2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
God prompts me to continue our conversation about sin, guilt, and God’s mercy. Although I have spoken before of two parallel truths which operate in our lives, it bears repeating. We must be aware of God’s sovereignty and mankind’s responsibility in response to it. The boundaries between these parallel truths are clear and never cross over. Keep this in mind as we look at more of God’s perspective about today’s subject.
JER 18: 3-6 uses a wonderful metaphor to get the point of this across. “So, [Jeremiah] went there [to the potter’s house] and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else. Then, the Lord said to me, ‘Do I not have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter’s hands.’ “ God was speaking to His prophet, Jeremiah, at a time when He was telling him that He had plans to stop Israel’s sinful lifestyle and bring the people to repentance. The Father was demonstrating His sovereignty. We already know God didn’t have an easy task ahead. Look at the story of what Jeremiah had to go through in JER 26 to carry out his responsibility to God’s sovereignty.
Jeremiah, like Isaiah and Ezekiel, had the unenviable task of delivering a very unpopular message to repent, turning from sin to a very sinful Jewish nation. JER 26: 11-13. King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, put Jeremiah on trial in response to charges brought up against the prophet by priests and others. [These leaders speaking to the people said,] “ ‘This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your very own ears.’ Then [Jeremiah] said, ‘The Lord sent me to proclaim everything that you heard me say against this temple and this city. You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing and must obey the Lord, your God. If you do He will change His mind about the destruction that He said He would bring upon you.’ “ Man doesn’t listen well to warnings if history is any teacher. That’s sad, because a lot of suffering could be averted if we did. Look at what happens as a result in JER 38-42. Jeremiah is imprisoned after that and is even at one point thrown into a well in the palace courtyard. He is finally pulled out in JER 38: 13.
JER 39: 2, 6-8. “Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in the eleventh year that Zedekiah was king of Judah.” The king was taken to prison and blinded after being forced to watch his sons put to death. The royal palace, people’s houses, and Jerusalem’s walls were torn down and burned. Jeremiah was released from prison under the care of Gedaliah, who had been made Governor of Judah. He stayed with Gedaliah in Mizpah (JER 39: 14 & 40: 5-6). Gedaliah, after not heeding warnings he was given by Israelite soldiers under Johanan, was killed by Ismael, a member of the royal family (JER 41: 2). “Johanan, son of Hoshaiah, and all the army leaders who knew of Ishmael’s crime asked Jeremiah to pray for them” (JER 42: 2). They wanted divine direction. They asked for the truth and swore, “Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the Lord our God, to Whom we are asking you to pray” (JER 42: 6). Jeremiah’s answer in JER 42: 9-12 is, “The Lord, the God of Israel to Whom you sent me with you request has said, ‘If you are willing to go on living in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow. Stop being afraid of the king of Babylonia. I am with you, and I will rescue you from his power. Because I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I, the Lord, have spoken.’ ” Can you see the lines between God’s sovereignty and mankind’s responsibility that are clearly delineated here? God power is shown in the willingness of Johanan and his soldiers to obey God. Notice the demonstration of God’s heart in this passage. He speaks of feeling sorrow felt in delivering the punishment for so much sin, the destruction of Jerusalem. Isn’t that how a loving parent feels when he must carry out his responsibility to punish a child for disobedience? Yet, a wise and omniscient Lord knows the consequences of letting sin go unpunished are wholly unacceptable and not in the best interests of His children.
One of the most unusual and interesting stories in the Bible is that of Jonah. My friend, Les Feldick, teaches that the OT is directed at Jews only with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is the people of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. It was God’s will that these people should come to faith, and Jonah was His choice for the job. We all know that Jonah willfully disobeyed God, sailing west in the direction of Spain in response to his own fears instead of traveling northeast to Nineveh. Jonah is eventually thrown overboard in a storm and is swallowed by a big fish. For three days, he remains contemplating the mistake he has made in rebelling against God’s will. Finally, he is regurgitated by the big fish and is saved, but only after he repents from his sin and agrees to carry out the commission given him by God. It is in the third chapter of Jonah that we see God’s final intervention in this series of events to bring about His will. JON 3: 5, “The people of Nineveh believed God’s message [that they heard from Jonah] so they decided everyone should fast, and all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on sack cloth to show that they had repented.” JON 3: 10, “God saw what they did. He saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So, He changed His mind and did not punish them as He had said He would.” Does this mean that God is changeable? My answer to that question is, “no.” God has never changed His mind about sin. It has been and always will be repugnant to Him. However, He does show mercy, and that is what I believe He is showing here.
PRAYER: O Lord, You show us over and over again Your sovereign rights and our need to respond to them. You are our loving and merciful Parent Who wants nothing more than for us to do what is in our own best interests-to learn to obey You. Every day You show us Your love and compassion while at the same time You act responsibly as a perfect Parent would. We humbly submit to Your wisdom and adore You for caring so much about Your children. You deserve our unending thanks and praise for Your loving presence in our lives. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will finish us this topic with some insights from the NT that God has for us. Please know that your Father in heaven loves you every day of your lives. You are never abandoned by Him while you struggle against your fleshly selves to let the sweet Spirit within you eventually gain total control. Peter and I send you our love too.
Bask in the Love of God’s Presence,
Lynn