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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the
skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord showed me two
baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. One basket had very
good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so
bad they could not be eaten.
Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so
bad they cannot be eaten.”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah,
whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will
watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will
build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I
will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people,
and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.”
“‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the
Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the
survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. I
will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a
reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish
them. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are
destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’”
Jeremiah 24
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
As we get to Chapter 24 in our ongoing study of the Book of Jeremiah, we
find a very interesting exchange between God and his prophet, one that shows
there is often a sorting that happens with God at times, a sorting between the
good and bad. Look again at our passage for today:
After Jehoiachin son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans
of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the
temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early;
the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
Then the Lord asked me, “What do
you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good
ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”
Then the word of the Lord came
to me: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs,
I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the
land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I
will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down;
I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that
I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will
return to Me with all their heart.”
“‘But like the bad figs, which
are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah
king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they
remain in this land or live in Egypt. I will make them abhorrent and an offense
to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an
object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. I will send the sword, famine and
plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and
their ancestors.’” Jeremiah 24
The setting was after the Babylonian assault on Judah and the subsequent
hauling of the Israelite leadership and people into exile in Babylon, an exile
which God set at seventy years. Such was the punishment levied after God’s
people chose to worship false gods and idols in direct violation of His command
not to.
The scriptures tell us a little about who was taken away. We know Judah’s
king, Jehoiachin, was captured along with his officials, skilled workers, and artisans.
We also know that another king, Zedekiah, was counted in the number of those
exiled along with his officials and many Israelite survivors from Judah and
Jerusalem.
It was after this that God revealed two baskets of figs, a staple fruit
in the Israelite diet in biblical times. Both baskets were in front of the Lord’s
temple and as we see in the word of God, one of the baskets contained bad figs
that could not be eaten while the other had good figs that were edible. It’s
obvious there had already been a sorting, the good figs from the bad, but as we
see, the point of the illustration was not a matter of good and bad figs but
rather good and bad people, sorted by how God viewed their lives as the
perfectly righteous and just Judge that He was.
The good figs were representative of the exiles that God saw as good.
Those exiles would be watched over by God who would work things for their good
and eventually bring them back to Judah where they could rebuild their homes
and their faith. He promised by His word to build them up and not tear them
down, to plant them rather than uproot them. He would give them a heart to know
Him and they would once again be His people and He would be their God.
In other words, God sorted out those who He knew would change their
hearts and return to a relationship with Him.
On the other side of things were those God referred to as bad figs. Just
as those figs were not suitable for eating, the people who God sorted into this
category were no longer of any use for God and His kingdom work. He promised
that He would make these Israelites abhorrent, detested and offensive to all
other kingdoms on earth. Rather than be rescued, those compared to bad figs
would be banished and be an object of ridicule wherever they went. And it would
never be easy for them as a steady stream of consequences would be sent their
way, consequences which could include coming up against the sword of an enemy,
famine which would drive them toward starvation, or a plague. This would be
their penalty until God would finally destroy them for good.
So we know God practiced a sorting in the days of Jeremiah but what about
today?
Well, there is little doubt that another sorting is coming and it will
have major stakes involved when it does. We know because the scriptures tell us
so:
“When the Son of Man comes in
his glory, and all the angels with him, He will sit on his glorious throne. All
the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one
from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the
sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
“Then the King will say to those
on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I
was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”
“Then the righteous will answer
Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You
something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or
needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to
visit You?’”
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I
tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters
of mine, you did for Me.’”
“Then he will say to those on
His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did
not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in
prison and you did not look after Me.’”
“They also will answer, ‘Lord,
when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or
in prison, and did not help You?’”
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell
you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for
Me.’”
“Then they will go away to
eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
The setting here is a day in the future, a day that will come but at a
time that no one knows. It will be the day when Jesus returns to judge mankind,
a time when heaven and earth as we know it will be destroyed, a time when a new
heaven and earth will come into existence, and a time when there will be a definite
sorting but instead of separating good figs from bad ones, we will see people
divided into two categories with Jesus utilizing the illustration of how a
shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
God’s word tells us that the sheep, those who were righteous and took
time to care for those considered the least in society, were blessed by the
Lord and would be placed on Jesus’ right hand side. These sheep would remain
there to receive their inheritance which was a place in the kingdom of heaven
where they would dwell with God and Jesus forever. In other words, the
inheritance was grounded in God’s salvation promise offered through belief and
trust in His Son, Jesus, as Savior.
Those who were not sheep, the goats who were those who did not care for
the needs of others, were cursed and destined to depart from the Lord into an
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his accomplices. Their end would come
in the way of everlasting judgment.
And so the final result of life as we know it really comes down to a
final sorting which will take place when Jesus comes back.
For those who have chosen to receive Him as Savior, seeking to live their
lives in His righteousness (aka the sheep), eternal life will come.
For those who decided to reject Jesus and live a life grounded in sin and
wickedness (aka the goats), eternal destruction by fire will come.
Which side will you fall on when Jesus returns to conduct the final
sorting?
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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