SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2014
9:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God Discloses the Fate of the Kings
PT-5
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
23:1-8
Message of the
verses: I mentioned in our last SD
that it was the last of the sub-points in this main point about the kings, but
then found out that it was not the last one we will look at. In Today’s SD we will be looking at the best
of the best, as we will be looking at our Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings
who will rule from planet earth in the Millennial Kingdom which is promised in
the OT, but in the NT it is given the length of time that it will last, and
this is found in the book of Revelations.
Now we mentioned that we have seen the end of the kings
in the Davidic Dynasty as far as kings ruling the Southern Kingdom of
Judah. This happened after Zedekiah went
into captivity in Babylon, but was out lived by Jehoiachin who then would be
the last king that ruled over Judah. As
one looks at this one would think that this was bad news for the Jews, and one
may also look at it that God had not kept His promise to David, but then when
we move into chapter 23 we find out that there is good news, and that God will
keep His covenant with David through the coming Messiah, a righteous branch of
David. Now I want to look at verse five
of chapter 23 from Jeremiah and then look at some of the other verses that
speak of this “Branch”
5 "Behold, the days are coming,"
declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And
He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the
land.
Isa 11:1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of
Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Isa 4:2 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be
beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the
adornment of the survivors of Israel.
Jer 33:15 ’In those days and at that time I will cause
a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and
righteousness on the earth.
Zec 3:8 ’Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and
your friends who are sitting in front of you-indeed they are men who are a
symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch
Zec 6:12 "Then say to him, ’Thus says the LORD of
hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from
where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD.
We can see from all of these verses that the word “Branch”
refers to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Messiah The King-Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:1-8): “1 "Woe to the shepherds who are
destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the
LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people:
"You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended
to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,"
declares the LORD. 3 "Then I Myself will gather the remnant
of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them
back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 “I will
also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be
afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares
the LORD. 5 "Behold, the days are
coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He
will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 “In His days Judah will
be saved, And
Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called,
’The LORD our righteousness.’ 7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,"
declares the LORD, "when they will no longer say, ’As the LORD lives, who
brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ’As the LORD
lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel
from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then
they will live on their own soil."”
As we look at the first four verses in this 23rd
chapter we can see that the shepherds that Judah had did not care much for the
sheep. Now let me contrast their care of
Judah with the care that our Lord gives to His sheep: “14
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
15 even as the Father knows Me and I
know the Father; and I lay
down My life for the sheep. 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must
bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock
with one shepherd. 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I
lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from
Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down,
and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My
Father." (John 10:14-18) This
section of John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ will give His life for His
sheep, and that He has other sheep than those in Israel who were also given to
Him by His Father. This is how God’s
Shepherd will care for His Sheep, unlike those shepherds that Judah had who
cared not for their sheep.
Verse three speaks of a remnant, a word used nineteen
times in the book of Jeremiah. In this
case I believe that it is used perhaps in two ways. First there was a remnant that came back to
Jerusalem and built the temple of God again.
Next I believe that it can be used of those whom God calls back to the
nation of Israel of which He will call some of them to be a part of the
Millennial Kingdom. We also see that the
Lord says that He will not be known as the One who brought the children of
Israel out of Egypt, but as the One who brought the children of Israel back to
their land. Those who have a hard time
believing the Bible need to look at the nation of Israel. God called Abram to begin the nation of
Israel, and then He called them out of Egypt into their land. Next He took them out of their land and after
70 years brought them back into their land, but the land at that time did not
belong to them. After they crucified the
Lord Jesus Christ God sent them out of their land in 70 AD where they were dispersed
all around the world. In May of 1948 God
brought them back into their land and this time they will not leave it even
though there will be great times of trouble while they are now in their land,
trouble we can see if we listen to the news or look at a newspaper. Yes one who looks at the history of the
nation of Israel has to believe the Bible for in a large part the Bible is
about the history of the Jews.
We looked at verse five and when we look at verse six one
can see why I believe that God is not only talking about when the Jews come
back from Babylon, but also in that day when as Paul writes that “all Israel
will be saved.” Verse six speaks of in
the day of Messiah Judah will be saved.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section of his second main
point with the following “No matter how dard the day may be, God sends the
light of hope through His promises. The
godly remnant in Judah must have bee encouraged when they heard Jeremiah’s
words, and the promise must have sustained them during the difficult days of
the Captivity. The return of the Jews to
their land after the Captivity was but a foreshadowing of the great worldwide
regathering that will occur in the last days when ‘He shall send His angels
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.’ (Matthew 24:31).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It was back in January
of 1974 when I believed the truth of what I am reading about today, from what
Jeremiah writes to what Matthew writes to what John writes. I was not looking to God for salvation, but
God was calling me to salvation and He used the end times to draw me to
Himself, and it has been a very important part of my study of God’s Word ever
since. Not only that but the Lord has
used the end times teachings for me to led a number of people to a saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ. I love
reading and studying about it and telling others about it for in understanding
what is going on in our world today we can see that we are getting closer to
the time when the Lord will call His Church home to be with Him. We are truly living in exciting times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to bring people into my life
who are ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-7
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, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “By the ravens” (1 Kings
17:5-6).”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who rebuked the people that brought
infants to Jesus?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/27/2014 10:44 AM
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