SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2014
9:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Reconciliation:
A New People PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
31:2-20
Message of the
verses: We move this morning into
our second sub-point from chapter 31 of Jeremiah.
A Restored Israel (Jeremiah 2:2-20): “2 Thus says the LORD, "The people who
survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness- Israel, when it went to find
its rest." 3 The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have
loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with
lovingkindness. 4 “Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of
Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of
the merrymakers. 5 “Again you will plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria; The
planters will plant And will enjoy them. 6 “For there will be a day when
watchmen On the hills of Ephraim call out, ’Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To
the LORD our God.’" 7 For thus says the LORD, "Sing aloud with
gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give
praise and say, ’O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.’ 8 "Behold,
I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the
remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with
child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will
return here. 9 "With weeping they
will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by
streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I am
a father to Israel, And
Ephraim is My firstborn."
“10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare in the
coastlands afar off, And say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a
shepherd keeps his flock." 11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob And redeemed
him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12 “They will come and shout
for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the bounty of the
LORD-Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the
flock and the herd; And their life will be like a watered garden, And they will
never languish again. 13 “Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the
young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give
them joy for their sorrow. 14 “I will fill the soul of the priests with
abundance, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness," declares the
LORD. 15 Thus says the
LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel
is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more." 16 Thus says the LORD, "Restrain
your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be
rewarded," declares the LORD, "And they will return from the land of the enemy. 17 “There is hope for your
future," declares the LORD, "And your children will return to their own territory. 18 "I have surely heard Ephraim
grieving, ’You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained calf;
Bring me back that I may be restored, For You are the LORD my God. 19 ’For after I turned back, I
repented; And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh; I was ashamed and
also humiliated Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ 20 “Is Ephraim
My dear son? Is he a delightful child? Indeed, as often as I have spoken
against him, I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely
have mercy on him," declares the LORD.”
It was in 722 BC that the Assyrians captured the Northern
Kingdom of Israel and lead them into captivity.
According to 2 Kings chapter seventeen the Assyrians brought some of the
people back into the land, but they became a mixed breed of people and were
hated by the Jews. We can see this hatred
all the way to when Jesus was on the earth.
When we look at John chapter four we see the story of the Samaritan
woman whom became a believer, but as we look at that chapter we can also see
that there was a great hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. Now as we look at the promises in our section
from Jeremiah for today we see that these promises refer to the end times. I am not so sure that many of the people of
Israel know exactly which tribe that they came from today. However we know that God knows which tribe
that they our from as He will call 144,000 that is 12,000 from each of the
tribes of Israel to minister during the tribulation period as seen in the 7th
chapter of the book of Revelations. I
have mentioned in several of my SD’s that when the nation of Israel was split
into two kingdoms that many from the Northern Kingdom moved to the Southern
Kingdom because of the false religion that was set up in the North. The bottom line is that God knows who belongs
to what tribe and will have no problem calling the 144,000 during the end times
to bring forth the gospel to a dying world.
These nineteen verses speak of God restoring Israel, that
is the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom into His family as He speaks to them
like a Father to a son, and even calls Ephraim His first born. Now I want to quote a paragraph from Warren
Wiersbe’s commentary and then an endnote to finish this part of this SD.
“Matthew later referred to verses 15-17 (Matthew
2:16-18). Rachel was the mother of
Joseph and Benjamin, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two
leading tribes in the Northern Kingdom (Gen. 30:22-24). Jeremiah heard Rachel weeping at Ramah, where
the Jewish prisoners were assembled for their long journey to Babylon (Jer.
40:1). Her descendants through Joseph had
been captured by the Assyrians, and now her descendants through Benjamin (the
Southern Kingdom) were going to Babylon.
Her labor as a mother had been in vain!
(Remember, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.) But God assured her that both Ephraim and
Judah will be restored (31:16-17), and therefore her sacrifices will not be in
vain!”
“How does this relate to Matthew’s quotation? As Rachel died she named her son Ben-oni, which means ‘son of my sorrow,’
but Jacob named him Benjamin, ‘Son of
my right hand,’ (Gen. 35:16-20). In His
humiliation and suffering, Jesus Christ is the man of sorrows, but in His
exaltation and glory, He is the Son of God’s right hand (Acts 2:22-36). Jacob made Bethlehem a burial place, but
Jesus made it a birthplace! The
Bethlehem mothers, bereft of their sons, wept in despair, but just as God
promises comforted Rachel, so their sacrifice would not be in vain. No matter how many enemies try to destroy
Israel, the nation will not perish, for their Messiah reigns and will come one
day and deliver His people.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: What I see in
this section is the faithfulness of the Lord as He has made a promise to Israel
and will keep it so also as He gives promises to the Church, which I am a part
of, He will keep those too. One of the promise
that He has made to the church is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, a promise
that we will begin to study next month, a wonderful promise that one day will
take place, and I hope it will be in my life time.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord with all of my heart and do
not lean on my own understanding.
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 becoming 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 yesterday’s Bible
question: “Bartimaeus” (Mark 10:47).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where did the Midianites sell
Joseph?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/28/2014 10:45 AM
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