SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2014
8:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God opposes
the leaders of Judah Part I
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
21:1-7
Message of the
verses: In Today’s SD we begin a new
series of chapters in the book of Jeremiah as we will begin to look at chapters
21-24. Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter
in his commentary on Jeremiah “Kings On Parade.” He begins this chapter with a poem by an
Englishman named Rudyard Kipling entitled “Recessional” which was published in
1897 when Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond Jubilee.
“The tumult and the shouting dies
The captains and the kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget.”
This is not only a good reminder for the nation of Judah
during the time when Jeremiah lived and wrote his book about Judah, but it is a
good reminder to what would happen to England who once proudly said that the
sun never sat on the British Empire. One
of the things that happened to them was that they turned their backs on the
Jews, something that is now going on in our country. We now have a Muslim as President of our
country and we now see the rapid falling apart of our country because we are
forgetting the fear of the Lord, and because of our new stance on
homosexuality, and because we as a government are turning our backs on the
nation of Israel. All of these things
will cause any person or nation to have great problems. The nation of Judah was having problems of
another kind and that is they were failing to keep the first of the Ten
Commandments. They would rather worship
idols than to worship the Lord.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of his introductory
commentary in order to give a preview of what is coming in this chapter. “In
the great days of David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, the nation had honored the Lord,
but now Judah was rapidly moving toward defeat and disgrace. In these pivotal chapters, Jeremiah delivered
four important messages to the leaders and to the people.” We begin today by beginning to look at the
first message which comes from chapter twenty-one.
“1 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, 2
"Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according
to all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us."
3 Then Jeremiah said to them, "You
shall say to Zedekiah as follows (Jeremiah 21:1-3).”
Dr. Wiersbe believes this took place in 588 when the
Babylonians were camped outside the walls of Jerusalem beginning their siege against
the city which would end in its destruction in August of 586. Zedekiah was not at all a good king who
feared the Lord, but was in bed with Egypt to help protect Judah. This of course failed as he could not pay
them the money they wanted to protect them and Egypt would also fall to the
Babylonians. In desperation Zedekiah
sent for Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord, but the answer he gets is not the one
he wanted. Now we will look at an end
note to help us better understand these verses:
“This is not the Pashur who persecuted Jeremiah (Jer. 20) although this
Pashur later assisted in imprisoning Jeremiah and urging the king to kill him
(Jer. 38). There’s no evidence that
Zephaniah the priest was opposed to the prophet. Zephaniah was eventually taken to Babylon and
executed (2 Kings 25: 18-21).”
A pronouncement to King Zedekiah (vv. 3-7): “3 Then Jeremiah said to them, "You
shall say to Zedekiah as follows: 4 ’Thus says the LORD God of Israel,
"Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your
hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans
who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center
of this city. 5 “I Myself
will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in
anger and wrath and great indignation. 6 “I will also strike down the
inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great
pestilence. 7 “Then afterwards," declares the LORD, "I will give over
Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive
in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the
hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge
of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion."’”
As I said this is not the answer that Zedekiah was
looking for, for not only would the Lord cause the defeat of Judah, but would
aid in the destruction of Judah. This
was the just wrath of the Lord seen in these words. When Judah was following and fearing the Lord
God answered their prayers when they were being attacked, but not that they did
not fear the Lord or follow His Word God’s long suffering had run out and He
was not against them.
We see words that describe what God was feeling and would
do against Judah that were used before against their enemies, but these words
like anger, furry, and great wrath were
a part of His covenant with them. Look
at Deuteronomy 29:23, 28; 32:16-17, 21, 29 to see this.
Many of the people of Judah died when the Babylonians
attacked them and many were also taken to Babylonian where they would remain
until the Lord called them back to Jerusalem some seventy years later.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One of the things
that I mentioned that is wrong with our country is people do not fear the
Lord. Believers need also to fear the
Lord, for God is a just God and cannot stand sin therefore I am to fear the
Lord. Not fear Him as if He would
destroy me, but fear Him because He is a holy God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Fear the Lord in the way He desires me to
fear Him.
Memory verses for the week: Philippians 2:5-6
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,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The fifth Day” (Genesis 1:20-23).
Today’s Bible
question: “In Ephesians, what command
does Paul give to the children?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/20/2014 8:58 AM
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