October 7- The Weeping Prophet

October 7, 2011

Scripture Reading:
Jeremiah 8:8-9:26; Colossians 3:1-17;
Psalm 78:32-55; Proverbs 24:27

Let your tears come. Let them water your soul.  
~Eileen Mayhew

Jeremiah 8:8-9:26

When I was a kid my family teased me because I was a cry baby.  I cried at everything.  If I was happy, I cried.  If I was sad, I cried.  If someone hurt my feelings, I cried, instead of getting mad.  Buckets of tears flowed.  We used to all laugh about it.  Then I went through a phase where I never cried.  Nothing could move me.  There were some hard years with some hard things that happened and it hardened me.  Over the years, I have found a balance.  I am once again a person who can cry.  Actually, I cry pretty easily.  It feels good.  Crying is good.  Today, God picks Jeremiah to bring the devastating news of judgment to Judah because Jeremiah is not a hard person with a hard heart.  He is the weeping prophet whose heart is breaking over sin.  As J. Vernon McGee says, God picked a man with a handkerchief, rather than a man with a hammer to reflect God's own feelings over sin.

In chapters 8 and 9 Jeremiah wishes that his eyes were like a fountain filled with tears that would never stop flowing.  That is the magnitude of sorrow that he feels. He is so worn out with Judah's sin.  He fantasizes about going away and living in a shack in the desert in order to forget about his people and their adulterous and treacherous ways.  Jeremiah weeps for the punishment that is coming. He is mute with grief.  He wonders if there is not a physician with medicine to cure this problem of sin.  You and I know that in the future a Great Physician named Jesus Christ does bring healing to the earth.  He solves the problem of sin by paying the debt on the cross and conquering the consequence of sin.

Jeremiah's weeping over Jerusalem is a foreshadowing of Christ weeping over Jerusalem when he enters the city prior to Israel's rejection of him as Messiah.  Jerusalem will be a city of weeping until Christ restores the city in the future during His millennial reign.  Eventually, there will be a New Jerusalem, which will reflect the perfection of the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 20) as promised in Scripture.

The Lord gives Jeremiah a prophecy about the scattering of the Jews throughout the world and a look at the persecution that they will be subject to throughout history. In Jeremiah 9:15-16 Jeremiah says,

"So now, listen to what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: Look! I will feed them poison to drink. I will scatter them around the world and they will be strangers in distant lands.  Their enemies will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely."  

We are given the message that the Jews role in history is a result of their rejection of their God.  Remember, all people on earth are guilty of this rejecting God and sinning.  The Jews are singled out to be an illustration of what all mankind is guilty of.  We should not make the mistake of thinking that Jewish people are more sinful than others.  They are simply a representation of all of mankind. 

Our reading in Jeremiah ends today with a warning from God that in the future He will punish all those who are circumcised in the body, but not in the spirit.  All people groups will be responsible, including the Jews, for being circumcised in the spirit. How can one be circumcised in the spirit? How to be circumcised in the spirit is tied to faith in the coming Messiah, or in our day, having faith in the Messiah who came into the world in the past.  This is exactly what the Apostle Paul teaches in the New Testament.  Here are some verses that teach this: 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 5:9, Colossians 2:11; Romans 2:29.  This is also taught elsewhere in the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 10:16, Deuteronomy 30:6, and Jeremiah 4:4.  Mankind needs a Savior who can deal with the problem of sin.  This has been true since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden.

What can we learn from this?  Our sin nature must be cut away from us in order for us to fellowship with a Holy God.  This circumcision of our sin nature is only accomplished through Jesus Christ.

Have you been spiritually circumcised in your heart?

Colossians 3:1-17

Yesterday we studied that Paul challenged the Colossians to not just live by rules that cannot really conquer someone's evil thought life.  Today Paul teaches that we must set out sites on a new reality.  That reality is that we are going to live forever somewhere else.  This is the reality of heaven. 

Paul encourages the Colossians to fill their thoughts with thoughts of heaven. We are to remember that we are going to share in Christ's glory! With this in mind, we are to put to death our sinful tendencies. Foremost, we must conquer sexual sin and lust.  This drags humanity down the toilet. Being greedy for worldly things is really idolatry.  Get that straight in your head. Attitudes like anger, slander, and maliciousness are no longer to rule your heart. Don't lie to people. Dont' lie to yourself. Live in truth.

Embrace your new nature that has been given to you in Christ. It is Christ who lives in you. Each day put on new attitudes like you put on new clothes.  Let those attitudes be mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness of each other, and the tendency to overlook each other's faults.   We are to remember that this is how God treats us. The most important piece of clothing is love. This is what binds Christians together.

How do you do this?  Christ's words are the keys to understanding and doing this.  Keep his words in your heart and mind.  That is the key. Sing his words through hymns and spiritual songs. Let your actions represent Christ inside of you.

This is good advice.  Are you willing to take this advice and practice it?

Psalm 78:32-55

This is a psalm that spells out rebellion against God and how God is merciful, patient, and just.

Proverbs 24:27

Have a job before you buy a house.  This is wise advice.

What are you noticing as you read.  Please share.

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal
Kathy Fullerton