HERE'S YOUR SIGN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“‘This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that you will know that My threats of harm against you will surely stand.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’”

Jeremiah 44:29-30

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Several years ago, a comedian by the name of Bill Engvall added something to his comedy routine that turned out to become a signature trademark for him. The addition, a series of jokes with the punch line, “Here’s Your Sign”, centered on the dumb questions that people ask sometimes, obvious questions that Engvall would give sarcastic answers to. Here are a few of the ones he would use:

A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, "Low Bridge Ahead." Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. And so, cars are backed up for miles before a police car arrives. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck, huh?" The truck driver says, "No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."

Of course, this was followed by “Here’s Your Sign”.

On another instance, Engvall was sitting on a plane that was traveling towards Seattle. The guy next to him turned and said, "Hey, you going to Seattle?". To which Engvall replied, "Nope, going to San Francisco. I'll be parachuting off the plane in about an hour."

Then he would say, “Here's your sign!”

Well, as we return to the study of Jeremiah after more than a week looking at the Passion Week and Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, His death, and His resurrection, we find God telling the Jewish remnant that He would give them a sign but what He spoke of was far from a laughing matter, unlike the humor of Bill Engvall. Let’s quickly review the situation at hand to refresh our memories on where things stand as Jeremiah 44 ends:

We go back to when the Babylonians had destroyed the kingdom of Judah and its holy city of Jerusalem. Nearly all the Israelites were taken away into a seventy year captivity period in Babylon, God’s penalty for their blatant sinfulness, done unapologetically in His sight. I say nearly all the Israelites because there was a remnant of God’s poorest people who were left behind to tend the land and produce wine, summer fruit, and olive oil. This Jewish remnant was in an area called Mizpah and they were placed under the rule of a Jewish governor by the name of Gedaliah.

Well, Gedaliah didn’t stay in power long because the scriptures tell of us that a man named Ismael, assassinated the governor and Babylonian soldiers who were supposed to serve as security. After that killing, Ishmael wasn’t satisfied as he slaughtered nearly 80 other people before taking the remainder of the Jews prisoner, leading them to the land of the Ammonites before Johanan, army officers, and some soldiers showed up to save the Jewish remnant. Ishmael fled to Ammon and the remnant started for Egypt, afraid to return to Mizpah because they believed the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, would seek repercussions against them.

As they headed to Egypt, they asked Jeremiah to pray to God for them, asking Him to give them specific guidance as to where to go and what to do when they got there. You will recall they backed up this request by promising obedience to whatever God told them, no matter what. God honored their request by telling them to remain in Judah and settle down there. He promised they would not be endangered by Nebuchadnezzar and thus had no reason to fear. God then warned the remnant of the consequences they would face if they rejected His guidance and went onto Egypt anyways.

So what did the people do?

We know they chose to do what they wanted to do, disregarding God’s call for them to remain in Judah and going on to Egypt. In response, God gave them the assurance that He would carry through with what He said He would do. None of the Jews in the remnant would ever get to come out of Egypt to Judah again. Instead, they would perish in Egypt either by sword, famine, or plague.

With this review complete, we now look to our scripture passage today as God tells His people of the sign they will receive to confirm He would send His judgment upon them where they were in Egypt. Read again these words of the Lord:

“‘This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that you will know that My threats of harm against you will surely stand.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’”  Jeremiah 44:29-30

Indeed, God was sending His people a sign but note the sign had nothing to do with any of them but rather the ruler of Egypt, the Pharaoh Hophra. God was going to deliver Egypt’s king into the hands of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, who desired to kill the Pharaoh. After that, the Jewish remnant could expect that there time would come.

But only after God showed them their sign.

Friends, God is not someone to play with when it comes to the matter of obedience. He expects us to uncompromisingly comply with His word, will, and way. There is no other option.

When we do, then we can expect to be living in His favor because our actions are pleasing in His sight. The sign of His satisfaction with us will come in His blessings He will send.

However, when we opt to deny God and choose blatant disrespect, disregard, and dishonor over righteousness, then we can expect that He will respond with judgment, our sign that we are going in the wrong direction and have incited His anger and wrath.

Take a look at your life today and see what signs God might be giving you, then examine your faith life and see if what you are experiencing isn’t self imposed, much like the Jewish remnant of Mizpah.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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