Jeremiah 10:8-13 - The Lord is the true God

10:8-10

The diatribe against idols and the worship thereof continues. “They are senseless and foolish”. In Rom 1:21 Pauls says “their thinking became futile”. This is what happens when men abandon the worship of God. All the idols were man-made, utterly dependent upon man for their existence, and incapable of any independent action or thought. They were just hunks of metal, wood and stone. In contrast, God is the true God, the living God, and the eternal king. He created all of us, we are dependent upon Him for our very existence.  So we should worship the Lord, anything is foolishness. If there was any worshiping to be done regarding idols it is the idols who should worship us, not us them!

10:11-13

Jeremiah is to proclaim the truth to the people. “These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens”. In contrast, God did make the world, and He did so by His power and His wisdom. Everything in the earth was made by Him, and is sustained by Him.

Matthew 5:10,11 - Blessed are those who are persecuted

5:10

Now things get tougher. The previous qualities are mostly ones that we have by nature, this one we can seek to avoid, but only by denying Christ. “Blessed are those who are persecuted”. Persecution is common to Christians. In the West we have not suffered much in this way for many years, though now things are starting to change and who knows where we will end up. But in many parts of the world, and certainly throughout history, persecution is a normal part of everyday life. If we encounter such situations we need to remind ourselves that ours is the kingdom of heaven. Note that this is the same promise as for the poor in spirit. Weakness and strength can go together. We should note also that it is those who are persecuted for righteousness. There is no virtue in being “persecuted” for being a pratt or for doing wrong!

5:11

Jesus spends more time on the persecution beatitude than any of others. This is not surprising as being persecuted is not something that anyone naturally desires, and we can, by being unfaithful to Christ, avoid it. With the others we will face them like it or not, Christian or not. We are all poor in spirit (though some will not admit it), we will all mourn. So Jesus now elaborates on persecution, including being insulted and being falsely accused “of all kinds of evil”. Again, this is “because of me [Jesus]”, not because we deserve it! It is very difficult to deal with false accusations, Jesus gives special mention to this.

Jeremiah 10:3-7 - The practices of the people are worthless

10:3-5

We now get the reason why God’s people should not follow the ways of the world, it is simply that the “practices of the peoples of the world are worthless”. God then goes on to point out the stupidity of the world’s ways with regard to idols. They cut a tree, chisel it, then adorn it with silver and gold. They have to nail it down so that it will not fall. It cannot speak, cannot see, has to be carried about. It is utterly useless! Yet the peoples of the nations thought such a useless hunk of junk could save them! So God’s people should certainly not fear these things.

10:6,7

“No one is like you Lord”. Jeremiah knows the difference between the Lord and idols. God is unique, He is orders of magnitude greater than anything or anyone else, there is no comparison at all. His Name is the name above all names. Everyone should fear the Lord. This includes the kings and wise men of the nations. Today the so-called elite should not be feared at all. If they were truly wise they would fear God and would turn to Him for advice.

Matthew 5:8,9 - Blessed are the pure in heart

5:8

Being pure in heart is not always commended in the world. We can be urged to be pragmatic, to use questionable (or downright evil) methods, the ends justifies the means. But it is the pure in heart who will seek God. We need to have integrity in our lives. There is a very temporal realisation of the promise here as well. When we mix unrighteous methods into our ways our thinking becomes confuse, we cannot see clearly, we certainly cannot see what God is saying or wants us to do. When we have a pure heart it is an awful lot easier to see what the Lord is doing, and to see what He wants us to do.

5:9

People are always trying to stir up trouble. Just look at politics and you will see that parties always try to find fault and show that some decision is the worst possible thing that could be done. Sadly we can be the same in the church, where one theological group will go out of its way to diss another theological group. It is the peacemakers who are seeking to do things God’s way. As has often been said, it is peacemakers, not the peaceable. This does not mean we never say that differences matter. However, it is the peacemakers who are the children of God.

Jeremiah 10:1,2 - Do not learn the ways of the nations

10:1

God now starts to teach the nation. Notice that He addresses them as “house if Israel”. Israel had been split in two, a northern and southern kingdom, for many years (following the time of Solomon), but God’s ultimate purposes were for one nation of Israel. In the same way, though the church is split into many denominations, God’s ultimate purpose is for one church, and one including Israel. 

10:2

“Do not learn the ways of the nations”. This was the fundamental point of Israel’s downfall. In the time of Samuel the people wanted a king because they wanted to be like other nations. God warned them that this would prove to be a massive mistake, but they ignored Him. The church has continued to repeat this mistake many times, and still does so today. We see this in areas of sexual morality where significant parts of the church seem to think it a good idea to go along with the world in its sexual immorality. We can also see it sometimes when we adopt worldly ways of doing evangelism or running churches (this isn’t always bad, and is not an excuse for doing things incompetently!).  We should also not be terrified of what the world is terrified of. God, here, refers to signs in the sky. The nations would see these as portents of coming disaster. 

Matthew 5:6,7 - Blessed are the merciful

5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ..” In the West today you are derided if you hunger and thirst for righteousness. You may well be accused of being a hater or a bigot. You will not be honoured by the world. In such circumstances it is easy to become discouraged. But we must not lose heart, for a day will come when we will be filled. It is God’s government of which there shall be no end to the increase.

5:7

We get told to get our own back, but Jesus tells us to be merciful. What is the motivation for this? It is that we will be shown mercy. The human response of seeking to get our own back puts us in a position of being right, but looked at as a whole we are all in the wrong. We are all sinners in need of mercy. So we are to live as kingdom people, showing mercy to others.

Jeremiah 9:25,26 - I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh

9:25,26

In the early days of the church we know that circumcision was a big issue, it being the centrepiece of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and of the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. Back in Deuteronomy it speaks of being circumcised in the heart (Deut 10:16), and here God declares that the mere physical act of circumcision counted for nothing. It was always meant to symbolise something much deeper. In the same way one might say that the physical act of baptism is worthless unless it is accompanied by a heart of faith. See the list of nations in v26, Judah appears alongside Egypt, Edom, Ammon and Moab. God is concerned above all else with the condition of our hearts. This was a point that Jesus emphasised during His time on earth.

Matthew 5:4,5 - Blessed are the meek

5:4

Various types of religion can sometimes focus on those who are “happy”. Prosperity teaching can often fall into this trap. Conversely, the kingdom of God comes to those who mourn, to those who have suffered loss. Now this does not mean you cannot be a Christian unless you have suffered a serious loss! Rather, it is saying that the kingdom is there for those who have. And those who mourn will indeed be comforted.

5:5

“Blessed are the meek...” Meekness is not a quality much valued in the world, though we all appreciate it when we see it in someone else. It most definitely does not mean weakness. It means having a humble and gentle attitude, and is the opposite of arrogance. The quality is often derided in the world for it is seen as making someone a pushover, instead we are urged to assert ourselves. But meekness is a quality of Jesus, and He was no pushover. Crucially it is someone who puts their trust in God. We do not need to pretend to be something we are not, we do not need to seek to crush other people, for we trust in the One who is Lord of All.  And the meek will inherit the earth. Some may laugh at this, but the reason we will inherit the earth is because it is God who makes the ultimate decision, and He has said the meek shall inherit the earth.

This is a prime example of Jesus teaching Old Testament scripture, for in Psalm 37:10,11 (NIV) it says:

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Jeremiah 9:23,24 - Let those who boast, boast in the Lord

9:23,24

In some ways these two verses seem out of place. We have had graphic descriptions of death and destruction, and now we get almost philosophical teaching in two verses. But the failure to lay hold of the teaching of these two verses is the reason why all the death and destruction would come. Our attitude towards God, our trust and obedience, or lack thereof, has real practical consequences. Either justice and mercy rule the land, or injustice and violence abound. Our belief or lack of belief is not just a personal thing where everyone is free to make their own choice without consequence. There are many who boast about their own strength, wisdom or riches, but all these ultimately count for nothing, as the people of the land would soon find out.

Instead, the only thing we should boast about is understanding God and His ways. Now the writer is not saying we should literally boast in the sense of saying “how clever I am, I believe in God”. Rather he is contrasting what someone is putting their confidence in, their own supposed wisdom and strength, or in the Lord. God delights in “kindness, justice and righteousness”. Now one might say that from what we have read so far in Jeremiah it doesn’t look like it! But what we are seeing is the consequences of what happens when a people abandon the Lord. If we put our trust in the Lord, then kindness, justice and righteousness will indeed be the things that dominate the land.

Matthew 5:2,3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit

5:2

“and He began to teach them. He said”. Sometimes the Sermon on the Mount is seen as being opposed to the Law, particularly with regard to the “you have heard it said, but I say ..” type parts. This is nonsense. All the teaching in the Sermon is entirely consistent with the Old Testament. The “you have heard it said” bits are a rebuke of the teaching of the teachers of the Law, not the Law itself. What Jesus is doing is getting to the heart of the Law, the heart of God. Are we under the Law anymore? No. Is the Law relevant, absolutely, for it expresses the heart of God, and the heart of God remains the same.

5:3

“Blessed” is the most common translation, though some version have “happy”. “Blessed” is probably best. Jesus begins His teaching not by giving a list of instructions or commands, but on addressing attitudes of heart. The Pharisees focused on outward appearances, Jesus focused on the heart, for it is from our heart that everything else flows, and our actions, good or bad, are the fruit of our heart attitudes. And remember that in the Bible “heart” usually includes mind, will and emotions, not just our emotions. The first beatitude mentioned is being poor in spirit. The Pharisees were proud of their righteousness, and were roundly condemned for this by Jesus. In contrast, a true child of God will be all too aware of their own sinfulness and weaknesses. And the kingdom of heaven was made for those who know their utter need of mercy and help.

Jeremiah 9:17-22 - Call for the wailing women

9:17-19

The use of professional mourners was a practice sometimes used in the Middle East, women would be paid to come and wail and funerals. God tells the nation that now is the time to call for the wailing women, for there would be much need for their services. The land would be completely ruined This in stark contrast to those who were proclaiming “peace, peace”. They would have to leave the land because of the destruction of their houses.

9:20-22

We can imagine verse 21 in the light of the Covid lockdowns, though the situation that Jeremiah is envisaging would be many times more severe than anything we have encountered so far, but we can at lease see how previously bustling city centres can become deserted. Death was about to rule over the land. The concept of death as the “grim reaper” comes from 9:22. The death toll would be horrendous.

Systemic Racism and Structural Sin?

The following article is inspired by the latest podcast by Albert Mohler on the Briefing (24 June, 2020). This will be a précis of his podcast, with a few thoughts of my own added in. I would strongly recommend that you go and listen to the podcast.

We have all seen the events around the murder of George Floyd in America, the riots in the States, and the protests over here in the UK. If you go at all beyond the surface events you will come across the terms “systemic racism” and “structural sin”. The term “structural sin” has long been associated with liberation theology. Al Mohler gave an excellent podcast (see above) explaining these terms and offering some thoughts, and I will endeavour to offer my own summary and thoughts on these matters.

So what do the terms mean and is there any Biblical basis to them? “Structural sin” means that sin is part of the structure of society, the structure itself is inherently sinful. “Systemic racism” is a particular example of this, saying that racism is endemic in the structures of society, the structures themselves are inherently racist.

So that is what the terms mean (expressed very briefly, no doubt you can write whole books on the subjects). This leaves two questions. The first is is there any Biblical basis to the concepts, and the second is is our society systemically racist.

Is there a Biblical basis? The answer is yes. All men (and I will use men in its generic sense as representing all humanity) are sinful. This does not mean we never do anything good, sometimes we do! Structures in society are produced by sinful men, so sometimes sin will be built into the system. This does not mean all systems are fundamentally evil or sinful, since we can also sometimes do good, goodness is built into a system, but systems can be structurally sinful. In the American situation at one time men were allowed to own other men, i.e. to have black slaves. There was systemic racism. After the Civil War slavery was abolished, but there was segregation and various economic systems, such as something called “red lining” which stopped certain ethnic groups getting mortgages in some areas. 

So systemic racism is certainly something that can exist. Slavery in Britain was abolished in 1807 and throughout the empire in 1833. The worst modern examples of systemic racism were South Africa under apartheid, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In these examples the whole legal and social system was built around racism. In the Bible individuals are condemned for their sins, but so are nations, including Israel, indeed especially Israel.

So systemic racism and structural sin are “a thing”. They can exist, they are consistent with a Biblical worldview. So is liberation theology and critical race theory (CRT) correct? Critical race theory (CRT), along with intersectionality, is the ideology/philosophy that underlies the Black Live Matter organisation. The answer is emphatically no. What does liberation theology want to do? What does BLM want to do? They want revolution. They want to destroy the structures, but the structures are not the source of the problem, they are the product of sinful man. So the root of the problem is in you and me. You destroy the structures and you actually achieve nothing. We have seen this time and time again in history. Tsarist Russian was evil, then Lenin led the revolution. What replaced the Tsarist regime was even more evil, especially under Stalin. In Cambodian Pol Pot had his “year zero” and ended up with the killing fields. If we look at Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) Mugabe proved himself as equally skilled as the white regime in oppressing and killing people, including blacks. Probably much more so. South Africa has enormous problems with corruption and crime. 

Does this mean we must never change systems. Of course not. Thank goodness we did abolish slavery, thank goodness apartheid went, thank goodness the segregation was abolished. But we need to know where the root of the problem lies.

There is one other area to look at. CRT talks a lot about “white privilege” and sees the system as racist and even though you and I were never slave owners we still bear the guilt. Is there any Biblical basis for this? In Lam 5:7 Jeremiah says “Our ancestors sinned and are no more,  and we bear their punishment.”, but in Ezekiel 18:20 it says “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” 

So what are we to make of this? We do suffer the consequences of what has gone before. In the US there are deep racial problems, and it is not that long since there were racist structures in society. In the UK there is the “Irish problem”, which while far less of an issue than it was “has not gone away”, and Britain did do terrible things. So the sins of the past can have a long lasting effect. However, it talks of God visiting the sins of the fathers down to the third and fourth generation. CRT would like to visit the sins of the fathers down to the thirteen and fourteenth generation! Indeed, they would not stop there. 

Is Britain systemically racist? No! There is racism, and some of you will have experienced it first hand, but Britain is not systemically racist. Our laws are not racist, indeed there are laws against racism. Non-whites can and do reach positions of influence in all areas of society. Are there problems that affect some racial groups more than others? Yes, but these are largely associated with economic situations. You can find some interesting facts in this article. If you are old enough (as I am) to remember the 1970’s and 80’s you will know that it not just laws that have changed, but attitudes have changed. Some statistics related to this can be found in the previous article and elsewhere. 

So what is the conclusion of all this? I suppose it is that the root of sin lies in the human heart.

Matthew 5:1 - His disciples came to Him

5:1

Given Matthew’s keenness to point out how Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament, it is reasonable to see a parallel here between Moses going up the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, and Jesus going up a mountain and delivering the “new Law”, and Deut 18:17-19 is relevant. “When Jesus saw the crowds ...” Remember that crowds had been following Him, largely because of His healing powers. Jesus therefore wanted to teach them. He saw teaching and preaching as His primary purpose in the time leading up to the cross. By the way, this is actually an argument for the veracity of the healing accounts. If the healing accounts were just made up, then surely the gospels would have focused more on them, and they would have had Jesus saying “Hey, aren’t I a great healer!” (though in rather different language, no doubt). However, the focus is always drawn back to two things: the teaching of Jesus, and the cross. Jesus’ words here are primarily addressed to His disciples, but are also there for all to hear.

Jeremiah 9:13-16 - It is because they have forsaken my Law

9:13,14

God reiterates yet again why this is all happening. They have abandoned God’s law, they have not followed the Law. God has said this on several occasions already, the people are blind. We could say the same about our own society. It is obvious that abandoning God’s ways does no good. The breakdown of family life has caused all sorts of problems, yet we insist that marriage does not really matter. Transideology is clearly nonsense doing nothing but cause confusion, yet we seem to think it is a road we must go down. The people worshipped the Baals, “as their ancestors taught them”. The sin of Judah had been building up one generation after another. Likewise, the sin of this land has been building up generation after generation.

9:15,16

So the people would be scattered among the nations. This had already happened to the northern kingdom of Israel, and would soon happen to Judah. The people would eat bitter food and poisoned water, and many would die from the sword.

Matthew 4:24,25 - So His frame spread

4:24

Judea and Galilee belonged to the Roman province of Syria. This region had a Greek character, but also many Jews. News about Jesus spread throughout this region, no doubt the healings played a big part in this. As I write this (Feb 15, 2020) the corona virus is a big fear in the world. Suppose someone in China was able to cure people of the disease, they would certainly attract hordes of people. Jesus was doing better than this, for He healed all sorts of diseases, so people brought to Him all who were ill. Several groups are given: diseases, those suffering pain, the demon possessed and those having seizures. The people were able to distinguish between these various classes of illness. Note that demon possession is in there too. Diseases and demon possession can be linked, but are also distinct.

4:25

Large crowds followed Jesus. We will see in the next chapter that Jesus then started to teach the crowds. Today we have some who claim to have a “healing ministry”. Jesus did not have a healing ministry, He healed people. Healing is part of the ministry of the church, but we should not isolate it off from preaching and teaching. We are meant to present a whole. To use modern parlance, our ministry should be holistic. By the way, this also means that preaching or teaching should not be hived off as an isolated activity either.

Jeremiah 9:10-12 - Who is wise enough to understand this?

9:10

Verse 10 is Jeremiah’s response to God’s judgement upon Judah. He laments what will happen. This does not mean he thinks that God has got it wrong in bringing judgement, on the contrary he sees the rightness of God’s action, but he is sorrowful that it has come to this, that Judah has got in such a bad state that God’s judgement was the only answer. He is sorrowful at the effect there will be on the people and the land. This teaches us something of the response we should have in our own land. Our own society is heading away from God and His ways as fast as it can. If this brings judgement then one can only say that we fully deserve it, but at the same time it is entirely right for us to mourn for our land and the state it has got itself into.

9:11,12

Verse 11 reiterates what is going to happen.The land will be laid waste, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins. Jeremiah then asks “who can understand this?” “who can explain this?” The religious and civic leaders were unable to explain this. They were either oblivious to the sin, or participants in it. Today there are even religious leaders who are all in favour of the land’s rebellion against God. Moreover, there are many who do see it as that serious really. There are few with any real understanding.

Matthew 4:23 - Teaching and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

4:23

In 4:17 we read that Jesus preached “repent”. Now we read that He taught in the synagogues. Synagogues allowed visiting teachers to speak. So Jesus, and later Paul, took advantage of this custom. Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom. “Kingdom” means reign, rule or authority. The Jews were under the rule, reign and authority of the Romans, and had been under various other powers for much of their history. So coming under the rule of God was good news for them. The problem was that they did not understand what this meant, many thinking of it in nationalistic terms, and specifically freedom from Rome. This is why Jesus taught about the kingdom, for they needed to understand what it really means, and so do we! He also healed “every disease and sickness among the people”. So we have preaching, teaching and healing. So often in our churches we will focus on just one of these. To do this is to present an incomplete picture.

Jeremiah 9:4-9 - Should I not punish them for this?

9:4-6

Verse 4 expresses the nature of the times, when no one can be trusted. This reminds us of Jesus’ words that even our own family could be against us. When it says “everyone is a deceiver” we should not take this absolutely literally. Rather, it means that almost anyone can be a deceiver. Deception, betrayal is widespread. God is telling Jeremiah just how bad things are. Rather than “comforting” Jeremiah as we think of comforting, God is telling Jeremiah he needs to face up to the reality of the situation. Sadly we do not hear of that from many of our religious leaders today.

9:7-9

God now explains to Jeremiah what He is doing, and why He is doing it. Now just think about this for a moment or two. God, the creator of all things, is revealing His thoughts to a mere man! God goes beyond all that we imagine or think. God is refining the people, and He has to do this because of their sinfulness. The people are full of lies, and take advantage of each other. These sorts of things happened in Communist East Germany, or Nazi Germany, and in all authoritarian oppessive regimes. At least some of the people come to reflect the nature of their tyrannical rulers. So it is that in the world men come to reflect something of the nature of Satan. The people were deserving of punishment.

Matthew 4:18-22 - Follow me!

4:18-20

Jesus now starts to call His disciples. The Sea of Galilee had a rich store of fish, and some of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. This was symbolic of the future task that they would have. Peter and Andrew were told that they would be sent out to fish for people. The gospel is about “catching” people, about calling people to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We can get despondent when we see our society having little interest in Christ, and in many ways going in completely the wrong direction. But God’s purpose is to change the direction of people’s lives and turn them back to Him. If we view the mission as “our” mission, and hoping that God will help us, then we have a mistaken view. If we view it as God’s mission and one that He involves us in His work then we should have a much greater prospect of success, and our view will be far closer to reality.

Peter and Andrew responded immediately. If we look at all the gospel accounts we see that here we are only getting a very brief snippet of what went on, and this may well not have been the first time Peter and Andrew had met Jesus (Luke 5:1-11; John 1:36-42).

4:21,22

Simon and Andrew were brothers, James and John were also brothers. They too were fishermen and were working with their father in mending the nets. Jesus called them and they too responded immediately. As mentioned in the previous bit, this may well not have been the first encounter with Jesus, all the same, to leave their family and livelihoods was an enormous step to take. It is perhaps likely that these disciples were in their mid to late teens, though that is just a guess.

Jeremiah 9:1-3 - They go from one sin to another

9:1,2

We get more of Jeremiah’s feelings. Our preaching and teaching should definitely not be purely feeling based, but nor must it ignore feelings for the Bible doesn’t! The book of Jeremiah doesn’t and it is one the most hard-hitting books in the Bible. Jeremiah felt dismay at what was going to happen to Judah. Here we read of his desire just to run away, to get away from the people. God cares about feelings, but we should also bear in mind that Jer 17:9 says that the heart above all things is deceitful. Now the “heart” in the Bible usually includes our will and mind as well as our emotions, but our emotions can mislead us. As always, the Bible has a much more balanced approach to life than we usually have,

9:3

Jeremiah has been appalled at what was going to happen to Judah and Jerusalem, and God reminds him of just how deep their sin runs. People sometimes ask “how can a God of love send people to hell?” I assure you that on the last day we will have no problem whatsoever in wondering how God can do this, for on that day the full depths of human sinfulness will be made known to all. Jeremiah sees that sin is the dominant force in people’s lives.

Complete notes for Mark's Gospel

Complete notes on Mark's Gospel are now available on Dundee Believer.

Matthew 4:14-17 - Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near

4:14-16

Matthew points out that this is a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 9:1,2. We have here a precursor to the gospel going to all nations, and another example of God choosing what was despised by men. As mentioned above, the outside view of Galilee was a pretty low view, but that is no hindrance to God working! We all need to remember that, both when we look at ourselves, and when we look at others. If God decides He is going to work in an individual or a group of people, He will work in their lives, and what the world thinks of that person or persons is of little consequence.

4:17

The message of Jesus was the same as that of John the Baptist (Matt 3:2), “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.In the first sermon in Acts Peter told the people to “repent and be baptised” (Acts 2:38). We seem rather reluctant to preach repentance today, but without repentance there is no gospel, and if we do not preach repentance as part of our message we should not fool ourselves into thinking we are preaching God’s word. Matthew’s use of the term “kingdom of heaven” is the same as “kingdom of God”, but Matthew is following the Jewish habit of being reluctant to even mention the name of God.

Jeremiah 8:19-22 - Why then is there no healing

8:19

Jeremiah seems to be envisioning the people in exile in a far away land, imploring God to listen to the cry of His people. But God reminds Jeremiah why they were there, it was because of their sin, because of their worship of foreign idols. There was no need for them to be there, they had brought it upon themselves. Man is responsible for most of the ills that befall him.

8:20-22

At the start of first world was they spoke of it all being over by Christmas, as we know it went on for a lot longer than that. Likewise, the exile would go on for many years. God’s people would be crushed, and Jeremiah along with them, he empaphised with their coming plight. Was there nothing that could be done? No one who could heal them? 

“Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

We should bear the end of 8:22 in mind when we read in Isaiah 53 that “by His wounds we are healed”. The primary application is the healing of the wound of our sinfulness.

Matthew 4:11,12 - Then the devil left Him

4:11

“Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him”. The devil will not work forever. This is true cosmically in that there is a day of judgement, a day when Jesus returns as Lord of All. It is also true on a temporal level. When under pressure or attack of whatever sort it can seem as if it will never end. It will always end. The angels came to attend Jesus after the temptation. One might have thought there help would have been most useful during the attack, but man living under God’s authority can defeat the devil, and this was part of Jesus winning the victory for us. But then angels did come to help Him, and at times God may send angels to help us.

4:12,13

Jesus heard that John had been put in prison and so He began to preach. He began by withdrawing from Nazareth to Galilee. Galilee was known as Galilee of the Gentiles (Isaiah 9:1,2). This was because it was surrounded by Gentile peoples, and was therefore influenced by them more than other parts of Israel. Because of this the Jerusalem Jews tended to look down on Galilee. Jesus went to Capernaum, which was in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. While often referred to as the “Sea of Galilee”, Galilee was actually a lake, some 200m below sea level. The lake lay between two hills and so was subject to sudden and fierce storms, as we see in other parts of the gospels. 

Jeremiah 8:16-18 - I will send venmous snakes among you

8:16,17

Dan was close to the northern border, so they would be the first to hear the coming of the invading army. The purpose of the army is made clear. They have come to “devour the land and everything in it”, including the cities. Then God uses the analogy of vipers being among them. And these would be vipers that could not be charmed. No amount of diplomacy would stop them, they could not be bought off. This reference to vipers perhaps helps us to understand more deeply the depth of the insult in the times when John the Baptist and Jesus referred to the people or the religious leaders as a brood of vipers.

8:18

Jeremiah then speaks to the Lord. Jeremiah did  not have a ministry of condemnation, he was a prophet. A prophet delivered the word of God, the truth of God, but he was also part of the people. Jeremiah was worn out by the depths of the destruction, the judgement, that he was having to speak about. His heart was faint within him. He called out to God his comforter. It is worth remembering that in Jeremiah, that as well as all the judgement, we get insight into God’s working with Jeremiah as a person. Jeremiah was no mere instrument. He was someone whom God had formed in the womb.

Matthew 4:9,10 - Be gone Satan!

4:9

“All this I will give you if you bow down and worship me”. First there is a lie and a half truth here. Satan probably could have given Jesus something. Various dictators and tyrants have been given some sort of kingdom. Hitler was, Stalin was. But it is a kingdom that will crumble. The Father would give Jesus an everlasting kingdom. He will give us an everlasting name. On a lesser scale wicked people are given some sort of power or wealth, but it is power and wealth that will fade away, often in dramatic fashion. Then notice that the truth of Satan’s plans are revealed, “if you bow down and worship me”. This reveals the true intent of the devil. And we must never go along with his line.

4:10

In making his highest demand (that Jesus worship him) Satan had utterly blown it. There was no way that Jesus was going to bow down and worship the devil! The devil, the prince of the air, is at work in the world, and his work has many very serious harmful and evil effects. But at the same time, we need to recognise that he will also always overreach himself. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him”. This comes from Deut 6:13 and this should be the overriding principle in all that we do, and guard against many a wrong path.

Jeremiah 8:12-15 - We hoped for peace but no good has come

8:12,13

“Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?” This is all too true of our society, most obviously in the area of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is now considered something to boast about, even something to be taught to primary school children. We are in a real mess. The end  result of this will be disaster. So here God says He will take away their harvests. The judgement of God is personal, it is not something that just happens, God actively wills it. “What I have given them will be taken away from them”. All the good things we have come from God, this means He can also take them away.

8:14,15

Jeremiah is not a dispassionate prophet, just reciting a message from his master. He is deeply involved in the situation and in the message. He feels it! There are often debates between those who think our preaching and teaching today is too touchy-feely and those who think that more exegetical preaching is too remote, not reaching to the real lives of people. As with many things, we find that the Bible is far more balanced than we are. There is always forensic truth, as we see in stark terms in Jeremiah, but there is also a matter of making this personal, and “feeling the message”. Jeremiah is kind of dramatising the coming judgement, portraying the feelings it will engender, the horror it will bring.

Matthew 4:8 - And showed Him all the kingdoms of the world

4:8

We now come to the third temptation. The first one used bodily needs, ie food; the second one focused on Christ’s identity; the third one focuses us on His mission. Notice that none of these things were sinful in themselves. Jesus was hungry, knowing who we are is important, and Jesus is Lord and He would be given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. The sin lay in the response to these that the devil was urging Jesus to make. With food it was elevating its importance. We do have material and physical needs, but the word of God is more important than them all. We can take encouragement from this if today we are faced with some seemingly insurmountable problem relating to material needs. It might be health, it might be financial. It is not to say that these things don’t matter, they do, but we should give first priority to the Word of God. We do not need to doubt our identity in Christ. We are saved, we are adopted as children into God’s family. And His purpose for our lives will be fulfilled, but this will happen according to God’s purposes and ways.

Jeremiah 8:10,11 - They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious

8:10

Serious judgement will come upon the people, this applying primarily to the leaders of the nation. “I will give their wives to other men”. To us this seems like a strange thing for God to do, worse than that, an unworthy thing for God to do. So what are we to make of it? Well, first we need to remember that in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, God is seen as being the author of all things, not just the good things. In our way of thinking God has nothing to do with evil things, indeed a good God cannot have anything to do with them. So where does this take us? First, the Jewish way of thinking was not the end of the matter. God being responsible was not the whole story, the perpetrators were also responsible. So we might rephrase this as “I will let other men take your wives ..” However, we need to realise that this does not actually solve the problem that we think we have, for under our system God is letting evil happen. And since God is all powerful and all knowing, this would not make Him any less “guilty”. The Old Testament way of looking at things is actually the better way. It does not absolve others of responsibility. It means that God has a good purpose in what happens. Now, here it is judgement upon the sinful nation, and we are not keen on judgement, but that is our problem, not Gods!

The whole nation was guilty, from the least to the greatest. All were greedy for gain, and the religious leaders practised deceit.

8:11

“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious”. We do not take sin seriously enough. We do not do so in our own lives, and we do not do so as leaders of churches. We pretend that sin is not as serious as it actually is. The biggest problem anyone has is their sin against God. There can be no peace without a resolution to that problem. And if we do not treat sin seriously enough our sin is even worse, for there is a solution. True peace is available through the cross.

Matthew 4:5-7 - If you are the Son of God

4:5,6

The tempter is now named as the devil. The temple had been built by Herod the Great and was quite an impressive and enormous structure. The devil, noting that Jesus valued Scripture, quoted Scripture himself, this time from Psalm 91:11,12. He urged Jesus to throw Himself down from the temple so that the angels would lift Him up. The devil can and will quote Scripture. In practical terms this means that just because someone quotes Scripture does not mean there is any validity to what they are saying. We need to use Scripture aright (2 Tim 2:15). Doing that includes reading it in its context, and having a sense of the heart of God as revealed in the whole of Scripture. 

4:7

Naturally, Jesus did know and understand the whole of Scripture, and did know the heart of God! Jesus used another verse from Deuteronomy, this time Deut 6:16. That verse comes from a section warning against disobeying God, and encouraging the Israelites to obey God so that they would conquer the land and it would go well with them. So verses like Ps 91:11,12 are not there as a plaything, but as an encouragement from the Lord, that when we walk in His ways He will protect us from danger.

The One Source of True Unity

There is an awful lot of talk and not a little action about divides today. In this post I want to talk about unity, and the only ground we have for true unity, and to take this from a Biblical perspective. A very good maxim to have is this:

Man is foolish God is wise.

Consider how often the world operates on the principle that “God is foolish, we are wise”, it is the basis on which our society operates, which just might have something to do with the multiple messes that we are experiencing. So let’s look to God for wisdom, especially in the context of unity.

The Bible is clear that there are a number of ways in which we are all united. We were all created by God. We are all sons and daughters of Adam (Rom 5:12-14). That’s good! Except it means we are all united in sin. Remember that! We need to remember that Jesus told a parable about taking the plank out of our own eye before we embark on the task of taking the speck out of someone else’s eye (Matt 7:1-5). All of us should look first at our own lives, we should consider our own guilt before considering anyone else’s. Now notice that Jesus closes that section with the words “and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”. There are times when we should correct one another, but we do it from a standpoint of knowing our own sin, not one of superiority.

So we are all sinners, that sounds like bad news. “For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:22,23). Thankfully there is good news about unity, “[all] are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). This is the “righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (Rom 3:22). There is an awful lot of unity here!

The great passage on unity in the Bible is Ephesians 2:11-22. It talks about how the divide between Jews and Gentiles has been abolished in Christ. In Eph 2:12 it talks about us Gentiles “having no hope and being without God in the world”. It then goes on Eph 2:13 to say that in Christ we have been brought near by His blood. Jesus is our peace and has broken down the wall of hostility.  Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to God through the cross. Jesus came and preached peace, and we now have access in the one Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:18). I closes in Eph 2:22 by saying that we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

In these days and times I would implore all of us to make sure that we are not swept along by the spirit of the world. Let us look at ourselves first, before we look at others. Let us consider the prize that is offered by the true unity that is found only in Christ, and compare it with whatever the world is offering.