Jeremiah
I have the John MacArthur Study Bible. In his introduction to the book of Jeremiah, he pointed out that this prophet of God "sought to turn the nation back from the point of no return." He also noted that one of the sub themes is "God's sufficiency in all trouble". I believe those two things are important to remember when studying the writings of this man of God.
As
I read the first six chapters this afternoon, I couldn't help but think that these words could also be
written to our great country, a country that once prided itself in being
a Christian nation with Judaeo-Christian mores. Look how far from that description we have come!
As
God commissioned Jeremiah to issue severe warnings to His people,
He also promised that He would be with Jeremiah to deliver Him (1:8;
1:19). Again and again God pointed out the evil of His people, their
"whoring" after other gods.
"Your evil will chastise you,
and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and
bitter for you to forsake the Lord you God..."
(Jeremiah 2:19)
In 3:12, 13 and
15, God promised He would not be angry forever; that their repentance
could avert His judgment, that one day He would give them shepherds, or
leaders, after His own heart... One day they would confess that "Truly
in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel" (3:23).
Jeremiah
is pleading with his people to "wash your heart from evil that you may
be saved" (4:14). Again, he reminds them that their ways and their
deeds have brought this judgment upon them (4:18). Yet "they have
refused to repent" (5:3). "...Your sins have kept good from you"
(5:25). Again, God pleads with His people, through Jeremiah, to "ask for the
ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for
your souls" (6:16).
And
in the middle of all this gloom and doom is a prophecy of the Millennial kingdom:
"Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord,
and all nations shall
gather to it,
to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem..."
(Jeremiah 3:17)
So
as we read the book of Jeremiah, we need to read it through the eyes of God. His
people defamed God Himself by rejecting Him and His ways, but God continued to love them and to warn them of the consequences of their rejection, sharing the only way they can be saved - through repentance and a
return to following Him with all their hearts. Genuine repentance MUST
include turning from their evil ways, their disobedience of God's laws,
as it has throughout the Old Testament. It is still true today. We prove
our faith in God by our obedience to Him.
As
Paul wrote in Galatians 6:7--"God is not mocked". It was the mockery of
God, for example, that caused God to return Samson's strength to him so
he could pull down the temple where the worshipers of Dagon had
gathered to mock the God of Samson while making a spectacle of Samson.
God must be glorified and the consequences of mockery are severe.
Our
nation, too, deserves judgment. Many people still call the U.S. a
Christian nation, but do we reflect the character of Christ? No way! We as a
nation are a mockery of Christ, rejecting God's commands, calling what is evil in God's sight "good". But repentance would bring us back into
His favor. How likely is national repentance? Not likely, but we can pray for revival:
"With man this is impossible,
but with God
all things are possible."
(Matthew 19:26b)
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