OCTOBER 28
This is a red letter
day. You'll be finishing two books, Jeremiah and Titus. I don't mean to get you
fat, but I think it would be an appropriate time for a treat of some sort.
Jeremiah 51:54-52:34
Wow, the end of the
book of Jeremiah! You did it!
Jeremiah 51:54-64
Vs. 54-58 This is the
end of the pronouncement of judgment on Babylon. Remember, most of this is yet
to come.
V. 57 The night
Babylon was taken, that brilliant and serious military strategist and king,
Belshazzar, knowing his city was surrounded, decided to get everyone stinking
drunk and celebrate to the gods. It was a desperate religious act, trying to
find a god who would respond to their desperate need. The Persians could have
taken the city with two boy scouts and a blind German Shepherd. To be fair to
Belshazzar, he did get a response from "the other side." At one point
King Belshazzar brought out the drinking vessels taken from the temple in
Jerusalem and fed wine to his wives while praising the gods of gold and silver.
Yahweh took exception to that and publicly wrote a message to him in the
plaster of the wall. Belshazzar died that night. Trivia question: Who was in
charge of the empire of Babylon (the last Babylonian ruler) the night the city
and empire fell? A Jewish exile named Daniel. Keep this in mind.
Vs. 59-64 So Zedekiah
and Seraiah both went to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. It
could be that this is the event of Daniel 3. This would have been the 12th year
of Nebuchadnezzar and that fits nicely into the time frame. If so, Zedekiah was
on hand to see three Jewish men risk their lives to follow God, and he would
have seen Nebuchadnezzar worship the God with whom Zedekiah was in rebellion.
Just for trivia, if
you do a word search on those words describing who Seraiah was related to, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah
(Jere. 51:59), you find that Seraiah was the brother of Jeremiah's assistant, Baruch
(Jere. 32:12).
Seraiah read the
prophecy against Babylon and threw it in the Euphrates. Five years later
Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Seraiah was killed by Neb, and
Zedekiah was severely punished by him.
Interestingly, this
is the end of the prophecies of Jeremiah. Yet, we'll read more from Jeremiah in
Lamentations. What follows now is all history.
Jeremiah 52
Tradition says that
Jeremiah wrote 2 Kings. This might have been added here by Jeremiah as an
historical summary of the final events.
Vs. 1-3 Zedekiah was
a spineless man, ruled by those around him and by fear. His own lack of faith
destroyed him. He rebelled against Babylon because of his officials who wanted
to join an alliance with Egypt and the other surrounding neighbors to oppose
Babylon.
Vs. 4-11 The reason
the Babylonians could breach the city was because the famine was so severe,
that no one could stand anymore to defend the walls. We have read this about
the flight and punishment of Zedekiah.
Vs. 12-16 This is the
end of Israel, beginning with the destruction of the temple, going to the
destruction of the city and finally the taking away of the people. Thankfully
God had already been working for several years to preserve His people in
Babylon.
V. 14 When they
burned the temple, the gold on the walls flowed into the cracks in the
foundation. To get the gold, the foundation blocks had to be moved. This led to
the total disassembling of that building. The foundation stones were valuable
and well cut and were probably hauled away to be used for other buildings. When
Zerubbabel showed up years later, he had to re-cut stones for the foundation of
the temple.
Vs. 17-23 This was
the total humbling of Israel. These items had been their pride. God promised
Hezekiah that all of these would be removed to Babylon. See 2 Kings 20:17.
Vs. 24-27 Now this is
what you did when you conquered a people. You found their leaders and you put
them to death. Seraiah, whom we met in 51:59, died here. So here is a question.
I mentioned that Daniel was the last ruler of the Babylonian Empire the night
the Medes and Persians took over. Why didn't they kill Daniel? Why did Daniel
become a beloved and key ruler under Darius the Mede? We'll figure it out
together when we get to Daniel. God's amazing grace and working would be the short
answer.
Vs. 28-30 Although
the main deportations took place at a set time, Neb was always taking people
into exile. Some of them lived in the surrounding area and some people obeyed
and got out of the cities. Because of the next verses dealing with Jehoiachin,
I tend to think that these minor deportations are those who obeyed and
willingly surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. That would also account for the low
totals here. Not many of the people were willing to obey God.
Vs. 31-34 I've seen
it suggested that this is a sign that the exiles would eventually return to
Jerusalem. That may be. But clearly it is a delayed fulfillment of God's
promise, that if anyone left the city and surrendered to the Babylonian army,
they would be taken into captivity and God would honor them. (Jeremiah 21:9)
This is what Jeremiah told Zedekiah to do when Zed asked him to inquire of the
Lord for him. Zedekiah didn't do it, because he didn't believe it and was
afraid of his Jewish enemies. Jehoiachin, the king before Zedekiah, walked out
of the gates of Jerusalem with his mother, was imprisoned, but for his
obedience, was honored.
I'd like to think it
was Jeremiah, 27 years after the fall of Jerusalem, who wrote these notes. I'd
like to think he settled down on that acreage he bought in Anathoth, married some sweet young thing and
lived in peace, writing out 2 Kings and enjoying the sunsets at night.
Jeremiah had suffered
in his service for God. He was hated by most people for bringing them a message
of salvation they didn't want to hear. And for all of this, he helplessly
watched his people give themselves to disobedience and destruction. Yet even
with this, he was much closer to God than anyone around him. When we read
Lamentations 3, we’ll see the deep faith and maturity of Jeremiah in the midst
of all the suffering.
Titus 3
Wow, the end of
Titus!
Vs. 1-8 This is an
awesome passage of Scripture. At this time, Nero was beginning to light the
fires of persecution. To me, the section has to do with people being salt and
light in the harvest.
Vs. 1-2 This is
keeping our hearts and attitudes in tune with Jesus and His love, so that we
can work in the harvest. Getting lost in "civilian affairs" and being
anxious and vocal about elections is a way to repel others needlessly from
Christ.
Vs. 3-7 We always
need to remember that we, too, were lost and in rebellion to God, hating and
being hated. It was His complete love and mercy that saved us in spite of who
we were.
V. 8 The main way to
show the love of Christ is good works.
Even in persecution a disciple needs to remember why he is here, and it is very
hard to slander a neighbor for being a Christian when he helps your elderly
parent rake leaves. There are lots of things the Spirit shows us to do in our
own neighborhood, if we know our neighbors and we live in the harvest. Notice
that these good works are tied into
our salvation in Christ. In fact, notice that this entire section has to do
with living a life as an ambassador of Christ in a dying world. The spiritual
perspective and power to live like this comes from the gospel and our own
salvation, through the grace of God.
Vs. 9-11 Whatever
focuses the church inward, taking on a self-righteous life of its own, is
brought about by warped people. And it takes away our compassion for the lost
in the harvest.
V. 12 I like this guy
Tychicus. Suddenly he's everywhere. He's also mentioned in Acts, Ephesians,
Colossians and 2 Timothy.
V. 13 Titus was
supposed to make sure that the church supported these workers and sent them out
with their back-packs full.
V. 14 One more urging
of the people to be involved in good
works, which I think means being in the harvest following Christ.
V. 15 Isn't this an
interesting sentence, Greet those who
love us in the faith? That "faith" embraced the entire spiritual
perspective of life in Christ in the harvest. There is a kindred spirit of
those who know what it is all about and are working hard in the harvest.
Psalm 100
Wouldn't it be great
to get through something indescribably hard and dangerous, something that had
been filled with difficulty and sadness, and then to stand on the other side of
that "something" and celebrate the goodness and salvation of God? We
get glimpses of this, and it is ultimately where we are heading.
Vs. 1-2 This will
happen completely when Jesus takes His throne.
V. 3 These are just a
few words, but the depth of what they mean is endless.
V. 4 That we can
enter His gates and courts is enough cause for praise and thanksgiving.
V. 5 This is the
declaration of David. God's steadfast
love and His faithfulness are
often found in tandem, and they are always found when we seek the Lord.
Proverbs 26:18-19
Wow, what a
declaration from God. That little sin is the tip of a madly sinful and violent
heart. Little sins have a way of seeming innocent, funny and acceptable. Those
of us who have known people like this know that it definitely isn't funny.
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