We hear Jeremiah's reaction
to the judgment of God on Jerusalem. He has
no pride in being right in his prophecy, he is in pain and anguish. Only one who loves the people and loves the
city of God can experience such pain. Jeremiah
cares deeply for the people and yet he cares more for the Lord. He is a man caught betwixt and between, he
has not emotionally or spiritually separated himself from the nation, he is one
of them and what he now sees is horrible.
Verses 23-26 hearken back to the beginning of creation, Genesis 1.2, the
heavens and earth are created but the earth is formless and void, there is no
light, no animal life, no humans. The devastation
of the nation is so great that these images are the only ones that will
suffice. The prophet has seen the fierce
anger of the Lord, and he knows this is the penalty for sin, it is not unjust,
it is, however, horrific.
About ten years ago
a bishop of the church wrote a polemic to say what was wrong with the church
and how it needed to change in order to be relevant in a world that was
dominated by scientific knowledge, a knowledge that he believed in so much that
the Bible was obsolete as it was in conflict with science. One of the things he thought needed to be
done away with was the idea that God continued to act in space and time,
particularly in any way that contradicted what we "know" is possible,
i.e. the miraculous. Jesus, however,
says the Father is continuing to work and Jesus did those things He saw the
Father doing. The Father was healing and
Jesus simply was an agent. More than
that, He clearly claims equality with God, just as the Father judges and gives
life, so the Son does. Failure to honor
the Son is equivalent to failing to honor the Father. These are remarkable claims, offensive claims
if they aren't true. Jesus also says
judgment has to do with "doing".
Faith and action go together.
What Jesus did revealed who He was, same with us.
We live in a time
when we have taken the reformation formula of salvation by faith alone to an
extreme that Jesus and Paul would not recognize. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith in
Jesus, but justification and sanctification go together. Once we believe we are to walk in truth, live
according to what we know God's will to be.
We will repent, turn away, from those things in our lives that we now
know to be contrary to that will. We will
live for different rewards, march to the beat of a different drummer. Our attitudes and values will change, our
goals and objectives as well. If there
is no observable difference in your life because you now believe in forgiveness
of sins, eternal life, and a God who will ultimately judge, you may not believe
at all. We need a radical realignment not
a tweak.
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