Jeremiah 50:6,7 - My people have been lost sheep

50:6

“My people have been lost sheep”. Although this is a prophecy against Babylon, it is about Israel, and God’s plan for her. They had been lost sheep. I have to admit I cannot understand how any sensible Christian can possibly think that Israel no longer has a particular place in God’s plans. If it does not then so many of God’s promises would seem to be nullified. But as well as the declarations of His commitment to Israel, God is fully aware of her many failings, more aware than any of us are. And this verse summarises the problems with Israel. She had forgotten her fold. We do well to remember this. God is our fold, He is where we belong. 

50:7

Because she had abandoned God, she became subject to all sorts of enemies, enemies who would devour her. There may be times when we are tempted to abandon the Lord, sometimes fear will seek to drive us away from God. We must never give in to that fear, for if we abandon God then we truly will be at great risk. It seems that the conquering nations knew that Israel had abandoned her God.

Matthew 24:9-12 - Many will turn away from the faith

24:9

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me”. These are very serious and sober words. We need to do two things with them. The first is that they are part of the truth, not the whole truth. The church is not perpetually persecuted. In Acts 9:31 speaks of the church enjoying a time of peace. In history there are times when the church is not actively persecuted. In the West the church has enjoyed favour for a long time, but this period has now come to an end. So we need a balanced view. The second thing is that it is part of the truth and one we must not ignore. There are many parts of the world today where they know the full reality of this. Also, it is not our job to be loved by the nations. We are to speak and live the truth of God’s word. Sometimes this will be welcomed, sometimes it will not. Whatever the case, we continue to speak the truth, we must not go along with the lies of the world. Sadly, many seem to think that going along with lies of the world is a good idea.

24:10-12

A clear message from throughout the New Testament is that there will be false prophets and false teachers, and they can have devastating results. Here we read that in the time of persecution many will turn away from the faith. They will harm not only themselves, but others, for they will betray and hate each other. This is not a comfortable picture. False prophets will deceive many. 

“Because of the increase in wickedness the love of most will grow cold”. The picture does not get any easier. In times of great evil there can be some who respond with great virtue, but this is not the dominant effect. In general it brings out the worst in people. In Nazi Germany ordinary people went along with the worst aspects of the regime, the same happens in communist countries. This is a harsh reality of life. 

Jeremiah 50:1-5 - The people of Judah will go in tears to seek the Lord

50:1-3

We now come to the big one in terms of judgement, Babylon. Babylon had been the instrument of God’s judgement, but that did not mean that she could do what she liked, or had no responsibility. Any ideas that think that the sovereignty of God and human responsibility are somehow incompatible is badly mistaken. Babylon was a powerful nation and had many idols. Jeremiah starts by declaring to the nations that “Baylon is taken” and her images put to shame. The once powerful Babylon would be defeated by the Medes. In reading Revelation it is vital that we have an understanding of the role of Babylon in Israel’s history.

50:4,5

The destruction of Babylon was not just about judgement, it was also about the salvation of God’s people. Israel and Judah had been divided for many years, but they would come together again, and this would happen as they sought the Lord their God. They would also be weeping. There are three vital elements here. One is that there is repenting for their sins, the second is that there is coming together, a restoration of unity, and finally they are united in seeking the Lord. If we look at worldly attempts at salvation they will fall down on at least one of these, and probably all three. The BLM movement and critical race theory (CRT) are prime examples of this. There is no repenting of their own sins, but an attempt to highlight the sins of others. There is no seeking of unity, CRT is very divisive. And there is certainly no seeking of the Lord. Thankfully, here we are speaking of the Lord’s salvation, and the people want to join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant.

Matthew 24:5-8 - Nation will rise against nation

24:5

“For many will come in my name...” At the time there were various individuals or groups that claimed to be messianic, some of these sought to lead rebellions against the Roman occupation. “And will deceive many”. Some imposters are clearly complete idiots and fool no one but the most gullible, but there will also be others who are much more plausible and will “deceive many”. So we need to be careful, and should ensure that it is the whole word of God that guides us.

24:6-8

Many generations have been convinced, or had a strong suspicion, that Jesus may return in their lifetime. In one sense this is good as we should always be ready. However, we need to be careful not to be misled by events. Very serious things may be happening (as they are at present in the world), including wars, famines, earthquakes etc. But these things are always happening. It is not to say that they are not serious, of course they are, especially for those directly affected, but we need to keep a calm head. These things are the beginnings of birth pangs. Obviously, this has been a very long labour! They indicate that the world is in a bad way, but the end is still to come.

Jeremiah 49:28-39 - Terror on every side!

49:28-33

Kedar was one of the sons of Ishmael, but little is known about Hazor. However, they were big into sheep and camels, that being their primary trade, but they were now in line for judgement. As with many of the other nations, they were at ease, not suspecting the disaster that was about to come upon them. So complacent were they that they neither gated nor barred their people. But they would become desolate forever. The “wisdom” of a nation should always be taken with an enormous pinch of salt, for we do not know what is going to happen next year. At the end of last year we did not expect to be in this covid pandemic state with lockdowns all over the world.

49:34-39

Elam was in what is now Iran, and bordered Babylon. In fact, the prophecies have worked their way from Egypt up to the border of Babylon in a geographically ordered manner. Now Elam comes in for utter destruction, and no particular reason is given. However, Elam is one of the nations that God promises to restore in the latter days. So some nations are destroyed for good, others will be restored at some point. 

Matthew 24:3,4 - Watch out that no one deceives you

24:3

The disciples were intrigued, and probably deeply concerned, by this and wanted to know more. So Jesus taught them while sitting on the Mount of Olives (hence the name “Olivet discourse” for this passage). The disciples question shows that they associated this with the coming of Jesus and the end of the age, so it seems that they expected some sort of second coming. In the ensuing discourse Jesus does not give separate answers to the questions. We like to look at these things in clear linear fashion, A happens, then B, then C etc. However, the Bible is often more concerned with the nature of the events, rather than their chronology, and their implications for how we should act. Seeking to impose a strict chronological structure on events may well be a serious mistake, and lead to us missing the point.

24:4

“Watch out that no one deceives you”. These are words which every Christian should take note of, and remember they were first given to the apostles. There is no topic than the return of Christ about which so much rubbish has been written and spoken over the years. There are various people or groups that have “predicted” the date, always to look utter fools at the end of it. One of the most serious false teachings is pre-tribulation rapture nonsense which has an enormous grip, especially in America. There are many otherwise good Bible teachers who hold to this view, and it’s popularity was fostered by Hal Linday’s book, the Late, Great Planet Earth, and the Left Behind series. You will have gathered that I do not hold to this view! Indeed, I think the tide is turning against it. Whether or not that is the case, there is no Biblical support for it, and it only arose in the 1800’s. Anyway, let’s get to the positive reason for my rejection of pre-trib rapture. Every New Testament writer, and Jesus Himself, warns us that we need to be prepared for persecution. In my opinion pre-trib rapture is utterly defeatist. There comes a time when Satan will throw everything he has at God’s people, but there will be some, maybe many, who refuse to bow the knee, refuse to deny Christ. By the grace of God may we be among that number.

I may well have offended some of you here, if that is the case, I still love you!

Jeremiah 49:14-27 - I will make you small among the nations

49:14-22

God has sent a call to the nations to attack Edom. They had been a proud nation, and one that inspired terror in other nations. They were not a large powerful nation like Babylon or Assyria, but one that fought by wileyness, but these skills would be of no use to her when the Lord attacked. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, they would be overthrown forever. Boastful and proud she may have been, but her heart would utterly melt.

49:23-27

Damascus had a good reputation, but she would become feeble. Damascus too would be defeated. We see here a whole litany of nations thrown into various degrees of distress, and this is all as a result of God’s judgement upon the nations.

Matthew 24:1,2 - Not one stone will be left on another

24:1,2

We now come to the Olivet discourse. Similar accounts can be found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. It all starts after Jesus departed from the temple and the disciples came to show Him the buildings of the temple. Most Jews lived outside of Jerusalem, so seeing the temple itself would be quite an occasion for them. There were a small minority of Jews who held the temple and its leadership in disdain, believing that God would send a new temple. Given the things that Jesus had been saying and doing it is understandable if some thought His views were similar. However, most Jews held the temple in great honour and believed it was invincible. There was a similar view at the time of Jeremiah and the Babylonian conquest. Clearly, they had not learnt anything from that time. Righteousness was God’s prime concern, and He was quite prepared to destroy the temple. And Jesus tells them that the temple would be destroyed, as happened in AD 66-70. The events if AD 66-70 are very important in understanding this chapter, and Revelation. However, I do not go along with the preterist line of seeing a complete fulfillment in the events of AD 66-70. AD 66-70 makes sense of a lot of it, but not all of it, and to say that it does is simply nuts. Moreover, a common pattern with prophecy is that there is a partial fulfilment in immediate events, but the prophecy points forward to a much greater fulfilment, Isaiah perhaps being the prime example of this.

Jeremiah 49:1-13 - Has Israel no sons?

49:1-6

A number of nations come under judgement in this chapter, beginning with the Ammonites. Ammon had allied herself with Judah when Jidah first rebelled against Babylon, but was generally an enemy of Judah. The “has Israel no sons” stuff refers to the northern kingdom of Israel. Assyria had earlier conquered Israel and Ammon had since taken possession of the land, assuming that the Israelites would not come back. This was a mistake. Just because God had inflicted severe judgement upon Israel did not mean that she was abandoned forever. We can apply this principle to individuals as well. Now Ammon felt secure, but this was based on pride and she would suffer a terrible fate. However, like Moab, God says that it will be only for a time, then God would restore her.

49:7-13

Next up is Edom. Edom was the nation that was built out of Esau. Edom had a reputation for wisdom, and Job 2:11 speaks of Eliphaz the Temanite. But her reputation for wisdom would soon come to nothing. Edom had often been at war with Judah, and delighted in Judah’s downfall. But Edom herself would soon suffer a devastating downfall. The reputations of nations can soon come to nothing.

Matthew 23:34-39 - Your house is left to you desolate

23:34-36

“Therefore I am sending you ...” The prophets, sages and teachers mentioned here would be the apostles and evangelists of the church. They would preach that Jesus is Lord and that we need to repent. However, the religious leaders would treat them in the same way that they treated the godly prophets of old, by persecuting them. In Acts we see these very things happening. The guilt that had been built up over many years would come upon this generation, and this is what happened in AD 66-70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.

23:37-39

Jesus has spoken very severe and direct words of judgement, but He took no pleasure in doing so. He was simply telling them the truth of their situation and of who they were. Jesus would far rather have gathered them up as a hen gathers her chicks. He would far rather have protected them. As an aside, note that this implies the divinity of Jesus for otherwise it would have been ridiculous for Him to imagine He had the ability to do this. Why did this not happen? “You were not willing”. People love to blame God, we would be far better to look to ourselves.  Jesus would soon be killed, and they would only see Him if they said “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. Worshipping Jesus is the only way to life.

Jeremiah 48:29-47 - Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

48:29-33

Moab was a very proud and boastful nation, though actually she was quite small. The tables will very much be turned on her. Her influence had spread quite a way, but the destroyer (Babylon) would fall on her and all would be lost. All of us, individuals or nations, need to know that any strength or wealth that we have can be taken in an instant. We need to commit ourselves to God and to walk in humility, there is no other sensible option.

48:34-44

The description of her downfall continues. God says He laments for them. We should note that this is God bringing just judgement upon Moab. We do not like the idea of a God of judgement, but judgement is a fundamental aspect of who God is and what He does. Virtually every page in the Bible talks about judgement. If we do not consider the judgement of God then we should not fool ourselves into thinking we know anything about Him.

48:45-47

The judgement finally comes to an end. First there is a reminder of what will happen, but then a surprising ending: “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come”. There is a reminder that the fortunes of an individual or nation depend above all else on the Lord. Then there is the fact that judgement and salvation go together.

Matthew 23:29-33 - You snakes!

23:29-32

This is the seventh woe, though Jesus hasn’t quite finished with them at the end of this one! The Pharisees and religious leaders paid homage to the prophets, claiming to honour them. Most of these prophets were killed by the leaders of the day, but the current religious leaders claimed they would not have acted in such a heinous manner. In reality they were opposing the Son of God, God’s ultimate messenger, and were plotting to kill Him. When they condemned the leaders of previous generations they condemned themselves.

23:33

“You snakes, you brood of vipers!” This seems to have been a common insult in the day, John the Baptist used similar language (Lk 3:7). “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” Jesus does not mince His words, but states it clearly. Does this mean that they were totally beyond hope? No, but there was only one road to redemption. They had to acknowledge their sin, they needed to repent. As long as they continued in their self-righteousness and their self-indulgence they were lost.

Jeremiah 48:1-28 - Judgement has come to the plateau

48:1-13

Moab was a nation that originated from Lot, being one of the sons of the incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. Genesis 19 contains the details. Moab had suffered at the hands of the Assyrians, but would suffer complete desolation at the hands of the Babylonians, about five years after the fall of Jerusalem. She had mocked Jerusalem in the past. We get a particularly graphic account, painting a picture of the emotions and mayhem that would follow.

Verse 10 stresses the certainty of the destruction. The attacking nations were doing the Lord’s work, and they are commanded not to be in anyway lax in doing this work. There would be no escape for Moab. She had been at rest and at ease, but those days would soon be over.

48:14-28

The certainty of the judgement continues to be stressed, and inescapability of it. Moab may have thought that it could fight against it, but God tells them this would be futile. The pride of Moab is one of the primary reasons for her coming downfall, and the surrounding nations are urged to take note, to see what happens and learn from it.

One might wonder “why do we get these long lurid passages in the Bible about destruction?” Part of the reason is so that we get the idea about the certainty of judgement. Likewise, all of mankind will face the judgement of God. Our nature is to reject the idea, or at least sweep it under the carpet. We don’t want to think about it. But if we are to have a proper view of life we need to think about it.

A Christmas message

A Christmas Message

Inspired by Lamentations

My Christmas message this year is motivated by Lamentations. This is not a book that one associates with Christmas! It is arguably the most downbeat book in the Bible, possibly beaten only by Job. However, given the times we are in with the Covid pandemic and governments in various countries cancelling, or at least severely curtailing, Christmas perhaps it is extremely appropriate this year.

Lamentations was written, probably by Jeremiah, quite soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the carrying off of many of the survivors into exile. The opening verse of the opening chapter sets the tone for the book:

How deserted lies the city,

    once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

    who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

    has now become a slave.

In these days you will have heard many pious homilies from various preachers on the sufferings experienced by people because of the pandemic, and of course there has been much suffering, and sadly there is more to come. And in Lamentations there is much more of this deep sorrow. However, their is also something else in Lamentations that you will have heard very little of in most sermons. Take Lam 1:14 as an example:

“My sins have been bound into a yoke;

    by his hands they were woven together.

They have been hung on my neck,

    and the Lord has sapped my strength.

He has given me into the hands

    of those I cannot withstand.

Together with crying out for her suffering is a deep recognition that all that had happened was a result of her sin. An essential part of Lamentations is that it is not just the tragedy and the suffering that it seeks to come to terms with, but is also not afraid to face up to the fact of Judah’s sin and her responsibility before God for what had happened. So often in modern preaching there will be a focus on the suffering and tragedy of an event, but a complete denial of the role of our sin in affairs.

So what has all this got to do with Christmas? Well a part of the Christmas story that does not receive the attention it deserves is found in Matt 1:21

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

“He will save his people from their sins”. So often we are afraid to face up to the reality of our own sin, or the sins of other people, for we associate sins with condemnation. We fear that if sin is faced up to then condemnation can be the only possible outcome, so we try to hide our own sin, or pussyfoot around the sin of others. But as John 3:17 says

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

And in Romans 8:1,2 it says:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

If we do not face up to the reality of sin in our own lives, and in the life of our societies, there can be no true understanding, and no salvation. But when we do face up to the truth and turn to Christ we begin to discover the wonderful depths of the love of God in Christ Jesus, and transformation and healing begins to take place in our lives.

A truly merry Christmas to you all!

Matthew 23:25-28 - Clean the inside!

23:25,26

The next woe is the focus on outward appearances by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Notice that this is not just a general criticism of them saying that the inside matters more than the outside, but two specific sins are mentioned: greed and self-indulgence. So there are two main points that Jesus is making. First, that they concentrated on the outside, on appearances, while on the inside things were rotten. The second is that the way to true holiness is to clean the inside. If the inside is clean then the outward appearance will follow. The gospel gets to the heart of the matter, it gets to the heart of who and what we are.

23:27,28

Now they are told they are like whitewashed tombs. Under the Law if a person stepped on a tomb he became unclean (Numbers 19:16). Therefore graves were whitewashed so that they were clearly visible and people would not inadvertently step on them. So outwardly the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees looked like holy people, but inwardly were full of death and uncleanness. They were full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Focusing on outward appearances is very dangerous. First, it won’t work, and eventually this will be evident to all. Secondly, and more dangerously, we may fool ourselves for a time that it is having a useful effect, but all it will do is allow evil to fester on the inside.

Jeremiah 47:1-7 - This is what the Lord says

47:1-7

This chapter does not make good reading for the Philistines. They had always been at odds with Israel, though David had managed to deal with them. However, they had become more of a menace again, and would remain so until Nebuchadnezzar defeated them. The “waters rising in the north refer to Babylon. The destruction would be terrible, and they would long for it to end. But there would be no respite until the work of judgement had been concluded.

Why do we get chapters like this? Part of the answer is that God is God of all the earth. Judgement begins with the house of God, but it does not end there.

Matthew 23:16-24 - You blind guides!

23:16-22

Earlier Jesus had said “let your yes be yes” (Matt 5:37), but the Jewish religious leaders had introduced all sorts of “subtleties”, making some oaths binding and some not. In doing so they may have thought of themselves as being clever, even sophisticated, in reality they were utterly blind and had become complete fools. God’s way is to simply speak the truth. The so-called clever people are often the biggest fools on earth.

23:23,24

The next woe is because of their careful observance of one law to the neglect of others. They made great play of tithing in mint, dill and cumin, yet neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness. They “strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel”. This is a very human response, we might even call it displacement activity. We will focus excessively on one thing in order to give us an excuse to neglect more important things. We may fool ourselves, but we will not fool God.

Jeremiah 46:25-28 - Do not be afraid for I am with you

46:25,26

The Israelites were impressed both by the armies of various nations and the gods that they worshipped. Essentially they were superstitious, thinking that the nations won victories because they worshipped a particular god. The Lord tells them that He is about to bring down these gods, to show them as the useless bits of stone or metal that they were. The “gods and kings” would be brought low. Then we get in v26 a hint of light for Egypt, a time would come when she would be inhabited again. As I have mentioned before, Egypt seems to have a place in God’s plan of salvation.

46:27,28

There having been a hint of light for Egypt, there is a glorious light for Israel. Israel was being punished for her sins, but the ultimate goal was salvation. God refers to her as “my servant”, and she is told not to be dismayed. And we have found these most surprising verses at the end of a section that has highlighted in no uncertain terms the utter corruption of Israel, and God’s judgement upon her. She would return to her land, and would enjoy true peace and security. For now God was against her, He was her enemy, but a time would come when He would be with her again.

Matthew 23:13-15 - A child of hell

23:13,(14)

Seven woes are now directed at the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Luke 11:42-52 has six woes, woes against the religious leaders are also found in Isaiah 5:8-25 and Habbakuk 2:6-29. “You hypocrites!” sums up the primary charge against them, with the various woes elaborating this. Before we get into the details let me say something in favour of hypocrisy! (Not really in favour :-)) At least with hypocrisy there is some recognition of what is good, of how we should behave. In the west we are now in a far worse situation where what is good is called evil, and what is evil is called good. The religious leaders were supposed to guide and help people towards the kingdom of heaven. Instead they shut the door in people’s faces. They would not get in themselves, and they worked to stop anyone else getting in. In NKJV and KJV you will find v14, but this is not found in the earlier manuscripts.

23:15

Again the teachers and Pharisees are lambasted as hypocrites. Jesus was not giving a gentle academic rebuke, but an impassioned judgement upon them. Why so passionate? Because it mattered, their hypocrisy affected their own future, and the lives and futures of others. All of us should take note. What we do with our lives affects both ourselves and others. They made a great show of seeking converts, going to great lengths to get one. When they got their convert they made him a “child of hell”, literally a “child of Gehenna”, the rubbish tip outside Jerusalem. In fact, they made him worse than they were.  We are meant to be life bringers, not death bringers!

Jeremiah 46:18-24 - A gadfly is coming

46:18,19

The Lord Almighty is the King. Men worried about various earthly kings and developed and pursued their policies in the light of this, but the King we should all build our lives around is the Lord Almighty. Tabor was a mountain with an important strategic position. The Lord would send one who would dominate Egypt, so they should prepare for exile. Nothing better wa going to happen.

46:20-24

Egypt had a high opinion of herself, but a gadfly (Babylon) would come who would upset all her plans. Egypt had mercenaries in her armies, but these would turn and flee and may well have fought with the Babylonians. Egypt would hiss like a snake, but all would be in vain. She would be utterly defeated by the invading army.

Matthew 23:8-12 - Those who exalt themselves will be humbled

23:8

“You are not to be called rabbi..” Does this mean we must never have titles? I don’t think so, I think it is our attitude that matters. We are not to take delight in titles, we are not to consider ourselves better than others or superior to others. What is the foundation for this? It is that we have only one Master and we are all brothers. Christ is my master, and Christ is your master. So we both look first to Christ. And we are brothers, we are part of the same family. There may need to be a hierarchy for functional reasons, but never for relational reasons.

23:9-12

Jesus then extends the principle to other categories: father and teacher. We need to look first at the positive reasons. We all have our Father in Heaven. Any supposed human relationship looks rather paltry in the light of this (of course, I am not saying human relationships do not matter and that we should not delight in them). And each person’s greatest relational need is to appreciate more and more our relationship with God our Father.  Now in 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul rebukes the Corinthians for not having many fathers, so again we must not take these words here in a legalistic sense. It is heart matters that Christ is concerned with.  We need to know our Father in Heaven. And the same principles apply to teachers. Teachers are explicitly mentioned as a God given ministry in the New Testament, but Christ, the Messiah, is our primary teacher. Verses 11 and 12 get to the heart of the matter, the issue that Jesus is dealing with, and that is exalting ourselves. We are servants and are to see ourselves as servants. We not to seek to exalt ourselves, but to build others up and to glorify Christ.

Jeremiah 46:7-17 -That day belongs to the Lord almighty

46:7-10

The Nile was vital to the well being of Egypt, rising periodically to irrigate the land. Egypt was a proud nation, seeing herself as rising like the Nile and going forth to conquer other lands. However, God saw things differently, and that day that Egypt saw as being a day of victory would turn out to be a day of defeat. This has happened many times in history. Nazi Germany saw the Barbarosa campaign as being glorious for Germany, crushing Russia.In the end she got bogged down just outside Moscow and then suffering a terrible defeat.

46:11-17

Egypt would try and soothe her wounds, but nothing would offer any comfort. The nations that she thought she would dominate would hear of her plight. For the Lord had decreed that Babylon would come and conquer Egypt, and there was nothing she could do about it. She could get ready for battle, but would still be utterly defeated. The king of Egypt, Pharaoh, would no longer be held in fear, he would be mocked. Again we see this again and again in history. Leaders who once seemed to bestride the world, being honoured, respected, even feared, come to nothing and are held in contempt.

Matthew 23:4-7 - Everything they do is done for people to see

23:4

While Jesus told the people to obey their leaders, they were not to follow their example. For the leaders were not following the Law. Instead they laid heavy burdens on the people, and did nothing to help them carry those burdens. The religious leaders were acting directly against the Law. There is a lesson for us here in how we treat others. The religious leaders would claim that their myriad of rules were helping to ensure that the Law was observed, but they had totally lost sight of what the Law was about (love God, love your neighbour). This phenomenon occurs again and again in human affairs. We have a set of means put in place to achieve a certain end. However, the means soon become an end in themselves and everything and everyone ends up having to bow down to the means, and the original end becomes lost, or is at best paid lip-service.

23:5-7

All the actions of the religious leaders were designed to show how “good” they were. Phylacteries were boxes containing scriptures. They made a big show of wearing these, but they did not obey the word itself. It is like, before the days of online Bibles, someone carrying around a big Bible but hardly ever reading it. The leaders enjoyed having the place of honour, enjoyed being greeted by people with respect. This hypocrisy is also human nature, part of our fallen nature, so all of us need to be on our guard against it.

Jeremiah 46:1-6 - The swift cannot flee

46:1

God now gives Jeremiah various words about the nations. There are at least two important points to note from this. The first is that the Lord is God over all creation, there were no limits to His dominion. This was in contrast to most of the gods who had a very limited dominion. They were particular to one nation or one aspect of creation. The second point is that this not just about Israel and Judah, but about the whole earth. Israel’s state ultimately affects the whole earth, and still does. Likewise, what happens to the church affects the whole earth. As the church the most important thing we can do in order to bless the earth is to be faithful to the Lord.

46:2-6

We then get a graphic and poetic description of the armies of Babylon terrifying the armies of Egypt. They are also reminded of a previous defeat. God is not just stating facts, but is letting Egypt “feel” the defeat that would come upon her. He communicates to every part of our being.

Matthew 23:1-3 - Do not do what they do

23:1-3

Having resisted the various attempts to trap Him, Jesus now launches an attack on the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Offence and defence go together. There is a time to forensically highlight the glaring evil of the ways of society. Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus starts out by telling the people that they must obey the leaders. Respect for authority is an important characteristic, it is also a very difficult one. For what are we to do when authority is so clearly wrong? First, why does Jesus say they must obey the authorities? Because they sit in the seat of Moses, ie God had given the Law and the religious leaders were in the position where they were meant to implement the Law. Likewise, Paul in Romans 13 says we must respect the authorities because they are in a God appointed position. Now, this does not mean unquestioning blind compliance. Jesus will soon show that that is definitely not the case. In Acts Peter and John continued to preach the gospel. In history, the times when the church has gone along with tyrannical regimes (eg the church in Germany during the Nazi era, the Pope Francis and the Chinese regime), have not been glorious years. But we need to be so careful, for the root of human sinfulness is a rebellious spirit, our rebellion against God. We may start off with the best of intentions, but before long our sinful spirit will rise up to take advantage of the situation, and rebellion will be all that we have.

Jeremiah 45:1-5 - I am worn out with groaning

45:1-5

Well this is a very short chapter! Baruch has been a servant of Jeremiah, and a scribe for him. He is also getting rather weary, and understandably so. Moreover, he holds the Lord at least partly responsible for this. Most or all of us have had similar feelings. The Lord speaks to him in quite firm times. We don’t always need a “comforting” word in the sense that we usually think of it. The Lord has destroyed much, so Baruch is in no position to be seeking great things for himself. Baruch has not explicitly said he wants great things, but God sees into the heart of man and knows that this is the underlying cause. When we are struggling it may seem that we are justified in feeling this way, but sometimes there is a fundamental error in our thinking that is at the root of the problem. Judgement is part of God’s purpose and Baruch needs to live with it. However, God promises to keep Baruch safe.

Matthew 22:41-45 - The Lord said to my Lord

22:41,42

Jesus then poses a question to the Pharisees, He asks them whose son they think the Messiah is. Their answer was “son of David”. The Old Testament said that David would always have a descendant upon the throne, so this was the common perception. Jesus then gets them to look wider and to think more deeply about what Scripture said. We must always take the Bible as a whole. It is not a series of disconnected books, but is one book made up of many books. All of it is God-breathed, it all fits together.

22:43-45

So Jesus points them to look more closely at Psalm 110. Psalm 110 was a recognised messianic psalm. It is noteworthy that Jesus and Paul and Hebrews often quote from the Psalms. The Psalms deal with emotions, but are also deeply theological. “David, speaking by the Spirit”, Jesus knew that the Old Testament was inspired by the Holy Spirit. David said “The Lord said to my Lord ...” This was not talking about David at all, rather David is talking about the messiah as “my Lord”. The Messiah is the Son of God. After this everyone gave up trying to catch Jesus out.

Jeremiah 44:26-30 - But hear the word of the Lord

44:26-28

The people are well and truly under God’s wrath and judgement. They have utterly rejected the Lord, so He will utterly reject them. Those who have gone from Judah to Egypt will no longer be allowed to call upon the name of the Lord. In the past they had done so, but it was all a sham. God would continue to watch over them, but now would do so for harm, not for good. None of them would survive. Some might object that this does not fit with your picture of God. If that is the case, it is your picture of God that is wrong, it is not based on the Bible.

44:29,30

God’s word would stand, not the word of mere man, God gave them a clear and concrete sign that this is how things would work out. The sign would be that the Pharaoh would be given into the hands of his enemies. Just as Zedekiah had been given into the hands of the Babylonians. The people had had plenty of opportunity to see that God’s word was reliable, and the word of man was not reliable. Yet they persisted in choosing to follow their own hearts instead of the word of God. We can all be prone to this failing and we need to learn from the failings of the people of Judah.

Matthew 22:34-40 - The greatest commandment

22:34,35

The questions continue to come. Having seen the drubbing the Sadducees got the Pharisees got together to discuss what to do. They were experts in the Law, or so they thought, so one of their experts was ready to test Jesus. The Sadducees considered themselves to be men of the world, and they were shown not to be half as clever as they thought they were. The Pharisees thought themselves experts in the Law, they too would find they did not know as much as they thought they did. We should watch out whenever we start to think ourselves wise in our own eyes (Prov 3:7; Isaiah 5:21).

22:36-40

The supposedly killer question was to ask Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Quite why this was supposed to trap Jesus is something of a mystery to me. Maybe they considered Him to be against the Law, so were hoping He would say something against the Law.  However, this was doomed to failure, especially as Jesus, being God, was the true author of the Law! So Jesus quotes two commandments  which sum up the whole lot. Love the Lord with all you have (Deut 6:5), and love your neighbour as yourself (Lev 19:18). The Pharisees had lost all focus of what the Law was about, seeing it as law upon law, getting lost in details, especially the myriad of details that they themselves had added. We should always have a clear view of the big picture.

It is interesting that Jesus says “the second is like it”. Loving God and loving our neighbour are intrinsically linked, a point that is a key part of 1 John.

Jeremiah 44:20-25 - Because you have not obeyed disaster has come upon you

44:20-23

Jeremiah tells them that they had seen all these things happen in Jerusalem and Judah. And they had seen the judgement of God come upon them. Yet they had learnt nothing. Our capacity to not learn from our mistakes knows few bounds. This is something we see both on a personal level, and on a national level. The book of Jeremiah can be seen as the depiction of the utter depravity of mankind. The claim that if only we had one more chance we would be OK is not backed up by the evidence.

44:24,25

Jeremiah then addresses the people, and it adds “including the women”. The men were indeed wrong not to correct the women when they made cakes for idols. However, the women should also have accepted responsibility for their actions. This is a good general principle. We all need to take responsibility for ourselves. We can always find someone else to blame. That person may well have their own guilt, but that does not absolve us of our own responsibility. The Lord tells them that they have indeed done what they vowed to do (to disobey God). They would therefore take the consequences.

Matthew 22:23-33 - He is not the God of the dead

22:23-28

Political traps had failed, so the Sadducees tried an intellectual trap. The Sadducees were sort of aristocratic and political, with limited interest in theology. They considered only the first five books of the Old Testament to be valid, and did not believe in angels nor the resurrection. They were somewhat like the liberal anglicans of today. So instead of believing the Scriptures they saw them as a tool and thought that in one of Moses’ instructions they had a logical contradiction with which they could trap Jesus. So they posed the question of what happened after the resurrection to a woman who had worked her way through seven brothers, her husbands having an alarming propensity to die. Their aim was to prove the illogicality of the resurrection.

22:29-33

Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter. The Sadducees knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. These two things lay at the root of the Sadducees problems. Much the same could be said about most liberal “Christians”. They were assuming that at the resurrection things will just be a continuation of the present age. Many Christians today make the same mistake. Things will be radically different, we will be radically different. Paul majors on this in 1 Corinthians 15. So marriage as we know it will not exist in the age to come. Jesus then goes deeper by reminding the Sadducees that God describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He is the God of the living. The true nonsense would be to say that there is no resurrection. God creates life not death. The people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.

Jeremiah 44:11-19 - We will not listen!

44:11-14

They thought that they could escape disaster by going to Egypt, but this was an illusion. Their fundamental problem was there rebellion against God. They were under judgement from God because of this and there was no escape, certainly not by fleeing to Egypt. The only way out was to repent. So those who had fled to Egypt would suffer the same fate as those in Jerusalem. Only a remnant of a remnant would ever return to Judah.

44:15-19

We then get yet more evidence of the total depravity of man, of the depths to which we are steeped in sin. Having earlier asked Jeremiah to seek a word form God, and promising to follow the word, regardless of what it said, they now utterly refuse to listen to him. More than that, they start to glory in offering incense to the Queen of Heaven, and making other offerings to idols. They also admit that their fellow Israelites had done the same in Judah and Jerusalem. They glory in sin and rebellion, much the same as our own society is doing. And they now claim that their troubles were a result of stopping making offerings to false gods. Sin is so utterly deceptive and corrupting. The women seem to be blaming the men, or saying that the men did not object when the women made cakes of the Queen of Heaven, so the women should not be blamed.

Matthew 22:18-22 - Render unto Caesar

22:18-22

We now get the famous words “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s”. Jesus knew exactly what they were up to. So He gets them to show Him a coin, which, of course, contains the image of Caesar. We all bear the image of God, so we owe allegiance to God. But the Pharisees and the Herodians, along with all other men, were living only for themselves. We all need to pay attention to this, it is our duty to live for God. Look at all the arguments of secularists, look at all the arguments on sex and sexuality, and we see that time and time again the crux of the argument is “I can have the right to live as I want”. That is fundamentally wrong, we do not. We have a duty towards the Lord.

The Pharisees and Herodians did not have a clue what to do with this answer. They could not respond, except by repenting and submitting to Jesus.

Jeremiah 44:1-10 - Therefore my fierce anger was poured out

44:1-6

We now get a severe word against the remnant, and an explanation of why these things would happen. The sins of the remnant in going down to Egypt was doubly bad because they had seen and heard what had happened. They were part of a sinful generation. They had heard the words of Jeremiah, and the words of the false prophets. And they had seen that the words of the false prophets were just so much hot air and proved to be utterly delusional. They had heard the words of Jeremiah and seen that they had proved to be true. Moreover, Jeremiah had explained why these things would happen. He very clearly set out the nature of the sins of Israel and Judah. They had been told plainly that their idolatry and refusal to trust God was the root of the problem.

44:7-10

Despite having seen all these things, and having vowed to follow God’s word, they went down to Egypt. Now this was done partly out of fear, but that was not all. Their actions would involve idol worship, burning incense to the gods of Egypt. If a course of action involves outright disobedience to God it cannot be right. God reminds them again of why Jerusalem had been destroyed. The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and “lack of evidence” is never our problem. A disobedient heart is our problem.

Matthew 22:15-17 - Is it right to pay the imperial tax?

22:15-17

This section is one of the most famous in Matthew. The Pharisees and Herodians were normally sworn enemies, but here they had united in their plans to trap Jesus. Both saw Jesus as a threat to their position in society. They are using flattery in their approach to Jesus (22:16). This shows both that they had noticed something from Jesus’ teaching, and that they actually understood nothing at all. Flattery was never going to work with Jesus! The trap was that they thought that whatever Jesus said He would anger one side or the other. If advocated paying taxes then the people would hate Him, because they hated the Roman occupation. If He was against paying taxes then the Roman authorities would be against Him and probably arrest Him for rebelling. This is also why both the Pharisees and Herodians were there. If He spoke against paying taxes the Herodians would report Him to Pilate. If He was for taxes the Pharisees would report this to the people.

Jeremiah 43:8-13 - He will come and attack Egypt

43:8-13

One does wonder how Pharaoh reacted if he saw Jeremiah burying his stones in front of the palace! Anyway, leaving that aside. This was symbolic of the attack that would come upon Egypt from Babylon, and marked where Nebuchadnezzar would set his throne. “Bringing to death those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and to the sword those destined for the sword.” This is reminiscent of words in Revelation (Rev 13:10).

The “gods” of Egypt would be destroyed. This is the fundamental error of the Israelites. They put more trust in the gods of Egypt than the Lord God!

Matthew 22:11-14 - Many are invited but few are chosen

22:11-14

Then things take a darker turn. There was one man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He was asked how he got in, and had nothing to say. So he was thrown out into the darkness. All are invited, but the banquet is not a free for all. It is only through faith in Christ that a person can get in. Otherwise there is terrible judgement awaiting. We have a terrible habit of going to one extreme or the other. Either we stress that all can get in and that there is great joy awaiting, without talking about judgement. Or we talk about judgement and become all judgemental, and become a joy free zone. In the Bible the two go together, and we must hold to both sides. We are deeply mistaken when we think the gospel does away with judgement, rather it saves us from judgement. “Many are invited, but few are chosen”. The invitation goes out to all, but few are chosen. We are utterly dependent upon God for our salvation, even our having faith.

Jeremiah 43:1-7 - You are lying!

43:1-3

Remember that the people had sought out Jeremiah, and had then vowed to follow whatever the Lord told them. Jeremiah knew that this was a load of baloney, and so it proved to be. So Azariah and Johanan called Jeremiah a liar. On what basis? On the basis that they did not like what he told them. The heart of man is indeed deceptive above all things. They then claimed that Jeremiah was part of a plot instigated by Baruch to get them all killed by the Babylonians. People’s words can be utterly deceptive. Words and actions need to go together. 

43:4-7

So Johanan and his army officers put their rebellion into practice, leading away the remnant of Judah. They took others with them as well, whether or not they wanted to leave Judah. This included those left by Nebuzaradan, Jeremiah and Baruch. “So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord”. The corruption of the human heart is a very sad thing to behold. We should note that back in the day of Joseph and Jacob God told them to go to Egypt. The key issue is whether or not we follow the word of the Lord, not whether or not we go to Egypt.

Matthew 22:1-10 - The wedding banquet

22:1-10

In Luke 14:15 this parable is told in response to the remark of a guest at a dinner. Jesus may well have told the same parable on several occasions. In this parable a king is going to hold a wedding banquet and then sends his servants out to invite many guests. Then the banquet was ready and the servants were told to get the invited guests to come along. However, the invitees either made excuses, or even seized the servants and mistreated them or killed them! So the king sent out the army and destroyed the murderers and their city. Then he sent out his servants to go the street corners and invite anyone at all that they found. So they found all sorts of people, good and bad, and the wedding hall was full. 

There are several lessons to be learnt. One is the use of a wedding banquet, and in Revelation we have the use of the wedding analogy, and in Ephesians marriage is used as to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. Then there is the destruction of the city. This happened in all too real a way in AD 66-70. The real tragedy is that the religious leaders were invited, they could have been at the banquet instead of being destroyed. Finally, all are invited, the gospel goes out into all the world, and even “bad” people are invited.