LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH

Lesson 13

Key Text: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I

will raise to David a Branch of

righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness

in the earth’ ” (Jeremiah 23:5,

NKJV).

We’re now at the end of our study of Jeremiah. It’s been an adventure; a lot of drama, emotion, and energy have been expended in the saga of our prophet. Like all the prophets, Jeremiah didn’t write in a vacuum: his was a message from the Lord and for people at a specific time and place and under specific circumstances.

And yet, however radically different his circumstances were from ours or from those of the many other generations who have read Jeremiah, cru-cial principles expressed there are the same for God’s people in every generation. Such as faithfulness to God and obe-dience to His commandments. Such as true religion, a religion of the heart, as opposed to empty and dead rituals that can leave people in a false state of complacency. Such as the people’s willingness to listen to correction, even when it cuts across what they want to hear. Such as true revival and reformation. Such as trusting in the Lord and His promises instead of the arm of flesh. Such as . . . The list goes on. This week, let’s take a look at some of the many lessons we can learn from this revelation of God’s love for His people even amid many thunderous warnings to them about where their actions will lead.

WHAT IS GOD LIKE?“Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.’” (Jeremiah 5:4)

Lucifer distorted God’s nature before the angels. That way he won third of the angels for his cause (Revelation 12:4).

Unfortunately, he was able to distort His nature before mankind too.

In Jeremiah, the true character of God is vindicated.

WHAT IS GOD LIKE? “Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.’” (Jeremiah 5:4)

A FO

UN

TAIN

OF

LIVI

NG

WAT

ER “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

CREA

TOR

“‘Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.’” (Jeremiah 5:22)

JUDG

E “therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine.’” (Jeremiah 11:22)

LOVE “The Lord has

appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’” (Jeremiah 31:3)

FORG

IVIN

G “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” (Jeremiah 33:8)

GOD IS…

God constantly calls us to repentance from our sins and to leave the ways that lead us to destruction.

COLLECTIVE RELIGION“and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?” (Jeremiah 7:10)

The Jews turned all religious rites into meaningless ceremonies. Their official religion in Jeremiah’s time was based on:

Openly disobeying the

Commandments: “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear

falsely, burn incense to Baal.” (Jeremiah 7:9).

Going to the temple and

offering sacrifices to feel like forgiven.

Keep sinning.

That’s a clear example of what our relationship with God shouldn’t be like: Doing our own will during the week attending church to feel like holy keep living without God.

PERSONAL RELIGION“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:7)

Like the old Israel, the Church might or might not fulfill its mission as the people of God.However, the salvation of each person doesn’t depend on that. We are not saved as a Church, but each one of us is individually.Therefore, the book of Jeremiah is full of individual calls to repentance, to trust God and to a positive change in life (Jeremiah 9:23-24; 17:7; 17:10; 29:13).Our salvation relies on our response to that personal call.

The famous text in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (NKJV), though spoken to the nation as a whole, is written in the singular second person. That is, the “you” in each case is the singular; God is talking to each one individually. In the end, each one of us, personally, will have to give an account of ourselves to God. We find that same thing in Jeremiah, as well.

“Each must give an account of himself to God. He has given us His law as a mirror into which we may look and discover the defects in our characters. We are not to look into this mirror for the purpose of seeing our neighbor’s faults reflected, of watching to see if he comes up to the standard, but to see the defects in ourselves, that we may remove them. Knowledge is not all that we need; we must follow the light. We are not left to choose for ourselves and to obey that which is agreeable to us and to disobey when it best suits our convenience. Obedience is better than sacrifice.”

E.G.W. (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, cp. 11, page 116)

IDOLATRY“Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.” (Jeremiah 10:14)

Idolatry is not just bowing down before idols, or honoring them. There are many modern “idols” that we could be worshipping. We may be trusting or loving several things more than God; those are idols too: fame, science, people, work, money…All those idols will eventually vanish “from the earth and from under these heavens.” (Jeremiah 10:11).So, whom should we be worshiping and dedicating our lives to: that which is weak, false, vain, and powerless, or to the Lord, whose power and might are so great that He created and sustains the universe? The answer, of course, is obvious.

Yet, however obvious the answer, the fact is, we are in danger of falling into idolatry as well. Though today we might not worship the same kind of idols that those in Jeremiah’s time did, our modern life is full of false gods. These modern idols can be anything that we love more than God; whatever we “worship” (and worship doesn’t always mean singing and praying) becomes our god, and we are guilty of idolatry.

A WOMAN

A WORK

THE SPORT

THE FASHION

THE YUWELS

THE MUSIC

What are some of the things that we can be in danger of making into idols? What about things such as digital devices, money, fame, even other people? Make a list of what these potential idols are, and then ask yourself: In the end, what real salvation do they offer?

Tablets

laptop

Smart Cels

PC Computers

Of course, we know intellectually that none of these things is worthy of worship. We know that in the end, nothing that this world offers us, nothing that we make into idols, can ultimately satisfy our souls and certainly not redeem them. We know all these things, and yet, unless we are careful, unless we keep before us Jesus and what He did for us and why He did it, we can so easily be swept up in a modern form of the idolatry similar to that which Jeremiah so passionately railed against.

THE REMNANT“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.”

(Jeremiah 23:3)God always had a faithful people, even in the midst of that apostasy and defeat. That small number of people is called the remnant (Luke 12:32; Revelation 12:17).Jerusalem was destroyed and God’s people was in exile. Nevertheless, God promised an eternal King and Priest (Jeremiah 33:17-18). He shall govern the remnant once they came back from Babylon.That prophecy was partially fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection and priestly ministry of Jesus.We still wait for its complete fulfillment when Jesus will gather all the saved people from all ages. Then, that “little flock” will live forever with Him.

By studying the book of Jeremiah, we’ve learnt the importance of faithfulness, obedience, true personal religion, listening to God’s voice, revival and reformation, quitting idolatry and false religion, and being part of the remnant Church.

“The glorious possibilities set before Israel could be realized only through obedience to God’s commandments. The same elevation of character, the same fulness of blessing—blessing on mind and soul and body, blessing on house and field, blessing for this life and for the life to come—is possible for us only through obedience.”

E.G.W. (Christ’s Object Lessons, cp. 23, pg. 305)

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