Jeremiah 38:5-9 - These men have acted wickedly

38:5,6

Zedekiah was a very weak and duplicitous king. He ignored the word of God, then wanted to hear the word from Jeremiah, now instead of defending Jeremiah he tells the officials that they can do what they like with him. Zedekiah was something of the Pontius Pilate of his day. So the officials had Jeremiah lowered into a cistern. This cistern had no water in it, only slimy mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. His situation was not good.

38:7-9

While many were against him, not everyone was acting evilly. God had earlier promised to protect Jeremiah, and we see that promise being fulfilled here. It is a Cushite who comes to speak up for Jeremiah. Throughout the Old Testament there are little occasions here and there of non-Jewish people acting well. So we see two things here. God protecting us doesn’t mean we will have an easy or trouble free life. Secondly, being in dire circumstances, as Jeremiah undoubtedly was, does not mean God has forgotten us. Ebed-Melek tells the king that the officials have acted in a wicked manner.

Matthew 20:9-19 - The first will be last

20:9-16

So all the workers received the same day’s wage. This outraged the early workers. Why should they not get paid more!? But God’s kingdom is founded upon grace, not works. If we try to work things out on the basis of merit we will get nowhere, we will never understand Jesus. All the workers received what they were paid what they were promised. All who come into the kingdom receive eternal life, all of us. 

We also have the message that God decides who gets saved, and He can do what He likes. We so want to turn things around and make it dependent upon us. If it is dependent upon us then we are all doomed, for we all deserve hell. But the kingdom is dependent upon the grace of God. “So the last will be first, and the first will be last”.

20:17-19

The title in the NIV is “Jesus predicts His death a third time”. “Predicts” is not the right word here, foretells would be better. Jesus is predicting what would happen, but telling them what would happen. The cross was the deliberate plan of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, carried out according to their plan. Jesus told the twelve why they were going up to Jerusalem and that He would be handed over to the chief priests and teachers of the Law. Then He would be condemned to death and handed over to the Gentiles. They would mock and flog Him, then crucify Him. “On the third day He will be raised to life”. The disciples never seemed to hear this last bit!

Jeremiah 38:1-4 - He is discouraging the soldiers

38:1-3

Jeremiah continued to preach the message that God had given to him. He tells them that if they stay in the city they will die, but if they surrender to Babylon they will live. Just to make things clear, he emphasises that the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians. There were various named officials who were listening to the message. Jeremiah’s message has relevance today for those who place an undue emphasis on the physical land of Israel. God is far more concerned about the moral nature of the people, than the physical land they are inhabiting. He was quite prepared to throw them out of the land if they persisted in their disobedience and idol worship, and God did throw them out. At the same time, we must also remember that God brought them back. The land is important, but not at the expense of moral failure. The number one priority in our prayers for Israel must be that they turn to Christ. That is the only way to true peace.

38:4

The named officials who were listening to Jeremiah reported him to the king and demanded that he be put to death. His words were discouraging the soldiers and the people. Now the reason they were discouraged was because they were embarking on a failed enterprise. If Jeremiah had been killed Jerusalem would still have fallen. Speaking the word of God will not always bring us favour.

Matthew 20:1-8 - Go and work in my vineyard

20:1-7

Jesus has just spoken to the young man, and then His disciples, about entering the kingdom of God. He now gives the parable of the vineyard workers, revealing more of the kingdom and how things work, presenting more surprises! The landowner went out and hired some workers early in the morning. Later in the morning he hired some more, and did this several more times throughout the course of the day.

20:8

When evening came the foreman was told to call the workers, “beginning with the last ones hired and going to the first”. There can be no coincidence that at the end of chapter 19 Jesus had talked about the first being last, and the last first. There are ways in which we like this concept, we like the idea of the injustices in the world being turned upside down. However, it will mean that some things happen that we definitely don’t like!

Jeremiah 37:18-21 - Where are your prophets who prophesied to you?

37:18-20

Jeremiah, not unreasonably, reminds Zedekiah that he is currently imprisoned, and for no good reason. He then goes on to point out that the prophets Zedekiah listened to had got it badly wrong. They had said Babylon would not attack, yet Babylon had indeed attacked. So why does Zedekiah not realise that he was listening to rubbish and instead start to really listen to Jeremiah? Now Jeremiah calls on Zedekiah to not send him back to be imprisoned at the house of Jonathan the secretary. Conditions were clearly not good there.

37:21

Zedekiah seems to have some notion that his favoured prophets (the ones who told him what he wanted to hear) were not exactly reliable, and maybe there was something to what Jeremiah had been saying all along. So Zedekiah orders that Jeremiah is allowed to stay in the “courtyard of the guard”, and is supplied with food.

Matthew 19:27-30 - Many who are first will be last

19:27

Peter then speaks up, as usual, expressing concern about themselves. For the disciples had left homes and jobs in order to follow Jesus. If it is so difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven, where does it leave the disciples? Are they in or are they out? 

19:28-30

Jesus then makes an amazing statement, and one that opens with “Truly, I say to you..” emphasising the veracity of what He is about to say. “The renewal of all things”, this is referring to the end of time when Jesus returns, and this will be a time when He makes all things new. There will be an utter transformation at the end of the age. Then He says the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne. Soon Jesus would be nailed to a cross, utterly humiliated and rejected by humanity, but that would not be the end. Soon would come the resurrection, then much later the return of the King. At that time those who followed Him would sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel. The disciples had no idea how glorious the future would be, and we too have no idea either. We do need to think more about the age to come. Not as means of escapism, but to be aware of where things are really going, and to give us strength and encouragement to live today. Anyone who has made sacrifices for Christ will receive a hundred times as much. Any sacrifice we make now for Christ is more than worth it, many times over. “But many who are first ...” There will be a complete reversal of the normal order. We need to be heavenly minded.

Jeremiah 37:11-17 - Is there any word from the Lord?

37:11-13

Once the Egyptian army had led to the Babylonian army withdrawing, Jeremiah went to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property that he had bought. However, while on his way he was arrested, being accused of deserting to the Babylonians. Perhaps this isn’t too surprising really. Given his prophecies, including urging the people of Jerusalem to surrender to the Babylonians we can understand why they might think this. Moreover, in times of crisis people are apt to see conspiracy all over the place.

37:14-17

Jeremiah was not deserting, and vehemently denied the charge, but the captain of the guard was not for listening to him. So he was beaten up and thrown in prison. He was left there for a long time. Eventually Zedekiah sent for him and asked “is there any word from the Lord”. This was rather brazen of him given the situation. Jeremiah repeated the same message he had been giving for many a year.

Matthew 19:22-26 - With God all things are possible

19:22-24

The man, who we are now told was young, was very wealthy and went away sad. Jesus then shocks the disciples, not for the first time, by telling them it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. This went against all expectations, for surely the rich were blessed by God? It isn’t that wealth is wrong, for it is God who gives wealth, but the human tendency is to make an idol out of money. We look to money for our security and happiness. We should only look to God for security and happiness. Jesus then stresses the point by His eye of a needle comment. You have probably heard that one of the gates in Jerusalem was called “the eye of a needle”. There actually isn’t much evidence to support this claim. Jesus is stressing how difficult/impossible it is for a rich man to be saved.

19:25,26

With the assumption that the rich are blessed, the disciples then reason that no one can be saved. Jesus then replies “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”. So the rich can be saved, and actually it is difficult/impossible for anyone to be saved. It is only God who can save. Now the poor are actually more likely to look to God than the rich. For the rich might think they have all they need, even thinking they are in control of life. The poor know full well that they are not in control of life. However, in either case it is God who saves, and it is possible for anyone to be saved.

Jeremiah 37:6-10 - Do not deceive yourselves

37:6-8

In times of crisis people will grab at straws, they will hope that something, anything is bringing salvation. So Zedekiah had put his trust in Egypt, and the people would have gone along with him. Today in the covid crisis people long for hope, long for the situation to change. So if something comes along that seems to be able to rescue us we grab on to it. Egypt seemed to be such a saviour to Judah, especially as the Babylonian army withdrew from Jerusalem. But Judah’s problem was not Babylon, but their disobedience to God, and God had not gone away. So God tells Jeremiah that the Babylonian army would come back and destroy the city.

37:9,10

The people needed to get to grips with God. Even if the Babylonian army was reduced to a bunch of injured men they would still be able to capture the city. Why? Because it was the decree of the Lord that Jerusalem would be destroyed. There was only one way out, and that was to repent. We all need to look to God first.

Matthew 19:17-21 - There is only One who is good

19:17

Jesus wants to challenge the man’s presuppositions. “Why do you ask me what is good?” Why does he come to Jesus to ask? Surely the rabbis could answer his question. He must have recognised that there was something different about Jesus. We can recognise something different, but still respond in our old ways. The man needed to think differently. The man was wanting to know if he was good enough, or how he could become good enough. But “there is only one who is good”. And God had given them the commandments, so Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The Law had already said that if they obeyed everything then they would be blessed (Deut 28). The man knew the score.

19:18-21

“Which ones?” All of them is the simple answer. Jesus then names two or three of the main commandments. The man, of course, claims to have kept these, and in outward form at least almost certainly had done. In the sermon on the mount Jesus made it clear that it was not just outward form that mattered, but it was a matter of the heart as well. Jesus then told him that if he wanted to be perfect he had to sell his possessions and give to the poor. Then he would have treasure in heaven, and could then follow Jesus. Jesus knew that the man could not do this, no man can be truly good. Notice also the emphasis on “follow me”. Jesus tries to get the man’s focus off of himself, and on to God and Jesus.

Jeremiah 37:1-5 - They withdrew from Jerusalem

37:1,2

Zedekiah is now king, but he is a mere puppet of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. However, neither “he nor his attendants nor the people of the land” paid any attention to the words of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah. The heart of man can be incredibly stubborn, refusing to believe the word of God despite all the evidence. Jeremiah had warned of the Babylonian conquest, and now that Babylon was effectively in charge of Jerusalem, and the words of the false prophets had proved to be a load of nonsense, they still refused to pay attention to the words of Jeremiah, which were proving to be right. Note also that all were held responsible, both the king and the people.

37:3-5

Despite ignoring the word of God, the king had the gall to send people to Jeremiah to ask him to pray to the Lord for the land. People will think that despite their persistence in disobeying God, that when they were in trouble God would help them regardless. At this point Jeremiah had not been imprisoned, and there were military maneuvers. The Egyptian army had moved out, in response to secret diplomatic moves by Zedekiah. This would bring temporary relief for Jerusalem, with the siege being lifted. But this would only be for a time.

Matthew 19:13-16 - Let the little children come to me

19:13-15

We now have another “little children” or “little ones” incident, and one of the best known episodes in the gospels. People brought their children to Jesus for Him to lay hands on them and pray for them. The equivalent passage in Mark 10:16 adds that Jesus blessed them. “But the disciples rebuked them”. Once again the disciples’ lack of understanding is demonstrated. Accordingly, Jesus corrected the disciples, telling them to let the children come, and that the kingdom of heaven “belonged to such as these”. We must never think the kingdom is ours, it is God’s and belongs to all who come to Him.

19:16

The previous incident looked at not excluding people from the kingdom, now comes a man who wants to know how to get eternal life. He comes with some presuppositions, for he asks “what good thing must I do ...”. He is assuming that we get eternal life by doing some good thing or other, and that we are capable of doing a good thing. Neither of these things are true. We cannot gain eternal life by our own efforts. If we followed the Law perfectly we would have eternal life, but no one can do that, we will all fall down at some point. When Adam and Eve had one commandment they failed the test.

Jeremiah 36:16-32 - The king burns the scroll

36:16-19

Baruch duly read out the scroll. The officials then decided that they had to report all these words to the king. They also wanted to know how Baruch had come about these words. Were they indeed dictated by Jeremiah? And, of course, they were. The officials were rather concerned about the nature of the words, realising that they put the whole kingdom in trouble, and that its whole direction of travel was contrary to the way of the Lord. It seems as if they had some sympathy for Jeremiah and Baruch as they advised them to go and hide.

36:20-26

So the officials set the scroll aside and went and reported its contents to the king. The king sent for the scroll itself, and had it read out to him. The king showed utter contempt for the word of God, having a few columns of the scroll burnt in the first every so often. He was rejecting every word of God. Three of the officials urged the king not to do such a thing, but the king was not for taking advice. Instead the king ordered the arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch. However, God knew what was happening and had hidden them. When rulers show utter contempt for the Lord they should watch out, for judgement will soon arrive.

36:27-32

God knew full well what the king had done. Indeed, he knew what the king would do. So God told Jeremiah to write another scroll, an exact replica of the first. Jehoiakim was refusing to accept the judgement of the Lord. He was king, but he was king under God. His first responsibility was to God, and he was utterly rejecting this responsibility. Moreover, the king’s actions would do nothing to stop the word of the Lord coming true. So Baruch was given another scroll, and wrote all the words that had been on the scroll burned up by Jehoiakim, along with a few extra words as well.

Matthew 19:9-12 - It is better not to marry!

19:9

Jesus now tells us that “anyone who divorces his wife, except for adultery, and marries another woman commits adultery.” If we read this as a rule about divorce and remarriage we are missing the point. The liberal group on divorce, the “burn the toast” sect were doing this: If they fancied another woman, then they would give their current wife a certificate of divorce for some reason or other, then marry the other woman, claiming all the while to be following the Law of Moses and so they were a good Jew. Absolute nonsense, you are an adulterer, says Jesus. The human heart is deceitful above all things and will twist anything round to turn good into evil.

19:10-12

The disciples were, evidently, infected by the spirit of the age, seeming to think that the lifelong commitment of marriage was not such a good idea after all. How can two people possibly be happy together forever? We need to beware of being infected by the spirit of the age. “This teaching is not meant for everyone”. Jesus does not mean that marriage as a lifelong relationship is only applicable to some marriages. What He means is that not everyone will get married. He mentions some who were born eunuchs and some who were made eunuchs. Now this includes physical eunuchs, but I believe we can give it a wider application. There some for whom marriage may well be impossible for reasons from birth, disabilities of some sort or other (of course, not all disabilities make marriage impossible, far from it). For others the circumstances of life will just mean it never happens, sometimes for definite reasons, sometimes for no discernible reason, it just never happened. Then there will be those who renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom.

I have written two longer discussions of the practical implications on Jesus’ teaching on divorce:

Mark 10:10-12 - Adultery and divorce - Part 1

Mark 10:10-12 - Adultery and Divorce - Part 2

Jeremiah 36:8-15 - Sit down, and please read it to us

36:8-10

So Baruch did as Jeremiah had instructed him, and he read out the words of the Lord from the scroll in the temple. Note the assumption that the words of Jeremiah were indeed the words of the Lord. The king had also declared a day of fasting, and this was at the time that Baruch read out the words of the Lord, so it was completely in line with the instructions that Jeremiah had given (36:6). The significance of it being a day of fasting was that more people would be there, and would be more attentive. So all the people at the Lord’s temple heard the word of the Lord. Note the repeated use of the phrase “the Lord’s temple”. Men have a terrible habit of assuming that it is our temple, or our church. It isn’t!

36:11-15

Micaiah (not the one who appears elsewhere in the Old Testament) informed all the officials of what Baruch was doing and saying. All the officials were fully aware of what God was saying, they were without excuse. They instructed Micaiah to get the scroll from Baruch so he could read it to them in person.

Matthew 19:4-8 - Made them male and female

19:4-6

Jesus starts by going back to creation, back to Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. This shows us straight away that Jesus took Genesis very seriously, and that it set out the intended plan for mankind. This should be our starting point for understanding sexuality, gender and marriage. Every individual Chrisitan and every church that goes along with the LGBT affirming line should be aware that they are going directly against Jesus’ understanding of the matter, they are speaking purely from their own authority , not from any Godly authority. Accordingly their words are utterly worthless. God created us male and female, and created sex for marriage between one man and one woman. “What God has joined together let no one separate”.

19:7,8

The Pharisees then raise the matter of Deut 24:1-4 where it talks about a certificate of divorce. Now look at how different the interpretation of this verse by Jesus is, compared to that of the Pharisees. Jesus tells us that God gave this because “our hearts are hard”. He also says Moses “permitted” divorce. The Pharisees saw it as a command. So the ideal if 19:4-6 stands and is the guiding principle, the one we are to seek to live by. But because we are sinners sometimes divorce will happen, sometimes may even be necessary. So the Law was given to ameliorate the consequences, to give the wife some protection. The Pharisees saw it as a way of life! They saw divorce as part of the normal course of events. The sinful heart will twist every good law to evil purpose. We see this with secular laws, especially in the area of finance.

Jeremiah 36:1-7 - Take a scroll, and write on it

36:1-3

This section gives a clue to how the words of prophets were maintained. They wrote them down! Here God explicitly tells Jeremiah to write down all the words that God had spoken to him. These words concerned Israel, Judah and all the other nations. The hope was that the people would respond to the prospect of the coming judgement by repenting, turning from their wicked ways. If they did this then God would have forgiven them. Now does this mean that God did not know what the people would do? Absolutely not. Rather it expresses the heart of God. People are not condemned because God wants to condemn them, but because they refuse to repent.

36:4-7

So Jeremiah called Baruch, his companion, and recited all the words of the Lord to him, and Baruch duly wrote them all down on a scroll. At the time Jeremiah was not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple (they couldn’t have the word of the Lord preached in the temple of the Lord!). Apparently Baruch was not under the same restriction, so Jeremiah sent him to read the word of the Lord to them. The word of the Lord is given so that people will hear it. Jeremiah, like the Lord, hoped that the people would repent.

Matthew 19:1-3 - Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

19:1,2

Jesus left Galilee and went into the region of Judea. As usual He was followed by large crowds, and He healed them. When Jesus was around people got healed. Even in places where there was little faith He still healed a few people. We seem to really struggle with healing. On the one hand we ignore it, tacitly or explicitly thinking it was just for Jesus’ day. On the other hand we get charlatans operating in this area. There was times when we do see miraculous healings, but we don’t seem to have got it together.

19:3

The religious leaders, this time the Pharisees, came to test Him, asking a question about divorce. They did this not because they wanted to benefit from His wisdom, but because they wanted to catch Him out. Divorce was a contentious issue, with two main schools of thought. One allowed divorce for almost any reason, the other was very strict, essentially allowing it only for adultery.

Jeremiah 35:12-19 - I called to them, but they did not answer

35:12-16

God had brought the Rechabites to Jerusalem as an example and as a rebuke to the people of Jerusalem. They had been given a command by one of their ancestors, a mere man, and the Rekabites had kept this command. The Hebrews had received commands from God Himself, and had received many prophets reiterating the word of God. When the people had failed to follow God’s commands, God had sent them prophets calling them back to His word. But the people ignored the prophets. The Rekabites had shown themselves to be a much more faithful people than the Israelites.

35:17-19

So God tells them yet again that He is going to bring disaster upon them. They may have claimed that God’s commands were too hard, but the Rekabites showed that it was perfectly possible. Today people say it is unrealistic to expect people to wait till marriage before having sex, or that a monogamous relationship is unrealistic (or even undesirable!). There are numerous examples that prove that this is not the case. The only reason these things are “unrealistic” is because of our sin.

In contrast to the bulk of the Israelites, God promises the Rechabites that they would be rewarded for their faithfulness by always having someone to serve the Lord.

Matthew 18:28-35 - Unless you forgive your brother

18:28-30

The man, now released, went out and found someone who owed him and some money, and forcefully demanded that this man pay him the money. This man fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but the man refused. Now when we retell this tale we often get it wrong. The debt of 100 silver coins, or 100 denarii, was not a trivial amount, it was 100 days wages. The point of the story is not that the man refused to forgive a trivial amount, he refused to forgive a significant amount. But the man had been forgiven a debt of 20 years wages. The point is the enormity of the debt that we had that has been forgiven. We are to forgive people. Sometimes we are really silly and refuse to forgive trivial things, but we also do need to forgive things that are very significant, and we need to remember that we have been forgiven so much more. 

18:31-35

The king learnt about the servants behaviour and the man was thrown into jail. Jesus then tells us that this is how our Father in Heaven will treat us if we are unforgiving. We have been forgiven much, so we should be a forgiving people.

Jeremiah 35:1-11 - The Rechabites

35:1,2

This section is not in chronological order, but goes back to the reign of Jehoiakim who reigned before Zedekiah.The Rechabite family was a clan within Israel, who were a nomadic people. The point that is going to be emphasised is that they were faithful to the their ancestral ways. Jeremiah was to invite them to a side room in the house of the Lord abd offer them wine to drink.

35:3-11

Jaazaniah means “The Lord hears”. Jeremiah went to the family and invited them to the house of the Lord, and he set out bowls of wine for them to drink. However, the Rechabites had taken a vow never to drink wine. They had also vowed to live a nomadic lifestyle, not having permanent homes. “Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads”. So while they did not seek to settle in the normal sense, they would actually be secure. There is perhaps a lesson for us here. Hebrews 11 speaks of people living as strangers and aliens in the land. Earlier we had Jeremiah telling the exiles to seek the well-being of Babylon so it would go well with them. There is a human way of seeking security which usually leads to living in fear and making wrong choices. Then there is a godly way, which recognises the temporary nature of this life, and in accepting the reality of this we are actually enabled to live this life better. The Rekabites had been diligent in keeping to the rules, not drinking alcohol, not building houses etc. They had come to Jerusalem as a result of the Babylonian invasion. 

Matthew 18:21-27 - How many times shall I forgive?

18:21,22

We now come to Jesus talking about forgiveness, and this is initiated by Peter asking a question about how many times he should forgive someone. Peter suggests seven times, but Jesus tells him it should be seventy seven times. Now we should not attach importance to the numerical values here, thinking “that’s the seventy fifth time I’ve forgiven him, only two times to go then I can stop”! Seven was the perfect number in Jewish thinking, so Jesus is telling Peter that he must be perfection squared. Some manuscripts have seventy times seven. We are not to look on forgiveness as a burden, it is part of kingdom life.

18:23-27

Jesus then tells another parable. A servant owed the king a vast amount of money, something he could never pay off, so the king ordered for the man and his family to be sold for slaves. The man begged the king to have mercy on him, promising to pay off the debt. The king knew that the man could never pay off the debt, but took pity on him and cancelled the debt.

Jeremiah 34:18-22 - I will lay waste the towns of Judah

34:18-20

The reference to a calf being cut in two is a reference to a covenant ratification ceremony, which the priests and officials may have performed when they did proclaim freedom for the slaves.  These ceremonies warned of the consequences of breaking the covenant. The initial declaration of freedom was not a casual announcement, but a very solemn declaration. The covenant breakers would be delivered into the hands of the Babylonians and their dead bodies would become food for the birds and wild animals.

34:21-22

The Babylonian army had withdrawn, but this was only a temporary respite. God would give the order for the army to come back and fight against the city. Note that before this God says He is going to deliver Zedekiah and the officials into the hands of the Babylonians. The army is the means, it is God’s purposes which are behind all this. Judah is going to become a wasteland, this is God’s judgement upon the place.

Matthew 18:15-17 - If your brother sins

18:15-17

We now move on to a different topic, dealing with sin in the church. This is an area we tend to be very bad at. There is a phased approach to this. There are two principles at work here. The first is to save the man or woman, the brother or sister, and to do so while preserving the dignity of the man or woman. The second is that the sin must be dealt with. The attitude of the sinner may make it impossible for the first objective to be met, if that is the case the sin must still be dealt with.

So the first phase is to speak to the person one to one. Hopefully the person will see sense, repent and seek to put things right. If they do then that is a great success. However, the person may not listen. We do not always respond in the right way! If that is the case then two or three people are to go along to the person, so that the person may see sense and admit his guilt. The final phase is to go to the church. If that fails then they are to be expelled, treated as a tax collector or pagan. They are to be treated as no longer being part of the church. That may seem harsh to us, but it is the word of God, the words of Jesus. Sin is treated seriously by the gospel, by God, we have no right not to treat it seriously.

18:18-20

Jesus follows these words by teaching on prayer, but words that we usually take right out of context! The words on binding and loosing, and on “wherever two or three are gathered” are given in the context of church discipline. Most of us don’t like confrontation, we are very wary and fearful of doing the things spoken of in 18:15-17. Jesus is telling us that this is God’s way of doing things. When we do things in His name (and note that Jesus says “in my name”, no one who was just a prophet would say that) He is with us. This is not a licence to do what we like, it is when we act in Godly character, when we act according to His word.

Jeremiah 34:12-17 - You have not obeyed me

34:12-16

God now condemns the people. The incident, sad as it is, shows that God was absolutely right in what He did. The Israelites had themselves been brought out of slavery, set free by the Lord. Under the Law any Hebrew who had sold themself as a slave had to be set free in the seventh year. But the Hebrews had never obeyed this law. At last the people seemed to have recognised the wrong that they had done and agreed to put it right. They even put this into action. Yet having done this they just went back on their covenant and made people slaves again.

34:17

They people had disobeyed God. They were supposed to proclaim freedom, but had not. They had for a short while, but only to quickly reenslave the people. This is a pattern that has repeated many times in history. One form of tyranny is overthrown and for a time things may be a little better, but then the new regime introduces its own tyrannies. Communism is perhaps the “best”, or worst, example. The Czars in Russia were evil and oppressive, but the communists who replaced them were even worse. Apartheid was inherently evil, but the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe soon proved to be even worse. It is in the nature of fallen mankind to oppress his fellow humans. So God would judge the people, and the freedom they would receive would be the freedom to die by the sword.

Matthew 18:12-14 - Lost sheep

18:12-14

You may or may not have a verse 11! It depends which version of the Bible you are using. You will have it if you are using KJV, NKJV or other versions in that family, if you are using NIV, ESV etc you will not. 18:11 is found only in later manuscripts.

The lesson now moves on to the well-known parable of the lost sheep, and we should appreciate the context that it is given in, i.e. the importance of “little ones”. The parable tells of the shepherd who leaves the ninety nine sheep who are safe and goes to look for the one that is lost, and the shepherd is delighted when he finds that lost sheep. By the way, this is not saying that the lost sheep is more important than the ninety nine, but at that moment the lost sheep is the one that needs special attention, so it gets this attention. “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish”. No one can be discounted as being of no importance.

Jeremiah 34:8-11 - Proclaim freedom for the slaves

34:8-11

Under the Law Hebrews were not meant to enslave fellow Hebrews.  Slavery has been around throughout history and in every civilisation. It is still around today. The Law was far more liberal than any other civilisation. Hebrews were not meant to enslave fellow Hebrews, and all slaves were to be treated properly. Zedekiah made a decree that all Hebrew slaves were to be released, the Law had been broken, and so he tried to put it right. Everyone agreed that this was a good thing to do, and all the people entered into a covenant to free the slaves, and the slaves were indeed set free. Yet this is one of saddest incidents in the Bible, and a damning indictment of mankind. For having done the right thing “they changed their minds” and enslaved the slaves again. Man is captive to sin and can do nothing to set himself free.

Matthew 18:8-10 - Do not despise these little ones

18:8,9

If Jesus had stopped at the last verse being what we are we would have spent our lives blaming others for our sins, and, of course, there are many who do that today. Indeed, ideologies like critical race theory  and intersectionality thrive on that and encourage it. But Jesus did not stop there, “If your right hand ...” Even though others may, indeed do, have responsibility for causing others to sin, I am still responsible for my own sin. Just because someone does something that might cause me to sin, I do not have to sin. The victimhood movements are utterly destructive, and demean people. We are the pinnacle of God’s creation, and that means we have great responsibility. So, regardless of what other people are or are not doing, we should take serious steps in order to avoid sinning, and not putting ourselves in positions where we are liable to fall to temptation. Needless to say, Jesus is using hyperbole here, we are not to literally gouge eyes out or chop hands off!

18:10

The “little ones” theme continues. We must not despise “little ones”, that is people who are “of no account” (see James 2:1-7). There are plenty of references to angels in the Bible and they are a part of God’s economy. In Jewish culture there was a belief in guardian angels, and angels “who see the face of God” were the highest rank of these angels. So what Jesus is saying is that while you may not consider the “little ones” to be of any importance, God most certainly does. And of God considers someone to be of great importance then so should we.

Jeremiah 34:1-7 - And you will go to Babylon

34:1-3

Chapters 2-35 form a major division of the book, and chapters 34 and 35  give a historical summary if the situation. Nebuchadnezzar and peoples from his empire were attacking the towns in Judah and Jerusalem itself. In the midst of this situation the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah to go to Zedekiah, the present king of Judah. Jeremiah is to tell Zedekiah that Babylon will burn down the city. Zedekiah himself would be taken captive. He would meet face to face with Nebuchadnezzar, and be taken to Babylon. Zedekiah is to be under no illusion that he will escape. All the warnings that Jeremiah gave will come true.

34:4-7

However, God makes a promise to Zedekiah. He would die peacefully. Moreover, Zedekiah would be remembered with honour. This was a promise from the Lord. Zedekiah wasn’t exactly a good king, so it seems a little strange that God should treat him so favourably. Jeremiah gave this word to Zedekiah while the fighting was still going on, and reaching its final stages.

Matthew 18:6,7 - Millstones

18:6

“Large millstone” is literally “millstone of a donkey”, these were large millstones that needed a donkey to turn them to do the grinding. There may well be a section heading here, but this is a continuation of the discourse about becoming like children, and Jesus is stressing the importance of “little ones”, people considered to be of no account. Jesus is particularly talking about those who believe in Him, for He will attract all sorts of little ones. To cause someone to stumble is a terrible thing to do.

18:7

“Woe to the world ...” People will sin, we sin. To commit a sin is bad enough, but nowhere near as bad as causing someone else to sin. The world encourages sin. Sometimes it does this overtly, even proudly. At other times it is more subtle, the structures creating conditions where people are likely to react in a sinful manner.

Jeremiah 33:17-26 - I will make the descendants of David my servant

33:17,18

There is a quote from 1 Kings 9:5, the promise to David here. When God makes promises, He keeps promises. There would also be an everlasting priesthood.  Hebrews tells us that this does not mean that there will be a continual Levitical priesthood, for that priesthood has been superseded. 

33:19-22

God is stressing just how reliable His covenant is. As it says in 2 Timothy 2:13, “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself”. Israel had utterly failed to keep the covenant, but this did not mean that God’s promises had failed. And this not merely in the sense that it wasn’t God’s fault (which it wasn’t), God would fulfil His promises, despite our disobedience. So God had made a covenant with the day and night, and we know that day and night happen every twenty four hours without fail. His covenant with Israel is just as certain. Then this section finishes with a repeat of the promise made to Abraham about his descendents being more numerous than the stars in the sky, or the grains of sand on the shore. 

33:23-26

Again we have “the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah”. “Have you not noticed that these people are saying ....” These people are the Babylonians, and these verses are very similar indeed to the preceding section (33:19-22). So, first God needed to remind His own people that He had not  forgotten them, His promises were eternal. Now the world needs to be reminded of this. The strength of the covenant is expressed in precisely the same terms as in the previous section. The world takes a very dangerous route when it thinks that God has abandoned His people, be that Israel or the church.

Matthew 18:1-4 - Like little children

18:1,2

The disciples were now asking Jesus about who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They had been following Jesus for some time, yet their thinking was still very worldly. We need to be born again by the Spirit, we need to have our minds transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2). Jesus called a little child, someone who would be regarded as of little importance by society. At the same time we should perhaps note that the child would be considered to be of great importance by its parents. Society may consider us to be of little importance, but our Father in heaven greatly values us.

18:3-5

“Unless you change ..” Change is central to the gospel. Whenever the gospel is presented essentially as “Jesus loves you” the gospel is not being presented. Now we cannot change without the power of the Holy Spirit, but we do need to know where He is leading us, and it is to be different than we were before. So there are two changes that Jesus talks about here. The first is to take a humble place. The world tells us to aim to achieve positions of great importance, positions which are honoured by society. Jesus tells us to be humble. The second is our attitude towards others. We are to welcome those whom the world considers to be of no account, and if we do this we are welcoming Christ.

Jeremiah 33:14-16 - I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel

33:14

These verses are a clear messianic prophecy, and 33:15,16 are a repeat of 23:5,6. God’s good promises to Israel and Judah will be fulfilled. Likewise His good promises to mankind as a whole will be fulfilled, but we need to look at this carefully. First of all, things went wrong because of Israel and Judah’s sinfulness. And this was persistent sinfulness, ignoring many warnings. The sin was serious and was taken seriously by God. Yet His promises will still be fulfilled. We should also note that not all Israel is saved (Rom 9-11). 

33:15,16

So how will God’s plans be fulfilled? He will raise up a righteous branch, and this branch will spring from David’s line. God had promised to David that he would always have an heir on the throne. This branch will do what is right and just, He will be righteous! This is what will bring true safety to Jerusalem.  And the Branch will be called “The Lord our Righteousness”. 

Matthew 17:25-27 - The children are exempt

17:25

Peter replied that Jesus does pay the temple tax. Whether he knew this was the case or not is not stated, it may be that he just said this out of fear. When Peter got back to the house “Jesus was the first to speak”. It seems that Jesus knew what had happened and was now going to teach them something. He does this by asking Peter a question, though he addresses him as Simon. Possibly this is implying that Peter was approaching the matter in a worldly way, or I could be reading too much into it. “Do the kings of the earth collect duty from their own children?” Jesus, of course, is the Son of God, so it would actually be ridiculous for Him to pay the temple tax.The temple was dedicated to Him! It could also be referring to all believers. We are God’s children, a Father does not tax His children! Now tithing is a good thing to do, but we are going wrong if we  view it as a tax. And there are some who promote tithing who do so almost as if it is a tax. Giving should be generous and joyful, for we are sharing in the work of the kingdom.

17:26,27

Peter gives the obvious answer, “from others”, and Jesus confirms that “the children are exempt”. The whole temple system was badly missing the point. But Jesus then does, or says, something surprising, as he often did. The first surprising thing is that Jesus said they would pay the temple tax, so as not to cause offence. Now Jesus was not averse to causing offence, sometimes He deliberately provoked it. But He always did this for a reason, not for the sake of causing offence. The second surprising thing is the means of paying the tax. Peter was to go and catch a fish, and the fish would have the requisite coin in its mouth. Not unnecessarily causing offence costs nothing!

Jeremiah 33:10-13 - His love endures forever

33:10,11

At the time the prophecy was given all looked hopeless, you could look around and all you would see was destruction and desolation.Yet our God is a God of transformation. Once more the sounds of joy would be heard. Brides and grooms would marry, the sound of those bringing thanksgiving offerings to the house of the Lord. They would proclaim the praises of the Lord. There may be times when we look at our own lives, or those of people close to us, and all we see is desolation. There are two things we should do. First, we should not lose hope. Secondly, we should recognise that transformation comes when a person acknowledges their sin and turns to the Lord.

33:12,13

The picture of restoration is expanded. Specific places are named and the analogy of sheep being looked after is used. God’s promises are real, and apply to individuals and groups of people , and to real places. The shepherd-sheep analogy is used throughout the Bible, and reaches its zenith in Christ. Ultimately, we are the sheep of God’s pasture, and we are the ones who are counted by the Lord, looked after by Him. In these days we need to remind ourselves that we are cared for by the Lord.

Matthew 17:22-24 - And on the third day

17:22,23

This is the second time that Matthew records Jesus as telling them about his death and resurrection. Jesus uses the term “Son of Man” to refer to Himself, especially when talking about who He really is and what He is going to do.This term is somewhat enigmatic, but there are two primary Old Testament references. One is the Son of Man of Daniel 7:13,14, where the son of man goes into the presence of God and is given authority, glory and power, and everlasting dominion. In Matt 28:18 Jesus declares that He has been given all power and authority. The second aspect of “son of man” is simply human being, This was applied to Ezekiel times. So the terms refers to the Messiah and to someone who is fully human.

The disciples showed their usual level of understanding, simply being filled with grief. Why does Matthew give these “predictions”? Partly it is to demonstrate that the cross was not an accident, definitely not a tragedy. It was all part of the plan. I out predictions in quotation marks there. Your Bible may well have a sub-heading saying something like “Jesus predicts His death”. Jesus did not predict His death, rather He foretold His death, and resurrection as well for that matter. His death and resurrection were ultimately the work of God, God’s decreed purpose, what God set out to do.

17:24

We now come to a somewhat more mundane incident, though important nevertheless and involving a miracle. Miracles can happen in dramatic utterly crucial events, the cross being the prime example. They can also happen in mundane events, such as here. Males over the age of twenty were required to pay the temple tax, which was two drachmas a year, or half a shekel. The temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked whether or not Jesus paid the temple tax, probably looking for a way to catch Him out.

Jeremiah 33:8,9 - I will cleanse them from all the sin

33:8

“I will cleanse them from all the sin ...”. Being cleansed of all our sin is a fundamental part of the gospel, and their are two key aspects to this, and these two aspects are fundamentally linked. One is forgiveness for our sins, being washed of our defilement. For sin defiles us, we are guilty. Jesus paid the price of our sins upon the cross. The second is that we are sanctified. Sin is not just something we do, it is something we are. Our natures are twisted, we are opposed to God and will always end up sinning because of this. So our nature needs to be changed. We are born again and the Holy Spirit starts a work of sanctification in our lives.

33:9

“Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honour” Jerusalem was meant to be an example before the nations of how a godly people live. Likewise the church is meant to be a living example before the world. “When they hear of all the good things I do for it”. The world is meant to see God blessing His people. Now in applying this we need to beware of going down the cheap prosperity gospel route, which leads to nowhere good. There will be times when we are blessed materially, but the basic blessing is our becoming more and more Christlike. Look at the beatitudes for a definition of being blessed. While we must avoid the prosperity gospel, we should also bear in mind the last part of this verse. “The abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it”. God is good, and must not adopt a poverty gospel out of a desire to avoid the prosperity gospel.