READINGS FOR JULY 24 - JULY 31

JULY 24

Earlier we stated that ancient Nineveh is in ruins today, as prophesied by Nahum. The following is a link that you might find interesting.
http://www.bible-history.com/archaeology/assyria/2-assyria-mound-bb.html

Zephaniah is an excellent example of the layering of Biblical prophecies. There is an immediate literal fulfillment of the prophecy, which is symbolic of a future fulfillment of that same prophecy. These prophecies are spread throughout the book of Zephaniah. For example, the judgments of Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Cush, and Assyria were literally fulfilled when the Babylonians invaded the entire area in the 580s BC. The future fulfillment will take place during the wrath of God when God pours out His condemnation on these same countries. God’s people will then inherit this land during the millennium.. It’s ironic (at least from the human point of view) that God uses Ammon and Moab as places of safety for His people during the time of His wrath.

Zephaniah 2:10
This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty.

Chapter 1 of Zephaniah relates God's judgment against Judah.  He mentions "those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him".  

Many times we as Believers turn back from following the Lord, and go our own way or the way of the world.  But even when we don't turn back from following Him, are we guilty of not seeking Him?  And how about when we pray, do we ask God or do we tell God.  

Also in Chapter 1, God says He "will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold."
This is a reference to the Philistine custom of stepping over the threshold.  Because of their paganism and superstition, they avoid the threshold. See the following:

1Samuel 5:1-5
After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.   They brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon.   Early the next day the people of Ashdod saw that Dagon had fallen forward on the ground in front of the LORD'S ark. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.   But the next morning they saw that Dagon had again fallen forward on the ground in front of the LORD'S ark. Dagon's head and his two hands were cut off and were lying on the temple's threshold. The rest of Dagon's body was intact. This is why the priests of Dagon and everyone else who comes into Dagon's temple in Ashdod still don't step on the temple's threshold.  

Zephaniah 3:4
Her priests profane the sanctuary and do violence to the law.
Many spiritual leaders today profane the sanctuary by bringing in unholy pagan rituals.  They change the commands of God to make them more palatable to the masses ("cotton candy" preaching).  And because God's laws are made palatable, the people are eager to act corruptly(verse 7 - see also Ezekiel Chapter 8).  An example of profaning the sanctuary and doing violence to God's law would be when spiritual leaders are quick to support laws concerning gay marriage, abortions, etc.

Zephaniah 3:13
The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak no lies..."
This is how conditions will be in the Millennium without the influence of Satan (who is temporarily confined to the abyss).  On a regular daily basis people will speak no lies.  What would happen today if everyone in the whole world told the truth for even 24 hours?  Would there be a godly spiritual renewal or would world society collapse?

Zephaniah 3:18 
The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you, they are a burden and a reproach to you.
For us as Believers there is no sorrow attached to the appointed feasts and festivals (the Holy Days).  There is only joy in our remembrance that Jesus is the fulfillment of those days.

There is an unbelievably wonderful verse in today’s reading.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

Can you even begin to imagine God singing??? Yet Zephaniah tells us that He does! He takes great delight in us and rejoices over us. AMAZING!

JULY 25, 2021

Jeremiah was called as a prophet during a time of spiritual renewal by King Josiah. However, because of the previous kings the people were led into pagan practices and worshiping false gods. God pronounces judgments on His people because they worshiped false gods - a violation of the first and second of the Ten Commandments.

Jeremiah was a Levite, the son of a priest.

 Jeremiah 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Proof that God knew us even before we were conceived. Since He is omniscient, He can do that!

Jeremiah 1:9
Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth.

What an image that is! The Lord reached out to touch Jeremiah with His hand. This was the hand of God, the Son.  The Lord reaches out to “touch” us. He did that through Jesus! 

We were wondering about the vision of the almond branch and remembered Aaron's staff budding and bearing fruit overnight. Was God expecting Jeremiah to produce much "fruit" in his witness?

Interesting that the prophecies given to Jeremiah were during the times of Josiah's reforms. No wonder the people didn't listen.  Things were going too well. 

Jeremiah reminds us of the spiritual marriage relationship.

Jeremiah 2:2
"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.

The Lord asks the question "What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me?"

Could the people answer with the same excuses many people use today, things such as "The Bible is too confining, too restrictive, too confusing, not relevant to the customs of today."

Jeremiah 2:13
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

How often do we try to do things on our own – at great cost and effort? Our way is substandard at best. God gives freely and His way is so much better. 

God reminds the people that they have brought their disasters on themselves. It's not that God punishes so much but that people reap what they sow. Sometimes we suffer as a natural result of our sinful behavior.

Jeremiah 2:19b
Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

God is Holy. We should not worship Him casually!

Psalm 29:2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
How should it look to worship Him in splendor and with reverence and awe?

Jeremiah 2:25
But you said, It's no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.

This lust after foreign gods, such as the sexual perversion associated with the fertility gods. is an obsession with them.  This lust is difficult to shake, especially when the person doesn't want to stop going after foreign gods because it is so pleasurable to him.  An example of this would be people's obsession with gaming.  They say they love it so much and can't stop.  By making that statement they are in effect saying it is an addiction and a "disease" and they have no control over it.  Habits, obsessions, and addictions can be broken.

Jeremiah 2:30  
“In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

The people didn't heed the warnings then, people are not heeding the warnings now.  They didn't listen to Jeremiah then, they don't listen to modern day prophets today. (Modern day prophets are those who are God's spokespersons, who speak the truth from God's Word.)

Jeremiah 3 explains just how corrupt Israel had become with prostitution and wickedness, refusing even to blush with shame. They have the nerve to ask God, "Will your wrath continue forever?" as they fail to respond to His punishment. It's as if they want God to bless whatever they do no matter how evil it is.

God is calling His people to humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.  Only then can we expect God to bless us.

JULY 26

Jeremiah 3:11
The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

This previous statement is made regarding their pretense.  Faithless Israel is devoid of faith, they have no faith.  Unfaithful Judah claims to be faithful and yet is unfaithful.  This makes Judah worse than Israel yet Israel doesn't even claim to acknowledge God. 

Faithless Israel "has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there." Most always the phrase "under every spreading tree"  is related to sexual sins.

Jeremiah relates that the entire house of Israel (all 12 tribes) have been unfaithful as a woman is unfaithful to her husband.  Again, the marriage analogy of God's relationship with His people.  God urges the people to return to Him. The scattered tribes will return in the millennium. Jews are being brought back into the land today. (see Ezekiel 37) He says He will bring them to Zion which is exactly what the Messianic Jews are doing today. Couldn't help but think of Moshe in Israel concerning the shepherds who lead the people with knowledge and understanding.

2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

We have an amazingly gracious God. He remains faithful to us - even when we are not faithful to Him! God reminds us through Jeremiah as He did with Isaiah that our relationship with Him is as a spiritual marriage.

Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt -

This is a very important verse that reminds us of the need to acknowledge our sins and repent, then the blessings will come.

Jeremiah 4:3
This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.

Unplowed ground is as a hardened heart…not open to hearing and applying the Word of God. We are told to break up this unplowed ground. How can we do that? Does this mean that we are to soften our hearts and rid ourselves of the briars and thorns of soft teaching and man-made traditions? 

He also tells us not to sow among thorns. Later in this same chapter we find this verse.

Jeremiah 4:22b
They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good."

If we sow among thorns, we reap destruction.  If a person does not know how to do good, could it be that they have not been taught God's ways?   We take great pains to use herbicides to kill weeds in our lawns but we tend to spend little energy to kill the spiritual weeds in our faith.

Galatians 6:8a
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;

Skill in doing evil comes from practicing that which is evil. It is called "usage familiarity".

Best advice: Break up our “unplowed ground” and allow God’s Word to take root and grow.

In Jeremiah 4:10 he accuses God of deception - a serious accusation!

Later in Jeremiah 4 are descriptions of a vision that Jeremiah was given concerning what is to come if the people do not repent and return to the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:1
“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

This one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth would be an example of a modern-day prophet. Does this mean that God will forgive a nation if a remnant repents?  Is this a confirming verse for the Power of ONE person?

Jeremiah 5:2
Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely. ”
People may go through the motions, giving "lip service" to repentance but don't mean it.  How about many politicians who swear on the Bible that they will uphold the constitution of the United States and then immediately violate the oath they just took?

Jeremiah 5:3
O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?  You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.  
We, as a nation and a church, have been given warnings about repentance, and yet we have not turned. So in the next few verses Jeremiah thinks that maybe the people just don't know how to repent, they don't know the way of the Lord.  He thinks he will go to the leaders, surely they will know.  But, of course, they don't.  And so God lets Jeremiah know the fate of those people.

We just keep going back to the verse in chapter 5.
If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
One person CAN make a difference!  Never forget the power of ONE.  

JULY 27

Jeremiah gives warning to the entire house of Israel (the 12 tribes) that the Babylonians are coming to make war.  Over 100 years earlier the Assyrians had taken the Northern Kingdom (the 10 tribes) into captivity and placed the captives as a buffer between Assyria and Babylon. When Babylon comes to make war on the Southern Kingdom (Judah) they go through the captive nation of Israel (the 10 tribes) Therefore the Bablyons attacked Israel, Judah, and Assyria.  The Assyrian captivity of Israel took place in 722 BC.  The Babylonian captivity of Judah took place around 590 BC.  Jeremiah was called to his prophetic mission in 626 BC.

Both the nations of Israel and Judah are warned that the wrath of the Babylonians will be intense. Jeremiah's message is to repent before this happens.

Jeremiah 7:17
With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.
This verse applies literally in relation to God's people then but is just as applicable spiritually to God's people today.

Jeremiah 5:30-31
"A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

This is a question for us individually today.  What will WE do?  Will we search out the truth or believe in lies and watered-down truth?  Why is it that the people love being told lies? 

Oh, guess the answer is found in the following verse.
Jeremiah 6:10
To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.

In case we didn’t get it with Jeremiah, Paul adds a few touches.
II Thessalonians 2:9-12
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

And just what is this wickedness? Is it the false pagan traditions and teachings that have been incorporated into the faith as compared to the truth of God as revealed through the Holy Spirit?

Mark 7:8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.

The spiritual leaders in Jeremiah's day were telling the people things they wanted to hear.  Same thing was going on in Jesus' day and in our day as well.

Jesus said this about spiritual leaders who deceive the people.

Matthew 24:5
For many will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many. 

Not much has changed today.  Many people speak the name of Jesus but have a twisted and distorted understanding of Scripture.

Jeremiah warns that the spiritual leaders deceive the people.

 Jeremiah 6:13-15
"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD.

The people were being spiritually wounded unto the second death, yet the spiritual leaders were giving "band-aid" treatments at best. The prophets and priests who lie and rule by their own authority are not ashamed of their conduct. They are so far from God’s Monument of Truth that they don’t even know enough to be ashamed. Their consciences are seared. (1Timothy 4:2)

Jeremiah 6
Their ears are closed so they cannot hear.  The word of the Lord is offensive to them;  

So how do we as people of God become familiar with His Monument of Truth? Jeremiah makes it so very clear.

Jeremiah 6:16
This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'

The ancient paths are in God's Word. There we will find the good way so that we can walk in it.  It is there that we find the plan of salvation spelled out so beautifully for us.  We stand at the crossroads daily. We make choices daily. Back to our first verse for today, "But what will YOU do in the end?"

Will we take the “road less traveled” , the good way, and go to the ancient paths, the Monument of Truth?  Or will we follow after the traditions of men?

JULY 28

In Chapter 7 Jeremiah condemns religiosity. People were coming into the temple and saying they were worshiping the Lord but they were doing detestable things in God’s house. Are there ways we misuse the church today? Would a modern day Jeremiah condemn our churches for religiosity or for practicing "churchianity" instead of Christianity?

Jeremiah warns about trusting in deceptive words that were worthless.  People were coming to the temple trusting in the religious leaders.  Same thing happens today.  People come to church and trust that everything spoken by the religious leaders is correct, even though they may be hearing deceptive words.

The people in Jeremiah's day thought they could come to the temple, do all manner of evil and yet be protected from any repercussions simply because they thought they had the protection of the temple.  A very convicting verse follows.

Jeremiah 7:11
But I have been watching! declares the Lord. 

Jeremiah 7:22-23
For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

God did not give the people these rituals and symbolic practices of burnt offerings and sacrifices in the beginning of the exodus from Egypt. All they had to do was to obey Him and walk in His commands. They had the Angel of His Presence (the pre-incarnate Jesus). It wasn’t until later that God added all the ritualistic regulations, after they had repeatedly disobeyed.

Exodus 33:14
The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

He was with them for heaven’s sake! All they had to do was to listen and obey Him.
Oops...He is with us too isn’t He? If we are believers, we have His Presence with us always in the form of the Holy Spirit. So, what’s our problem??? 

Another warning:

Jeremiah 7:27-28 

“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.  Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

Sound like the United States today??? 

And again in the following verse, a condemnation.  

Jeremiah 8:6 

 I have listened attentively,  but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”

(See 2 Chronicles 7:14)

Jeremiah 8:7
But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.

This is because the parents have not taught their children the requirements, nor have the religious leaders.  In fact, according to verse 8, concerning the law of the Lord, the "lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely." 

Jeremiah again rebukes the spiritual leaders.

Jeremiah 8:11
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace.

The “falling away” from godly teaching started early. It was treated as a “scratch” when it was a “dagger” to the heart.

Jeremiah also mentions that the spiritual leaders are not ashamed of their conduct, that they don't even know how to blush.  If a person doesn't even know how to blush, that person has no shame.

(Again, see 2 Chronicles 7:14)

Jeremiah 9:12-13 
What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it?  (Theological seminaries alone are poor substitutes for the Holy Spirit who guides us into God's Truth.) Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.

People believe untruths that have been handed down to them. (traditions of men). 

Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

2 Corinthians 1:12
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.

What a boast…to conduct ourselves in holiness and sincerity because we understand and know the Lord!

JULY 29

Today’s reading begins with an intriguing image.

Jeremiah 10:3-4
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

What particular image does that conjure up for you?

An extra-biblical writing The Book of Enoch (father of Methuselah) mentions a similar description to this one in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 10:13
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Evidence that God is in control of the weather.

Jeremiah 10:21
The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.

And what might happen to the flock without a shepherd?

John 10:12-13
The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Then contrast this with Jesus, who is the good shepherd.

John 10:14
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--

He knows us…do we know Him?

Jeremiah has some stinging words in this next verse.

Jeremiah 11:14

“Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

It is very clear from this verse that a time may come when it is too late to pray.
Another thought - could this be a case of misdirected mercy?  Sometimes people need God's discipline in order to learn a lesson.  We may want to spare them the pain but God may want to use that pain for a noble purpose.

In Jeremiah 12 is a description of shepherds who ruin the vineyard. The leaders were causing a spiritual drought. It was a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord. The seeds of truth were not planted and therefore a crop could not grow. Not much has changed now. We are in many ways experiencing a spiritual drought. But, praise God, there are spiritual leaders out there who are scattering seeds of the knowledge of the Word of God and are nourishing and challenging those who come to hear. Again, couldn't help but think of Moshe in Israel with his groups of Messianic Jews.

JULY 30

As we have reviewed the last few days' readings, it is clear that God has been preparing His people (that would be all of us as well) for the message in today's readings.  It is a powerful warning.

Jeremiah surely lays it out very specifically!

Jeremiah 13:25-27
This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen-- your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?"

God is telling the people that He will expose what they are doing. He refers to all the idol worship, Asherah poles and sexual perversion. What does that have to do with us today? Do we participate in idol worship? Do we have Asherah poles? Too often we want to distance ourselves from the God of the Old Testament and dismiss His warnings to be only for the people then. We miss a depth of understanding when we don’t make the application for ourselves today from the Old Testament. Paul gives some definitive words concerning this.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It says ALL Scripture. That includes Old Testament as well as New Testament.  

So back to the question, what does that have to do with us today? We do participate in idol worship. We do this any time we elevate any thing above our worship of God (material possessions, our jobs, our hobbies, sports). We do have Asherah poles. Any time we rationalize any kind of sexual perversion (pornography, adultery, sex before marriage, homosexuality, watching certain movies, reading certain books, the transgender and abortion movement), we lift up Asherah poles. There are consequences for our actions. We need only look at the results of these activities in the past to see what happens to us now and in the future.

God warns in Jeremiah 14 to beware of false prophets who tell of visions and their own delusions. We must also be careful today of many "theories" taught as Biblical truth. There are many leaders, writers, and speakers who follow this same pattern of twisting God's word to make it say something that it doesn't say simply because that is what people want to hear and believe. God warns about what will happen to them and it's not a pretty picture.

Okay, I guess we’re done for today!