Jeremiah 8
COMMENTARY:
: 1 “At that time,” says the LORD, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
DEVOTION: War brings desecration and horrible acts of violence on individuals and countries. We have seen what people are capable of doing in wars in our recent past. In Jeremiah’s statement the Babylonians would have no mercy on the people of Judah and specifically the city of Jerusalem. Even the dead would be pillaged and left in the open. The judgment of God is complete and terrible. It may be administered by a human agent but the Lord is the one controlling and designating what will occur.
We need to be aware that the Lord is a righteous judge and fully able to judge both the dead and the living. In the New Testament we see the dead raised and their facing of judgement. In Revelation 20:11-15 the dead who are unjust and unsaved will face the judgment seat and be cast into the Lake of Fire. When God calls for the people to be judged it will occur and it will be final.
CHALLENGE: We live in a period of time where the judgment of God is not as apparent and mercy, grace and love is emphasized. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked! He is still a righteous, holy God who hates sin and will hold us accountable if we do not repent and submit to Him and His word. Take a moment and review your day, week or month and ask the Lord to reveal any sin that needs repentance. He loves to be our advocate (1 John 2:1-1) if we call out to Him! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
: 5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem backslidden by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. (5331 “perpetual” [netsach] means enduring, lasting, continually, pertaining to a period of time, or permanent.)
DEVOTION: The LORD warns that the coming army is going to take all the bones of the leaders from their graves and spread them before the sun, moon and stars that they worshipped. This evil family had slide back so far that it was something that was permanent.
They were practicing permanent apostasy. They were a covetous people. They were a people that believed a lie. They continued to think that they were going to experience peace because they were living where the temple was located. They thought they had the law of God, so therefore, they were protected. They found that they only had trouble coming their way.
Jeremiah was upset that they were not saved. He ends the chapter with good questions: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? It hurt him to see Jerusalem in such a state.
There are many people today that feel that they have made a deal with God. They will leave HIM alone if HE leaves them alone. They want to sin and still have all the blessings HE promised to those who are followers of HIM.
Some of these people think that because they memorize the Bible and read the Bible through in a year they are on good terms with God. This is not always true. The LORD wants us to apply the Word of God to our life. Also there are some of these individuals who have pride in these facts and think they are better than other Christians, which is a sin.
The children of Judah had the Temple in their capital and the Law as their guide but that wasn’t enough to stop the judgment of God because they had these two things to worship instead of God HIMSELF.
What HE calls SIN they call pleasure. God doesn’t give up HIS holiness to HIS love. HIS love is toward those who are obedient. HIS holiness is toward those who are disobedient.
We are supposed to be a holy people. A holy people are ones that are not living in sin. The children of Judah were living in sin. Some people in our churches are living in sin. If they were genuine believer’s they would experience weakness, sickness and pre-mature death.
If this is not the case – they are not genuine believers. Whom the LORD loves HE chastens!!!
CHALLENGE: If you are not living for the LORD and HE is not chastening you – examine your life to see if you are genuine. Don’t spend eternity in hell because you are depending on something other than the Word of God. There is only so far back you can go before judgment!!
: 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. (3467 “saved” [yasha] means deliverance, be liberated, to set free, conqueror, receive help, or preserved.)
DEVOTION: The LORD compared the people of Judah to animals. One of the animals is a bird. They are given a brain that tells them when to migrate from north to south. They have this wisdom in their brain since birth. Each season they know what to do.
The children of Judah didn’t know that it was time to return to a proper service of the LORD. They were counting on the fact that they had the LAW of God. In the last chapter they were counting on the fact that the Temple of the LORD was in Jerusalem.
God doesn’t want anyone to count on a place or a book. They are to count on a relationship to HIM that can be based on the book we call the Bible. The Bible informs us on how to have a proper relationship with the LORD. Church is a place we should go to receive further instructions in the Word of God and have fellowship with other believers who are going through the same struggles we are going through on a regular basis. Other Christians can encourage one another in each other’s struggles.
However, this was not the case in Judah at this time. Each individual was doing what was right in their own eyes and leading others in the same direction. All of this was in a direction away from the LORD.
Now Jeremiah shares the fact that the enemy is coming and there is no hope because the people will not repent of their sins. The LORD gave them hope if they would repent. They would not listen because they counted on the fact that the Temple was in Jerusalem which was a symbol of the presence of the LORD. They thought the LORD wouldn’t destroy the place where HE lived. They were wrong.
They thought they would have another time of harvest. This was not going to happen. There was going to be a total destruction of their crop. There was coming a total destruction of their homeland. There was not going to be any deliverance from the Babylonians.
This verse was one that one of my teachers in Conewango made all the students memorize. Virginia thought it was a good verse to remind us that America could face a drought someday. That day might not be far away for us.
CHALLENGE: Our time of harvest is now. There are many that need to become followers of the LORD. Give them the message of Jeremiah. Repent now!!!
: 22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered. (6875 “balm” [tsariy] means a kind of balsam, salve, medicine, any of various aromatic, balsam, opobalsamum, mastic, resinous substances used for healing and soothing, or medicament.)
DEVOTION: The children of Israel were always moving away from God instead of toward HIM. They were always looking for new ways to worship or be religious without really following the LORD. They were at the present moment sinning to the point where the LORD was going to send judgment but they didn’t seem to care.
The problem is that even today those who claim to follow the LORD are not willing to change some things that they know the LORD does not approve of in their daily lives. They seem to think that God doesn’t see all that they are doing and HE is just looking at the good things that they do once in a while that should please HIM.
The problem with Israel and those who are not truly worshiping the LORD every moment of every day is that the LORD does look at their entire life every minute of it and sees what is going on.
We need to realize that the only way that we can please the LORD is to keep short accounts with HIM which means that we confess our sins daily and act regularly to please HIM and not just ourselves.
It is not easy to be a genuine believer but that is the life that the LORD will bless now and for eternity. Trying to fake a Christian life is only fooling the person trying, not the LORD.
If the church is not healthy it is because the individual members are not healthy and to be healthy takes living each day with the attitude of pleasing the LORD.
Is it your goal to please the LORD each moment of each day? If it is your gold HE will notice and bless you. If it is not your goal and all you want to do is live a part time life, HE will have to correct you into thinking properly. If you are not a genuine believer it will not really matter to you or HIM.
CHALLENGE: The choice is yours and it is a daily choice to follow the LORD. HE will forgive genuine believers as HE sees they are trying to live a life that is pleasing to HIM. HE will chasten genuine believers to cause them to repent and return to a faithful following of HIM.
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