
things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! How it has touched your heart!’
These are some hard words that Jeremiah is telling his
audience and we can be sure that they will not believe what he is telling
them. This message was also told by
Isaiah to King Hezekiah when he allowed the envoys from Babylon see all that he
had. Hezekiah said that he felt blessed
because the destruction would not happen in his days. As we read through many
of the OT prophets who wrote and prophesized before the time when Judah was
taken into captivity we see similar warnings.
As I have begun to study the OT prophets I am seeing a parallel between
the time when Judah goes into captivity and the tribulation period.
The invasion that Jeremiah is writing about in this
section is the invasion of the Babylonians which actually began in 605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar came into siege the city of
Jerusalem and took some captives during the year of 605 BC, and Daniel was one
of those taken by the Babylonians, however Nebuchadnezzar got some disturbing
news about his father and left to care for him and did not return until 597
when he took more captives. In 586 BC
the temple was destroyed and the city of Jerusalem was also destroyed. God had given many warnings to the people of
Judah including this one, but no one listened.
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“God commanded the watchmen to blow the trumpet and alert the people to
run to the walled cities for safety.
That would have given them time to repent in sackcloth (v. 8) and to was
their hearts by confessing their sins (v. 14).
The Babylonian army, however, would come swiftly (v. 13; see Ezek.
38:16) and do their job thoroughly. ‘Your
own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!’ (Jeremiah 4:18).”
Pain (Jeremiah 4:19-31):
“19 My soul, my soul! I
am in anguish! Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me; I cannot be
silent, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm
of war. 20 Disaster on
disaster is proclaimed, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my
tents are devastated, My curtains in an instant. 21 How long must I see the
standard And hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 “For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding.
They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know." 23 I looked on the earth,
and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no
light. 24 I looked
on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills moved to and
fro. 25 I looked,
and behold, there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I looked, and behold, the
fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the
LORD, before His fierce anger. 27 For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a
desolation, Yet I
will not execute a complete destruction. 28 “For this the earth shall
mourn And the heavens above be dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed,
And I will not change My
mind, nor will I turn from it." 29 At the sound of the horseman and
bowman every city flees; They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
Every city is forsaken, And no man dwells in them. 30 And you, O desolate one,
what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself
with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you
make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; They seek your life. 31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, The
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
Stretching out her hands, saying, "Ah, woe is me, for I faint before
murderers.’”
As we look at this passage we can understand why Jeremiah
is known as the weeping prophet, for there is much pain seen in his words that
we read from this passage, as we can feel his pain from these words that he
spoke to these people and are recorded for us to read. Jeremiah knows that this tragedy could have
been avoided, and yet the people would not repent so it could have been
avoided.
Jeremiah was somewhat like the Apostle Paul in that when
he was speaking to people he was very bold, and when he spoke in private he was
heartbroken before them.
In this passage we see words that we do not often see in
Scripture, as God was calling men stupid, and foolish because they would not
obey Him. In verse 22 we read that they
lacked understanding, if they would have obeyed the Lord then none of this
would have come upon them. As we look at
verse 23 and following we see words that are similar to the words of Genesis
1:1 and 1:2. Dr. Wiersbe’s end note
reads as follows: “In their attempt to
prove that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there was a ‘gap’ during which God judged
Lucifer and his angels, some scholars have used Jeremiah 4:23ff, building their
case mainly on the phrase ‘without form and void’ (KJV). But his passage refers to the invasion of the
Babylonian army, not Genesis 1.
Furthermore, if this passage does refer to Genesis 1, then we must
believe in a pre Adamic race who lived in cities; and yet Adam is called ‘the
first man’ (1Cor. 15:45).” I have written about the theory that men of faith
have about a “gap” theory in earlier SD’s and this is very distressing to me in
that it takes away from what the Bible actually says. The Bible says that the earth was created in
six literal 24 hour days, and to take away from what it says makes it possible
to take other things away from the Word of God, something God says should not
happen. I want let all who read this SD
before the 4th of Feb. of this year (2014) know about a debate that
will be screened live at www.answersingenesis.org
at 7:00 Eastern Standard Time. The
debate is between Ken Ham who began the ministry and Bill Nye. Bill Nye is the so called science man and
they will debate over the origin of man.
The tragedy for the people of Jeremiah’s day was that
they did not listen to what the Lord was warning them, and the tragedy in today’s
world is that because of evolution people do not believe in God at all. The same thing that happened to the Jews in
Jeremiah’s day will happen to people today who do not believe in God and turn
to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ desire to understand all of what the Bible has to day to
me each day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Believe that the successful Christian life is
a series of new beginnings.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “With Kindness” (Genesis
50:21).
Today’s Bible
Question: “If any man offends not in
word, he is what kind of man?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/1/2014 11:53 AM
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