Jeremiah 45
LORD addresses Baruch after he write book verse 1- 2
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke
to Baruch the son of Neriah when he had written these words
in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
king of Judah – saying
Thus says the LORD – the God of Israel to you – O Baruch
LORD quotes Baruch’s comments verse 3
You did say – Woe is me now!
for the LORD has added grief to my sorrow
I fainted in my sighing – and I find no rest
LORD states HIS judgment on Judah verse 4
Thus shall you say to him – The LORD
says thus
BEHOLD – that which I have built will I break down
that which I have planted I will pluck up
even this whole land
LORD states HIS gift to Baruch: his life verse 5
AND seek you great things for yourself?
seek them not – for
BEHOLD – I will bring evil upon all flesh
says the LORD
BUT your life will I give to you for a
prey in all places whither you go
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying (5612 “book” [cepher] means letter, scroll, writing, composition contained in a scroll, missive, recording of past events, or document.)
DEVOTION: It is thought of some that this chapter was out of order as far as the time period written about. Some think that it is where the LORD wanted it to show that HE told what the future events of the children of Judah.
Here is a man of God called to be a prophet writing the message of the LORD through someone who was a good writer. The future was given. It was a future that Baruch would not like because he had plans to become someone important in Judah. His plans were going to not come to fruition.
We think we know what we want to do in the future but the LORD has other plans for our life. HE knows what is best for us even when we don’t understand what HE is doing. Baruch was going to have to make new plans with the help of the LORD.
Jeremiah was there to help him realize that the LORD had different plans for his life. It would be nice if the LORD always sent someone into our lives to help us face the future that HE has planned than the one that we have planned.
We need to be loose with our plans for the future. We need to be in prayer to ask the LORD to give us wisdom in what direction we should head. HE will open the right doors and close the wrong doors. We seem to be able to go through the wrong doors or think the wrong thoughts in spite of the LORD’S leading and direction.
CHALLENGE: Are we open to going through the doors the LORD has for us in the future or are we going to try to force our own way on our life in spite of the LORD’S leading in a different direction?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 3 You did say, Woe is me now? For the LORD has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find NO REST. (4496 “rest” [m@nuwchah] means resting place, quietness, ease, still, contentand satisfied state or comfortable)
DEVOTION: In reading the book of Jeremiah we realize that it is not in chronological order. Here is another recording of the writing of a book of the LORD’S prophecies to Jeremiah by Baruch, his secretary. It is thought that the time period covered in this chapter fits in with chapter 36.
After this chapter we have the judgment of the nations. Here we find Baruch feeling sorry for himself. He was having a pity party for himself. He thought that he had picked the right job.
He was with Jeremiah throughout his ministry. Now they were in trouble. No one was listening to Jeremiah. There was no prestige in serving someone to whom no one was listening. In fact, there was persecution. They were taken forcibly to Egypt. They were called liars.
He is recording a time when there seems to be trouble upon trouble. It is a time when there seems to be no relief from trouble. There is no time to find a place of peace and quiet. There was no place where he was content and satisfied with what was happening.
He was just feeling grief. He was walking around sighing with all that was going on in his life as a servant of Jeremiah. He thought it would be a job that would bring prestige.
Have we ever thought that if we could be with someone who was famous things would go well with us? Or if we could become famous things would be well with us?
We think we need to be able to find a place of quietness in our lives. We think it would be good to just have a peaceful life without any problems. However, we know that we learn through suffering. That is what we are called to do. When we suffer we learn, so that, we can teach others to go through suffering and realize that the LORD is with us during our suffering.
If the world seems to be closing in on us, we need to come apart before we come apart. One of the disciplines of the faith is solitude. Each of us should have a quiet place to meet the LORD everyday. Can we meet with God in the midst of a storm as well? Baruch was feeling the storm. God was reminding him that HE was with him in his present storm.
CHALLENGE: Self pity is never good. We need to dwell on all the blessing we have in the LORD. We need to remember all the past blessing as we face the future.
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: 4 Thus shalt you say to him. The LORD says thus, Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. (1129 “built” [banah] means establish a family, fortify, work on, established, develop, or to make something by combining materials and parts)
DEVOTION: The LORD is the one who built up the nation of Israel to be a power in the world. HE was the one who gave them the laws that they were to live by if they were going to receive blessings from HIM. HE was the one who protected them when they were faithful to HIM. HE is the one who was to be worshiped in spirit and in truth.
However, the children of Israel and Judah decided that they could live without the help of the LORD. They wanted to be on their own and worship whatever god they wanted to besides the God who created the world.
The LORD had something to say about their choice. HE was the ONE who established the nation. HE was the one who protected the nation. HE was the one who gave them the commands that would protect them.
The children of Israel and Judah decided they didn’t need to follow the LORD so the LORD sent judgment first to the ten tribes and finally to the two tribes that followed their example instead of staying faithful to the LORD.
We have a choice today as well. We can worship the way we want to worship or we can properly worship the LORD in spirit and in truth. The tribe of Judah thought they could do as they pleased and faced the consequences of the their actions.
CHALLENGE: We also can do as we please in our worship and then face the consequences or we can worship the LORD in Spirit and in TRUTH and have the blessings of the LORD. The choice is ours! The consequences are ours if our choice is wrong!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 5 And seek you great things for yourself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the LORD: but your life will I give unto you for a prey in all places whither you go. (7998 “prey” [shalal] means spoil, plunder, gain, profit, goods, property or possession of value.)
DEVOTION: Barach was complaining to the LORD about all the hard times he was going though. He was discouraged. He was looking at all the bad things that were happening to him and Jeremiah.
The LORD instructed Jeremiah to correct his attitude. It was a bad attitude. He was looking at all the wrong things. He was looking at his lack of respect. He was looking at what people were saying about them. He was looking for fame and profit.
The LORD answered his attitude with a simple answer. HE stated that he still had his life. He was alive when many around him were being killed. He had a future and a hope. He walked between people who had dead while the LORD gave him LIFE.
As long as we are alive we can praise the LORD. Each breathe we take is a gift from HIM. HE can take us at any time. Sometimes like Baruch we think we would be better off dead. That is not a Biblical thought that thought comes from the enemy.
If we are alive the LORD has a purpose for our life in HIS service. HE is still using us for HIS glory. It might not be what we wanted but HE is still looking out for us.
Too often we let our old nature take control like Baruch and want more. The LORD just has to state that we could have LESS.
CHALLENGE: Be content with what the LORD has given you. HE knows what is best for us at this time period in our life.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Not seeking a great life for yourself verse 5
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Wrote a book verse 1
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Wrote a book verse 1
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 2- 5
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign, Plural name) verse 2
God of Israel verse 2
God built nation of Israel verse 4
I will break down
That which I have planted
I will pluck up
even the whole land
God says – Judah seeks great things for itself
seek them not for behold I will bring evil
on all flesh
but your life will I give to your for a prey
in all places whither you go
Judgment of God verse 5
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Complaining verse 3
Seeking great things for yourself verse 5
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Grief verse 3
Sorrow verse 3
No rest verse 3
Promise of God verse 5
Life verse 5
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Jeremiah – prophet verse 1
Baruch – son of Neriah verse 1- 3
Wrote the words of the book of Jeremiah
at the mouth of Jeremiah
You say “woe is me now! For the LORD
has added grief to my sorrow
I fainted in my sighing and I find no rest
Jehoiakim – fourth year of his reign in Judah
son of Josiah – king of Judah verse 1
Judah verse 1
Israel verse 2
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
This brief chapter has not been placed in chronological sequence. It contains a rebuke by Jeremiah of his scribe Baruch in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, 605 b.c. It should have followed chap. 36 after Baruch had written down the messages Jeremiah dictated to him. No explanation is given for its placement here. One suggestion is that it was added by Baruch as a modest postscript to the rest of the collection of messages. Skinner and Hyatt reject the 605 date and insist that its placement means the rebuke occurred after the fall of Jerusalem and near the end of Jeremiah’s life. There is no justification, however, for arbitrarily rejecting the date given in 45:1.
For the most part Baruch is a shadowy figure. He was from a noble family, the grandson of Mahseiah (32:12), who was the governor of Jerusalem during Josiah’s reign (2 Chr 34:8). His brother, Seraiah, was a staff officer in Zedekiah’s court (51:59). Only in chap. 45 does the reader get a glimpse of Baruch’s humanity.
45:1–3 Jeremiah was aware of Baruch’s complaint of accusing God of adding sorrow to his pain. Baruch was worn out with his groaning and found no rest from his misery (cf. Ps 6:6, which Baruch may have been quoting). His complaint sounds much like Jeremiah’s laments in his confessions (e.g., 15:18). It is as vague as Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7) and has elicited numerous theories about its nature. He may have had an unpleasant experience, even as Jeremiah did, of threats of bodily harm. He may have been a person of personal ambition but realized that Jeremiah was not going to be successful. Therefore his own reputation, so closely linked to that of Jeremiah, was ruined. Perhaps he was agonizing with the question, “What have I gotten out of this for all my sacrifice?” (cf. Matt 19:27). It has also been suggested, though without foundation, that he was unhappy because he had not received the prophetic mantle of succession from Jeremiah (as did Elisha from Elijah, 2 Kgs 2:9–10, 13). (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, pp. 370–371). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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1–3 Baruch came from an influential family of noble birth. He was the grandson of Mahseiah (cf. 32:12), governor of Jerusalem in Josiah’s reign (cf. 2 Chronicles 34:8). His brother had been chief chamberlain in the court of Zedekiah (cf. 51:59). Jeremiah may have had other secretaries, but Baruch is the only one mentioned in the book. He may have had hopes of attaining a high office or even of receiving the gift of prophecy. But such expectations were not to be realized. Rather, he was to spend his life in a secondary role. So he may have been depressed. “The words” (v.1) refer to the scroll (ch. 36; cf. “the fourth year of Jehoiakim”). Baruch shared Jeremiah’s burdens (v.2). He grieved over what he had to record about the people’s sin and their coming punishment (v.3). His sorrow, pain, and groaning wore him out, and his emotional involvement in what he wrote gave him no rest. (Feinberg, C. L. (1986). Jeremiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, pp. 645–646). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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45:4–5. God’s message to Baruch was intended to revoke a response of faith in the midst of judgment. God would indeed overthrow what He had built and uproot what He had planted (cf. 1:10). Baruch’s discouragement came because the realities of judgment clashed with his personal aspiration of greatness. He was not to seek great things for himself because God was bringing disaster. Rather than being sad because God did not provide all he wanted, Baruch should have been thankful that God spared him. God did promise to let Baruch escape with his life despite the calamities happening all around. The response God expected of Baruch was the response of his contemporary, Habakkuk (cf. Hab. 3:16–19). The hope of a godly person in the midst of national judgment was to be fixed firmly on God. Probably Jeremiah placed this chapter last in his prophecies to Judah (Jer. 2–45) to emphasize the response that God wanted from godly Jews during the Exile. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1191–1192). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Chronologically, this chapter belongs with Jeremiah 36, but it was placed here to perform several functions.
To begin with, this chapter introduces the prophecies in chapters 46–51, prophecies Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation in 605 B.C. Note in Jeremiah 25 the emphasis on Jeremiah’s prophecies about the nations, and that this chapter was written at the same time as chapter 45, the fourth year of Jehoiakim. Most of the nations dealt with in chapters 46–51 are named in Jeremiah 25:15–26.
Second, Jeremiah 45 gives us insight into the man Baruch. As we noted earlier, he had a brother on the king’s official staff who probably could have secured a good job for him in the palace. Instead, Baruch chose to identify with Jeremiah and do the will of God. We thank God for all that Jeremiah did, but we should also thank God for the assistance Baruch gave Jeremiah so the prophet could do his work. Moses had his seventy elders; David had his mighty men; Jesus had His disciples; Paul had his helpers, such as Timothy, Titus, and Silas; and Jeremiah had his faithful secretary.
Not everybody is called to be a prophet or apostle, but all of us can do the will of God by helping others do their work. Baruch was what we’d today call a “layman.” Yet he helped a prophet write the Word of God. In my own ministry, I’ve appreciated the labors of faithful secretaries and assistants who have helped me in myriads of ways. I may have been on the platform, but without their assistance behind the scenes, I could never have gotten my work done. Baruch was willing to stay in the background and serve God by serving Jeremiah.
A third lesson emerges: Even the most devoted servants occasionally get discouraged. Baruch came to a point in his life where he was so depressed that he wanted to quit. “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest” (45:3, NKJV). Perhaps the persecution of Jeremiah recorded in chapter 26 was the cause of this anguish. Maybe Baruch was considering leaving Jeremiah and asking his brother for an easier job in the palace.
The Lord, however, had a word of encouragement for His servant. First, He cautioned him not to build his hopes on the future of Judah, because everything would be destroyed in the Babylonian siege. A “soft job” in the government would lead only to death or exile in Babylon. Then God gave him a word of assurance: his life would be spared, so he didn’t have to fear the enemy. God was proving to Baruch the reality of a promise that would be written centuries later: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33, NKJV).
When we’re serving the Lord and His people, we never want to seek great things for ourselves. The only important thing is that God’s work is accomplished and God’s great name is glorified. John the Baptist put it succinctly: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
A crisis doesn’t “make a person”; a crisis reveals what a person is made of. The crisis that followed the destruction of Jerusalem was like a goldsmith’s furnace that revealed the dross as well as the pure gold. It’s too bad there wasn’t more gold.
How will you and I respond when “the fiery trial” comes? (1 Peter 4:12–19) I hope that, like Job, we’ll come forth pure gold (Job 23:10). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (pp. 161–162). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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45:1 fourth year of Jehoiakim. The year was 605 b.c. (chap. 36), when the recording of God’s messages to Jeremiah was in view.
45:3 woe is me! Baruch felt anxiety as his own cherished plans of a bright future were apparently dashed; even death became a darkening peril (cf. v. 5). Also, he was possibly pressed by human questionings about God carrying through with such calamity (cf. v. 4). Jeremiah spoke to encourage him (v. 2).
45:4 say to him. God will judge this whole nation (the Jews).
45:5 are you seeking great things …? Baruch had his expectations far too high, and that made the disasters harder to bear. It is enough that he be content just to live. Jeremiah, who once also complained, learned by his own suffering to encourage complainers. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Je 45:1–5). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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This beautiful though brief chapter of just five verses is pregnant with instruction for the children of God in all ages, and particularly for any who essay to serve the Lord in any public or official capacity.
Chronologically, it follows chapter 36, as the first verse makes plain: “The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.” The expression “these words” refers to the words penned by Baruch, at the prophet’s dictation, in the roll that was read before the king and his counselors, only to be contemptuously cast into the fire. Another copy, with added words, was then written by the same scribe.
Baruch had thus been an instrument, used of God to communicate His mind to others. His own soul must not be neglected, however; hence the message given him, as narrated in this portion of the Scriptures. It is of the greatest moment that those who minister to others be in a right state of soul themselves. Nothing is more dangerous than to go on giving out the truth of God, as suited to saint or sinner, while the heart is set upon self-seeking, or the private life of the servant is accompanied with unholiness and lack of humility before the Lord. It is this that leads to what another has most solemnly denounced as “trafficking in unfelt truth.” Only as the truth has power over one’s own heart and conscience can it be safely ministered to others.
In Baruch’s case, it would seem that he felt the king’s rejection of the Word of God as an insult aimed at himself and his master, rather than at the Lord who inspired the writing that was in the roll. The result was sore discouragement. Therefore the prophet’s message: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch: Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest” (vers. 2, 3). It was quite right that the son of Neriah should feel, and feel keenly, the wretched state of his people, and their departure from holiness and truth. Every godly soul must of necessity have thus felt. Jeremiah did, as we know; and Ezekiel, in vision, saw a mark placed upon the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried because of Jerusalem’s abominations (Ezek. 9). This was pleasing to God, and indicated a chastened spirit and divine sensibilities. But the grief of Baruch is more personal, like that which threatened to consume the prophet himself, in chapter 15. It was prompted in large measure by disappointment. He had not received the recognition as Jehovah’s servant and the amanuensis of Jeremiah that he looked for. Hence he faints in the day of adversity, because his strength is small. He has not yet learned to deny himself, which is quite another thing to merely being self-denying. This latter thing he knew: the former he has not yet reached. Perhaps almost unknown to himself, and unseen heretofore even by Jeremiah, Baruch was seeking a measure of recognition from man.
It is so easy to slip into this, especially if one is serving the Lord in the gospel, or in teaching the children of God. There is the secret desire, often, to be accorded a place, with the corresponding grief when that place is refused and one’s ministry is unacknowledged. Frequently this may be mistaken for sorrow because of the rejection of the Word of God; but in that case the soul finds refuge in the Author of that Word; and though tried, is not cast down, knowing that when the truth is proclaimed “we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life” (2 Cor. 2:15, 16).
It was not in this way that Baruch seemed to be affected. He felt the personal slight, the setting at nought, the despising of his ministry—always so hard for a sensitive soul to bear, if out of the presence of God. Therefore he fainted, and could find no rest.
But the Lord has been graciously considering his case, and has for him a needed word, both of admonition and of comfort. His is no harsh, unkind rebuke; no hard and severe scourging. Knowing full well that Baruch was, after all, seeking to honor Him, however he might have, well-nigh unconsciously, permitted self to have a place, He ministers a needed word in tenderness and love. “Thus shalt thou say unto him,” He says to Jeremiah, “The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land” (ver. 4). Surely, when all was so obnoxious to God, it was a specially improper scene for personal ambition. When the times were so evil, it was a specially improper season for self-seeking. One is reminded of Elisha’s words to Gehazi after he had profited in a material way by his deception of Naaman: “Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?” (2 Kings 5:26). Poor, wretched Gehazi had been planning for his own comfort in a day when judgment, like a destroying angel, was stalking through the land. How awful to be so engaged at such a time! In a similar way the apostle Paul also speaks to the Corinthians when he writes: “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. 7:29–31).
This was what, in his measure, Baruch needed to learn. God was about to bring the then present order of things to an end in judgment, as He will soon bring the age in which we live to a close by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him, to be followed by the opening of the seven-sealed book of His indignation, when wrath to the uttermost must fall on apostate Christendom. For Baruch it was no time to be occupied with self-seeking, or to be troubled because he failed to gain the respect of a people who had so grievously departed from their God. And what shall be thought of a professed servant of Christ, sent to testify against the unspeakable corruptions of this age, expecting to be honored by the unspiritual for so doing? Such an one has quite failed to appreciate the call of God, and the condition of the world fast ripening for the judgment about to fall upon it.
But the Lord goes on to give His servant a watchword that may well be kept in mind by all who endeavor in any way to contend for the faith once delivered. “And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not” (ver. 5). A suited motto this for each of us. How apt is the heart to crave “great things;” but in doing so, how unlike the servant becomes to the Master who “pleased not Himself,” but could say, “I do always those things that please Him;” and again, “I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” And does not the position He took when down here determine our only proper one? What was it, then, as to the world? Alas, He was ever the Rejected One! For Him there was “no room in the inn” at His birth; no place among the great in His life; and when dead, only room in a borrowed tomb. He was always the outside One—always getting wrongs instead of His rights; as one has said, always in a different path from that of the “dwellers on the earth” in His day of humiliation. And yet it might have been so different—if one dare allow the thought. He need not have taken the place of rejection they gave Him. He could justly have claimed and acted upon the rights that were truly His. Had there been in Him an atom of self-seeking (which there was not, for He was the Holy One of the Father), He might have claimed a place among the mighty here, as others did. All the kingdoms of earth and the glory of them were offered Him; but on what conditions? Conditions which involved some violation of the Word of God. How utterly abhorrent, this, to the Holy One of God! (Oh that we were more like Him!) And so, faithfulness to God kept Him ever the Rejected One, till at last He suffered outside the gate.
Let us ever remind ourselves that this is the One to whom we owe everything for eternity, whose loving-kindness is better than life, and who “also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:21–24). Do we, then, desire a place where He had none? Can we desire it so much that we will have it despite the fact that we must disobey His Word and grieve His Holy Spirit to get it; and knowing that if, like Him, we seek only to be faithful to God, we never can obtain it? Is it really worth so much to be thought well of by sinful men and foolish saints? Will it appear so when we stand at His judgment-seat and gaze upon His face? Ah, better, far better, to be poor and despised here and have His approval than to seek great things for ourselves and lose His smile of approbation! Our “great things” are coming by and by. Let our faith lay firm hold of these. Till then may we have grace to truly say,
“We’d not have joy where He had woe,
Be rich where He was poor.”
If tempted to turn aside from the narrow path of subjection to the truth for an easier path, or to be better thought of in a world like this, let us remember these words to Baruch; if “great things” attract and would lure us on, remember the words—“Seek them not.”
The Lord adds, “For, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh; … but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest” (ver. 5). No harm could come to Baruch, let men rage as they might, while God was His protector. Famine, sword and pestilence may destroy, but he should be preserved. He lived in a dispensation when temporal blessing was a sign of the divine favor. With us, in this spiritual dispensation, our blessings are of a different character. Precious it is to know that even though the body might be destroyed, yet nothing can touch the eternal life of the Christian; and even as to the body,
“Not a single shaft can hit
Till the God of love sees fit.”
He who bids us not to seek great things for ourselves undertakes to carry us on, and has declared, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” So that we may boldly say, “I will trust and not be afraid.” (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (pp. 247–254). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
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Ver. 4. Thus shalt thou say unto him, &c.] This is spoken to Jeremiah, and is an order from the Lord to him, what he should say in his name to Baruch: the Lord saith thus, behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; the Jewish nation, both as to church and state; which the Lord had built up as a spacious and beautiful house to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard, and set it with pleasant plants; but now would demolish this building, and destroy this plantation: even this whole land; not a few cities only, or only Jerusalem the metropolis, but the whole land of Judea; no part of it but what should be left desolate. So the Targum, “even the whole land of Israel, which is mine.” (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 645). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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One of the beautiful words in our language, in both sound and sense, is edification. The Greek version has a nice ring to it too: oikodomeo. It is two words combined, oikos (house) and domeo (“to build). So when we speak of edifying – building up – one another, the Greek understanding is building one anothers’ house. The word edifice, or building, comes from this root. (p. 54)
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The myopic church shopper’s spiritual vision is distorted by a focus on convenience –
“What does the church have to offer me?” – instead of focusing on relevance – “How will this church hep me to ‘serve the lost and broken world?’” (p. 57)
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For the church of Jesus Christ, it’s always “We over Me,” As the athletes say it, “There’s no “I” in team.” (p. 58, Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr. David Jeremiah)
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After feeding the 5000, Jesus teaches that He is the “Bread of Life.”
INSIGHT
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He often speaks in figures of speech. Sometimes the people understand what those sayings mean; sometimes they don’t. Jesus promises living water to the woman at the well, so she will never thirst. Her reply is: “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?” (John 4:11).
And in John 6, Jesus speaks of Himself as a bread even better than the manna in the desert, for He gives eternal life to the whole world, rather than merely physical life to the Hebrews in the desert. Missing his point, his audience says hungrily, “Lord, give us this bread always” (v. 34).
He later explains to His disciples, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Jesus reveals the truths behind the figures of speech to His followers.
(QuietWalk)
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HYDERABAD, India, April 11, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A longstanding Hindu extremist practice of turning animistic villagers against Christians has intensified as elections get underway in India today, with tribal villagers taught that Christianity is anti-Indian.
Upset about tribal Adivasi relatives leaving the animistic Sarna religion to become Christians, 60-year-old Sanpitha Majhi attacked a 28-year-old Christian mother he believed had “forcefully converted” his daughter and son-in-law in eastern India’s Jharkhand state. Bale Murmu was washing utensils in an outdoor area of her home on April 1 and did not notice Majhi, her neighbor, coming toward her, pastor Girish Chander Marandi said.
“Majhi with all his force pressed her breasts and pushed her to the floor,” Pastor Marandi told Morning Star News. “While he was kicking her in her stomach, his wife, Gouri Majhi, brought a wooden stick, and the couple beat her black and blue.”
When her husband, Jaata Murmu, heard her screams and came to rescue her, he too was beaten, Pastor Marandi said.
“Murmu suffered bruises all over her body and, her stomach and breasts were swollen,” he said. “We provided her first aid that night, and the next day we went to the police station.”
Police refused to receive their complaint until they reminded officers that Majhi had also attacked Christians on Feb. 27, and they implored officers to take action, he said. In the previous assault, Majhi burst into a house where four Christian families had gathered for worship and beat them.
“He attacked nine people and struck their heads to the wall one after the other,” Pastor Marandi said. “He snatched a believer’s Bible and ripped off the pages. We did not go to the police, since we knew he was drunk and not in his right mind. The next day [Feb. 28], when the surrounding village pastors and I tried to counsel him, he was attacking us.”
This month officers at Bangriposi police station booked both Majhi and his wife for house trespass, assault to outrage the modesty of a woman, sexual assault, voyeurism and criminal intimidation. A Baripada Court judge sent Majhi and his wife to remand – triggering further animosity from tribal villagers.
“Last Friday [April 5], the village council held a meeting to devise a plan to attack us on Sunday [April 7],” Murmu told Morning Star News. “They are furious and accuse us that we sent Majhi to jail and so must be punished for it. They blocked the route to the church to push us to put up a fight, but we quietly went our way and refused. By God’s grace there was no attack on Sunday.”
Majhi’s daughter and son-in-law had put their faith in Christ after their 10-year-old son fell seriously ill, Pastor Marandi said. As the boy suffered severe weight loss and was wasting away, the couple noticed that Murmu and others gathered for prayer and worship.
“One day last September, the couple came over and shared about their child,” Pastor Marandi said. “We prayed for him, and soon they started joining us regularly for prayers. Their faith healed the child. He is completely recovered now and is going back to school since February.”
But Majhi, a staunch Adivasi believer in the Sarna religion, was upset about his daughter, Shanti Soren, leaving the traditional practices along with her husband, Vikram Soren, the pastor said. The couple lived in his house after marriage, and he would come home drunk and beat both of them, he said.
Such violence comes against the backdrop of a draconian “anti-conversion law” in effect in Jharkhand, giving rise to spurious accusations of forcible or fraudulent conversion. And it comes in the context of Hindu extremists turning animistic villagers against Christians, especially with general elections underway today through May 19, sources said.
Hindu extremists have indoctrinated animistic adherents of tribal Sarna religion to believe that they can worship Hindu idols, and also that Christian worship defiles their culture, a legal advocacy group representative said.
“The Adivasis have been misguided to believe that Hindu Dharma [Hindu teaching] and Sarna are the same to incite them to stand against Christians,” Sandeep Tigga, coordinator of legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom-India, told Morning Star News. “This wrong teaching has driven Sarnas today to accept idol worship, but the truth is the indigenous Sarnaonly worship nature.”
Hindu extremists need only teach adherents of Sarna that Christianity defiles their culture to cause a rift in a family, he said.
Christians make up to only 4.3 percent of the population in Jharkhand.
“Recently, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] also issued statements that Adivasis who convert to Christianity must be banished from political parties and must not be allowed to contest in seats reserved for the tribes,” said Tigga, who formerly practiced Sarna and is now a Bible college student. “In the villages where idol worship is practiced, tribal families are introduced to the Hindutva ideology, and they gradually develop hatred towards Christianity.”
Terrifying Tactics
In Pandanwa Tanda of Hazaribagh District, two families put their faith in Christ after years of losing family members to traditional attempts to free them of evil spirits – only to face terrifying tactics from the Adivasi villagers, sources said.
For decades in Pandawa Tanda and surrounding villages, tribal families who refused to go to hospitals for treatment have sought traditional healers known as tantrics, pastor Manoj Munda told Morning Star News.
“The tantric would thrash them with a whip and exorcise on them, and they’d get even sicker and fall prey to death,” Pastor Munda said.
Families who put their faith in Christ four years ago have broken the cycle of death from such treatment, though they have to travel miles to neighboring villages for worship due to hostilities from local Adivasis. This year, local villagers practicing Sarna mixed with Hinduism have begun collecting funds for puja (idol worship of gods and goddesses), Pastor Munda said.
“They announced in the village that Christians are deprived of all rights, and that if they do not contribute to pujas, they must be cast out of the village,” he said.
When Christians refused to contribute on March 8, two days later villagers surrounded the wife of Christian Belu Ganjo as she went to draw well water at 9 p.m.
“The entire village surrounded her and had decided to tie her with a rope and drown her in the well,” Pastor Munda said.
She screamed and her husband came running to rescue her, and the women in the mob attacked her as the men attacked Ganjo, he said. They beat them up with lathis, a bamboo stick bound with iron, and kicked them, he said.
“The mob lifted up their 4-year-old daughter and forcefully threw her to the floor,” Pastor Munda told Morning Star News. “By God’s grace, the child suffered only minor injuries. Ganjo ran for his life with his child and wife to another Christian’s house, but the angry mob followed them, so they locked their houses, and in that night they fled away from the village.”
The Christians passed through a pitch-dark forest to reach Bhadka. The next day, they went to police, and officers at Sadar Police Station summoned the villagers and settled matters, Pastor Munda added.
“Even at the police station, they were shouting that Ganjo accepted a foreign faith and that they should not enter the village until they renounce Christianity,” he said. “But police told them that the Christians can freely live out their faith, and nobody must stop them.”
The inspector warned the Hindus that he would charge them if they continued harassing Christians, but for now they are worshipping secretly, he said.
“The villagers had severed all ties with them already,” Pastor Munda said.
Forced to Police Station
In Ranchi, the state capital, Hindus falsely accused Christians of forcible conversion and handed them to police.
Christina Oraon told Morning Star News that she another Christian, her friend Sukro Munda, were visiting Munda’s niece Timi Munda, who was ill, on March 30.
Timi Munda told Morning Star News that the two Christians, who are illiterate, had requested she read the Bible to them so they could repeat verses after her.
“Suddenly, two women from the neighborhood came upstairs and was accusing my aunt and her friend that they were converting me,” Timi Munda said. “I told the ladies that it’s a misunderstanding and that I was only reading the verses since they can’t read. But they refused to listen to me and forcefully took them downstairs.”
The two villagers forced the two Christians into a vehicle and took them to the police station, Oraon said.
“They had put pressure on the police officers to book cases against us,” Oraon said. “Later in the night the police sent us to the women’s police station.”
Officers at Lalpur Police Station told Morning Star News that Oraon and Sukra Munda have been taken into custody for questioning and would be released soon.
“The police sent the women to the women’s police station to extend the custody till next day,” a local source who requested anonymity told Morning Star News.
At midnight on March 30, the Jharkhand legal aid unit of ADF-India reached higher police officials and secured the release of the Christian women without any charges filed against them.
“The neighbors told my husband and in-laws that my aunt and her friend, Oraon, were attempting to convert me to Christianity by reciting the Bible verses,” Timi Munda said.
Deprived of Food
Also in Ranchi, Hindu relatives filed complaints of forced conversions against newly wedded Christian couple.
Risha Toppo and Roshani Kachhap married on Jan. 5 but could not live together for two months due to threats. Toppos had gone three times to his parents about his desire to marry Kachhap, but they insisted he marry a Sarna woman, he said.
“I tried very hard to tell my parents how important it is for me to marry a believer, and that I can’t give up my faith in marriage matters,” he told Morning Star News.
After he became a Christian, his family had restricted him to his house since 2015, “a house-arrest literally, because they suspected that if I’m allowed to go out, I’d go to church and meet Christians,” Toppo said. “But I continued praying and reading the Bible. My mother did not allow me into the kitchen for more than 2 years until I finally left the house in 2017. She reprimanded me from touching any utensils or food grains as they believe that I would defile the food if I touched it.”
They gave him only leftover food once a day, and sometimes he would go to sleep without a meal, he said.
“Even through that phase when they were hating me, I questioned my parents, ‘Why are you worshipping the trees and plants? Why not worship the One who created them? The trees and plants do not hear or speak, but the living God sees us, He hears and speaks. Why are we not acknowledging the Creator?’” he said. “They would get very angry and told me that even though I’m their blood, I would have no share in the property or agriculture produce. We married in court secretly because my family members were planning to attack me if they hear of me marrying a Christian.”
After two months, Kachhap’s parents organized a thanksgiving prayer for the couple in their church. Toppo’s parents found out.
“On March 5, my parents and a mob of extremists from our village came to the church and took my wife and me to the police station,” he said. “My mother accused my wife and her family of forcefully converting me.”
At the police station, he discovered that complaints had been filed against him and his wife in three police stations in Ranchi, Sadar and Namkum, he said.
Toppo’s family banished him from the community.
“I left everything behind and followed Christ,” he said. “Today we are surviving with the help of a basic salary I receive from working in a private clinic and my wife’s payments from tutoring some school students. We are working very hard but are happy that we are leading a Christian life.”
India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has been worse each year since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
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THE CROSS HUMBLES US
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Philippians 3:7
It is the cross of Christ that brings us all down to the same place. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The differences between nations and groups within them and individuals are nothing when you look at the cross of Christ. We are all miserable, helpless, hopeless sinners.
There is nothing in which we can boast. As the apostle puts it in Philippians 3:7-9, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom,” he says, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Once you really see this message of the cross, you see yourself groveling on the dust and the floor, a miserable failure, a hopeless sinner. You can do nothing, and neither can your neighbor; you are together in your complete helplessness and hopelessness. But thank God it does not leave you there. You both look up together into face of the one and only Savior, the Savior of the world, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” He is not only the Savior of the western world. He is also the Savior of the Iron Curtain. He can save Communists as well as He can save capitalists.
A Thought to Ponder: We are all miserable, helpless, hopeless sinners. (From The Cross, pp. 147-148, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Marie quotes: God to church Sunday. If Jesus can rise form the dead, you can rise from the bed.
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God gives eternal choices, and these choices have eternal consequences. Isn’t this the reminder of Calvary’s trio? Ever wonder why there were two crosses next to Christ? Why not six or ten? Ever wonder why Jesus was in the center? Could it be the two crosses on the hill symbolize one of God’s greatest gifts? The gift of choice. The two criminals were convicted by the same system. Condemned to death. Equally close to the same Jesus. But one changed and one did not.
You’ve made some bad choices in life, haven’t you? You look back and you say, “If only I could make up for those bad choices.” You can. When one thief on the cross prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him. When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice. And he does the same for you and me.
Then (the thief) said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43 from He Chose the Nails (Max Lucado)
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