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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.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“In those days, at that time,” declares
the Lord, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in
tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their
faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an
everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”
“My people have been lost sheep; their
shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They
wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. Whoever
found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they
sinned against the Lord, their verdant
pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’”
“Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of
the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock.”
“Israel
is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was
the king of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”
the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”
Therefore
this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“I
will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and they will graze on
Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and
Gilead. In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord, “search will be made
for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none
will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.”
“For
Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though
their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel. Flee from Babylon! Run
for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the Lord’s
vengeance; He will repay her what she deserves.”
“‘The
Lord has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the Lord our God has
done.’”
Jeremiah 50:4-8, 17-20, 51:5-6, 10
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The mighty Babylonian empire was about to fall. We learned
of it in God’s message to Babylon in yesterday’s devotion. We will continue to
learn more about it in subsequent messages ahead from Jeremiah, Chapters 50 and
51. But as we see in today’s message, a major event was going to take place as
Babylon was wiped out:
God was going to bring His people back home.
Look at the following verses to learn more:
“In
those days, at that time,” declares the Lord, “the people of Israel and the
people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will
ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind
themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”
“My
people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused
them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot
their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said,
‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture, the Lord, the hope of their
ancestors.’”
“Flee
out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that
lead the flock.”
“Israel is a scattered flock that lions
have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria;
the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”
the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”
Therefore this is what the Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“I will punish the king of Babylon and
his land as I punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring Israel back to
their own pasture, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite
will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, at that
time,” declares the Lord, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will
be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive
the remnant I spare.”
“For Israel and Judah have not been
forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before
the Holy One of Israel. Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be
destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; He will
repay her what she deserves.”
“‘The Lord has vindicated us; come, let
us tell in Zion what the Lord our God has done.’” Jeremiah 50:4-8, 17-20, 51:5-6, 10
The Israelites had been serving a seventy year exile in
Babylon, the penalty for disrespecting and dishonoring God through the worship
of false gods. They had abandoned God and so God showed them what it felt to be
abandoned, having them driven out of their homes and taken into an oppressive
captivity by the Babylonians. But once the seventy years were up, the Lord had
promised His people that He would restore them back to Israel and Judah where
they could have a chance to rebuild their homes, their lives, and their
relationships with God.
We find ourselves at that juncture in today’s devotion. The
Israelites, comprised of the people of Israel and Judah, would get a chance to
make things right with God again, binding themselves to an everlasting covenant
that would not be forgotten. God’s lost sheep would be able to return to the
flock, back to their own pasture and free from the detention they had been
under. They would flee from Babylon to their homeland and Babylon would become
no more, overthrown and vanquished by the Persians. And best of all, they would
be exonerated and left guilt-free. The sins committed would be forgotten and
the remnant of Israel would be allowed to come home with a fresh slate. Once
forsaken, the remnant of Israelites would be forgiven and vindicated by the God
they had violated in such a wicked way, a God who was now ready to welcome His
people home.
Friends, a day is coming for all those who place their faith
and trust in Jesus which will be better than the homecoming the Israelites
would get to experience after their Babylonian captivity. For when this worldly
life ends for Christians, we will be called home to be with the same Father who
created us in the first place and the Son He sent to save us. Through that Son,
Jesus, we become justified before God or simply made as if we had never sinned.
We will appear blameless before God only because Jesus had already taken the
blame for us as well as the punishment we deserved to have. Thus, exonerated
and guild-free, we can cast off the shackles of sin that afflicted us in our
worldly life and step into a new life where sin will be no more. Ditto for
pain, hardship, affliction, and hurt. In their place will be everlasting light
and love and peace.
And it will all come on the day when God chooses to welcome
us home to be with Him forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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