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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Monday, January 21, 2008

Jeremiah 12

It is hard for us to hear about the wrath of God against God’s enemies and to give a whole-hearted “Amen.” In part this is explained by the fact that we love the grace of God as those who are so completely dependant on the mercy that has richly come to us through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we feel that we ourselves are too similar to those who are the enemies of the Lord. How can we rejoice in the justice of God against the same?

Nonetheless, we do love the righteousness of God, and we know that the Lord is just and must punish sin. This can only happen through Christ, our substitute, taking the unspeakable penalty for us, or through facing the horror of that judgment ourselves without the benefit of a Mediator. God is righteous, and there is simply no other way out of the danger of his righteous wrath than the provision of His Son. In any case, we find it difficult to say the things that Jeremiah says at the opening of this chapter as he seeks the Lord’s action against the wicked.

While it may be hard to understand this, consider the attacks of Satan and his allies against your children and the other young people in the church. Consider the deception that he uses in luring people into a pathway of sin and despair until he destroys them. Now can you appreciate how Jeremiah feels about the way of the wicked? Why do they seem to prosper? Can you appreciate that Jeremiah would like to see the wicked not only disarmed but also destroyed?

Through the Lord’s answer to Jeremiah we begin to see that Jeremiah himself is under assault. Not only that, but God tells him that things are not going to get any easier for him any time soon. He has raced with men, but how would he feel racing against horses? There will soon be people effectively screaming at him to stop what he is saying and doing, and the Lord’s clear encouragement is that the prophet must not believe them even if they speak friendly words to him.

The message of God’s judgment against His people is a hard one to deliver. God says of His house, “I hate her.” Those who were given the sacred task of leading the Lord’s sheep and of guarding the doctrine and life of the vineyard of the Lord, the kings and other leaders, have destroyed the vineyard they should have been protecting. Now the Lord’s fierce anger will come against them all, and only desolation will remain in the land. While God uses the means of invaders and wicked rulers, it is truly the sword of the Lord that will destroy the beloved nation. There is nothing that anyone can do to stop Him when He is on the march against an adversary, and now His nation called by His name have become an adversary to their God. They must face the fierce anger of the Lord.

When angels become demons, a sad thing has happened. When God’s nation must suffer the fate of a pagan enemy, it is so deeply discouraging. It is a frightful thing when the people of God will be treated as outsiders and rebels.

This is the kind of message that Jeremiah must continue to give. His task is a hard one, and He must not shrink back from it. When the Messiah came, though He would perform great signs and teach with amazing authority, the opposition against Him would be determined to destroy Him. They would hate Him when He healed on the Sabbath. They would hate Him when He asked them if John’s baptism was from God or from men. They would despise when He was dying on the cross for us. They could not receive His message of God’s judgment against Israel.

There was a sense in which many might have agreed to a message against the impious in Israel. The difficulty is that Jesus’ warnings were especially against those who thought of themselves as the most righteous in the land. They resisted Jesus, and then were highly offended when they clearly understood that He was speaking against them. They were sure that their understanding of the law, and their own example of law-keeping was the answer for the nation. Jesus was sure that their hypocrisy and law-invention was more offensive to God than the sin of prostitutes and tax-gathering thieves who gladly listened to the preaching of John the Baptist, and had taken steps of repentance.

Jeremiah gave a hard message in His day. Jesus message and ministry was even more offensive to those who stood against Him. Yet the Lord, like Jeremiah, had a message of hope for those who would receive it, even for the evil neighbors of His people. God says that He will have compassion on them. If they will learn the ways of His people, and swear by His Name, then they shall be brought under His covenant protection. What does it mean to learn His ways and to swear by His Name if not to believe in Him and to live a life consistent with that faith? The message of the prophets prepared the way for the Lord’s speech when He came. When we hear His word and follow Him, we respond to the voice of God that had been sounding clearly through His appointed spokesmen for centuries. But now the mouth of the Lord had finally come in person through the arrival of the Son of God as our Savior. Let us listen to Him and obey, for we cannot stand the wrath that is to come against the devil and his allies.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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