Jeremiah 7
“O God, what do you want from me?” This Job-like cry comes from those who consider themselves servants of the true and living God, and yet they are perplexed by the providences through which they suffer. “How could this be happening to me?”
In the days of Jeremiah, it was not the case that everyone was irreligious. There were many people who were devoted to the temple of the Lord. They were counting on the temple almost as a badge of merit that distinguished them from the other peoples of the world. Surely they would be OK because of the temple of the Lord. But this was not to be.
God says, “Amend your ways and your deeds.” God calls us to a certain way of life. So often people want the safety of the temple of the Lord, but they reject the Word of the Lord of the temple. God will not be mocked. God will not allow his people to continue to dwell in the Promised Land, when they abuse the poor and the widow, shed innocent blood, and worship false gods. This may surprise those who thought that they were accepted by God from merely being in the temple, but it should not come as a surprise to anyone who listened to the preaching of the prophets with any kind of seriousness.
Our words alone will never save us, but a soul that loves the Word of God is sure to be saved by God’s grace. If we steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship idols, we cannot ever hope in a church building saying, “We are delivered.” God will not permit His church to last forever as a den of robbers. He calls our attention to earlier days, and to previous places of holy worship. He invites His people to look at what has become of
If this were merely the assessment of men, I would not easily accept it. Men often think that they know more than they do. They are prone to be very critical and negative. They do not correct themselves easily, but they quickly call others idolaters and unrighteous. This, however, is not the cynical and fallible sentiment of caustic critics. It is the Word of God against the people of His own heart. He invites us to examine the evidence. The people of
The whole burnt-offering was to be completely consumed in the fire on the altar of the Lord, but here God says, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.” He is telling them to eat this food because He does not want it from their hands. If they were to obey His voice then these offerings would have some meaning, but even when idolaters, oppressors, and immoral men do their religious ceremonies just right, the Lord is not pleased. These men are worse than the generation that died in the wilderness.
Jeremiah is told by God to speak all these words to them, yet God informs His prophet that the people will not listen to them. They are blinded by their idolatry. They have brought false objects of worship into the temple itself, as if they were doing nothing wrong. They have even burned their sons and daughters in a brutal system of child sacrifice that pagans seem to think will make God happy. These things have nothing to do with what the Lord requires.
We are so blessed to have the clarity of God’s Word concerning that in which He delights, particularly in the day of disaster. In that Word we have presented for us the way in which we should walk. When the servant of God can’t understand why God is bringing upon him the day of disaster, there is no help that comes from the desperate worship of paganism. We will not find our direction or healing there. The Word of God is our direction through the most horrific day of the Lord’s discipline. We must not abandon the Word.
This Word came in person as the Lord Jesus Christ. He shows us in person what the prophets spoke about through their inspired speech. He is the righteousness of God. He is the Name of God. He is the Word of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the temple of the Lord, and now we have become the temple of the Lord as He dwells richly within us. One day the confusion and heartbreak of the fall will be beyond us. Until then we look to the Word who gave His life for us, and we listen to the Word that speaks to us from heaven, even in the day of Job-like suffering that we do not understand.
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
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