The Lord sends Jeremiah into the gate of the city with a
simple offer. He isn't there to remind
them of the entire Law or call them to obedience to the entire Law. He is sent to call them to keep one commandment,
keep the Sabbath holy and do no work. If
they will keep this one commandment, which is a positive and not a negative
commandment in its form, they will see this city be the city of God
forever. If not, it will be
destroyed. They have a chance to avert
the disaster prophesied against them. Why
this one commandment? It is easily
measured and from it, in many ways, everything else flows. If they are willing to set aside this one day
in seven they have made a statement of faith.
If they set it aside as holy, they will devote it to learning about the
Lord and then the rest of life will change.
It is the sign of repentance He offers them, that He will once again be
their God and they, His people. It requires
trust to set aside one day in which no commerce is done.
The disciples alone experienced the miracle of Jesus walking
on water. Their first reaction was fear,
but that all changed when He got into the boat with them. They had struggled for hours but Jesus'
presence with them suddenly brought them to shore. The next day the crowds He has just fed are
befuddled at the fact that He is on the other side but there was only one boat
there and He wasn't in it with the disciples when they set out. Their question is interesting, they want to
know when He came across the lake not how.
They asked the wrong question. I wonder
what He would have said if they asked the right question. As it is, Jesus' response to their presence
is quite cynical. He knows that all they
really wanted was a feeding program and He wasn't here for that reason. The temptation they will present is to do
their will, listen to their voice. Surely
He wanted a crowd.
There is a war within us.
We know that the commandments and ways of God are good but we seem to
lack the ability to actually keep them. Paul
says that the reality is that He knows that what David wrote in Psalm 119 is
right, the Law is good and perfect, it will make me wise, it is a lamp unto my
feet and a light unto my path and I rejoice in it and yet there seems to be
something else at work in me that keeps me from actually living it out. The same David who delighted in the Law saw
Bathsheba bathing on the roof and suddenly coveting and adultery took over and
soon he also committed murder by having Uriah sent to battle in order that he
be killed. The indwelling of the Spirit
is intended to unite our soul and flesh that we might be at peace within. It all begins with worshipping Him alone,
just as it was to be for the people in Jeremiah's time.
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