JEREMIAH 4
Invitation to return to the LORD verse 1- 2
IF you will RETURN – O Israel – says the LORD
RETURN to ME
AND IF you will put away your abominations out of MY sight
THEN shall you not remove
AND you shall swear – the LORD lives
in truth – judgment – righteousness
AND the nations shall bless themselves in HIM
and in HIM shall they glory
Message to Judah: Circumcise your heart verse 3- 4
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem
Break up your fallow ground – and sow not among thorns
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD
and take away the foreskins of your heart
you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem
LEST MY fury come forth like fire
and burn that none can quench it
because of the evil of your doings
Message to Judah: Destruction coming verse 5- 6
Declare you in Judah – and publish in Jerusalem – and say
Blow you the trumpet in the land – cry – gather together
and say
Assemble yourselves
let us go into the defensed cities
Set us the standard toward Zion – retire – stay not
for I will bring evil from the north
and a great destruction
Message to Judah: Anger of the LORD manifested verse 7- 8
The lion is come up from his thicket
and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way
He is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate
and your cities shall be laid waste – without an inhabitant
For this gird you with sackcloth – lament – howl
for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us
Message to Judah: Leaders will tremble verse 9
AND it shall come to pass at that day – says the LORD
that the heart of the king shall perish
and the heart of the princes
and the priests shall be astonished
and the prophets shall wonder
Jeremiah asked about promise of the LORD verse 10
THEN said I – Ah – Lord GOD
surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem
saying
You shall have peace
whereas the sword reaches unto the soul
Jeremiah states that destruction coming verse 11- 12
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem
A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the
daughter of MY people – not to fan – nor to cleanse
Even a full wind from those places shall come unto ME
now also will I give sentence against them
Jeremiah wants Judah to wash their hearts verse 13- 15
BEHOLD – he shall come up as clouds
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind
his horses are swifter than eagles
Woe to us! for we are spoiled
O Jerusalem – wash your heart from wickedness
that you may be saved
How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
For a voice declares from Dan
and publish affliction from mount Ephraim
Judah is responsible for judgment verse 16- 18
Make you mention to the nations
BEHOLD – publish against Jerusalem
that watchers come from a far country
and give out their voice
against the cities of Judah
As keepers of a field are they against her round about
BECAUSE she hath been rebellious against ME
says the LORD
Your way and your doings have procured these things to you
this is your wickedness – BECAUSE it is bitter
BECAUSE it reaches unto your heart
Jeremiah hears the battle trumpets verse 19- 21
My bowels- my bowels! I am pained at my very heart
my heart makes a noise in me
I cannot hold my peace – BECAUSE you have heard – O my soul
the sound of the trumpet – the alarm of war
Destruction upon destruction is cried
for the whole land is spoiled – suddenly are my tents spoiled
and my curtains in a moment
How long shall I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
LORD declares people foolish verse 22
For MY people is foolish – they have not known ME
they are sottish children – and they have none understanding
they are wise to do evil BUT
but to do good they have no knowledge
Jeremiah sees future disaster verse 23- 26
I beheld the earth – and – lo – it was without form – and void
and the heavens – they had no light
I beheld the mountains – and – lo – they trembled
and all the hills moved lightly
I beheld – and – lo – there was no man
and all the birds of the heavens were fled
I beheld – and – lo – the fruitful place was a wilderness
and all the cities thereof were broken down
at the presence of the LORD
and by HIS fierce anger
LORD states there will not be complete disaster verse 27- 28
For thus has the LORD
said
The whole land shall be desolate
YET I will not make a FULL END
For this shall the earth mourn – and the heavens above be black
BECAUSE I have spoken it – I have purposed it
and I will not repent – neither will I turn back from it
Judah unprepared for judgment verse 29- 30
The whole city shall flee for the noise of horsemen and bowmen
they shall go into thickets – and climb up upon the rocks
every city shall be forsaken – and not a man dwell therein
And when you are spoiled – what will you do?
though you cloth yourself with crimson
though you deck thee with ornaments of gold
though you rent your face with painting
in vain shall you make yourself fair
Your lovers will despise you – they will seek your life
Judah liked to woman in labor verse 31
FOR I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail
and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child
the voice of the daughter of Zion – that bewails herself
that spreads her hands
saying
Woe is me now
for my soul is wearied because of murderers
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. (571 “truth” [emeth] means right, faithful, firmness, stability, security, fidelity, permanence, or reliability.)
DEVOTION: One of the facts of the Word of God is that God is reliable. HE says what HE means and means what HE says.
The first fact that we need to realize is that the LORD is alive. HE is a living God. HE is an eternal God. HE is a holy God. Our God is unchanging. If HE states that we must do something, we must do it. If HE informs us that we are not to do something, we are not to do it. If we do it HE will judge us.
We live in a world that is starting not to believe in absolutes. They are trying to teach us that that everything is relative. There is nothing that is permanent. Facts are not really facts. Everything is on shaky ground. We have nothing we can depend on.
The people in Judah were hardened to the reliability of the Word of God. They needed to break up their fallow ground. They needed to return to their beliefs in the God of Creation. They needed to stop doing their abominations in the presence of the LORD. They needed to start living as if they believed in a stable God that was alive.
They knew HE was a God of judgment. They had experienced it in the past and were told of it by their forefathers. They knew that the LORD was righteous God and HE wanted them to live right in HIS sight.
If their actions would show their beliefs in these fact they would be a testimony to the nations around them again. They would manifest the power of the LORD. They would have a new heart.
The LORD wants us to continually review our relationship with HIM. HE has given us the LORD’S Supper to celebrate until HE returns. Each time we celebrate this ordinance we are to examine ourselves to see how we are doing in our growth in the LORD. If we find areas that we need to improve, which there always are, and then we need to confess our sins and ask for help in those areas.
The Apostle John gives us these instructions in the New Testament in our relationship with the Holy Spirit (John 16:8- 11). Our relationship with the LORD is manifested in our life if we are filled with the Holy Spirit. This happens at the point of salvation and leaves because of the unexamined life of a believer. We grieve the Holy Spirit with our sin. We quench the Holy Spirit when we are not doing things that HE commands us to do. Our goal should be to not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit in our life.
When this takes place we can bring glory to the LORD. Our service is important to the advancement of our local church and HIS kingdom.
CHALLENGE: Realize that there are absolutes in our world. The greatest absolute is the reliability of the Word of God. Share it with all you know as a message from the LORD.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest MY fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (3824 “heart” [lebab] means inner man, will, the soul, affections, conscience, the locus of a person’s thoughts (mind), volition, emotions, and knowledge of right from wrong (conscience) understood as the heart.)
DEVOTION: Here we find the LORD talking to the children of Israel regarding their relationship with HIM. HE was not happy with their present actions because they were not pleasing to HIM and the people of Israel needed to know that HE was not happy and so HE threatened them with judgment.
HE wanted them to change their actions before HE came in judgment to change them for them. They were disobeying HIM so completely that HE saw no other way to get their attention than to cause them to go into captivity under another nation that didn’t love HIM.
They were acting like the heathen nations around them and HE would not accept these types of actions from a group of people who were supposed to be following HIM. They were not listening to HIS prophets and Jeremiah was issuing this warning before it was going to take place.
Repentance was the only solution to this problem but the people were being stubborn. HE was warning but they were not listening. The other ten tribes had already gone into captivity and they were on their way because of their disregard for HIS warnings.
This can happen today as well. HE has sent warnings to us but it seems like we are in the same position as the children of Israel. We think we can do as we please and the LORD will not send judgment.
However, as we look at what is happening in our society today here in America and around the world we see those who claim to be followers of the LORD moving further and further away from the teachings of the Word of God, the Bible, to listening to messages that tell them they don’t need to repent of their sins and follow the LORD according to the teaching of the Bible.
It seems that the time is short, just like with the children of Israel. The ears of those who claim Christ are doing everything that the rest of the world is doing regarding disobeying the commands of the LORD and thinking HE doesn’t care.
CHALLENGE: Repentance is needed in the church as well in the places that prepare people to serve the LORD. There needs to be a revival in the hearts of the leaders as will as those in the pew for the LORD to stop judgment from coming today!
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: 18 Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart. (4751 “bitter” [mar] means chafed, discontented, very difficult to accept or bear, sorrowful, anguished, or poisonous.)
DEVOTION: Today we live in a world that really irritate everyone. It is difficult when we fight discontentment when things are not going the way we would like them to go. Sometimes it is our own fault and others it just happens.
The children of Israel were dealing with this emotion. They were responsible for what was happening to them but they didn’t want to accept responsibility for their own actions. The second part of the problem was that their heart was affected to the point that they didn’t want to repent of their sins. They even tried to blame God for all their problems.
The LORD had given the children of Israel specific instructions regarding their actions toward the world and HIM. HE had given the Ten Commandments for them to follow. HE had given them priests and prophets to give them updated information. HE never left them alone.
We can become bitter when the LORD judges us for our sin and we are not willing to repent. HE wants us to repent of our sins and keep close fellowship with HIM. Paul tells us that HE will send weakness, sickness and even death to reestablish fellowship with HIS children.
Many of the children of Israel were not following the LORD and Jeremiah was sent to warn them about what was coming. They could have reacted by repentance but most did not. Their hearts were not right with the LORD.
The LORD was only able to take one or two from a family because they repented of their sins. Today we have the same problem. Many are not worshiping false gods that are made of gold and silver but they still don’t want to worship the one TRUE GOD of the universe.
The LORD informs Jeremiah that the people’s actions are causing them to face HIS anger. HE has given them time to repent. Remember that HE is longsuffering with all but there comes a point when judgment must come.
Are we acting in a way that is displeasing to the LORD because we don’t care what HE expects of us? Are we unwilling to repent of our sins which will lead to judgment? CHALLENGE: Jeremiah is warning the children of Israel. This warning is given to us also. Are we blaming God for our actions?
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. (5530 “sottish” [cakal] means silly, senseless, not intelligent, stupid, pertaining to being senseless and stupid and lacking understand or foolish.)
DEVOTION: The LORD continues to confront Judah through the ministry of Jeremiah. HE asks them to return. Jeremiah proclaims that the LORD lives and he is involved with spreading truth. HE is also responsible for judgment. HE finally is involved in righteousness. The fruit of all these is that the nations shall bless themselves in HIM and shall glory in HIM.
However, the children of Judah need to break up their fallow ground. They need to circumcise their heart. They need to wash their heart from wickedness.
Why? There is a need to be genuine followers of the LORD. They are presently acting like spoiled children. They are acting so young that they can’t tell right from wrong. They are so good at doing evil they are called wise. They have no knowledge of how to do good.
How young are they acting? How about one year’s old. They are silly. They lack intelligence. They are morally wicked. They are headed for judgment.
The LORD informs Jeremiah that HE will not make a full end of them. The land will be desolate. The people will be in captivity but they will still have hope in the future. The LORD has spoken it. The LORD has purposed it. HE will not repent of the judgment but HE will restore them in the future. That time is still in the future.
It is not easy to raise children today. There are so many temptations out there for them to yield to in our society. They are told that they don’t have to obey any authority at home, school or church. The television encourages them to do their own thing.
The LORD confronted the children of Israel for doing their own thing. They had no trouble doing evil things but when it came to good things it was a different story. That is as true today as then.
We sometimes reject wisdom that comes from God’s Word. We think we can do things better than what God says to do. We are wrong. We are children that lack understanding when we try to do things our way.
We don’t have to teach our children to do evil; we have to teach them to do what is Biblically correct. That is what God is trying to do with HIS word to us. Parents – never give up. Pastors – never give up. Sunday school teachers – never give up. Are we listening or are we being silly?
Too often we find people who have been in the church for forty years who are still one year old in the LORD. They are not obeying the commands of the LORD. They still want to be bottle fed instead of willing to chew on the meat of the Word of God. They just don’t want to grow up because they would mean that they would have to accept responsibility for their faith.
One of the characteristics of true faith is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27) Are we putting this into practice in our daily walk with the LORD?
CHALLENGE: It is time to put away the childish things of the Christian life and move on to not speaking as a child or understanding like a child or thinking as a child but acting like a mature believer by putting childish habits away.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
gird with sackcloth lament and howl verse 8
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Priests shall be astonished verse 9
Prophets shall wonder verse 9
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1- 4, 8, 9, 17, 26, 27
Fury of the LORD verse 4
I will bring evil from north verse 6
Fierce anger of the LORD verse 8, 26
Lord – Adonai (Owner, Master) verse 10
GOD – Jehovah verse 10
Lord GOD verse 10, 11
Greatly deceived this people
Jerusalem
Saying: You shall have peace
Whereas the sword reaches to soul
A dry wind from those high places
coming toward daughter of
MY people – not to fan or cleanse
I will give sentence against
I will spoil the people
Creator verse 23
Presence of the LORD verse 26
Fierce anger of the LORD verse 26, 27
Whole land shall be desolate but
not to full end
I have spoken verse 28
Purpose of the LORD verse 28
LORD will not repent of HIS actions verse 28
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Nations bless themselves in HIM verse 2, 16
Glory in the LORD
Gentiles verse 7
Destroyer from the north
Make Israel desolate
Cities of Israel will be laid waste
without an inhabitant
Publish against Jerusalem verse 16
Far country verse 16
Earth without form and void verse 23
Heaven had no light verse 23
Mountains trembled verse 24
All the hills moved lightly verse 24
Birds of heavens fled verse 25
Fruitful place was a wilderness verse 26
Cities broken down verse 26
Earth mourn verse 28
Heavens will be black verse 28
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Abominations verse 1
Fallow ground verse 3
Sowing among thorns verse 3
Evil doings verse 4, 6, 18, 22
Wickedness in Jerusalem verse 14, 18
Vain thoughts verse 14
Rebellious against the LORD verse 17
Ways and doings of Israel: wickedness verse 18
Bitter heart verse 18
Foolish verse 22
Not knowing LORD verse 22
No understanding verse 22
Scottish verse 22
Wise to do evil verse 22
Despise verse 30
Murderers verse 31
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Return verse 1
Swear: The LORD lives verse 2
Truth verse 2
Judgment verse 2
Righteousness verse 2
Blessed verse 2
Break up fallow ground verse 3
Circumcise your heart verse 4
Take away the foreskins of heart
Peace verse 10, 19
Wash your heart verse 14
Saved verse 14
Understanding verse 22
Do good verse 22
Knowledge verse 22
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Israel verse 1
Men of Judah verse 3- 5, 16
Jerusalem verse 3- 5, 10, 11 14, 16, 19
Pained at its heart
Sound of alarm of war
Destruction upon destruction
Whole land is spoiled
Tents are spoiled
Judah verse 5
Zion verse 6, 31
set up standard toward Zion
Evil and great destruction from north verse 6
King verse 9
heart shall perish
Princes verse 9
Heart shall be astonshed
Prophets verse 9
God’s people verse 11, 22
Dan – affliction verse 15
Mount Ephraim – affliction verse 15
Cities of Judah verse 16
Ask question: How long shall I see the
standard and hear sound of trumpet verse 21
People are foolish verse 22
Sottish children with no understanding verse 22
Wise to do evil verse 22
No knowledge to do good verse 22
Jerusalem will flee for the noise of
horsemen and bowmen verse 29
Jerusalem is spoiled verse 30
Vain shall you make yourselves fair verse 30
Lovers shall despise you and will seek your life verse 30
Woman in travail of daughters of Zion verse 31
anguish and wailing
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
4:22 The speaker here must be God. The designation “my people” was often used to express the covenant relation between God and Israel (e.g., Exod 5:1; Deut 32:9; 1 Sam 9:16; Jer 11:4). He also called his people “fools,” however, the opposite of wise or prudent. In the OT a fool was one who ignored (i.e., “refused to know”) the Lord and his authority. God also accused them of not knowing him (cf. Isa 1:2–3); they were senseless children without understanding. Moreover, they were “skilled” in doing evil. A person’s conscience can become so seared that even when caught he insists that he has done no wrong. He can become so adept in doing evil that he does not know how to do good.
Underlying God’s angry words directed toward his people is an unstated note of pathos. God is like a heartbroken parent warning about the disastrous results of a choice of life-style. However, God allows everyone the freedom to determine his or her own life and destiny. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 84). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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22. The overwhelming tempest of fear has a rational cause, based upon a combination of ignorance and stupidity. If the latter persists it can only receive an appropriate and entirely deserved recompense. So perverse have the people become that their only skills are iniquitous ones. (Harrison, R. K. (1973). Jeremiah and Lamentations: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 21, p. 76). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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19–22 These verses have been variously interpreted as (1) the words of the Lord, (2) the words of the nation, or (3) the words of Jeremiah. Undeniably the Lord was affected by the agony of his people. Certainly the nation would express its agony at their plight. But it appears in keeping with the immediate and broad context of the entire book to understand the words as expressing Jeremiah’s personal involvement with the calamity of his people. Much is surely lost of the prophet’s thoughts and feelings if these passages are denied an individualistic frame of reference. The scene is so real to him that he cries out in physical pain (v.19). His profound emotion affects him physically. His personal anguish over the impending destruction is inescapable (v.20). So wholesale is the destruction that Jeremiah cannot suppress his deep sympathy with those he must denounce in obedience to the Lord’s commission. Through he was accused of treason later, how can anyone reasonably deny the patriotism and love of Jeremiah for his people? Some of the people may have felt the invasion and destruction deeply, but no one felt these more keenly and clearly than the prophet. Fellowship with God and obedience to his service always sharpen the sensibilities of his servants. Thus the prophet agonizes in soul and can scarcely endure the scene of judgment on his people. He longs to know the end of the travail (v.21); so the Lord answers that the trial will continue as long as they persist in disobeying him. Their trouble is that they have no fellowship with the Lord in doing his will (cf. Hos 4:1). Their moral values are completely reversed: they major in evil and minor in good (v.22) (Feinberg, C. L. (1986). Jeremiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 409). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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4:19–22. Jeremiah responded to the news of the coming invasion by crying out in anguish. His heart pounded and he could not keep silent as he thought of the approaching battle and the disaster it would bring Judah. Jeremiah concluded by admitting that the people of Judah were fools (’ěwîl, a person lacking sense and morally corrupt). They were like children and had no understanding of the way of righteousness which they should have been following. In an ironic reversal of proverbs 1:2–3 the people were skilled (ḥăḵāmîm, “wise”) in doing evil, but ignorant in knowing how to do good. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1136). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Pain (4:19–31). Known as “the weeping prophet,” Jeremiah here expressed his personal anguish as he contemplated a national tragedy that could have been averted (4:19–21). No other Old Testament prophet revealed his brokenheartedness and sorrow as did Jeremiah (see 6:24; 9:10; 10:19–20). When ministering publicly, he was bold before men; in private, he was heartbroken before God.
God explained to His servant why the judgment was coming: The people were foolish; they did not know God; they were stupid; and they lacked understanding (4:22). If they had been as skillful in holy living as they were in sinning, God would have blessed them instead of judging them.
With prophetic vision, Jeremiah saw what the Babylonians would do to the land (vv. 23–29), producing chaos such as that described in Genesis 1:2. No matter where he looked, he saw ruin. Even the stable mountains shook! It was only by the mercy of God that everything in Judah wasn’t completely devastated (Jer. 4:27; see 5:10, 18; 30:11; 46:28).
But an equally great tragedy was the unbelief of the people who refused to repent and ask God for His help (4:30–31). Jeremiah described them as prostitutes who were trying to seduce other nations to come and help them stop the Babylonians, but their “lovers” wouldn’t respond to their pleas. Judah trusted political alliances instead of trusting the Lord. But the prostitutes would become like women in travail—an image of painful judgment that’s used often in Jeremiah (6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 48:41; 49:22, 24; 50:43). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (pp. 32–33). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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4:22 shrewd to do evil. Israelites were wise or clever in doing evil but were dull in knowing to do the good, i.e., God’s will. Paul, applying the principle but turning it to the positive, wanted the believers at Rome to be wise to do good but unlearned in the skill of doing evil (Ro 16:19). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Je 4:22). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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From this point the message is to Judah, and is a call for more than mere surface work, such as was then going on. No real fruit for God could be expected where they were sowing on unbroken and thorn-choked ground (ver. 3). The plowshare of conviction must overturn the hardened soil of the heart. Not the natural flesh alone, but the heart must be circumcised (ver. 4). “For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; … but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter” (Rom. 2:28, 29). And the same apostle declares the true circumcision is to have “no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). If the message was unheeded, then judgment must take its course; and already the Gentile destroyer was on his way. Vers. 5 to 13 furnish us a vivid picture of the coming fall of Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. So astounding is this announcement that the prophet is himself astonished (ver. 10), and can scarcely credit that the Lord will so deal with His people.
There is but one door of escape, which he points out in ver. 14—“Wash thy heart.” This can only be by reception of the Word, and allowing it to work in the conscience. He immediately goes on to enlarge on the surely coming overthrow of the city, in most awe-inspiring language (vers. 15–21). But the people of Judah were the very opposite to what the apostle desired for the Roman saints (Rom. 16:19)—they were “wise to do evil, but to do good they had no knowledge” (ver. 22).
The coming desolation of the land is graphically depicted in ver. 23 to the end. It is not the earth, but the land of Palestine, that is before him, as the companion scripture, Isa. 24, clearly shows. The language is doubtless highly poetical, yet fully to be relied on,—perhaps one should say rather figurative, than poetical, as the latter expression has been much abused of late. (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (pp. 41–42). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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The births of John and Jesus are foretold.
INSIGHT
How do you think you would feel if you were suddenly in the presence of an angel?
If you’re like the biblical characters, you would feel . . . afraid. Scripture recounts several instances of human beings coming face-to-face with supernatural beings. Most of those occasions were frightening — even terrifying — to the persons involved.
But God’s messengers understand our fear. And they do their best to assuage it. When Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, he saw her troubled look and said, “Do not be afraid.”
That’s what God says to us throughout our lives. Drawing us into His holy presence, He reassures us that we need not fear. God loves us, Christ died for us, and God has a plan for our lives.
So we can approach Him with complete confidence! (Quiet Walk)
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Learning about Pain from Luther, Bunyan & the Bible
by John Piper
From 1660 to 1672, John Bunyan, the English Baptist preacher, and author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was in the Bedford county jail. He could have been released if he had agreed not to preach. He did not know which was worse—the pain of the conditions, or the torment of freely choosing it in view of what it cost his wife and four children. His daughter, Mary, was blind. She was 10 when he was put in jail in 1660.
The parting with my Wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place as the pulling of the Flesh from my bones . . . not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great Mercies, but also because I . . . often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries and wants that my poor Family was like to meet with should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides; Oh the thoughts of the hardship I thought my Blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces. (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners [Evangelical Press, 1978], p. 123)
But this broken Bunyan was seeing treasures in the Word of God because of this suffering that he would probably not have seen any other way. He was discovering the meaning of Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the Word of God as now [in prison]. The Scriptures that I saw nothing in before are made in this place to shine upon me. Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now. Here I have seen him and felt him indeed. . . . I have seen [such things] here that I am persuaded I shall never while in this world be able to express. . . . Being very tender of me, [God] hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one scripture and another strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, were it lawful I could pray for greater trouble for the greater comfort’s sake. (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, p. 123)
In other words, one of God’s gifts to us in suffering is that we are granted to see and experience depths of his Word that a life of ease would never yield.
Martin Luther had discovered the same “method” of seeing God in his Word. He said there are three rules for understanding Scripture: praying, meditating and suffering trials. The “trials,” he said, are supremely valuable: they “teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God’s word is: it is wisdom supreme.”
Therefore the devil himself becomes the unwitting teacher of God’s word: “the devil will afflict you [and] will make a real doctor of you, and will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God’s Word. For I myself . . . owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil’s raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal I should never have reached” (What Luther Says, vol. 3 [Concordia Publishing House, 1959], p. 1360).
I testify from my small experience that this is true. Disappointment, loss, sickness, and fear send me deeper into God and his Word than ever. Clouds of trifling are blown away and the glory of unseen things shines in the heart’s eye. Let Bunyan and Luther encourage us to lean on God’s Word as never before in times of affliction.
I know that there are seasons when we cannot think or read, the pain is so great. But God grants spaces of some relief between these terrible times. Turn your gaze on the Word and prove the truth of Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
Trembling to learn of God with you,
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WHAT WE SEE ABOUT OUR LORD HIMSELF
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. John 17:8
Notice what we see here about the Lord Himself. Here He is praying for His followers—not only for those immediately of His own time, but for all those who are going to believe in Him throughout the centuries, and therefore for us. Let us look at Him as He thus prays; let us look at certain things that stand out very clearly about His person.
Notice His claims. He says, for instance, “They . . . have known surely that I came out from thee.” Here is One who appears to be just a man. He is to be taken by cruel people in apparent helplessness and weakness and is to be crucified on a cross. Yet He speaks of Himself as One who has come from God. Here is another great assertion of His unique deity: He is proclaiming that He is the eternal Son of God come from heaven to earth to dwell among men. He repeats it by saying, “Thou didst send me.” He is not One who has just been born like everybody else—He has been sent by God into this world.
Then in verse 10 He does not hesitate to say, “I am glorified in them”—a tremendous assertion that He is not only man, He is the Son of God, verily God Himself, and that as He is the glory of the Father, so the disciples are to be His glory. He has glorified the Father, and He is glorified in them by what they are going to be and what they are going to do. You notice our calling, you notice that we, as Christians, have the privilege of being men and women in Him—that through us the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is glorified.
A Thought to Ponder: He is praying for all those who are going to believe in Him throughout the centuries, and therefore for us. (From Safe in the World, pp. 15-16, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Messages from the Messiah’s Life: The Messages of Gabriel
“I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.” (Luke 1:19)
The great archangel Gabriel was selected to bring the initial messages of the Messiah’s birth. Zacharias was told by Gabriel that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). Zacharias refused to believe Gabriel and was struck dumb until the fulfilment of Gabriel’s message when Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist (Luke 1:57).
When Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John (Luke 1:26), Gabriel appeared to Mary in Nazareth to tell her that she would “conceive . . . and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” Gabriel further insisted, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:31-32).
Mary made the journey south to see Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. Immediately, Mary heard further confirmation of Gabriel’s announcement to her when Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Ghost,” stated that “there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:41, 45).
Meanwhile, Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, but “being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily” (Matthew 1:19). However, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph while he was asleep to encourage him: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). Gabriel’s honor, our eternal blessing. (HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)
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Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. GALATIANS 6:9
When you were growing up, did you ever get into a real tug-of-war? You know,the kind with a thick, scratchy rope? Two groups pulling against each other and,in between, a murky mud hole the size of Lake Erie?
There’s another tug-of-war taking place today. It’s a tug-of-war between a parent and a host of worldly influences. You’ve felt the pull. You’re getting ready to leave the house, and then you stop cold as you notice how one of your children is dressed. You take a deep breath, utter a silent prayer and say, “Excuse me. You’re not wearing that to school!”
And so the tug-of-war begins. Your child shoots you a look that would melt steel and replies, “But all of my Christian friends dress like this at school!” If you waffle (and your child will know this within a millisecond, because kids are equipped with digital sensing devices that let them know that Mom or Dad is caving in), you begin to think, I’m tired of fighting it. Besides if I pull too hard, who knows what my kids will do . . . they may run away and hate me forever!
So you let go. Like so many other parents, you probably are suffering from a new twentyfirst-century disease caused by this endless tug-of-war: moral exhaustion. Many parents are growing weary of holding on to their moral beliefs, boundaries and commitments, and little by little they loosen their grip.
So today and tomorrow I want to get a megaphone out, come alongside you as a parent, encourage you and remind you of the truth: “Don’t let go of that rope!” Get into the Scriptures. Let the truth and prayer together strengthen your grip! Hang on. Dig your heels in. Don’t quit!
DISCUSS: Talk about raising children in this culture and feeling morally exhausted. What makes you tired as a parent? Be honest. (Moments with You Couples Devotional by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)
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Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah
Puritan Thomas Watson explained, “Ministers knock at the door of men’s hearts; the Spirit comes with a key and opens the door. (p. 146)
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There is an account of a woman on her deathbed. She described how she was saved by reading a crumpled, ragged piece of wrapping paper in a package shipped from Australia. Someone had used the printed text of a sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon to wrap a package for shipment. The sermon was preached in England, printed in America, shipped to Australia, then sent back to England as wrapping paper, where the woman read it and encountered Jesus Christ. The Word traveled thousands of miles on the cheapest, most crumpled and smeared newsprint. But the truth shone brilliantly through the simplest of media, and God’s Word did not return void. (p 149)
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That light seems to shine brightest of all when darkness falls upon our surroundings. Our world is now in crisis, and many people I know are living with a sense of loss and a fear of the future. The Word of God is available to convince your mind, to convict your will, and to comfort your heart. If you will read it, cherish it, and let it dwell within you richly, you’ll see the darkness retreat as the light of God’s truth shines brightly in your life. (p. 160)
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