Jeremiah 26
It is often advisable to work for change in ways that are private and quiet. I am sure that many people accomplish much good by attempting to avoid unnecessary offense. Of course, when there is a fire raging in a house and the people who live there are sleeping soundly, you need something more than quiet words. At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the Lord sent the prophet Jeremiah to the court of the temple in order to sound a general alarm in the hope that lives would be saved.
The prophet was told that he should give all the words to the people that God had spoken to Him in the hope that they would listen. This was an honest and very public plea to those who claimed to be worshipping and serving God. They needed to attend to God’s Law and to listen to the prophets He had sent, to repent and to turn back to Him. If they did not, then God would remove that place of worship and make it an example of his discipline of His people. He also promised to make the city of
The priests and the prophets who heard this message were appalled. Their response was simple: “You shall die.” They were clear what the problem was. It was not them, but God’s messenger who had to go. The officials of
Jeremiah said all that he was commanded to say. He was not trying to save His own life, but to save their lives. He was willing to die, and even offered himself to them to do what they saw fit with him. Yet he also warned them that if they killed him they would be putting an innocent man to death who was merely speaking the words that God had commanded him to speak.
In a turn of events that is reminiscent of Pilate’s speech to the crowds arrayed against Jesus, the officials frankly point out that Jeremiah has not done anything deserving death. They also speak to his accusers of the words of Micah during the reign of Hezekiah, when the people were challenged by God to repent. In that day Hezekiah humbled himself before God in a way that saved the people from destruction. Did Hezekiah put Micah to death for delivering the message of the Lord? No, he listened to him, and
There was another prophet, Uriah, who had given a similar message in the day of Jeremiah, and in the case of that man, the king presided over his execution. It appeared that this would also be Jeremiah’s fate, but God chose to preserve his life at this time. Nonetheless the people did not seem to respond to his words. Can it ever be good for the land that despises the words of the Lord’s messengers?
The Lord Jesus Christ came to His people and spoke words of judgment. Yet when he came there was no time left for the nation to turn back toward God. Surely everyone should have listened to the Son of God and turned away from sin, but now the plan of God was moving forward toward the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles. This plan of God would come at the cost of the life of this greatest of all prophets.
As with Jeremiah, the leading officials and the priests stood against him and plotted for his destruction. At times it seemed that he would be killed on the spot. Yet it was the Lord God who was in charge of His steps and His days. He would willingly go to the cross to perform the work that He came to do. This was all done in accord with the will of the Father for our salvation.
The life and death of Jesus Christ has been a message that has been proclaimed in
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home