Tuesday, June 30

Jeremiah 31:21 (HCSB)
Set up road markers for yourself; establish
signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return,
Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours.

The Hebrews have been unfaithful to God. Time and time again God calls them to repent of their idolatry and return to Him. Israel steadfastly refused to turn around. God disciplined them by sending into captivity in Babylon for 70 years. But here God is saying: “Remember the way home, because I will call you home again.”

Notice the name by which God refers to Israel: “Virgin Israel.” Calling Israel a virgin is like calling Heidi Fleiss a virgin! The reason why God shipped her off to Babylon was because of her spiritual infidelities. But God calls her back to Himself as “Virgin Israel.” How does He do that? You cannot unscramble eggs!

Man can’t. God can!

This is a picture of us. Before we came to Christ we were as unfaithful to God as Israel. We worshipped at the altars of numerous Baals. We prostituted ourselves with unholy living. We were anything but pure and chaste.

Then one day we heard the Gospel and we opened our hearts to Jesus. When He came into us He not only forgave us but He also washed us in His blood and made us clean. He made us a virgin again. God can do that… and He did! In His eyes you are as pure as a virgin, never once stained by any sin!

How does it feel to be clean?

Sunday, June 28

Jeremiah 28:9 (HCSB)

“As for the prophet who prophesies peace—only when the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”

 

Call this “The Prophet Test.” It is a simple test to give anyone who claims to be a prophet. Here it is: Does his prophecy come true?

 

There have always been those who claim to prophesy “in the name of the Lord.” Some are the real deal. Some are blatantly liars. Some, you just can’t tell. They sound true enough. But there is still just that smidgen of doubt.

 

Well, this test will help.

 

A genuine prophet does not mind being put to the test. In fact, he probably expects it!

 

So ask him to prophesy something you can see. Give him the test.

 

If his prophecy comes true he speaks for the Lord—listen to him!

 

If it does not he speaks for himself—shun him! 

Saturday, June 27

Jeremiah 26:20–24 (HCSB)

Another man was also prophesying in the name of the LORD—Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.

King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, and the king tried to put him to death. When Uriah heard, he fled in fear and went to Egypt. But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor and ‹certain other› men with him ‹went› to Egypt. They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.

But Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

 

Uriah and Jeremiah both prophesied the word of the Lord. Uriah was killed. Jeremiah was delivered. Uriah fled in fear to Egypt. I can only imagine the fear he felt when he was captured.

 

What can we say about these things? Both men obeyed God. When paid the ultimate price for his obedience. The other doubtless suffered great things, but he still survived.

 

There are no guarantees when we obey God. God’s plan for one of His servants is completely different then the plan He has for all the other of His servants.

 

Which will we be: the servant who survives or the one who dies? We don’t know and we cannot know. I can only say three things:

 

First, we must obey God regardless. We don’t obey God for what we get out of it. We obey God because that is what we must do.

 

Second, we must trust that God will give us what we need to fulfill His will. Uriah fled in fear, but I want to believe that he came back under guard with God’s peace in his heart.

 

Third, both prophets received a reward. I do not know what that reward was, and I know we do not serve God for rewards. But God does reward His servants. It is not was though we have nothing to look forward to. We have a lot to look forward to.

 

It will all be worth it when we see Jesus! So keep obeying Him.

 

Thursday, June 25

Jeremiah 25:11-12 (HCSB)
This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years. When the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—[this is] the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will make it a ruin forever.

I read this prophecy in Jeremiah 25 and I thought of Daniel chapter 9:

In the first year of Darius, who was the son of Ahasuerus, was a Mede by birth, and was ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be 70. So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes (verses 1-3).

Daniel was probably reading Jeremiah 25. Just think: we are reading the same thing that Daniel was reading 2500 years ago! He began to count up the number of years they had been in Babylon…the seventy were almost complete. He knew something was about to happen. He became very excited and his prayers intensified. “Lord, what are You about to do?”

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be in his place?

What does this say to us?

First, God fulfills His Word. His prophecies came true in the past, and they are coming true now. We can trust God to keep His Word.

Second, we should do what Daniel did and be a student of the Word and an observer of our times. This requires discipline. The only way to know the Bible is to spend lots of time in the Bible!

Third, I believe that we will experience the same feeling Daniel did. I believe that prophecy is unfolding before us right now. Significant things are unfolding on the world stage. We need to pay attention. We need to be prepared. We will soon be saying as Peter 2000 years ago, “Brethren, this is that which was spoken by the prophet….”

Don’t read another book on prophecy this year. Just read the Bible!

Wednesday, June 24

Jeremiah 23:18 (HCSB)

      For who has stood in the council of the LORD

      to see and hear His word?

      Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?

 

To hear a word from the Lord requires some things. First, it takes time. You have to wait—to stand—before the Lord. This is hard for us. We want things fast—microwave fast. But hearing from God takes time. We have to be willing to sit and listen…patiently.

 

Second, it requires humility. We do not come to God’s Word to find what He says to someone else. We come to hear what He has to say to us. What is His council to me? I have to be willing to allow God to speak to me, to challenge me, to correct me. If we stand in the council of the Lord that means we are seeking God’s council for our own life first.

 

Third, we have to pay attention. We must be focused. We must concentrate on God’s Word. We must read and reread and reread again. Sometimes it helps to read a verse in more than one translation. We need to really listen to what the text is saying, and what God is saying through it. Sometimes we are not listening to what God says, but we are trying to hear what we want God to say.

 

Fourth, we must obey. Whatever God says to anyone else through me He says to me first. Am I obeying His Word? If I am not obeying He is not speaking to anyone else through me. In fact, it is the height of arrogance to think that I could have a word from God for anyone else if I am not obeying His word in my own life.

 

Want to hear from God? Those are the requisites. 

Tuesday, June 23

Jeremiah 23:1–4 (HCSB)

"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!"  ‹This is› the LORD’s declaration.

"Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, banished them, and have not attended to them.  I will attend to you because of your evil acts"—the LORD’s declaration. "I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.  I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing." ‹This is› the LORD’s declaration.

 

This prophecy is for national Israel. But it can also have application for the church. Right now God’s people are scattered. We are scattered throughout many denominations, many different churches, wearing a plethora of labels. But this will not always be. One day all God’s people will be one. I welcome that day! We allow far too much to divide us. We are divided over inconsequential nomenclature—things that don’t matter a hill of beans! Just because one shepherd does not say it exactly like we do we think we have to take our flock and go graze in another pasture. Even the “non-corral” shepherds cannot get along with each other!

 

Now I am not advocating the demolition of all denominations. The Bible tells us that the next one-world religion will be a false religion headed by the false prophet.

 

But when the Lord of the Church returns we will all be united under Him. Until then we ought to do our dead level best to get along with each other! We should remember that no one of us has a corner on the truth market. We are all fallible. We suffer from way too much ego. If we were humble we would realize that we could be wrong. We would listen more and argue less. We would realize that there is a lot more that unites us than divides us, and a lot more we agree on than disagree on.

 

The fact is that if you have Christ living in your heart and I have Christ living in my heart we share a kinship that is stronger than blood. I know there will be preferences on things like worship style and modes of baptism. You might hit a two-handed backstroke and I may hit a one-handed backstroke—and some showoff might be ambidextrous and swing only forehands—but we can still play doubles! We don’t have to join a separate club! We need each other… and we need what each of us can bring to the table. We desperately need to love each other and start getting along. I think this would do more to advance the cause of Christ today than we could imagine.

Monday, June 22

Jeremiah 22:15–16 (HCSB)

Are you a king because you excel in cedar?

Your own father, did he not eat and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, then it went well with him.

He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well.

Is this not what it means to know Me?

‹This is› the LORD’s declaration.

 

The first question was, “Does living in a big ‘ol house make you somebody special?” We would say today, “You are what you drive” or “The clothes make the man.”  There are people who think what they drive, what they wear, or what they live in. the Bible says, “Lizards are easy to catch, but they live in even in kings’ palaces.” (Proverbs 31:28). A reptile can live in a palace—does that make it a prince? There are good people who live in project housing, and there are vile people who live in gated communities. What you live in, what you drive, or what you wear does not determine who you are—especially in God’s eyes.

 

So what does it take to be someone special in God’s eyes? It requires living right and treating other people with deference. We should take up the cause of those who cannot defend themselves. We should do the right thing by others. We do not do this to earn entrance into heaven, but this is how we should live if we are people headed to heaven.

 

So today, in the words of that eminent theologian Spike Lee, go out and “Do the right thing.”