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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what your Sunday was like yesterday… as compared to what your Sunday’s were like in past Decembers?
Normally Decembers are filled with lots of Church Christmas events… Christmas Choir concerts / Children’s Christmas events / special Advent services, etc. all leading up to major Christmas Eve services. But. . . not this COVID year!
What do you suppose God is thinking as He watches the world walk through December 2020 with ‘social distancing’ affecting schools, family gatherings, businesses and especially CHURCHES?
For one more day I’d like to invite us to gather around Mr. Jeremiah and hear what he has to say to us. Join me please in chapter 7. Look at verse 1 “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Stand at the entrance to the LORD’s house (Temple) and there proclaim this message:
“Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD God Almighty says: REFORM your ways and your actions and I will allow you to continue living in this place…”
Can you picture this scene? Mr. Jeremiah standing on the main, front steps leading up into the huge TEMPLE, shouting at the incoming throngs of worshipers “REFORM your ways. . .” So what would you have thought, and done in response? Probably each of us would immediately have looked around to see who this man was shouting at, for surely Jeremiah’s message could not be intended for you or me… could it? After all, we have set aside time, left our homes and come to worship, like all good people do… right? Oh, and of course we have our offerings in our pockets, like all good people do. And we bathed last night, we are all cleaned up and have our nice church clothes on, as all good people do when they go to church. So who could Jeremiah possibly be shouting at… certainly not us!
So my friends, go ahead and read through the next section of Jeremiah 7:4-11 and consider the graphic detail in which Jeremiah describes WHO he was talking to and WHY! What do you see?
I see what I have seen as I’ve walked into churches all over the world. . . tradition, ritual, hypocrisy! People going through the motions, which are expected of them as they ‘go to church’, and yet their hearts have little genuine interest in what a life changing relationship with God is all about! We all have our own goals and ambitions in life. We have our lives segmented into manageable pieces… our work or school life, our home life, our family life, our social life with friends, our ‘me time’ life in which we pursue entertainment or hobbies we enjoy, and then usually a little room for a church life, right? Of course we are surrounded by the majority of the population which, if they are really honest, will say they are “C&E” church going people. It means Christmas and Easter are the times ‘church’ fits into their busy lives. And of course funerals and weddings, at least in the pre-COVID era!
So do you see how well Jeremiah 7 fits into our December 2020 no matter where you live in the world or what type of Church you might have been going into if this were a normal December? Perhaps verse 11 sounds a little familiar, do you notice it? “Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers to you?” Compare that with what Jesus shouted as He cleared out the moneychangers and animal purveyors from the Temple in Mark 11:17; Luke 19:45,46.
And what would Jesus have said if He had walked into your church yesterday… that is, if your church was even open? Might Jesus have said, on the steps of your church yesterday, what He said through Jeremiah: “I have been watching’, declares the LORD’! And if Jesus would say that about your church and mine, what do you suppose He has seen, as He has been watching, and how do you think Jesus feels about what He has seen?
Now look closely at verses 12-15. Jeremiah shouted this message from God: “Go to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. While you were doing these things again and again, I spoke to you but you did not listen. I called to you but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh, I will now do to this house that bears My Name…I will thrust you from My presence…” Look around… the flow of people in and out of the Temple has stopped, people are frozen in their places like statues. They are stunned by what they have just heard.
If you know much about Jewish people, their ancestral history is deeply rooted in their family culture. The stories of centuries ago are well know by all, even the children. Shiloh was the place where Joshua had erected the Tabernacle of Moses when they crossed the Jordan river, leaving 40 years of desert wandering behind them. (Joshua 18) It had served many years, decades, even centuries, as the place the people of Israel came to meet with God. But then, as in the days of Jeremiah, people drifted spiritually and when Samuel was born and brought to serve at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, the High Priest was Eli, and he had two wicked sons who made a mockery of the worship of Holy God.
They took the Ark of the Covenant out of the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and took it to the battlefield as a good luck charm. God removed His hand of protection, and the Ark was captured by the Philistines and taken into their territory for several months. (1 Samuel 4) On that same day, a runner came back to Shiloh to report on the travesty. He told Eli, the High Priest that the Ark was captured, but that’s not all. Both Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehaus had been killed as the Ark was taken! Eli was so shocked he fell backward off his chair, broke his neck, and died on the spot. Word spread quickly through the village of Shiloh, and when Mrs. Phinehaus heard it, she went into labor and died giving birth to a premature son. With her last breath she named him “Ichabod”, gasping, “The Glory of the LORD has departed from Israel..” (1 Samuel 4:22)
Oh the people of Jerusalem knew that horrible story well, and now to hear Jeremiah remind them of it and suggest that God was about to do the same thing to them, in their day in Jerusalem…, it was almost unthinkable! The record of 1 Samuel 5 tells us there was tragedy in each of the Philistine cities where the captured Ark was taken. So the Philistines sent it back to Israel, but rather than returning it back into the Tabernacle, the people of Beth Shemsh sent it to the town of Kriath Jearim and the house of a Mr. Abinadab.
Many Bible scholars believe the main reason for this is that the Philistines had ransacked the town of Shiloh and the Tabernacle had been quickly taken down and moved by Samuel and others, to the town of Nob, where a few years later young David sought refuge while being pursued by king Saul. (1 Samuel 21) We have no Biblical record of the Tabernacle ever again being returned to where Shiloh had been. So you can imagine the fear which would have welled up in the hearts and minds of those hearing Jeremiah’s warning at the Temple in Jerusalem that day!
In fact, it did happen, just as Jeremiah warned. That great Temple was destroyed, the Ark taken captive and eventually the entire city of Jerusalem destroyed. We’ll look at that in days to come… but for now, please understand this: God does not waste warnings!
Finally, please look at Jeremiah 7:16,17. It’s almost shocking. It seems to be Jeremiah reporting to us what further instructions He received from God on this occasion: “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with Me, for I will not listen to you!” What? Is it possible God’s patience reaches a limit that even people praying for the rebellious, God mocking people, is a waste of time and breath? What could have brought God to make this outrageous statement to Jeremiah?
Look at verse 18: “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of heaven. They pour out offerings to other gods to arouse My anger. Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place – on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the crops of your land – and it will burn and not be quenched.” Oh my, Oh my!! That phrase “Queen of heaven” is used only twice in the Bible, both times by Jeremiah. Many ancient societies worshiped idols of women, claiming they were the goddesses who blessed women with fertility. Since children were highly desired, such worship was widespread, and sadly infiltrated into Israel too often. “Ashtoreth” is one of those ‘queen of heaven’ fertility goddesses which appears often in the Old Testament as evidence of extreme wickedness in idol worship in Israel. I’ve put a link at the end of my notes today giving you more information about this ‘queen of heaven’.
Last evening my wife and I were talking about Jeremiah’s messages and that this is December, it’s Christmas time, it should be a time of joy and good cheer and well wishing. Jeremiah’s harsh words just don’t fit, we don’t want to hear it. That’s true isn’t it? We’d much rather here the songs of Christmas, eat the foods of Christmas, experience the joys of Christmas. . . but as God looks at our world this December, I think it’s important we also hear what God has said to HIS PEOPLE in the past, and then ask ourselves if this is a message God is speaking to us today? What do you think?
Lord Jesus, we stand with the crowd of worshipers on the front steps of our churches and we listen to Mr. Jeremiah and we look around. Jesus, are YOU saying these same words to us? You are the Head of Your church world wide. As You, Jesus, look at the churches in every city, every country in December 2020, what do YOU see, what do You think, what are You feeling, and what are You saying to us?
Click to read today’s chapter: Jeremiah 7. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
NEW FEATURE: Click here to listen to a dramatized reading of Jeremiah 7.
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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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