Jeremiah and the New Covenant

31“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

32It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they broke my covenant,

though I was a husband to^d them,^e ”

declares the Lord.

33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel

after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

34No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,” (Jeremiah 31)

20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Jesus- Luke 22:20)

Thoughts: The old covenant (Old Testament) was broken.  The people had forsaken God, and made a mess of His Law.  The promise was that if they followed God they would inherit the land and their descendants would be numerous.  Now they would be kicked out of the land and many of their offspring are killed.  But, there is still hope.  The people would come back to God and come back to the land. 
But the new covenant is a new promise- a promise that goes further- of heaven (the true promised land) and forgiveness and the Gospel spread to all the nations.  The great covenant language is here: "I will be their God and they will be my people."  This is a bond, a relationship.  But Jeremiah and Jesus would say the relationship is not a physical one- but a spiritual one.  The Law is not just upon their bodies but upon their minds and hearts.  The new covenant is a new way to open up the knowledge of God to all people- not just a few.  God took the Jews- became a Jew- and then opened up the door of election to all people.  

Prayer: Lord, thank you for opening up the knowledge of you to my heart.  Let my heart be yours- undivided and true.  

70 Years of captivity

8Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy^a them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12“But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,^b for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever. 13I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, (Jeremiah 25); 

This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:10,11)

In the first year of (Darius's) reign, I, Daniel understood from the Scriptures according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.  So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer, petition, fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:2)

The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of desolation it rested, until seventy years was completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.  (2 Chr. 36:21)

Thoughts:  The people were in exile 70 years from the time of the exile in 586 BC until the completion of the Temple in 516 BC.  This is an amazing prophecy.  Jeremiah prophesied Babylon would take them into exile and that in 70 years they would come back.  Daniel quoted from Jeremiah, and the writer of 2 Chronicles recognized the fulfillment of the prophecy.  This shows that God is God of time and of His people.  We should trust our future and our lives in obedience to the All-knowing and almighty God.  

Prayer: Lord, Thank you for fulfilling your word and being so faithful to redeem your people.    

Heart is deceitful

5This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives.

7“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

8They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

9The heart is deceitful above all things

and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

10“I the Lord search the heart

and examine the mind,

to reward each person according to their conduct,

according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17) 

Thoughts: Every now and then someone says, "Just follow your heart."  The problem with that is sometimes your heart can deceive you. You can follow your heart and lose a good job, forsake your children, do something you would regret.  Emotions can be like the wind and can blow you down a path that you would rather not go.  But the Lord knows the heart.  He sees straight through- beyond the surface to what we really think and believe.  He asks us to trust in Him and not in people or in wealth.  

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust in you with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Help me to acknowledge you with all my ways and know you will direct my paths.  

Worship and Obedience

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“ ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.8But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

9“ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,^a burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 7) 

Thoughts: The illusion is that if we go to church we can do whatever we want and it will be okay.  After all, we are saved by grace, not by works.  Certainly, there are no perfect- non-sinners who believe.  All of us sin in our practice and belief. 
      Yet, to abuse God's grace by purposefully ignoring God's commands so we can go our own way is even more wrong.  We may not keep the Law perfectly, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to obey.  In fact, if you love God, you want to please Him.  Murder, adultery, stealing, worshiping other gods are all indicators that something is not right with our heart.  Such things make worship an empty shell. 
      In our day, many just don't bother with worship at all- because they are aware of their imperfections.  Worship is important.  But worship, as this passage indicates, should be from the heart.  Turning the holy church into a place of selfishness or even evil is an anathema to God.  Being uncaring or apathetic is also an anathema to Him. 
       Just having a church (or Temple) in the neighborhood means little if worship there is not made from the heart. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to want to worship and please you.  Help me to see these two things go together.  

Walk in the Ancient Path

14They dress the wound of my people

as though it were not serious.

‘Peace, peace,’ they say,

when there is no peace.

15Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?

No, they have no shame at all;

they do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall among the fallen;

they will be brought down when I punish them,”says the Lord.

16This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

17I appointed watchmen over you and said,

‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But you said, ‘We will not listen.’

18Therefore hear, you nations;

you who are witnesses,

observe what will happen to them.

19Hear, you earth:

I am bringing disaster on this people,

the fruit of their schemes,

because they have not listened to my words

and have rejected my law.

22This is what the Lord says:

“Look, an army is coming

from the land of the north;

a great nation is being stirred up

from the ends of the earth.

23They are armed with bow and spear;

they are cruel and show no mercy.

They sound like the roaring sea

as they ride on their horses;

they come like men in battle formation

to attack you, Daughter Zion.”

Thoughts: I remember when Hurricane Camille hit the Gulf Coast as a category five storm, there were hurricane parties.  People were thinking that nothing bad would happen to them and they wanted to see the experience.  So it is when people do not take their own sin seriously.  Jeremiah rebukes those who say they can sin and sin with no shame and still expect God's protection and blessing.  Jeremiah urges all those who know of God's Law to listen to it.  When we have heard and reject God, we are fooling ourselves.  The people of Jeremiah's day believed they were just religious enough to keep God happy.  They had, after all, the Temple of the Lord- the Temple of the Lord.  But a building does not insure behavior.  Saying there is peace does not mean there is peace.  We are always called to ask- "where are the ancient paths?"  What are the ways that people have found peace with God in the past- walk in these ways.  I had a dog who would make paths all over my back yard.  Grass would not grow on these paths, but neither would there be holes or mounds.  The paths were safe, and true.  When my dog got older and more blind, it was easier to walk on these old paths that she was used to walking.  So we are called to know God more and more and be familiar with walking in His way. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to walk in your path.  Help me to listen to your voice.  Let me not pretend things are great when they are not.  Give me grace to address the problems I face.  

Spiritual Adultery

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

“This is what the Lord says:

“ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

how as a bride you loved me

3Israel was holy to the Lord,

23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

24a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,sniffing the wind in her craving—

in her heat who can restrain her?

Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

25Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry.

But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

26“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced—

they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.

27They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

They have turned their backs to me and not their faces;

yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

28Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them come if they can save you

when you are in trouble! (Jeremiah 2) 

Thoughts: God chooses his people as the ones He loves.  The image of the church is "the bride of Christ."  There is a covenant we make with God- to be His people and He will be our God.  So when we worship idols, we break our covenant- our bride vows to God. We are committing spiritual adultery.  Adultery is the only reason that Jesus gives for a valid divorce.  Jeremiah uses graphic language here.  When we make other things our god- we commit adultery against the Lord- trading a fake relationship for a true one.  It would be like someone divorcing his wife for pornography- pornography can be addictive.  Idolatry- making things (money, houses, cars, shopping, alcohol/drugs, education, even other people) our God is addictive too.  Such things cannot save us from catastrophe or from our sins.  Only the true God is our true Savior. 

Prayer: Lord let you faithfulness inspire my faithfulness in return.  Let my heart be undivided and true to you. 

Jeremiah's Call

4The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew^a you,

before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

9Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1) 

Thoughts: God knows us before we are ever born.  He has a plan for us- not just for Jeremiah.  But Jeremiah doubted his ability to answer his call.  We see a little argument going on.
    First Jeremiah says he is too young.  God says to not be afraid because he is young.  God will be with him and will rescue him.  He did. 
     Then God touched his mouth and it was all over.  His message was a warning and a beacon to the nations.  Indeed, Jeremiah's message was one of the destruction of Judah and its Temple.  But he also built up- he forecast they would come back to the land in 70 years.  God has a call for each one of us.  To answer that call is the most important things we can do in this life.  

Prayer; Lord, give me grace to answer your call no matter what age.