SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2014
10:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s Word
Rejected PT-1
Bible Reading & Mediation Reference: Jeremiah
37:1-10
Message
of the verses: In today’s SD we
begin to look at how Zedekiah the king of Judah, who had contact with Jeremiah
on four occasions as recorded in chapters 37-38 of Jeremiah, but rejected what
the Lord had said through the prophet.
“Pray for Us!” (Jeremiah 37:1-10): “1 Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as
king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the
land listened to the words of the LORD which He spoke through Jeremiah the
prophet. 3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
"Please pray to the LORD our God on our behalf." 4 Now Jeremiah was still
coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him in the
prison. 5 Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the
Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they
lifted the siege from Jerusalem. 6 Then
the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 7 "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ’Thus
you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me:
"Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to
return to its own land of Egypt. 8 “The Chaldeans will also return and fight
against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire."’ 9 “Thus
says the LORD, ’Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will
surely go away from us," for they will not go. 10 ’For even if you had defeated the entire army
of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men
left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city
with fire.’"
I want to begin with John MacArthur’s
verse note from his Study Bible on verse one:
“Zedekiah, an uncle of Jeconiah, was raised to the throne by Nebuchadnezzar
in contempt for Jehoiakim and Jeconiah.
His 11 year vassal rule was from 597-586 B.C. The message of the king to Jeremiah in this
chapter is somewhat earlier than that in chapter 21, when Zedekiah was afraid
of the Chaldean’s (Babylonian’s) defeating Egypt and returning to besiege
Jerusalem (vv. 3, 5).” Also as we begin
the commentary on this section of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary which covers
chapters 37-38 I wish to quote a quotation that helps us understand
Zedekiah. “There’s no problem so beg or
complicated that it can’t be run away from.”
This quote was found on a wall in London in 1979, but was probably a
quote from the Charles Schultz comic strip.
Zedekiah fulfills these words in these two chapters.
Verses one through ten speak of the
first time that Zedekiah did not listen to Jeremiah who got his messages from
the Lord. Now as we look at these verses
we see that the king did not come to Jeremiah in person, and this was probably
because he was afraid to lose face in front of his officials. Now with this said and also because in the
background I can hear a sermon by John MacArthur on the radio from another room
which I had heard earlier in preparation for our upcoming lessons in 1
Thessalonians chapter five, I want to talk about the “Day of the Lord.” We will go more into depth on this subject
when we look at 1 Thessalonians chapter five, but part of what will go on at
that time is exactly what is going on in these two chapters. When we look at what the Day of the Lord is
we will see that it can have a meaning for which the prophets were writing at
that time and also a time in the future which is at the end of the tribulation
period that the real Day of the Lord will happen. I want to focus in on what happens in both of
these time periods and that is simply many people will not realize that this
trouble is coming and they will say “peace, peace,” which is exactly what the
officials of the king were saying to the king and to the people right before
the Babylonians came to destroy Jerusalem.
These two time periods have much in common as they will both have to do
with the nation of Israel, as God’s focus is on the nation of Israel at both
times. Zedekiah’s officials were telling
his wrongly that Jerusalem would not be destroyed when by the end of Zedekiah’s
eleven year reign the city will be burnt to the ground along with the temple. As MacArthur’s note says what happens in
chapter 37 happened earlier than what happened in chapter 21, and so the
officials were telling the king that their faith in Egypt was real as Egypt was
on the march to Jerusalem to help them but they would be defeated and then
Babylon would return to conquer Jerusalem.
We will see later on that the man
that was sent to Jeremiah by the king, Jehucal, was not a friend of Jeremiah as
he would urge the king to have him killed as seen in chapter 38:1, 4. We will also see that Jeremiah was put into
prison and also beaten, and all of this because he was standing up for the
truth of the Lord as he received messages from the Lord that were true, but
were not believed by the king and his officials and the false prophets who
believed that their prayers had been answered when Nebuchadnezzar left
Jerusalem to fight against Egypt.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I have
studied the book of Isaiah and am not studying the book of Jeremiah I am
wondering about the country that I live in.
In the book of Isaiah Israel’s coming doom was still in the future, but
in the book of Jeremiah we will see that it’s doom was right around the corner.
I pray each day that the Lord would bring revival to the church in our country
and that He would raise up a spiritual giant who would be a part of leading the
church in this country back to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that
the Lord will fulfill His plans for our country and also for my life.
Memory
verse for the week: Colossians 3:1.
1
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Stephen”
(Acts 7:56, 59).
Today’s
Bible question: “On what mountain did
Noah’s ark land?”
Answer
in our next SD.
7/18/2014
11:12 AM
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