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Good Friday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends;
The weather forecasters predict approaching storms / the financial experts predict market collapse / the athletic wizards predict a terrible season / the politicians predict doom and gloom. We hear so much ‘bad news’ that we almost grow numb to it all don’t we? So when God predicts that His judgment is coming against wickedness, it shouldn’t surprise us that history shows most people ignore God’s warnings. Let’s rejoin Mr. Jeremiah, for he was one of those people set apart by God to bring God’s warnings to the people, in his day, and that was a time very similar to ours, this December 2020.
Around 610bc times were pretty good in Jerusalem. While there was distant warfare, it seemed far away and didn’t affect the people of Jerusalem. Their harvests were bountiful, their economy prosperous, their government under king Josiah stable and calm. But Jeremiah brought warnings from God. God remembered the past wickedness and God could see deep into the hearts of the people of Jerusalem and much of that evil was right below the surface of apparent ‘good times’. And so Jeremiah proclaimed: “This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem… Circumcise your hearts, you people…or God’s wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done. It will burn with no one to quench it.” (Jer. 4:3,4)
So what do you sense is just below the surface of the people in your city, your society this Christmas season? What’s behind the smiles, the Christmas music, the gift shopping and giving? Do you sense anger, near despair, camouflaged by Christmas cheer? That’s really dangerous isn’t it my friends?
Jeremiah was commissioned by God to bring stern warnings of God’s imminent judgement upon His people and the land of Judah. Over and over Jeremiah stood on the street corner, or even in the palace with the kings, to warn both people and leaders, that God’s all seeing eyes and His all knowing mind could see the evil darkness in the hearts of the people and His patience was running out. Jeremiah begged the people to respond in repentance and return to God with full integrity. Mostly, Jeremiah was ignored or worse, silenced. Listen to this clear instruction from God to Jeremiah: “Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!… Flee for safety without delay! For God is bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.” (Jeremiah 4:5)
So let me ask you my friends around the world: What voices of warning do you hear? Are there voices calling the people of your city, your society to RETURN to God in repentance? If so, what response to those voices do you see? Is there any clear warning, to the people of your society, about what God will do if things don’t change?
Listen to what the people of Judah heard from Jeremiah: “A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim. Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah. They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me.’ declares the LORD God.
‘Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!” (Jer. 4:15-18)
Dan was the furthest north city in Israel. To the north of Dan a great military showdown was brewing between the two great powers of that time… the Empires of Assyria and Babylon. God knew that great war would one day soon spill over and sweep down into Judah! But the people refused to hear Jeremiah’s warning. Is that happening in our day? Are people refusing both God’s invitation to come to Him as well as refusing to hear God’s warning of judgment?
Then God’s message to Jeremiah became very specific, he records it in chapter 5. “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through the town squares. If you can find but ONE person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. Although they say ‘As surely as the LORD lives’, still they are swearing falsely.” (Jer. 5:1,2) Do you remember God’s willingness to spare Sodom and Gomorrah even if 10 righteous, honest people could be found? You’ll recall that story is found in Genesis 18&19. Sadly not even 10 were found, and fire fell from heaven to destroy those two cities! The people of Jerusalem would have known that story well… but they thought, as we often think. “oh, it could never happen here, to us.”
Listen, as Jeremiah continues his search for honest, God honoring people in Jerusalem: “So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” (Jer. 5:5) So let me ask you my friends, as you look closely at those in leadership in your world… business leaders, education leaders, health care leaders, local and regional especially national political leaders, and even the church leaders in your city…what do you see? Are the leaders in your world sufficiently men and women of God honoring integrity that God will stay His hand of judgment, or are they, the leaders, part of the problem… actually inviting God’s judgment?
And so Jeremiah was led of God to proclaim this message: “Therefore, this is what the LORD God Almighty says: ‘People of Israel’, declares the LORD, ‘I am bringing a distant nation against you – an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors. They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust… As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.” (Jer. 5:14-19) Can you imagine how stunned the people were as they heard Jeremiah make this proclamation in Jerusalem, and assure the people that he had received it directly from God?
Finally, Jeremiah made this summary statement. It’s like an editorial on the dreadful conditions to which God was soon to pour out His justice: “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But, what will you do in the end?“ (Jer. 5:30,31)
With now only about 3 weeks remaining in 2020, as you assess our world and especially how leaders world wide have led in this year of crisis and chaos, how closely do you think this statement of Jeremiah’s, made 2600 years ago, fits with our world this December? Does our world welcome lies and manipulation of information by leaders? Is our world satisfied to allow wickedness in all segments of society as long as they are having fun? But what about that final statement? “What will you do in the end?” That probing question is one I urge us all to ponder all day today.
At the end of this day…
At the end of this year of 2020…
At the end of your lifetime, whenever and wherever that occurs, will you be ready to face Jesus and eternity? Then, as you reflect back on your life, what will you see from the vantage point of ‘the end’ of your earthly journey?
I have a song for you to listen and watch as you ponder these questions and God’s Word to us from Jeremiah today. I wonder what parents were saying to their children in Jeremiah’s day? Oh let’s celebrate my friends that in every part of the world this December, children are gathered together by adults who want them to know of the great hope that is available to them in Jesus Christ. Who are the children you will celebrate Jesus with this Christmas season? How different will our world be by next Christmas, 2021?
Click to read today’s chapter: Jeremiah 4; Jeremiah 5. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
NEW FEATURE: Click here to listen to a dramatized reading of Jeremiah 4; Jeremiah 5.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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