This scripture sums up the last few weeks:
“When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.”
(Jeremiah 7:22-24)
There is a "forward" and we are supposed to go that direction. I realize I may be over-simplifying, but it doesn't seem all that complicated to me ... challenging, maybe, but not complicated.
Blessings,
Steve
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We’re reading The One Year Chronological Bible, New Living Translation (Tyndale). It’s best with your own copy. Or, copy and paste this link to the daily reading schedule:
http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan/oneyearchronologicalbiblereadingplan.pdf
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The Almost-Missed-It Department:
From Week 30: On July 25th, we read “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7). This is echoed in Romans 10:13-15. Another NT point made with an OT scripture!
This week's highlights:
At first, we alternate between Jeremiah and Daniel; they overlap in the same timeframe. The well-known "fiery furnace" shows up, along with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Also: Jeremiah questions the Lord's justice! And, on August 12th, God shows Jeremiah a vision of good and bad figs. There's a lesson for us in that about who is seemingly punished (the exiles) and who is seemingly saved (those not carried away to Babylon).
August 6th - Jeremiah 20:9 - Famous scripture phrase and Jesus reference all in one ... Fire in my bones! (Jeremiah says God’s "word" burns in him "like a fire on my bones!" Eventually, that burning word became flesh and walked the earth.)
August 7th - Daniel 3:22 - None of my Sunday School teachers ever mentioned the fate of the soldiers who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Adednego into the fiery furnace.
August 7th - Jeremiah 7:11 - Jesus reference: "Den of Thieves" is what Jesus shouts when he cleanses the Temple.
August 8th - Jeremiah 8:22 (and on August 5th; Jeremiah 46:11) There always was a balm in Gilead (a city known for its physicians and healing medicines)
August 8th - Jeremiah 9:24 - Compare to Paul's letters 1Cor 1:31 & 2Cor 10:17 (Boasting only in the Lord)
August 8th - Jeremiah 11:19 - Jesus reference: "like a lamb to the slaughter"
August 9th - Jeremiah 13:23 - Can a leopard change its spots?
August 9th - Jeremiah 15:10b - Shakespeare reference: Polonius somewhat garbled this when giving advice to his son, Laertes, in Hamlet: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
August 10th - Jeremiah 17:9-10 - Famous scripture phrase: The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
August 10th - Jeremiah 18:6-8 — Here is an Old Testament scripture where God declares He is the potter and we are the clay.
August 11th - Jeremiah 23:5-6 — Famous because it is usually rendered "branch of David" (i.e., Branch Davidians) and is actually a reference to Jesus.
August 11th — Jeremiah 23:23-24 — God declares that He is omnipresent.
August 12th — Jeremiah 24:1-10 — The good and bad figs metaphor. Note that the good figs represented those who were carried off into exile. Just because what’s happening seems bad, it isn’t necessarily actually bad. Something to ponder.
August 12th - Jeremiah 29:1-15 Here is the famous and often repeated "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jer 29:11). However, when you read it in context, you understand that this was a promise God made to the exiled Israelites ... not to school graduates about to enter the workforce.
Next week:
I think we will be finishing up with Jeremiah's prophecies; primarily to Judah, its exiles, and against Babylon. Then, we enter into Ezekiel's prophecies (himself among those exiled to Babylon, with some overlap in the timeframe of Jeremiah); plus, what some call an extraterrestrial encounter!
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