The reading for day 56 was Jeremiah 24:1-33:26.
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, tells His people over and over again that they will be going into captivity. He gives hope to those who were taken captive, but to those who fled to Egypt and who were left behind in the land He tells them they will be destroyed. This is what he says of those taken captive already.
24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up. 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I [am] the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. But to those who are still behind He says 24:9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for [their] hurt, [to be] a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 24:10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
What can we learn from this today?
What does it mean when God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant? ( 25:9 )
You pastors out there, what do you think of verses 33-38 of chapter 25?
In chapter 29 verse 7 God tells those who have been taken captive to Babylon to "seek the welfare of the city." What does this mean for us? Should those under oppression seek the welfare of those oppressing them? Love your enemies?
There is a beautiful passage in chapter 31 31:17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. 31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus]; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God. 31:19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon [my] thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 31:20 [Is] Ephraim my dear son? [is he] a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. Its amazing that no matter how far His people strayed from Him, He always has some measure of compassion left for them. The NASB says, "My heart yearns for him..." Wow...God's heart is yearning for His people and He will have mercy on them.
31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. What an amazing promise God has given to His people. He will remember our sin no more!!! We are forgiven!!! Praise God!!!! |
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