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Monday 16 June 2014

Jeremiah 16 - The harsh reality of judgement

Jeremiah is instructed not to marry and have children. The reason is that a terrible time is coming. Sometimes God's leading may seem harsh, but His interest is always for our well being.
Jeremiah is not to mourn either. Now this does seem harsh, but we need to look at this a little more. If hr went to a house of mourning he would effectively be saying "isn't this terrible", but the reality was that the what was happening was God's righteous judgement upon the nation. All would suffer the judgement, rich and poor alike.
Nor was he to join in with celebrations, for celebrations were totally out of place.
The people were so blind that they did not realise what they had done wrong. Jeremiah's actions would make them ask, and he was to tell them that it was because of their sin and idol worship.
However, the judgement was not the end, for a greater salvation was coming, greater than the release form Egypt. They would remember the release from Babylon as a greater release. In fact after the Babylonian return they knew that the promises had not really been fulfilled, there was something more to come (this is known as second temple Judaism). It is all pointing forward to the salvation from sin that Jesus would bring .
The people thought their sins were hidden from God, but He sees all. The judgement on sin must come first. In the same way there is no forgiveness without the cross, no salvation without repentance.

1 comment:

  1. No Grace without truth; no love without discipline and obedience; no Kingdom without righteousness; no glory without suffering.

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