Ezekiel 3:1-3 - Eat what is before you

3:1-3

God commands Ezekiel to eat the scroll that has been set before him. Ezekiel had to fully digest the word of God. We too need to fully digest the word of God. God’s word goes against the wisdom of the world in so many ways. Much of the world’s wisdom is foolishness, and often evil nonsense. God’s grace is far deeper than anything the world has, able to save all sorts of people. In fact, a noticeable feature of most of the woke stuff that flies about these days is how short of grace it is. So if we are to be Christ’s servants on earth we need to fully absorb His word, and Ezekiel duly consumed the word of God. The word tasted sweet as honey. Now remember that in 2:10 we were told that the words written on the scroll were words of lament, mourning and woe! Remember also, that there were no chapter divisions in the original! God’s word of judgement can be sweet, indeed should be sweet to us. Why? Because they call evil evil, and good, good. And with judgement comes mercy, if only we will accept the judgement first.

Matthew 27:5-10 - Judas threw the money into the temple

27:5

Judas threw the money into the temple treasury. He then went away and hanged himself. There are some who speculate on whether or not Judas is in hell. Are these actions here those of repentance? If you want you can search on Google and get various answers. However, this is a futile question. We cannot know the answer, and why do you need to know? The teaching of the Bible is clear, Judas betrayed Jesus, he was doing Satan’s bidding (even though this fulfilled God’s plan). Judas is not a good example to follow! And we see that his treachery led him to kill himself. So we should take his example as a severe warning and not waste time speculating.

27:6-10

The chief priests, who were committing the most blatant crime in history, are suddenly all pernickety about the blood money! This is a trait of sin. We will suddenly become all righteous about some side issue, thinking this somehow compensates for our blatant unrighteousness elsewhere. The quote attributed to Jeremiah is actually a combination of Zec 11:12,13 and Jer 19:1-13, but it is attributed to the better known prophet.

Ezekiel 2:9,10 - Words of lament and mourning and woe

2:9,10

Jeremiah had visions when God spoke to him, and Ezekiel has a similar experience. He sees an outstretched hand and it was a scroll. God then unrolled the scroll before Ezekiel. We have a picture of revelation here. God reaches out to us, He gives us His word, and then He unrolls the word out to us. We receive from God.

The scroll had writing on both sides. This was quite unusual as the scrolls at the time just had writing on one side, they were not of good enough quality to have writing on both sides. It was not until the about the first century AD that that came in. The scroll contained words of “lament, mourning and woe”. We need to face up to the reality of the situation if we are to come to a solution.

Matthew 27:1-4 - I have betrayed innocent blood

27:1,2

Here we see men making their plans, and one man deeply regretting his plan. The Jewish religious leaders did not have the right to put someone to death, only Pilate, the Roman governor, could do that. So they had Jesus handed over to Pilate. 

27:3,4

Judas was the man who now deeply regretted his actions. Many things can seem a good idea, but once we enact them we suddenly realise what a foolish or wrong thing to do it was. Sin works like that, it is utterly deceptive. Judas sought to make amends for his actions, returning the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests. “For I have betrayed innocent blood”. However, the chief priests were not interested. They were still full of their own evil intent, following through their plans to kill Jesus.

Ezekiel 2:7,8 - Listen to what I say to you

2:7

God is making no bones about the issue, there is no attempt to sugar-coat the matter. Ezekiel is being sent to a rebellious people who have shown no inclination to listen to God in the past, and are unlikely to do so in the near future. Their willing to listen or otherwise is not the issue. Ezekiel must speak God’s words to them. Now we should look at the whole of Ezekiel. The first two thirds or so is pretty grim! It is essentially a depiction of the depravity of the people. But the final third is about God changing the heart of people. We need to give full weight to both these aspects. One is the total depravity of mankind, to put it in TULIP terminology, the other is the irresistible grace of God. If we follow the “people are quite nice really and would really like to hear about Jesus” route we will soon become disillusioned and achieve little. If we follow God’s route then we will see the fruit of the gospel.

2:8

In contrast to the people, Ezekiel is to listen to what God has to say to him. Again, this goes against the direction that we often hear today, which stresses the importance of listening to the world. Now there is some value in this, in at least being aware of how the world thinks, and Paul said he became all things to all men. But the world is corrupt and its thinking is corrupt, so why would a sensible person want to take the world’s wisdom on board? We need to listen to God. We are not to be rebellious like the world, but are to feed on the word of God. We are to eat what God gives to us.

Matthew 26:69-75 - Failure and restoration

26:69-75

The chapter finished with Peter denying Jesus, the very thing he so vehemently denied he would ever do. The denial is made worse by the fact that he denied Jesus before a servant girl, though she may well have spoken to a soldier or someone if Peter had admitted knowing Jesus. It is significant that in 1 Peter 1:13 Peter tells us to prepare our minds for action, or to have sober minds. We can so easily be caught off guard. We will react with our flesh, whose first response will be to avoid danger, so we will lie or deny Jesus. Living by the Spirit is not some mystical way of living, it involves resolving in our minds to put Christ first. In fact, in 1 Peter 3:15 Peter tells us to do that very thing. Peter had clearly learnt from his failure. At the end of it Peter calls down curses upon himself and wept bitterly. Finally he remembered what Jesus had said he would do. 

Jesus knew what Peter would do, but knowing this He did not reject Peter. When He told Peter what he would do, Jesus said that He had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail (Lk 22:31,32), and that after he had turned back he was to strengthen his brothers. In John 22:17 when Jesus restores Peter He tells him to “feed my sheep”. Likewise, God knew that all of us would fail Him. Like Peter we must not lose our faith, and we must turn back to Jesus.

Ezekiel 2:5,6 - They will know that a prophet has been among them

2:5

The people listening or not listening was not to be the main concern of Ezekiel. The people were a rebellious people, so they may well not listen to him. Again, this is a different perspective on “mission” than is often given. But whatever their reaction was, they would know that a prophet had been among them. Despite what people might say, they know when they are rejecting the word of God.

2:6

Ezekiel is again referred to as “son of man”, something which happens some 93 times in the book. He is constantly reminded that he is a man. He is not to be afraid of them. Jeremiah received similar warnings about being afraid. Ezekiel was not to be afraid of them, nor of their words.  He would be living among scorpions, i.e. it would be a dangerous environment. Jesus sent His disciples out among wolves (Matt 10:16). We need to appreciate that God sends us out into a hostile environment.

Matthew 26:65-68 - He is worthy of death

26:65-68

The high priest knew full well that Jesus was claiming equality with God. There really are only two choices. Either Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore we have to worship Him. Or He is not and is either utterly deluded or utterly evil. The religious leaders chose the latter response and announced that Jesus is worthy of death. They then mocked, insulted and abused Jesus. Oh, how foolish they are going to look on the last day. We need to remember that it is the Son of God in whom we believe and trust, the One who will return as Lord of all. We should remind ourselves of this, especially when tempted to give up. Doing so will help us to think clearly, and to avoid making stupid decisions.

Ezekiel 2:3,4 - I am sending you to a rebellious nation

2:3

“Son of man” is ben Adam and literally simply means mankind, or human being. Dan 7:13 gives it its messianic meaning. Ezekiel is sent on a mission by God as a man. God knows he is “just” a man, there is nothing special about Ezekiel, except that Ezekiel is sent by God, chosen by God. Jesus, as we all know, used the term “son of man” as His favoured term in referring to Himself. Mankind derives his uniqueness and power from God alone, otherwise we are nothing. God leaves Ezekiel in no doubt as to the nature of his task. He is not sending him to a people desperate to receive the word of God, but to a rebellious people, a people long practiced in revolt.

2:4

The people are “obstinate and stubborn”. Today when talking about evangelism things are often couched in terms of a people desperate to hear, a people who will readily accept the good news if only they hear it. This is not a very biblical picture! Even so, Ezekiel is to say “This is what the Sovereign Lord says”. We are to preach the gospel not because people want to hear it, byt because God wants the people to hear it. Now I have painted a rather negative picture, I am just stressing this side of things because it is a side that is so often ignored. The other side is that God is in the business of salvation, of saving a rebellious people. We need to be Biblically grounded, not humanistically grounded.

Matthew 26:59-64 - Are you the Messiah?

26:59-61

Matthew does not mince his words, saying that the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence in order to condemn Jesus to death. When we think the death of an innocent person is the answer to a problem we are in serious trouble. Today we can see this scenario when we think abortion is the answer to a problem, or the death of an elderly person is the answer. Many false witnesses came forward, but they could not find a coherent case (Mark 14:56). Finally they found two who said Jesus was able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. These words resembled what Jesus said, except that He did not say He would destroy the temple. The importance of their being two witnesses was that this complied with the Law.

 

26:62-64

Jesus was remaining silent, much to the annoyance of the high priest. Why didn’t He answer the accusation of the last two “witnesses”? Why didn’t he explain why the first bit of their testimony was mistaken? There is a time to speak and a time to remain silent. Exasperated by this, the high priest used an oath to force Jesus to answer the next question, “are you the Messiah, the Son of God”. Jesus did not answer the question directly, apart from saying “You have said so”, but then goes further in ensuring that, in their terms, He is guilty of blasphemy. His answer combines Ps 110:1 and Dan 7:13, and leaves them in no doubt that He is claiming equality with God. This was indeed blasphemy, unless, of course, Jesus actually is the Son of God. There are some who say that Jesus never claimed equality with God, deity, but that this was an idea that developed over time. Such people know nothing.

Ezekiel 2:1,2 - Stand up on your feet and I will speak to you

2:1

After the vision comes the call to Ezekiel. The ministries of Jeremiah and Ezekiel overlapped and had similarities. However, it seems that they were unaware of each other. Ezekiel’s expected career as a priest seemed to have come unstuck because of the traumatic events. However, God’s plan is always much greater than anything we imagine. Having seen the vision of the glory of God Ezekiel had fallen down. Now he is commanded by God to stand up on his feet. 

2:2

The Spirit came into him and raised him to his feet as God spoke. God humbles us and then lifts us up. We need to be humbled, and we need to be raised up. Not one or the other, but both. If we just focus on the raising up and get ideas way above our station then we will be heading for a fall. God will bring us down. But if we just focus on our humbling then we are denying God, denying what He has done and is doing. Christ came to save us, to make us what we were always meant to be. We need to submit both to the humbling and to the raising up. Then we will hear what God has to say to us.

Matthew 26:53-58 - Am I leading a rebellion?

26:53-56 

Moreover, Jesus could have called upon His Father, and myriads of angels would have been at His disposal. He could have crushed any army if He chose to do so. But this was not God’s plan. God’s plan was now fully in operation and death, sin and the devil would be defeated. This would all happen according to the Scriptures.
Matthew is recording Jesus’ words here to make it clear that this is no earthly rebellion. The battle is not against flesh and blood, and the only life that would be lost in this battle would be that of Jesus. The hypocrisy and weakness of the religious leaders is exposed, and we see that Jesus is the only one who is really in control.

26:57,58

These events must have occurred at some unearthly hour. The religious leaders were ready at this hour for the “trial”. Peter was following from a distance. There was part of Peter that wanted to be with Jesus, to be identified with Him. But, as we know, there was another part that was motivated by fear, and it is that part that ultimately determined his actions.

Ezekiel 1:25-28 - I fell face down

1:25-28

We now come to the climax of the vision. There comes a voice from above the vault, i.e. it comes direct from heaven. The living creatures have their wings lowered, i.e. they are waiting upon the voice from heaven. Remember that in Matthew there is a voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism (Matt 3:17), and at the transfiguration (Matt 17:5). The mission of the prophet was God inspired and initiated. The mission of the church must be God inspired and initiated. When we go off on our own little ego trips (individually or corporately) we go off the rails. The glory and purpose of God on the earth is God driven, 

Ezekiel then sees “a figure like that of a man”. The relationship between God and man is amazing. God created us in His image, He gave us dominion over the earth (under His authority). When God came to earth He came not as a super being, but as a man. Jesus Christ is Lord, Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man. Now we so easily corrupt this relationship, even in the church. Man wants to be God. Jesus showed us what we are meant to be like. We live under the authority of the Father, just as Jesus lived under the Father’s authority. 

“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord”. Like Isaiah, Ezekiel has had a vision of the glory of the Lord. In the next chapter he will receive his instructions. If we are to be effective servants of God we need to know something of the glory of the Lord.

Matthew 26:47-52 - Put your sword away

26:47-49

Judas now arrived, this was no surprise to Jesus as v46 shows. He came with an armed crowd from the religious leaders. Judas gave Jesus the infamous “Judas kiss”. All this was done for political purposes. The religious leaders wanted it to seem that it was Jesus’ own people who had given up on Him. As we know, all this was achieving the purposes of God. Periodically we hear of “well known” Christians giving up on their faith for some reason or other. In these situations we should feel sorrow for that person, but we should never despair, for God is always in control, men never are.

26:50-52

The word “friend” here is used as a mild rebuke, or an ironic sense. Jesus was then arrested by the religious leaders “soldiers” and Jesus is now in the hands of men. From John 18:10 we know that it was Peter who cut off the ear off the high priest’s servant. Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away. “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword”. This would be drastically true for the religious leaders, if they lived another thirty five years or so, for the Roman armies would crush the city. Armed strength does not achieve the purposes of the kingdom of God.

 

Ezekiel 1:19-24 - Like the voice of the Almighty

1:19-21

This weird vision continues, this time with some kinetic information! It seems to be important to Ezekiel that the “spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels”. They followed the spirit (or Spirit?). I think that again what we are meant to appreciate is that it is the Spirit of God who determines the direction and movement of His plans and purposes. It can seem as though other forces in the world are in control of events. In Ezekiel’s time that would be Babylon, today it seems like the corona virus is controlling mankind. God is the source of all life. In John 3:8 Jesus speaks of the Spirit going where He will, and no one knowing where He comes from or where He is going to. In Romans 8 Paul teaches us that we need to live by the Spirit not the flesh.

1:22-24

We now hear of a vault or crystal sea, sort of separating the contraption from the heavens. When the creatures moved there was a sound like the roar of rushing waters, “like the voice of the Almighty”. When creation, and that includes us, acts in harmony with God, ie lives by the spirit not the flesh, there is a mighty effect upon the earth., “like the tumult of an army”. When they stood still the lowering of their wings represents a waiting upon the next instruction from the Lord.

Matthew 26:42-46 - Rise! Let us go!

26:42-44 

Twice more Jesus prayed the same thing, “if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done”. We should look carefully at these words, First, there is a subtle change from the first prayer where the emphasis is on Jesus wishing He did not have to drink the cup. Here there is an acceptance that this is the only way, so may God’s will be done. Then see that the goal is “for the cup to be taken away”. To be taken away from us! We have sinned and deserve judgement, we are spared judgement because Christ has taken the punishment that should have been ours (Is 53:5). This is all part of penal substitutionary atonement. We also see that having feelings of not wanting to do something is not necessarily a problem, at one level Jesus did not want to go to the cross (though be very careful in understanding what I am saying here). It is what we live out of. If we live by the flesh then we sin. If Jesus had lived by the flesh He would not have gone to the cross. But we are to live by the Spirit. Jesus lived by the Spirit, so He went to the cross.

26:45,46

The disciples were still sleeping. Only Jesus was truly awake, He knew exactly what was going on, and that the hour of all hours had arrived. Jesus was resolute. So we see that He was totally honest with His Father about His feelings, but He lived by the Spirit not by the flesh. Earlier He had told the disciples to pray because “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus had prayed, and now He was strengthened by the Spirit. It was time for action.

Trinity!

These are a series of short talks on the Trinity. They are split into three lessons. The second one is fairly standard stuff, giving the Biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

Lessons 1 and 3 are a little different, as they look at why we should love the Trinity. The Trinity is not just a doctrine that we are supposed to believe if we are Christians, it is about life. So in Lesson 1 we look at why we should get excited about the Trinity. In summary the answer is:

• It is who God is
• It is how God works
• It is how God relates to us

In Lesson 3 we look at the practical importance of the Trinity, looking at

• Revelation
• Love, marriage and relationships
• Salvation
• The Church

Links to YouTube videos and related notes are given below:

Lesson 1

Video - Let's get excited about the Trinity

Notes - The Trinity Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Videos

Let's get technical about the Trinity - Part 1 

Let's get technical about the Trinity - Part 2

Let's get technical about the Trinity - Part 3

Notes - The Trinity - Lesson 2 

Lesson 3

Videos

Let's apply the Trinity - Part 1 

Let's apply the Trinity - Part 2 

Notes - The Trinity - Lesson 3 

 

 

 

 

 

Ezekiel 1:10-18 - Wheels within wheels

1:10-14

We now get a more detailed description of the vision. It is a weird vision, and trying to picture the things defies imagination. However, we will try to get something of the meaning and significance. The four faces represent the pinnacle of God’s creation in various spheres. Man is the absolute pinnacle, and was created to have dominion over the earth. The lion is the king of the wild beasts, and the ox of the domesticated animals, while the eagle is the king of the birds. Whatever else sin might do, it does not overrule God’s plan and purpose. Although man sinned against God, God’s focus on man has not wavered. The fire in the midst of the contraption represents the judgement of God. God’s plans will be fulfilled, and that plan is for man to have dominion over the earth while submitted to the Lord, and for the whole of creation to function properly.

1:15-18

The wheels are an engineering impossibility, but are symbolic. The rule of God can and will move in all directions. And whichever direction the thing was looked at, the four faces would be seen. The “full of eyes” represents the all-seeing nature of God. The vision is weird, but it presents the omnipotence and all-powerfulness of God. There are no limits to God, and no bounds upon Him.

Matthew 26:39-41 - The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak

26:39

While Jesus had taken all the disciples to Gethsemane (excluding Judas), and three of them a little further with Him, He went further still on His own. There are times when it is just God and us. Jesus asked for His Father to take away the cup from Him, if this was possible. This cup was the cup of God’s wrath. Enduring this wrath was by far the worst part of the cross, much worse than the physical punishment, utterly terrible as that was.

 

26:40,41

“Then He turned to His disciples”. This could just be the three whom He took with Him, though it is unlikely the rest were any better. They had fallen asleep. Jesus wanted them to pray, not so much for His sake, but for their own sakes. They had sworn allegiance and genuinely wanted to stick with Jesus, but “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. Jesus knows what we are like, and our fallen humanity will triumph unless we pray. We need spiritual help in order to overcome the weakness of the flesh, so we should pray. God knows how we are formed (Ps 103:14).

Ezekiel 1:1-9 - The hand of the Lord was on him

1:1-3

There are two introductions to the book of Ezekiel. The first one is personal (1:1) and the second in the third person (1:2,3). Ezekiel was among the exiles living in the region of the Kebar River. Babylon had a system of irrigation canals, and  the “thirtieth year” probably refers to Ezekiel’s age. If it is correct to assume that Ezekiel was a priest, then the thirtieth year is the time when he would have entered the temple to start to serve there (Num 3:4). Because of the traumatic events of the Babylonian conquest of Judah he was not able to do that. Some of the later visions reveal the depth of corruption in the Jewish religion, so in a sense he may have been “lucky” not to have to be part of that corrupt system. Instead he was serving in a greater temple. 

So verse 1 is very personal, and 1:2,3 may have been added in order to put things in a more general context that readers would understand. There are Babylonian records naming King Jehoiachin. Verse 2 and 3 also state things in the more normal prophetic terms, “the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel”. And “the hand of the Lord was on him”. 

1:4-9

Ezekiel had some strange visions, and they formed an important part of his prophecy. The violent storm could have been a natural event which then moved into a vision, or it could all have been a vision from the outset. Assyrian and Babylonian art depicted images bearing some resemblance to what Ezekiel saw. The wings touching one another bears some resemblance to the cherubim in 1 Kings 6:27.

Matthew 26:34-38 - My soul is overwhelmed

26:34,35

Jesus reaffirms and expands upon what Peter will do, and Peter continues in his insistence that he will remain faithful. Obviously on a much lesser level, but I guess that all of us have experience of people who make bold claims for themselves, but when it comes to the crunch they fail completely. We have probably done this ourselves on a number of occasions! We should not be impressed by words alone, either from ourselves, or from others.

26:36-38
We now get the Gethsemane episode. Jesus went there with His disciples to pray. Jesus is 100% God and 100% human. So as the most crucial time in human history was approaching He prayed to His Father. He set most of the disciples aside and took Peter, James and John with Him to pray. Jesus then began to be “sorrowful and troubled”. We can learn a lot from the time in Gethsemane, and one is the real human reactions of Jesus to what was about to happen. Experiencing feelings is not a sin. If something we are about to encounter is horrific we will experience associated emotions, and at a deep level. If the Son of God did, so will we. Jesus was “overwhelmed to the point of death”. He asked Peter, James and John to pray with Him.

Ezekiel - Introduction

Introduction

Ezekiel the man

Ezekiel was the son of Buzi. He was a priest and probably the son of a priest, as priesthood tended to be something that ran in the family.

He was taken captive in 597 BC when Babylon besieged Jerusalem, taken from the temple (2 Kings 24:14) and resettled in Babylon, on the dusty plains. It seems that the Jews were allowed to form settlements there and had a reasonable amount of freedom. God called him to be a prophet in 593BC. “the thirtieth year”  may well refer to Ezekiel’s thirtieth year. The last date of his oracles was the 27th year of exile, so he would be 52 years old at that time.

Nothing is known of Ezekiel outside the book bearing his name, nor are there any traditions about him. His wife died during the fall of Jerusalem. The elders consulted him (Ezek 8:1; 20:1) so he must have had some influence.

Ezekiel is only connected with the Babylonian plains, but there is a visionary visit to Jerusalem. Because of this visionary visit to Jerusalem some suggest that he actually spent all his ministry in Judah (so, on this basis, the whole book is a lie!), or part of the time in Judah and part in Babylon (no evidence for this at all). While we are absolutely right to be very wary of those who seek to make everything supernatural (in a “magical” sense), if God wants to give someone a vision of what is happening in Jerusalem from a few hundred miles away He is perfectly capable of doing so. Moreover, God wanted Ezekiel, and hence the people he was prophesying to, to be aware of what was going on. It was all part of understanding the truth.

Ezekiel is more of “left field” prophet than Isaiah or Jeremiah. There are the various visions he had, and the unusual behaviour at times, such as lying on his side., being dumb etc. Again, we must not idolise this, nor think “if I want to be a prophet I need to do odd things”. Most of his prophecies concerned Jerusalem and Israel, but there is nothing unusual about this. Though he was in exile, his heart was still in Jerusalem, and this was a common emotion, as Psalm 137 shows.

Date

Ezekiel contains more dates than any other of the prophets, and his prophecies were given between 593 BC and 571 BC.

Content

The book falls roughly into two parts. The first part is one of almost unremitting judgement, the second part has wonderful prophecies of spiritual renewal and transformation. A clear message is that it is only because of the goodness of God that this renewal comes about, it is in no way dependent upon us. A frequent refrain in Ezekiel is “that they may know that I am the Lord”. 

Most prophets are written in poetic style, but most of Ezekiel is in prose.

Bibliography

John B Taylor, “Ezekiel”, TOTC, IVP, 1969

Matthew 26:31-33 - Even if all fall away

26:31

The “bad news” continued, with Jesus telling them that they would all fall away. We have just had Jesus talking about Judas betraying Him. Later He will tell Peter that he will deny Him. Here we have Jesus saying they will all fall away. Peter may have been the most obvious “denier”, but the rest were little better. We are faced here with the complete failure of humanity. Of course, Pilate and the religious leaders are the most overt failures, but even His disciples, His followers, were failures. We are saved purely by the grace of God. And they would fall away “on account of me”, they would fail to remain loyal to Jesus. This was a fulfilment of Zech 13:7.

26:32,33
As well as the “bad news” Jesus has the good news of the resurrection, “after I have risen”. But this went completely over the heads of the disciples. See that Peter immediately talks about the denial, saying that he would never deny Jesus, even if everyone else denied Jesus he would not do so.

Lamentations - Chapter 5 - Unless you have rejected us utterly

Chapter 5

Jeremiah has poured out his heart, and confessed the sins of the nation. Now he calls upon the Lord to look with mercy upon them. Jeremiah briefly recounts some of the suffering and disgrace that they are enduring. Verses 1-18 sum up the situation, there is no earthly hope for the people of Israel.

The chapter closes with a heartfelt cry to God. And it is not one of unalloyed faith! He knows that God reigns and His throne endures forever. Yet it seems that He always forgets God. If we ever think that God overlooks us or forgets us we are not alone, and it is not an emotion that God is unaware of. 

The chapter finishes with Jeremiah knowing that there are two ways that this can go. He wants God to restore them, and he knows that God can restore them. But it is also possible that He has utterly rejected them. We are completely dependent upon the mercy of God.

Matthew 26:26-30 - This is my body

26:26
We now get to the heart of the last supper. At Passover the father of the house would take the bread and give thanks for it, remembering the escape from Egypt and recalling the bread of affliction that the people ate as they left Egypt (Deut 16:3). So they recalled the momentous events of the escape from Egypt, but they did not imagine the unleavened bread they ate to be the same as that eaten by their ancestors. So any notions of the bread being the actual body if Jesus are just so much nonsense. The Israelites had been held in Egypt as slaves, the far greater slavery is the slavery to sin. The escape from this slavery is not easy, it involves dangerous journies. In that journey we are to feed off the death of Jesus. He has paid the price for our sins, that is our constant source of sustenance.

26:27-30 

The sacrifices were a central part of the old covenant. Leviticus is particularly important in showing how they represented the taking away of our sins. The wine represents the blood of Jesus shed for them all, and all who believe. The blood represents death. The old testament sacrifices were ineffective in themselves, but pointed ahead to the blood of Jesus. The new covenant is founded on the blood of Jesus. His sacrifice is for the forgiveness of sins (and as Hebrews makes clear, renders all other sacrifices irrelevant and superseded). “I will not drink ...” This looks forward to the heavenly banquet. At Passover the meal was concluded by the singing of Ps 115-118. This is the hymn that the disciples sang.

Lamentations - Chapter 4 - Our pursuers were swift

Chapter 4

All the things that once were considered to be valuable and added joy to life have now lost their lustre, be it gold or be it children. The children were going without food.  Verse 6 recognises all this as punishment from God. Things were so bad that to have died by the sword was considered a blessing when the only alternative was to die slowly by starvation. Things were so bad that even compassionate women would eat their children! And all this is seen as the wrath of God being poured out on His people. 

Was this unjust? No, for the people of Jerusalem had shed the blood of the innocent within her boundaries. “The Lord Himself has scattered them” (4:16). There is never any doubt in Lamentations that this is the action of the Lord. There was no escape nor hope for the people.

3:21 would seem to imply that Edom was rejoicing at Jerusalem’s downfall, but she is warned that judgement would soon come upon her as well. Judgement begins with the house of God, but it does not end there. Jeremiah also sees that, severe as it is, Jerusalem’s punishment will not last forever.

Matthew 26:20-25 - One of you will betray me

26:20-25

Judas had set out to betray Jesus, but Jesus already knew that this would happen, and that events were now in train. The disciples, although understanding little, knew that something was up, that events were reaching a pivotal point. They all said “surely not I”, but the announcement increased the solemnity of the occasion. Dipping your bread into a bowl of sauce was a custom then, and till is in some middle eastern countries. For two people to dip into the same bowl was a sign of friendship and trust. So this emphasised the gravity of the betrayal. “The Son of Man will go as it is written”. All the events were happening exactly as ordained by God. “But woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man”. But the one who betrayed Jesus was utterly responsible for his actions. God’s sovereignty and human responsibility go together and are entirely compatible. We may not be able to understand how, but God has no problem with this!
From time to time there are various attempts to “rehabilitate” Judas. Such attempts are utterly futile and foolish. Much the same could be said about the people who make these attempts.
Like the rest of the disciples, Judas said “surely not I”, while knowing full that it was he. Sin distorts our thinking.

Lamentations - Chapter 3 - You redeemed my life

Chapter 3

Jeremiah had a long ministry as a prophet, but it can hardly be described as a happy one. He was told that he would destroy and build (Jer 1:10), but mostly he only saw destruction. The building was all in the future, long after his life on earth was over. Jeremiah’s insight from God did not make the experience of the years he lived in any easier, if anything it made it all the harded. For he knew the truth of what was going on, the truth of the spiritual state of the land. Sometimes God’s work in our lives make our experience of suffering all the more acute. It seemed that all God’s leading in his life, all his following the Lord and staying true to His word simple worked to make life all the more difficult, with no escape from the path. The people mocked him, and his heart was pierced within him.

“I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is” (3:17).

Down to v21 we have the absolute depths that Jeremiah has experienced, and there is no denying that this is what he felt. But he was not without hope, even in the darkest valley there is hope. 

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail”. (3:22) So after the verses of torment we have verse of hope, verses of trust and faith.

There is no hiding from the reality of the situation, and no hiding from the reality of what Jeremiah was feeling. Yet despite all this Jeremiah knew that God was his saviour.  There is also a cry for vengeance as well. We are very uncomfortable with these parts of Scripture, but the key thing is that we let God deal with the vengeance. He will bring judgement where it is needed, and He will bring mercy where it is right to do so. We do not need to be afraid of feelings like those expressed by Jeremiah (and by David in a number of the Psalms), but we must never take up vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us. For only the Lord is righteous enough to enact vengeance in a proper manner.

Matthew 26:14-19 - What are you willing to give me?

26:14-16 

Judas now begins his infamous betrayal of Jesus. One does wonder why the chief priests needed someone to “deliver him” into their hands. As Jesus would say later, He was in the temple every day, they could have arrested Him then if they wanted. The reason is fear and politics. The chief priest knew that Jesus was popular with the crowds, and it would be very useful for them if they could say one of the disciples had betrayed Him. Judas was in some ways a “useful idiot”. Thirty pieces of silver was about 120 days wages for a labourer. The betrayal has now been set in motion.

26:17-19

The Passover was not actually a single day, rather the festival went on for a week. This helps explain some of the supposed discrepancies in the accounts, along with the fact that the Jews counted evening as the start of the day. Anyway, the disciples were going to have the Passover meal with Jesus.  Jesus tells the what to do, and all the preparations had been made. The “appointed time was near” for the true and great Passover.