SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2014
1:04 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Jeremiah Announces Judgment
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah 19:10-15
Message of the
verses: We are looking at the second
sub-point under the main point entitled “Jeremiah, the Persecuted Prophet”
which covers Jeremiah 19:1-20:6.
“10 "Then you are to break the jar in the sight of
the men who accompany you 11 and say to
them, ’Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I break this people and
this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be
repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for
burial. 12 “This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,"
declares the LORD, "so as to make this city like Topheth. 13 "The houses of Jerusalem and the houses
of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all
the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host
and poured out drink offerings to other gods."’" 14 Then Jeremiah
came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the
court of the LORD’S house and said to all the people: 15 “Thus says the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel, ’Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its
towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have
stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’’”
I wanted to go back to verse five from yesterday’s SD and
include a note from my Online Bible Program from a commentator named John
Gill. “to burn their sons with fire,
[for] burnt offerings unto Baal; the same idol that is sometimes called Moloch,
the names being much of the same signification; the one signifying a
"lord" or "master"; the other a king; and to the idol under
each name they burned their children with fire, and offered them as burnt
offerings unto it; which was a most cruel and barbarous way of sacrificing.
Some think they only caused them to pass through two fires; but the text is
express for it, that they burnt them with fire, and made burnt offerings of
them, as they did with slain beasts. It seems very likely that they did both.” As I think about how awful this thing
described is it makes me think of the many millions of abortions that are done
around the world every year. Some would
say that this is not the same in that they do not believe that the “fetus” is
not a human being until it is born. This
is nonsense, for the Bible clearly teaches that when the sperm and egg are
joined together a human being is formed, a human being that has a soul and will
last forever either in heaven or hell.
Now we will begin to look at our verses for today’s
SD. Let’s begin by again looking back at
a verse from yesterday’s SD, verse seven:
“7 “I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place,
and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand
of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for
the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.” Dr. Wiersbe explains in an endnote more of
what this verse means, and how it relates to today’s verses: “The verb (for void) means ‘to empty’ and is
similar to the Hebrew word for jar.
Perhaps Jeremiah had put water in the clay flask and then poured it out
as he spoke these words. God would empty
all the nation’s plans and then break the nation that conceived them!” As we look at verse ten and eleven we
read: ““10 "Then you are to break
the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11 and say to them, ’Thus
says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a
potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in
Topheth because there is no other place for burial.” Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say “The nation was
beyond discipline (2:23), beyond prayer (7:16), and now beyond repair! They had so hardened themselves against the
Lord that all hope was gone.”
Now speaking of clay jars being broken this was a tradition
in some Near Eastern countries done by kings to simulate what they would do to
their enemies and was done before they went off to battle. Psalm 2:9 speaking of the Messiah says “’You
shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’’” Jesus Christ will do this as He judges all
the nations, but in the verse in Jeremiah it speaks of only Judah.
We can hardly imagine how angry those who accompanied
Jeremiah were after hearing this message that Jeremiah just told them. I think that these people were similar to
those who teach the prosperity gospel in churches today. They teach only about the love of God, but
forget to teach about the wrath and justice of God, and so those who accompanied
Jeremiah were very angry and wanted to silence him. However God is in control and He will not be silenced.
All these men had to do was to go back
to the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy to read the covenant that God had
made with Israel, and they could have looked back a few years to see that God
had used the Assyrians to defeat the Northern Kingdom, but they refused to do
so. Jeremiah next went to the temple to
again preach the same message there and this made them even madder.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section by
asking a question: “Can nations and
individuals sin so greatly that even God can’t restore them? Yes, they
can. As long as the clay is pliable in
the hands of the potter, he can make it again if it’s marred (18:4), but when
the clay becomes hard, it’s too late to re-form. Judgment
is the only response to willful apostasy.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel refused to repent, and the Assyrians took
it captive. Now the Southern Kingdom of
Judah was resisting God’s truth, and Babylon would destroy the land and deport
the people. The Jewish people rejected
their King when they asked Pilate to crucify Jesus; forty years later, the
Romans did to Jerusalem what the Babylonians had done six centuries before. ‘There is a sin unto death’ (1 John 5:16).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am a firm
believer that the Bible teaches that those who are truly born-again Christians
cannot lose their salvation. With that
said I believe that the Bible teaches that a believer can lose their rewards
and get into heaven with a “smoky robe.”
“1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but
he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Keep a short list with the Lord.
Memory verse for the
week: Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with
Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself up for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Satan” (Mark 4:9).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where did Abraham go to offer
Isaac as a burnt offering?”
Answer in our next SD
5/10/2014 1:59 PM
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