SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2014
8:04 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah
Writes some Letters PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
29:15-23
Message of the
verses: What we are looking at in
this SD is a letter concerning Jewish false prophets in Babylon to which
Jeremiah replied and Dr. Wiersbe entitles this sub-point “Jeremiah’s word of
explanation.”
“15 "Because
you have said, ’The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’- 16 for thus says the LORD concerning the king
who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in
this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile- 17 thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Behold, I am
sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like
split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. 18 ’I will pursue them
with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror
to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and
a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have
not listened to My words,’ declares the LORD, ’which I sent to them again and
again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the LORD.
20 "You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles,
whom I have sent away from
Jerusalem to Babylon. 21
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab
the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you
falsely in My name, ’Behold,
I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before
your eyes. 22 ’Because of them a
curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying,
"May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted
in the fire, 23 because they have acted
foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’
wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them;
and I am He who knows and am a witness," declares the LORD.’"”
It wasn’t bad enough to have false prophets in Jerusalem,
but now we find them among the exiles that Nebuchadnezzar took from
Jerusalem. I am not sure which date that
they were taken either 605 or 597, but they were there spreading their poison
among the exiles and the word got back to Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah that he was going to deal
with two of these prophets by having Nebuchadnezzar roast them in a fire. This reminds me of chapter three of Daniel’s
book where Daniel’s three friends would be put into the fire because they would
not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s god.
The difference is that these false prophets were bowing down to a false
god and probably did not even know it and so they died for their sins against
the Lord and would also become a proverb in Israel for a warning not to rebel
against the Word of God.
I see the problem here is that the people did not know
what the Word of God had to say about why they were in exile and how long they
would be in exile. Jeremiah told them
two times in his book that they would be in exile for 70 years, both in
Jeremiah 25:11 and also in Jeremiah 29:10.
Daniel had a copy of the book of Jeremiah so we know that it was
available to the exiles, at least some of them.
God’s long-suffering had run its course and therefore those who were in
exile were actually better off than those left in Jerusalem, for God called
them spoiled figs unable to be eaten. We
can surely see the hard hardiness of the people.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: In both messages
at our church today we heard about the sinfulness of the people of Israel, and
it was compared to the sinfulness of the people of our country. I am not saying that we are as bad as they
were, however we have had just as much of the Word of God and probably more
than they did. Too much is given much is
required. I used to be pretty hard on
what the people of Israel did especially when they were coming out of Egypt and
had just seen ten miracles done by the Lord and then had all of the trouble
after that in trusting the Lord. I don’t
think that I can be so hard on them as I once was for I am not sure that in
some of the cases I would have been a lot different. I have had the greatest miracle done to me
which is the gift of salvation and I don’t always trust the Lord near as much
as I should have.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to get me through some
difficult problems that I am facing.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-10
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. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on
a cross. 9 For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven
and on the earth and under the earth,
Answer to yesterdays Bible
question: “Jericho” (Luke 9:1-2).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who became the husband of
Mary the mother of Jesus?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/22/2014 9:00 PM
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