Mon, 21 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 28:1-2

¹ To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.

David begins this psalm by crying out to God for mercy, pleading for God’s hand to spare Him from going down to the pit. By the end of the psalm, David is praising God for being His strength and shield. But David starts with a plea for mercy.

What do we learn from this?

David approaches God, not based upon his own strength or merit, but based upon his weakness and need. David sees that his access to God is not based upon on what he can bring to God, but upon his need for God.

This is a radical idea for those of us who desire nothing more than to be independent. We like to think that we can do everything for ourselves, by ourselves. We need no help from anyone. That might be true in many areas in our lives, but when it comes to salvation, it is far from true. We must throw ourselves upon God’s mercy, or we will never be saved. Unless we are depending upon God to save us, we will “go down to the pit”.

In salvation, God will not share the glory with anyone. We must come to Him recognizing our own poverty and want, and in doing so, He will meet our need and grant us the salvation we so greatly desire.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The salvation we find is based upon the work of Jesus Christ. When we come to God seeking His mercy, we come to Him by trusting in Jesus Christ. He is the one who has earned our salvation by His perfect life and by His atoning death upon the cross.

Sun, 20 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Jeremiah 49:1-6

¹ Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the LORD:

“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,
and his people settled in its cities?
² Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
declares the LORD,
when I will cause the battle cry to be heard
against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
says the LORD.

³ “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
put on sackcloth,
lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
For Milcom shall go into exile,
with his priests and his officials.
⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys,
O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
‘Who will come against me?’
⁵ Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
declares the Lord GOD of hosts,
from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
with none to gather the fugitives.

⁶ “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.”

In this portion of Jeremiah, God pronounces judgment on the nations surrounding Israel. God condemns their conduct and declares their punishment.

God cares about the conduct of His people, and most of Jeremiah has dealt with what God will do to punish wayward Israel. But God is not blind to the misconduct of those who are not His people. He sees their evil and He will deal with them as well, at the proper time.

What do we learn from this?

We can expect that God will act to discipline His church if it is sinning. He will start with His own people. But God does not ignore the sins of those outside the church. Although sometimes it seems that those outside the church are given a free pass, since they prosper physically although they are flagrant sinners, yet in reality that is not so. God sees their sin, and at the proper time He will deal with it.

Jeremiah reminds us that God deals with individuals, but also with nations. When nations are in rebellion against Him, there will come a day of reckoning. He will not allow nations to defy Him, and specifically to mistreat His people, forever. God will act to protect His people and to punish the wayward nations.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God makes a distinction between those who are His own and those who are not. He will discipline those who are His own for their sins to correct them and set them on the path of obedience. But He will punish those who are not His own for their sins, ultimately sending them to hell for eternity.

The difference between the two groups is the defining feature of the two: Those who are His own are trusting in the atoning work of Jesus Christ to pay for the penalty of their sins. They believe that Jesus Christ supplies all the righteousness they require to be in right standing with God. Therefore, they are born again and are made children of God. Those who are trusting in their own abilities and works to be right with God are outside the saving work of Christ and are not the children of God. Since Christ’s atoning work has not been applied to them, they must bear the guilt of their sins themselves, suffering for them eternally in hell.

Sat, 19 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Romans 9:6-18

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹ For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad–in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call– ¹² she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 9 is a controversial passage. It is difficult, not in that it is hard to understand, but that its clear meaning is hard for us to accept. Paul here tells us in no uncertain terms that God is in charge in the area of salvation.

What do we learn from this?

God chooses whom He will save. When we consider why we have come to saving faith, we can not claim any merit. It is God who has saved us; we do not save ourselves. We don’t even do the last 1% of the work. God does all the work in salvation.

Paul gives the examples of Jacob and Esau and of Pharoah. He quotes scripture to teach that God does the choosing. Jacob and Esau were babies, not yet born. Paul drives home the point that God made this declaration before Jacob or Esau had done anything. Their works were no part of God’s choice. God didn’t forsee something in the two boys, causing Him to choose Jacob and reject Esau. Far from it. God made the choice based on His sovereign election and not based on their works.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The point Paul is making is not that we should argue about who is sovereign in salvation. Paul is teaching that we have been saved by God with the result that we praise God for His sovereignty. The example of Pharoah drives home this point. God has saved you that His power might be declared throughout the earth.

The power of God has saved us. God the Father has chosen His own from before the beginning of time. In response to the Father’s choice, the Son comes to earth to take on flesh and blood, living the perfect life, and dying on the cross to bear the guilt of the sins of the people the Father has chosen. God the Holy Spirit works within the hearts of the people chosen by the Father and purchased by the Son.

What are we to do with this? God tells us. We are to repent of our sins and turn to Him in faith, trusting in the work of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, to save us from our sins.

So when we consider God’s salvation, it drives us to come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Instead of arguing about who is sovereign in salvation, it should cause us to repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as our only hope for salvation.

Fri, 18 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Samuel 10:1-13

¹ Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. ² When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”‘ ³ Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. ⁵ After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷ Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. ⁸ Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

⁹ When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

In today’s reading, Samuel anoints Saul to be the first king of Israel, and God confirms this this is His doing by fulfilling signs.

Saul as the anointed leader of Israel has specific tasks to fulfil. He is to reign over the people of the LORD and save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.

What do we learn from this?

Government has a role in keeping order. God has appointed people to lead others and to keep order.

The book of Judges prepared us for this moment as we saw time and again how the people of Israel had no leader and did whatever was right in their own eyes. Now, God has given them a leader who will restrain them from doing whatever they think is right for themselves individually, but will lay out for them what is good and right for them to do as a people.

Also, throughout the book of Judges, we saw how the people cried out for someone to lead them when they faced foreign oppression. God’s appointed king will now fill that role. The people need not look for someone to protect, for that person is already installed and is working full time to protect the people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

As we go through the history of Israelite kings in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, we see that all of the kings had their problems. None of them completely fulfilled these commands. They ruled badly. They failed to protect the people. They did wrong themselves and allowed people in the kingdom to do wrong, thus perverting justice. They made many serious errors. Consider the end of Saul, whom we saw anointed today: He dies in battle after consulting a medium. Saul rejects God and ends up seeking counsel from the dead. The kings of Israel all failed to some degree.

But Jesus Christ eventually came. Born of the line of David, He is perfectly fulfilling this role. He is reigning over His people now, and is protecting them from all enemies. He is not only King of the church, but He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is working all things according to His perfect purposes, slowly subduing the whole world to His reign.

Jesus Christ is doing what Saul (and David, and David’s sons) failed to do: to reign over His people and to save them from their enemies.

Thu, 17 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 22:1-2

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

The words of David, the man after God’s own heart, calling out to know why God had forsaken him.

What do we learn from this?

For some reason we think that God owes us a life free from trouble and heartache. When we face difficulties, we think that God must have abandoned us, for why else would things be nothing but pleasure and ease?

But even David had times in his life when he felt abandoned by God. We should not expect it to be any different for ourselves. Know now, when things are going well, and think it through while your head is clear. You will face difficulties. You will suffer to some extent, and you will think that God has abandoned you. When you hit those difficult times, remember how you have thought it through during the good times, and hold fast to what you know to be true despite what you might feel in the heat of the moment.

If you are suffering because of the sin in your life, you know what to do: repent of your sin. You might have to live with the consequences of your sin in this life, but if you truly repent and turn to God in faith, you know that the consequences for the sin have been erased in eternty.

But if your suffering isn’t due to your sin, you will have to trust God that He knows what is best for your good and for His glory, and hang on to your trust in Him despite the circumstances. You might feel like He has abandoned you, but if your are His child, you remain His child forever.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ quoted this passage when He was on the cross. He really was abandoned by the Father when He bore the sins of His people. He was abandoned so that we would not be.

In that time upon the cross, Jesus Christ took upon Himself all the guilt of all the sins of all His people for all time. The Father poured out His wrath upon that accumulated sin, and Jesus Christ cried out that He had been abandoned by the Father.

The Father will turn His back upon us too, if we have not repented of our sin and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. But we have the great confidence that if we have been forgiven of our sins by trusting in the atoning work of Jesus Christ applied to us, we will never be truly abandoned by God. We might feel that way at times, but we will never be truly abandoned by Him.

Wed, 16 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Jeremiah 44:1-14

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, ² “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³ because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. ⁴ Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ ⁵ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. ⁶ Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. ⁷ And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? ⁸ Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹ “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. ¹² I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. ¹³ I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ¹⁴ so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.”

Babylon has conquored Israel and has left a small remnant in the land while carrying the rest of the survivors into captivity. But after asking Jeremiah for God’s command for the people, and promising to obey it, whatever it is, the people decide to flee to Egypt, in violation of what God has commanded. In response to all their rebellion, God declares His opposition to this small remnant that is fleeing to Egypt. He declares that He will set His face against them for harm.

What do we learn from this?

Israel refused to obey God. They made promises to obey Him which they then disregarded. They worshiped other gods, while pretending to obey the true God. They sought God’s blessing on their lives while seeking the “blessing” of other gods as well. They tried to be the people of God and follow other gods as well. God put up with this for a while, but eventually His patience was exceeded and He came out against such duplicity.

God will not forever put up with His church claiming to follow Him while seeking after the world. If the church is pretending to follow Him while actually seeking after its own pleasure and desires, God will eventually come out actively against it. For any church that follows its own agenda in opposition to His commands is in reality not His church, and is proving itself to not belong to Him by its disobedience.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is Lord and King of His church. He is its ruler, and will act to protect and purify it. He will discipline those who claim to be His. So the disobedient church can expect to find that Jesus Christ, whom they claim to worship, has set His face against them. Until they truly repent of their sin, and turn to Him in faith, they are acting as enemies of the one they claim to serve.

Tue, 15 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Romans 5:6-11

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Paul lays out here for us why the grace of God is amazing. The salvation He gives to us in Jesus Christ is not anything we earn. It is nothing we deserve. In fact, God grants this salvation to those who are manifestly unworthy of it. He grants salvation to the ungodly.

What do we learn from this?

We are all sinners. We have all violdated God’s law. God is angry with sinners, and He must have that wrath appeased, turned away, before He can accept anyone. There must be some way for people to reconciled to God before He can be at peace with them.

But God has provided the way for reconciliation, not because of our merit, but only because of His love and mercy.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The reconciliation we find in comes to us because of the work of Jesus Christ. All of His people have been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, as He died on the cross to pay for the guilt of their sins. All the wrath of God is poured out upon Jesus Christ on the cross, and therefore His people are saved from His wrath. That wrath has been appeased, and we now find that because of the work of Jesus Christ applied to us by faith, we are reconciled to God.

Mon, 14 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Samuel 4:1-11

¹ And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. ² The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. ³ And when the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” ⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. ⁶ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. ⁹ Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Magic. That is all some people think religion is. We do the right actions, use the right words, go to the right places, and God is obligated to do what we want. The Israelites (and the Philistines) thought that in the days of Samuel. If we just bring the ark of the covenant out to battle with us, they thought, God is obligated to give us the victory. Right?

Wrong. God allowed the Philistines to have the victory over Israel, to kill the sons of the high priest, and to capture the ark of the covenant.

What do we learn from this?

We can not manipulate God. We can’t do things that will force Him to do what we want. We can’t earn His favor by attending church. We can’t buy Him off by donating money. We aren’t part of His family because we have been born into a “Christian” family or country.

Hophni and Phinehas were wicked men, even though they held the office of priests of God. They were disobedient to God and disrespectful of the sacrifices brought by the people. They were not protected by their elevated religious office, nor by the sacred articles of the tabernacle. The ark of the covenant couldn’t spare them from God’s wrath.

We see this again and again in scripture. God allows pagans to overrun, capture and sometimes destroy the things that are set aside for His worship, to show us that these things are not magic. If we disobey God, He will not spare us, and we can’t look for shelter in our rituals that we think offer us protection.

Where is Christ in this passage?

All the articles of the tabernacle and temple served the purpose of pointing the people to Jesus Christ. They were not magical tools that gave access to God. The ark was not, as famously stated in the first Indiana Jones movie “a transmitter, a radio for speaking to God.” They were pictures of Jesus Christ, the coming redeemer. And when He came to earth, lived the perfect life for His people, and then died and was resurrected for the forgiveness of their sins, the items for temple worship all became obsolete.

Sun, 13 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 17:15

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Once again, David is facing enemies, and he cries out to God for protection. He asks God to confront and subdue his enemies. But he ends the psalm with this amazing statement. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

What do we learn from this?

We live in a society that teaches us to be dissatisfied. No matter how much we have, we are always lacking something. An advertising culture has trained us to never be content but to always desire something more, better, or improved.

But David says he will be satisfied if he bears the likeness of God. If he can be like God, that is enough for him.

David also says that he will bear God’s likeness when he awakes.

We are being sanctified, but the job is not complete yet. There is still much more to be done in our lives. Every day we are a little more obedient to God’s word, and there is an upward trajectory to our holiness. But we are still far from perfectly complying to God’s commands. We have to wait until we are glorified at death before we will be completely sinless. When we wake from death, we will be made perfect, and will no longer be able to sin. At that point, we will finally and fully be satisfied, for we will then be like God in our conduct. We will be sinless.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is the only person who ever was in and of Himself, perfectly obedient to God’s commands. He was sinless. The rest of us can only attain sinlessness as we come to God through faith in the work of Jesus Christ. At that point, Jesus Christ takes the punishment for our sins upon Himself on the cross, and He grants to us the perfect righteousness He earned Himself. We are counted as perfectly sinless because of the work of Jesus Christ attributed to us.

But the full culmination of our salvation is when we are glorified and stand in His presence. Then we will be truly sinless in our conduct as we have been perfected. Jesus Christ’s work will be fully completed and we will be restored to the state mankind was originally created to be in: sinless in God’s presence.

Sat, 12 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Jeremiah 40:1-6

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ² The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place. ³ The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. ⁴ Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go. ⁵ If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go. ⁶ Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

Jeremiah has faithfully served God by bringing the people of Israel God’s word of the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah has suffered greatly as the leaders of the people did not accept God’s word and repent.

But God was at work none the less. God brought about exactly what He said He would do, and in the midst of all the death and destruction, God preserved Jeremiah. Now, at the end of the seige after the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is being led in chains to Babylon with the other captives, and the Babylonian guard frees Jeremiah and sets him at liberty. We see that God intervened and granted Jeremiah release from the captivity.

What do we learn from this?

We see clearly in Jeremiah’s life that being a servant of God does not exempt us from suffering. In fact, it might make the suffering we have to suffer worse. Jeremiah clearly suffered more because of his faithfulness to God’s commands, and it is possible that this will be true for us as well.

We also see that what we think of as a good thing doesn’t always turn out that way. As we will see in Jeremiah’s life, being freed from the chain gang heading to Babylon seems like a great thing. He can remain in the land of Israel with the small remnant left behind. But as we will see in the coming days, this tiny band will end up fleeing to Egypt, forcing Jeremiah to come along. According to Jewish history, they will eventually kill Jeremiah in Egypt because he continues to bring God’s unpopular word to the people. So Jeremiah being freed from the captivity is only a prelude for more suffering and most likely his eventual death.

Why would God have Jeremiah suffer like this? Why would he “reward” his faithful servant with more suffering? We don’t have an answer for that other than the fact that God is in control, and He does everything for the salvation of His own people and for His own glory. So somehow God used this for Jeremiah’s good, the good of the church, and for God’s glory.