The first verse of the
Jeremiah lesson makes me think of Sodom and Abraham's attempt to bargain with
God for the city. Jeremiah is told to
run to and fro and see if he can find one righteous man in the city and all he
finds are those who have refused to believe even in the face of calamity. First, the prophet believes it is true only
of those who lack knowledge of God, those who have not received His
blessing. That makes sense to Jeremiah,
they have an excuse for not believing, they are consumed with the struggle anyway. What he finds among the rich is that being
materially blessed has not given them knowledge, only appetites for sin, they
are worse than the poor. What a horrible
situation in the city of God, the place where the glory is to dwell, there is
no knowledge of Him at all, no repentance from anyone. The Lord must bring judgment against this
place.
They are looking at
the only righteous man who ever lived and He is offering testimony to Himself
by various sources. In Jewish law a
man's testimony about himself could not be accepted as evidence. Jesus, therefore, points to John's
testimony. Surely John could be
trusted. Jesus confirms and affirms John
in the process. If John's testimony
isn't enough, the works He is doing are a second witness, surely they can
accept that as a witness, no one has done the things Jesus is doing. Next, He says the Father bears witness but
they have never heard His voice. The
Scriptures are a witness to Him as well but as diligently as they search them
they aren't finding truth because they aren't coming to Him to receive life. It isn't the Bible from which we receive
life, it is from Jesus, not simply words on a page but the Word of God. We can receive life only from the
life-giver. He, like Jeremiah, is
searching for someone who will listen and receive.
Paul's first
argument is that circumcision doesn't save anyone, nor does it change anyone to
make them righteous. So long as it is
only an external thing its purpose is only to point to failure on our part to
keep covenant and faithfulness on His that the Lord keeps covenant with those
who have not kept it with Him. The true
circumcision as every Jew would argue, is the circumcision of the heart. The prophets make that abundantly clear. Paul says though that circumcision has a
value, the people who have been circumcised in obedience to God's command to do
so are also those to whom He has given His oracles, His Word and His
commandments. This, however, has not produced
human righteousness. At the end of the
day, it isn't a matter of circumcision, we are all sinners and under God's judgment. No one is found who is righteous anywhere in
the world. We see that truth in
Revelation 5, that no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth was found who
was worthy to take the scroll until the Lamb appears before the throne. We have found the one righteous man for whose
sake we are all saved!
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