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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.
This word came to Jeremiah concerning all
the Jews living in Lower Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis—and in Upper
Egypt: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the
great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they
lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil they have done. They aroused My
anger by burning incense to and worshiping other gods that neither they nor you
nor your ancestors ever knew. Again and again I sent My servants the prophets,
who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’ But they did not
listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop
burning incense to other gods. Therefore, My fierce anger was poured out; it
raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the
desolate ruins they are today.”
“Now this is what the Lord God Almighty,
the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting
off from Judah the men and women, the children and infants, and so leave
yourselves without a remnant? Why arouse My anger with what your hands have
made, burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live? You
will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse and an object of reproach
among all the nations on earth. Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by
your ancestors and by the kings and queens of Judah and the wickedness
committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of
Jerusalem? To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor
have they followed My law and the decrees I set before you and your ancestors.”
Jeremiah 44:1-10
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There
was a precedent.
In
Chapter 43 of the Book of Jeremiah, we saw a defiant, disobedient remnant of
Jews from Mizpah reject a proposition from God to remain in Judah and settle
there, despite His warnings of judgment if they chose to do what they wanted to
do in opposition to His will. The remnant decided they knew what was best and
so they proceeded to go into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes. To them, it
really didn’t matter what God had to say.
They
would soon wish they would have listened and obeyed.
Did
I mention that there was a precedent for this kind of behavior from God’s
people?
As
we look at the opening verses of Jeremiah 44, we see the Lord Himself tell us
all about it. Look at these words from the first paragraph of the scriptures:
This
word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt—in Migdol,
Tahpanhes and Memphis—and in Upper Egypt: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the
God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on
all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil
they have done. They aroused My anger by burning incense to and worshiping
other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever knew. Again and
again I sent My servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable
thing that I hate!’ But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn
from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. Therefore, My
fierce anger was poured out; it raged against the towns of Judah and the
streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today.” Jeremiah
44:1-6
The
Lord didn’t need to go too far back in time for His example because the
Israelites of Judah and its treasured city of Jerusalem had just recently chosen
to worship other gods, an act detestable to the Lord, one that “aroused His
anger. Despite His continued commands through the prophets to stop their
actions and His promises of judgment if they continued in their sin, the
Israelites “did not listen or pay attention”. They refused to “turn from their
wickedness” or cease their rituals to false gods and idols.
Sound
familiar?
It
should because it was exactly what the Jews of Mizpah were up to. They
obviously had a short memory because they had just left Judah where the Lord
had just raged against His people through the attacking Babylonians army. The
towns of Judah and the city of Jerusalem were left in desolate ruins while the
people were hauled away into a seventy year exiles. It was a calamity of the
highest degree but the people asked for it through their disregard and
disrespect toward God.
And
this brings us to the second paragraph as God continued to speak to His people,
a paragraph that contained three key questions:
“Why
bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and
women, the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant? Why
arouse My anger with what your hands have made, burning incense to other gods
in Egypt, where you have come to live? Have you forgotten the wickedness
committed by your ancestors and by the kings and queens of Judah and the
wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets
of Jerusalem?”
God
was trying to reason with His people because what they were doing made
absolutely no reasonable sense. They were repeating the mistakes of the
immediate past and setting themselves up for a similar disastrous outcome. For
if they continued the course of action they were on, the Lord told them what
they could expect:
“You
will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse and an object of reproach
among all the nations on earth.”
God
promised this would be a component of their judgment just as it was for their
peers who were languishing in captivity and oppression in Babylon. The only
difference was that the Israelites in exile in Babylon would one day get to
return. God gave no such assurance to the Jewish remnant of Mizpah. Rather, He
promised they would all perish in Egypt and never again return to their
homeland.
Indeed,
why would they bring disaster on themselves?
Why
would anyone want to?
And
yet today, so many people are no better than the Israelites of Judah and
Jerusalem or the Jewish remnant of Mizpah. They choose to ignore and disregard
God, turning from His word, will, and way to chase after their own desires.
They don’t even give a second thought to being disobedient, placing sin and its
wickedness as more of a premium than the righteousness God offers. And through
their actions, they dare God to send His consequences upon them.
Friends,
we had better pay close attention to the accounts of people in the Bible
because through those accounts we find people like us, imperfect sinners who
often make very poor choices and decisions in plain sight of a God who can and
will bring disaster on those who continue to willingly and willfully violate
His word, will, and way.
The
good news in the midst of this harrowing truth is that there is always a chance
to turn our lives back toward God, reconciling our errors with Him, and as we
have seen in the scriptures within the Book of Jeremiah, our God of mercy and
grace always wants us to do this and avoid His judgment.
Because
after all, why should we want to bring disaster from God on ourselves?
Only
a fool would want that.
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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