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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, March 17, 2008

Jeremiah 44

God told His people not to go down to Egypt and they went there anyway. They thought that it would be safest for them to be there, but it is never safe for anyone to defy God. It is easy for people to imagine that the will of God is a mystery to them. They focus their attentions upon the secret things of God and ignore those things that have been clearly revealed. They are not sure about any number of things that they want to know, and they claim that they are seeking the will of God. There is so much that the Lord has revealed, and we have considered that to be less worthy of our attention than those secret things that He has chosen not to reveal.

How has God revealed the things that are not hidden? He has spoken through His prophets. His prophetic Word is the revealed will of God for His people. When Jeremiah the prophet spoke to the Jews who wanted to flee to Egypt and clearly informed them that God commanded them not to go there, this was the revealed will of the Lord on that matter. This they ignored. When he told them not to worship other gods, they felt that there was no need to obey that command. In fact they came to the conclusion that everything was going best for them when they were offering special cakes to a female deity they called the “queen of heaven.”

This is a very sad state of affairs. God’s people have not only turned back to Egypt in direct violation of the specific instruction of God for them through the prophet Jeremiah, they have also ignored the first of the Ten Commandments and have worshipped other gods. Still God speaks to them through Jeremiah. He reminds them of several important matters that they need to reconsider.

He calls on them to remember the disaster that has so recently come upon Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. The destruction that has come upon the land was from God’s hand. It was because of the evil that they committed that this all has happened. In fact, it was because they had been intent upon serving other gods. Had they forgotten this obvious lesson from such recent history, and were they intent on doing the same thing again, with no sense at all of the hand of the Lord in the devastation that should be fresh in their minds?

He further reminds them of the role of the prophets over the centuries in bringing the Word of God to the people. The things that the prophets have spoken are the revealed things – the revelations of God. God has persistently sent His prophets to His people. Their message has not been difficult on the matter of other gods or idolatrous worship. “Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate.” Unfortunately the people did not listen to God speaking to them through His prophets.

God also presents to them yet again the sanctions that will come against them for their continued insistence to go against His plainly revealed will. They will be consumed by the sword, famine, and disease. There will be no way out for them. Maybe a few fugitives will survive, but no more than that. This willful determination to defy the Word of God makes no sense.

This was all communicated through Jeremiah, but rather than listen to what he said to them with a heart of repentance, they returned a brash response of defiance. “We will not listen to you.” They were intent to let their wives continue to make offerings to the queen of heaven. They insisted that things were going well for them back when they used to do this in the land of Judah. Their interpretation of recent history is staggering. The women join in and implicate their husbands, insisting that they did the things that they did with the approval of their husbands.

Jeremiah offers a rebuttal to their strange interpretation of history. The idolatrous actions that they remember so fondly are the very events that brought about the anger of God, and led to the trouble that has overtaken Jerusalem and all Judah. Now the Lord speaking through Jeremiah has one more thing to say to these deluded rebels. “Go ahead!” They have made their promises to the queen of heaven, and we certainly would not want to upset her. Yet He warns them to stop using His Name in any way that might be considered to be for their good. He assures them that He is watching over them for their destruction.

The contest is on. Who will win? It is the Word of God against the word of a rebellious people. Will Pharaoh and his land be destroyed as God has said, or will the people be safe because they have offered gifts to the queen of heaven?

The idea that we could ever solve our own spiritual problems is sharply critiqued through the experience of Israel. At a time when one might expect a softening in their hearts to the Word of the Lord, they seem more stupidly stubborn than ever.

Would we do any better? Isn’t it still the case that we easily ignore the revealed will of God, and yet we claim that we are seeking the will of the Lord? What we want is access to the hidden things. We will not obey the Word that the Lord has spoken. Our salvation could never come from us. It required the arrival of the very Word of God in person. Jesus Christ came and heard all of the revelation of the Father, and obeyed His commandments in full. Idolatry was very far from His heart. He confirmed His promise to the Father at the cost of His life.

If we were to insist on a new arrangement with God based on our own obedience, there is no reason for us to conclude that the result would have been any different for us than for the Old Testament people of God. Our hope is not in our own response to Christ or in our own obedience to the Law. Our hope is in Christ alone. He is the Word of God – the Word that we can safely receive and follow.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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