Todays readings.. 1 Samuel 26&27, Jeremiah 3, Matthew 14
Jeremiah lived and served the LORD as the kingdom came to an end. It had begun with Saul and was established in Jerusalem under David and Solomon. With the building of the Temple and the words God inspired through David and Solomon and the prophets of that era, the nation achieved a measure of spiritual greatness. But now about 400 years later the land of Israel was spiritually derelict!
We thought this had a comparison with the printing of the A V Bible 400 years ago and its impact on people at that time and the contrast to today! After various “revivals” under good kings the nation was now spiritually “dead” – what a comparison to today.
The message Jeremiah brought from God was a denunciation of their spiritual adultery. “You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom” is the message [Ch.3 v.2]. He continues, “Therefore the showers have been withheld and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.” [v.3]
The terrible fires and floods we have experienced here in the last 3 years and the world’s other extremities of weather, with tsunami’s, volcanoes and earthquakes appear to be more extreme in such a short time than anything experienced in recorded human memory since Noah’s flood. We ponder this and believe it is an expression of the anger of our Creator! The conviction that a “climate change” is in progress gives the world the prospect of worse things to come.
God causes Jeremiah to comment on the unsatisfactory effort the people had been making to worship God. “Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretence, declares the LORD” [v.10] But for those who truly worship with their whole heart God gives Jeremiah a vision of the ultimate future, a vision which we have good reason to believe will soon be fulfilled. “At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem” [v.17] Let us make every endeavour to serve God with our “whole heart” so that we will have both the faith to endure the present and then will see the wonder of what is to come in Jerusalem and which will change the whole world.
