#669 11-Mar-12 12:48 p.m.
Jeremiah 10:
Reading #669The grievous wound
This week we continue with God’s understanding of the last church of the Hebrew dispensation. Like the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-18), they were very religious, but they were “uncircumcised in the heart” and needed desperately to put on the robe of righteousness. But Jeremiah did not fully believe this – he had the word of God, but not the depth of it. He could not comprehend that there were so few to be saved that they could be counted as nothing in amongst the multitudes!! Don’t get me wrong, the LORD was grateful for what He could get, but at this time the sorrow of the loss was greater than the joy over the saved.
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Jeremiah 10:
1Hear you the word which the LORD speaksto you, O house of Israel:
2Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen[the surrounding religious bodies], and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3For the customs[idols] of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. 5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good[it is people that do evil].
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Today, the idols are more likely to be points of doctrine than literal statues, but just as the Pagans/professed Christians often acknowledged the power of the living God, but would not follow Him, so they do today. Here’s an example of a church/state proclamation:
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Daniel 6:26-27.
I[Darius the Mede] make a decree[a law of enforcement], That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
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These words are good in themselves, but the element of coercion and force behind it puts it into the evil category!
In the last days, as in Jeremiah’s time, we are told how it will be for us:
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Luke 21:9-16.
[Jesus told us]But when you shall hear of wars and commotions[in the world], be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is NOT by and by. Then said He to them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers[different] places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
But BEFORE[as more important than]all these, they[the worshippers of false gods] shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues[churches], and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony[it will be your opportunity to witness for Me].
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And you shall be betrayed both by parents, and brothers [and sisters], and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
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Jeremiah agreed with these thoughts; but his problem was that God was speaking about his family and the whole religious organisation of the time, and he found that hard to accept! So he kept applying it to the “others”.
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Jeremiah 10:
6Forasmuch as there is none like toYou, O LORD; Youare great, and Your name[character] is great in might. 7Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For to Youdoes it[the world] appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like toYou.
8But they are altogether brutish[worldly] and foolish: the stock[their god] is a doctrine of vanities[vain things]. 9Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder[the workman]: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
10But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation.
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By causing men and women to violate the second commandment, Satan aimed at that time to degrade their conceptions of the Divine Being. By setting aside the fourth in the future, he plansto make them forget the living God altogether. God's claim to reverence and worship above the gods of the heathen is based upon the fact that He is the Creator, and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. Thus it is presented in the Bible.
The seventh-day Sabbath, as a memorial of God's creative power, points to Him as the maker of the heavens and the earth. Hence it is a constant witness to His existence and a reminder of His greatness, His wisdom, and His love. Had the Sabbath always been sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater. The Spirit says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shallyou labour, and do all your work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it youshall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it”. Exodus 20:8-11.
Jeremiah had had a similar experience to the one Isaiah had, although not so literal. Isaiah had written,“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the ‘LORD of hosts’. Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid itupon my mouth, and said, ‘Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged’.” Isaiah 6:5-7. So Jeremiah was giving what we would call the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:6-7.
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Jeremiah 10:
11Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.12He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion[He is the Creator]. 13When He uttersHis voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.
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The Levites, in their hymn recorded by Nehemiah, sang, “You, even You, areLORD alone; Youhave made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things therein. . .and You preserve them all”. Nehemiah 9:6. As regards this world, God's work of creation is completed, for “the works were finished from the foundation of the world”, but His energy is still exerted in upholding the objects of His creation. Hebrews 4:3.
It is not by inbuilt power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet as with all the others. It is God's power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation.
It is God who causes the sun to appear to rise in the heavens. He opens the windows of heaven and gives rain. So what causes the earth to be so out-of-kilter and full of destruction? There is an “enemy” who is forever undoing that which the LORD does, and this causes a constant see-sawing as the LORD “repairs” as fast as His people will allow. (Much was undone during the Flood which could not be reinstated without forgoing justice.) However, in the working out of the two administrations the contrast between the government of God and that of Satan can still be seen. The sinless inhabitants of other worlds are constantly beholding the results of Satan's apostasy, and the kind of government he would have established in heaven had he been permitted to bear sway. And so may we.
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Matthew 13:
24Another parable put He forth to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven[this world] is likened to a man which sowed good seed in his field[many great blessings]: 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares[trouble and strife] among the wheat, and went his way[into the background]. 26But[after a time] when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27So the servants of the householder came and said to him, “Sir, did not you sow good seed in your field? From whence then has it tares?”
28He said to them, “An enemy has done this”.
The servants said to him, “Willyou then that we go and gather them up?”
29But he said, “Nay; lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest:
and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘Gather you together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn’.”
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The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the result of a system, which, once set in motion, continues its work that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28.) Every breath, every throb of the heart, is a continual evidence of the power of an ever-present God.
The Bible is the great educator; for it is not possible to prayerfully study its sacred pages without having the intellect disciplined, ennobled, purified, and refined by the Holy Spirit. “Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD. Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised[in the church] with the uncircumcised[those outside the church]”. Jeremiah 9:23-25.
Those who claim to be Christians, who profess to believe the truth, and yet drink at the polluted fountains of infidelity, and by precept and example draw others away from the cold, snow-waters of Lebanon are fools, though they profess themselves to be wise, and this is what Jeremiah had to learn. (See John 4:14.) The mighty power that works through all nature and sustains all things is not, as some men of science and religion represent, merely an all-pervading principle, an actuating energy. God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was made in His image. (John 4:24; Genesis 1:26.)
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Jeremiah 10:
14Every man is brutish[worldly] in his knowledge: every founder[maker of gods] is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15They are vanity, and the work of errors:
in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16The portion of Jacob[the living God] is not like them: for He is the Former[Creator] of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: “The LORD of hosts” is His name.
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The artistic skill of human beings produces very beautiful workmanship, things that delight the eye, and these things give us something of the idea of the designer; but the thing made is not the man. It is not the work, but the workman, that is counted worthy of honour. So, while nature is an expression of God's thought, it is not nature but the God of nature that is to be exalted.
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Jeremiah 10:
17Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. 18For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so”.
19Woe is Me for My hurt! My wound is grievous: but I said, “Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it[for ever]. 20My tabernacle is spoiled, and all My cords are broken[My way of life has been altered]: My children are gone forth of Me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth My tent any more, and to set up My curtains. 21For the pastors are become brutish[worldly-minded], and have not sought the[living] LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
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Here the LORD gives us a look into His mind as He exclaims what the captivity of His people meant to Him. Long before the crucifixion at Calvary the “hurt” was there. (For more on this and to see why He has it, see note 1.)
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Jeremiah 10:
22Behold, the noise of the bruit[the rumour] is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons[wild animals].
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The time of the invasion was right upon them and the LORD told Jeremiah so, but he still thought that He should punish the open sinners and not those in His church. But God has no favourites and is of strict justice. “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Your throne: mercy and truth shall go before Your face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance”. Psalm 89:14-15.
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Jeremiah 10:
23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps. 24 O LORD, correct me[and my people], but with judgment[and mercy]; not in Your anger, lest You bring me[and us] to nothing.
25Pour out Your fury upon the heathen that know You not, and upon the families that call not on Your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
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The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy beings, all waiting to do His will. Through these messengers He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. By His Spirit He is everywhere present. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come”. John 16:13.
Through the agency of His Spirit and His angels He ministers to us. Above the distractions of the earth He sits enthroned; all things are open to His divine survey; and from His great and calm eternity He orders that which His providence sees best – but it still costs Him!
Bye for now,
RonP
In this reading the old-fashioned words of the KJV have been modernised, and in some instances, the man-made punctuation has been altered for greater understanding. Some of the comments are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own. Some of these readings are available at Past books will be available from time to time.
Note 1:
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Jeremiah 30:
4And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning[spiritual] Israel and concerning[spiritual] Judah[readying for the new world].
5For thus says the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6Ask you now, and see whether a man does travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?