2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
In this third message about covenants as solemn, binding agreements, we need to take a closer look at what happens when there has been deceit with regard to keeping those agreements. JER 34: 8-22 is a good example which the Lord has given to demonstrate this. Because of space limitations, I will paraphrase part of this story.
Jeremiah writes that in the time of Judah’s King Zedekiah (about 595-586 BC), he and the Jewish people had agreed to set free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female. They did this, and then reversed their decision (8-11). God reminded the people that He set them free from slavery in Egypt all those years ago and commanded that they release their slaves every seven years during what was known as the year of restoration. Let me digress here to share the citations where this is discussed, and then I’ll return to JER 34: 8-22. EX 21: 2, “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve you for six years. In the seventh year he is to be set free without having to pay anything.” DT 15: 12, “If a fellow Israelite, man or women, sells himself to you as a slave, you are to release him after he has served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let him go free.” It doesn’t hurt to cite both of these even though they say the same thing for two reasons: 1) how much clearer does this have to be? 2) God often repeats things for emphasis when He feels they are important. This was done. There were many important reasons for the year of restoration every seven years, not the least of which was God’s desire that the land remain in the families of its original Jewish owners and that someone from that family be able to control and work it.
Now, let’s return to the covenant discussed in JER 34: 8-22. Although God’s command to free these slaves in the year of restoration was given, it was ignored over and over again. My research indicates that it was ignored seven times, one time for each decade of the Babylonian captivity. God is precise when He metes out punishment. Through Jeremiah, God said, “Just a few day ago you changed your minds and did what pleased Me. All of you agreed to set your fellow Israelites free, and to you made a covenant in My presence in the Temple where I am worshipped. But then you changed your minds again and dishonored Me. All of you took back the slaves whom you had set free as they desired, and you forced them into slavery again. So now, I the Lord, say that you have disobeyed Me; you have not given your fellow Israelites their freedom. Very well, then, I will give you freedom, the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation. I will make every nation in the world horrified at what I do to you. The officials of Judah and of Jerusalem, together with the palace officials, the priests, and all the leaders, made a covenant with Me by walking between the two halves of a bull that they had cut in two. But they broke this covenant and did not keep its terms. So, I will do to these people what they did to the bull. I will hand them over to their enemies, who want to kill them, and their corpses will be eaten by birds and wild animals. I will also hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to those who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the Babylonian army, which has stopped its attack against you. I will give the order, and they will return to this city. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make the towns of Judah like a desert where no one lives. I, the Lord, have spoken” [JER 34: 15-22].
Sin is defined as separation from God. If we look at this situation, we can see the separation takes several forms. To begin, God is dealing not only with the Jews of King Zedekiah’s time here, but with many of their ancestors as well. This sin had become a lifestyle with them. Despite Jeremiah’s dire warnings and those of prophets before him, the Jews were turning a deaf ear to God. It wasn’t as if the truth wasn’t available the whole time. The other kind of separation has to do with inability to see the wisdom in obeying God’s commands. In our time, we would describe that as the absence of the Holy Spirit. God’s wrath against habitual sinning is righteous and necessary. Without it, we would have a world with no people who understood that bad decisions and bad behavior have evil consequences. There would be no conscience. Sadly, today’s world is full of about 60% of its population who reject God. These are people who don’t see the value in God’s covenants with us or in keeping them. The question we must ask is: Why can’t we learn from history’s lesson???? Instead, mankind makes the same foolish, unfaithful mistakes over and over again. The only remedies are to study God’s word, come to believe it, trust and obey God, and stay in touch with God through prayer. There simply isn’t another source for relief. That is why the Psalmist in PS 31: 1-5 writes, “I come to You, Lord, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are a righteous God; save me, I pray! Hear me! Save me now! Be my Refuge to protect me; my Defense to save me. You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God.”
PRAYER: O Lord, although the sins of industrialized countries are different that those of ancient Israel, they are sins nonetheless. Your teaching remains the same: a lifestyle of habitual, sin for which there is no repentance, will lead to spiritual death. How much clearer can that be? Over and over again, You have commanded us to make You alone the Lord of our lives. You have made Your will clear to us in both the Scriptures and prayer that we are not to act with deceit and break our covenant agreements with You. Yet, there are still people who ignore You. Repeatedly, You have given us examples from the Scriptures that show us that we will be blessed by being true to our commitment with You and cursed if we do not. The people in King Zedekiah’s time knew straight out that they were sinning. The same is true for some people today. There are others who are sinning in subtle ways, and because they don’t take the time to examine their lives against the ideals set forth in Your word, they don’t realize what they are doing. Today, we come before You in humility to confess any sin that remains in our lives. We dedicate ourselves to knowing our responsibility to respond to Your Sovereignty in a way that keeps our covenant agreements with You and demonstrates that we have taken the time to know Your will. We witness to Your ultimate righteousness, compassion, patience, and love in making these demands on us. We know You do that, because it will lead us to what is best for us, eternal life with You. We offer You our utmost worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to look at the subject of covenants in a way that reveals the Jewish roots of Christian faith. We really do need to see that to better understand that belief in the one and only true God is consistent and that God’s teachings are also consistent throughout the OT and NT. When we understand that, then we are in a much better position to see the love and patience God has always displayed toward His creation. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn