December 16, 2011
The last chapter in Jeremiah. After almost three months of living and breathing the writings of Jeremiah, I've come to the last chapter.
Chapter 52 recounts the fall of Jerusalem. I've spent the last days writing about the fall of Babylon, an empire that made no claims of the LORD being God—none. And now today I'm reminded of the fall of Jerusalem—a place where God's people lived. Accountability happened to the non-believers and "believers" alike. God kept His word. Everything He told Jeremiah to prophesy about, came to pass. Everything. God brought the punishment He promised because Israel refused to repent.
Jeremiah 52:3 - "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence."
God is proactive not reactive. By that I mean this. Man doesn't take an action that is a surprise to God and then God has a knee jerk reaction in response. That isn't what sets the chain of events into motion. It's man's heart choices over a period of time that determines the outcome and actions God takes in the course of our lives. I'm having a hard time trying to clearly explain this. Take Zedekiah as an example. Verse 3 says, "Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon." It wasn't that specific action by man that caused God to react and decide to cause the fall of Jerusalem. It was Zedekiah's (and the Israelites) refusal to surrender to God and His calls for repentance for all the years prior which then caused God to be proactive and put into motion His plan that would eventually be the downfall of Zedekiah and Jerusalem. "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence." Proactive: "creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened."
There is a huge difference between fear/awe of God and fear/scared or frightened of God. As believers, we should fear (be in awe of) God, but we should never be fearful (frightened) of God. God's eventual response to us is in direct correlation to our response to Him. Do we surrender to Him or not? When our lives are surrendered to Him we know that He never puts anything into our lives for our harm—NEVER! Jeremiah 29:11–13 - "I know the plans I have for you... and they are good plans, not plans to harm you but plans to give you hope and a good future." We are the ones who mess things up.
What happened to the Israelites and Zedekiah was a direct result of the choices they made. The people who surrendered to the LORD and His will—lived. Those who refused to surrender were held accountable for their choices. It was Zedekiah's disobedience and refusal to surrender to God's will that caused him to revolt against King Nebuchadnezzar, and what caused him to revolt—was God's anger. "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence." God has given us the control to choose what our response is going to be to His LORDship, but our control ends there. Only God has the right to choose the consequences we receive for the choices we make.
The rest of Chapter 52 talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple Solomon built per God's instructions. In all the warnings Jeremiah gave, I had almost forgot about the beauty and splendor of the temple. God was willing to destroy the very temple He designed and the very place where He chose to be worshiped because of the disobedience of His people. That ought to make all of us bow in fear/awe of the LORD All-Powerful.
Addendum: 5/14/18 ~ Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Because (as a believer) Christ lives in us, there is no longer a need for an earthly building/temple for the LORD to reside in. Our bodies are now His temple. Oh, the seriousness of understanding this and surrendering our will in obedience to HIM.
Next Entry: Lamentations 1:1–22
The last chapter in Jeremiah. After almost three months of living and breathing the writings of Jeremiah, I've come to the last chapter.
Chapter 52 recounts the fall of Jerusalem. I've spent the last days writing about the fall of Babylon, an empire that made no claims of the LORD being God—none. And now today I'm reminded of the fall of Jerusalem—a place where God's people lived. Accountability happened to the non-believers and "believers" alike. God kept His word. Everything He told Jeremiah to prophesy about, came to pass. Everything. God brought the punishment He promised because Israel refused to repent.
Jeremiah 52:3 - "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence."
God is proactive not reactive. By that I mean this. Man doesn't take an action that is a surprise to God and then God has a knee jerk reaction in response. That isn't what sets the chain of events into motion. It's man's heart choices over a period of time that determines the outcome and actions God takes in the course of our lives. I'm having a hard time trying to clearly explain this. Take Zedekiah as an example. Verse 3 says, "Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon." It wasn't that specific action by man that caused God to react and decide to cause the fall of Jerusalem. It was Zedekiah's (and the Israelites) refusal to surrender to God and His calls for repentance for all the years prior which then caused God to be proactive and put into motion His plan that would eventually be the downfall of Zedekiah and Jerusalem. "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence." Proactive: "creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened."
There is a huge difference between fear/awe of God and fear/scared or frightened of God. As believers, we should fear (be in awe of) God, but we should never be fearful (frightened) of God. God's eventual response to us is in direct correlation to our response to Him. Do we surrender to Him or not? When our lives are surrendered to Him we know that He never puts anything into our lives for our harm—NEVER! Jeremiah 29:11–13 - "I know the plans I have for you... and they are good plans, not plans to harm you but plans to give you hope and a good future." We are the ones who mess things up.
What happened to the Israelites and Zedekiah was a direct result of the choices they made. The people who surrendered to the LORD and His will—lived. Those who refused to surrender were held accountable for their choices. It was Zedekiah's disobedience and refusal to surrender to God's will that caused him to revolt against King Nebuchadnezzar, and what caused him to revolt—was God's anger. "All this happened... because the LORD was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence." God has given us the control to choose what our response is going to be to His LORDship, but our control ends there. Only God has the right to choose the consequences we receive for the choices we make.
The rest of Chapter 52 talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple Solomon built per God's instructions. In all the warnings Jeremiah gave, I had almost forgot about the beauty and splendor of the temple. God was willing to destroy the very temple He designed and the very place where He chose to be worshiped because of the disobedience of His people. That ought to make all of us bow in fear/awe of the LORD All-Powerful.
Addendum: 5/14/18 ~ Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Because (as a believer) Christ lives in us, there is no longer a need for an earthly building/temple for the LORD to reside in. Our bodies are now His temple. Oh, the seriousness of understanding this and surrendering our will in obedience to HIM.
Next Entry: Lamentations 1:1–22
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