OCTOBER 11
Jeremiah
16:16-18:23
Jeremiah 16:16-21
Vs. 16-18 There are a
few places in the Bible where God expresses His pursuit of those who reject
Him, and this is one of them. It reminds you of the words in Hebrews
10:31, It is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God. It is also interesting that
God says He is always watching. We all know it, but because God is invisible we
become desensitized and don't really care. That's one of the reasons why He's
invisible.
Vs. 19-20 This is Jeremiah's confidence
in the Lord and his desire to see God acknowledged.
V. 21 God will bring a time when people
will know Him. Here, I think, Israel will know by the fulfilling of judgment
that the events are from God. There will be recognition. This will be the same
thing that happens during the Tribulation. Humanity will rage against God for
the events that come upon the earth, acknowledging by their anger that God does
exist. Some will repent and come to Him. One way or another, all people will
know Him and bow the knee, but unbroken sin will always, irrationally, want to
spit in His face.
Jeremiah 17
Vs. 1-4 God explains how deeply
engraved idolatry and ignorance were in the culture. When God brought Israel
into Canaan, the culture was so corrupt that His only solution was to remove
it. This generation in Israel is in the same state. God will need to punish
these people and then totally remove the survivors to another place to save
Israel. It makes you wonder about cultures today.
Vs. 5-6 The curse of those who ignore
God.
Vs. 7-8 This blessing sounds like Psalm
1.
Vs. 9-10 It is interesting that these
verses follow vs. 7-8. Blessing is available, but the heart is incurably sick
without God's cure. Verse 9 is famous. The heart is deceitful and incurably
sick. While the penalty and judgment against sin can be removed, the sickness
of sin in us remains strong. Sin is only broken by coming to Christ for
forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit and the new spiritual creation within
us. But then, sin is only broken. It is still active in this body/soul/spirit
unity. "Defeating" sin means we need to be in the Word daily,
following the Spirit daily, and responding to Christ in love for what He has
done for us. Thank God for His grace and His cure in our Lord. Being released
from this body to be with Christ will be the death of sin in us. This is why
His return and the resurrection with Him are our hope. (Rom. 8:23-24)
Vs. 11-13 This
appears to be a judgment against injustice that was going on among the people.
True riches are found in God, including the living
waters. John 7:37 On the last
day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and
drink."
Vs. 14-18 In spite of Jeremiah's desire
to help his people, the people were getting tired of Jeremiah and persecution
against him was growing. What is interesting is that Jeremiah's pleas to God
are beginning to sound like God's pronouncements of justice on the people.
Jeremiah is beginning to see how wicked the people are, and in an ironic way,
Jeremiah is becoming more like God.
Vs. 19-27 It looks like God is giving
the people a very simple test of their obedience. Keeping the Sabbath was a
simple but profound test of faith. Why take a day to enjoy the Lord? Why not
work or buy or make hay while the sun was shining? The people wouldn't pass
this test.
Jeremiah 18
Vs. 1-11 So what do you think the point
of this illustration is? It seems to me that God is saying that He can shape
and change the events and times at will, so they really ought to obey Him. He
had tried to form Israel in His hands, but they were willfully going crooked.
It was time to smash down the clay and reform a new vessel. Yet, it would be
formed out of the same promise to Abraham and would fulfill the destiny of
Israel.
Vs. 12-17 This is the people's response
to God and God's pronouncement against them.
Vs. 18-23 This is the people's response
to Jeremiah and Jeremiah's response to God. Notice v. 23. Jeremiah is now
feeling what God is feeling regarding the sin of the people. In all the years
of preaching to and ministering to the people, Jeremiah has begun to understand
God and has become more like God.
As we work in the harvest God matures
our hearts too. Because of the Lord's mercy to us, we learn to show mercy and
to be patient in teaching, reaching out and making disciples. Yet we also learn
not to give dogs what is holy, nor to throw pearls before swine. We learn to
love our neighbors and love our enemies. In all of this, we know that some will
be saved and some will not. Those who are saved will be saved by God's mighty
hand and His grace. Those who will be punished will have chosen their destiny
and will deserve it.
1
Thessalonians 4-5:3
1 Thessalonians 4
Vs. 1-8 It is interesting that both
Corinth and Thessalonica were known for loose living. Paul had to urge
believers in both cities to concentrate on living holy to God and resisting
immorality. The church today still needs to hear this. The sexual saturation of
our culture - TV, movies, and especially the web - has made this even more
necessary now than back then. Paul and the Spirit say that to disregard any of
these commands is to disregard God and grieve the Holy Spirit within us.
It is interesting that all of these
commands can be guided by the first line of the Lord's Prayer. If we remember
we are to honor God's name in everything, we would be alert to our hearts and
thoughts, and careful to how we respond to the situations that come into our
day.
Vs. 9-12 This is an interesting mixture
of thoughts. How do love one another
and live quietly work toward being a
witness to the unbelieving? I think that both of these have to do with giving
testimony to our Lord. Loving one another has to do with our common salvation
and mission in Christ. It shows the bond of being forgiven, and it shows the
unity of living for a common Savior and mission. Living quietly is for working
under the radar, contacting people for our Lord in the harvest. (1 Tim. 2:1-6)
Vs. 13-18 There appears to have been
some misunderstanding of Paul's teaching, or there was some other teaching that
contradicted what Paul had taught. It seems to me that someone was teaching
that those who had died as believers in Christ would not be a part of the
church uniting with Christ at the rapture. In fact the dead in Christ are
raised first, and then the living church will be changed immediately afterward.
(1 Cor. 15:51-52) Paul was speaking to encourage and restore the hope of being
united in the resurrection at Christ's coming.
Just as a point of trivia, but when
Jesus comes after the Tribulation, at His second advent, He will likewise raise
all the Old Testament believers and the martyrs of the Tribulation first. And
then all the believers scattered all over the world will be gathered to
Jerusalem, but they will not be spiritually transformed like the church. They
will enter the Millennial Kingdom as normal people who live and die and have
families.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
This day of the Lord is the seven-year Tribulation. The beginning of
this time is hidden, but once it begins, you can mark off the days until the
return of Jesus. The beginning of this time will be marked by the gathering of
the church to Christ and a revival of faith among Jews. There may be other
events suggested in the Book of Revelation, but many people believe the rapture
of the church and the renewal of faith in Israel will be the first visible
events.
Psalm
81
Vs. 1-3 It is
interesting that this psalm begins with celebration because the rest of it is
pretty rough. I'm guessing this was written after the return of the exiles from
Babylon. It says in Nehemiah 8:17, that this celebration of the Feast of Booths
was the first time the nation celebrated the Feast of Booths since the time of
Joshua, where people actually lived in handmade tents for the feast week. That
should be sad, heart-wrenching, and unbelievable. What had the people missed by
not celebrating this feast in this way? Everything. This feast was to remind
Israel how God sustained them 40 years in the wilderness, and could do it again
and again for them every day.
Vs. 4-10 This is a
summary of God's working and salvation in bringing Israel out of Egypt.
Vs. 11-16 This is a
summary of Israel's history and their exile. If they had only listened. They
stopped listening when their cares and comforts became too important to them.
They didn't keep the Sabbath. They didn't waste their time keeping a feast like
the Feast of the Tabernacles. Yet in becoming consumed in their lives, they
forgot God and couldn't hear His voice.
What stands out to me
here is God's pleading for the people to listen to Him. God said this of
Israel, and I'm sure He says it of this generation of people on the earth today.
I wonder if He says this about the church. In our reading today, thinking about
the effects of sin on us, on culture, on our response to God, it all points to
the need to keep before the Lord and plead with God for ourselves and others in
the harvest. Our hearts need to be kept aflame in His love, and we have a
harvest to work in before the Lord returns.
Proverbs 25:6-7a
This sure sounds like
something Jesus said about not seeking status. Apparently the Pharisees didn't
read the proverbs.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples,
meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out
and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal
manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us
more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is
that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a
year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples,
disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
No comments:
Post a Comment