Judgment must come

Jeremiah 15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Judgment Must Come

Then the Lord said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! ² And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

³ I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵ “Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? ⁶ “You who have forsaken Me,” declares the Lord, “You keep going backward.
So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am tired of relenting! ⁷ “I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways. ⁸ “Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, A destroyer at noonday; I will suddenly bring down on her Anguish and dismay. ⁹ “She who bore seven sons pines away;Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was yet day; She has been shamed and humiliated. So I will give over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰ Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me. ¹¹ The Lord said, “Surely I will set you free for purposes of good; Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you In a time of disaster and a time of distress. ¹² “Can anyone smash iron,
Iron from the north, or bronze? ¹³ “Your wealth and your treasures I will give for booty without cost, Even for all your sins And within all your borders.
¹⁴ “Then I will cause your enemies to bring it Into a land you do not know;
For a fire has been kindled in My anger, It will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

¹⁵ You who know, O Lord, Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach. ¹⁶ Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
¹⁷ I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, Nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with indignation. ¹⁸ Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?

¹⁹ Therefore, thus says the Lord, “If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them. ²⁰ “Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” declares the Lord. ²¹ “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”

Today’s text says:  Then the Lord said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go!  And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’   There is no person righteous enough that they can take away God’s judgment against the sin of others. Only Jesus Himself could stand before God to reconcile people to His heart. Only the righteousness of Christ is enough to save anyone from sin. Without Christ we are destined to death and captivity. We are captive to sin; leading to death. It is not Christ who judges; rather He saves from judgment. Still, even now, because God is a God of justice and He has not changed His mind regarding sin; just as it says in today’s text, judgment must come.    In John 3:17-21 Jesus says:  “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”    God’s judgment is against sin and darkness.  Those who love darkness choose judgment for themselves, because of their evil deeds. John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   Believing in Christ frees us from the judgment of God against darkness.  In John 8:12 Jesus says:  “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Today’s text says:  Then the Lord said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people.  The same is true today.  Yet God has always sought a person or a people who would stand in the gap for those who are lost. Moses and Samuel were people like that.  In 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 God says:  If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,  and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.   Even now, in the darkness of these times, none of us by our own righteousness can save ourselves let alone anyone else. But just as Jesus Himself interceded for all of creation placing the cross between God and our sin; if we, those who are called by His name, will humble ourselves and pray, the attentive ears of God will hear our prayers and heal our land. In John 15:7-8 Jesus says:  “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You. I stand today not in my own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ. Because of the finished work of the cross, because He stood in the gap for all of creation, I humbly ask that You would heal our land. May the light of Christ shine for all to see, that they might believe and choose light over darkness. Amen.