Vain shouts of assurance

Jeremiah chapter seven should be one of the most haunting passages in Scripture for our world today. The description of apostate Israel has chilling similarities to Christianity in America as we know it. Let me just put the passage in here, and then I'll write some comments.

Jeremiah 7:1-15 (ESV)
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

I know this is a relatively long passage, but please take the time to read it carefully. Essentially what is happening in Israel, is that the Israelites are going into the Temple, offering sacrifices, calling for God's deliverance (because hey, it's his Temple, he has to save them!) and then leaving to live lives completely away from God.

God despises this. He wants to make it clear that his deliverance and blessing is not something they are entitled too, simply because they go through the motions of sacrifice. He wants his people to love him, not use him like some genie in the sky.

Going even further, Israel was worshiping Baal outside the Temple!

Israel was trying to buy God's deliverance from Assyria with exterior worship, while their hearts ran after idols.

How many Christians in our society today "pray the prayer" to escape hell, and run after every other god our society offers? Or even still, how many merely go through the motions of Christianity, yet lack any zeal and passion for God?

While the Israelites of old yelled, "the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD", insisting that God now must save them, how many Christians yell, "Grace, grace, grace", and commit the same sin as Israel.

I don't say this to detract from God's grace, for we are only saved by grace through faith plus nothing. However, that is not to be taken as some lucky charm, or an excuse to live however we want. Romans 6:1-2 has something to say about this:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

By no means. God wants the people bearing his name to be sold out for him. I fear that we become too content with our lives, and allow ourselves to sit in church, sing the hymns, and follow other gods Monday through Saturday. Israel forgot how to live out the Shema, and I fear so have we.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Sky is Pretty Big

Have you ever just looked up into the night sky and been lost in the glory of God? David did. He wrote about it, too.

Psalm 19:1 (ESV)
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

This seems to be the first passage that pops into our head, and the first response we have to this beautiful act of creation. Without taking away from this (I hope I'm adding to it's depth), I would like to bring one other piece of Scripture to mind. During my time in the Word two days ago, this verse jumped out at me.

Jeremiah 31:37 (ESV)
"Thus says the LORD: 'If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done', declares the LORD."

This is one of the most amazing statements about God's mercy. Essentially, God is saying that he will NEVER cast away his people for what they have done. His love is as broad and endless as the night sky. That doesn't negate the consequence for not glorifying him, however, because this was written not long before the Babylonian captivity. This does, though, give us a tiny glimpse of how much God really loves us.

As I was pondering this thought, I asked myself a question: did God HAVE to make the sky that big and endless? Probably not. He could have sustained life on this planet without making all those other ones. Yet, I think the fact that he DID make the universe that big, tells us something about who he is. It tells us that he wants to be glorified, and it tells us how much he loves us. Yeah, God loves his people THAT much. It's beyond our ability to comprehend, and it should be.

One of Those Days

Do you ever have one of those days where you are completely overwhelmed by your own sinfulness? Days when you realize how far you fall short of God’s perfect standard? Inevitably, those are also the days when we see just how perfect God really is. Isaiah 6 is often a chapter I go to on days like this one.

Isaiah 6:1-5 (ESV)
¹ In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

If we had even the slightest idea of how big, powerful, and glorious our God really is, we would react just like Isaiah. Woe is me! I am lost. We don’t even begin to get close. Yet, there is hope.

Here is another passage that is dear to me, especially on days like today.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (ESV)
²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

This is such an encouraging passage. See, it’s not what we are that matters – it’s what God will make us that matters. It is all about Jesus Christ. He becomes our wisdom from God, our righteousness and sanctification, and our redemption. It’s not about me: it’s all about Him. It’s not my righteousness that will allow me into the presence of the shekinah glory, it is only the perfect righteousness of Jesus the Moshiach.

With a God that amazing, what is keeping us from displaying Him to the world?

Man, the Pinnacle of Creation

As I continue my quest through the Scriptures, I would like to apologize in advance for skipping sections, although I hope never to take God’s Word out of context. I would like to strongly encourage you, my readers, to correct me if you see error, or ask if I have passed across a topic you would like me to address. This is as much for you as it is for me.

I would like to focus now on Genesis 1:26-27. It is important to note firstly, that Genesis 1 (read it!) is the overview chapter regarding creation, and chapter 2 goes back to look into the minutia involved in the creation of man. So, let’s start with these verses.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over ever creeping thing that that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

- Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)

The first thing that I think needs to be pointed out is the plurality of God’s words here. This is one of the early indications of God’s plural, and yet singular nature. While the Scripture has not revealed the meaning of this yet, later revelation will give us more glimpses into the triune nature of God. (As a side note, it is interesting to point out that one of the Hebrew names for deity, Elohim, is the plural form of the word, which singularly is El)

What does it mean to be made “in the image of God”? I like John MacArthur’s description of this. Speaking of Adam, he said, “Man is is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes. In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion. In the moral sense, he (Adam) was like God because he was good and sinless.”

I also think that part of what it means to be made in His image is our authoritative position over nature, as described in the above passage. Our responsibility to have dominion over the earth is a reflection of God having control over all things in existence.

This passage gives us a glimpse into paradise, the world as God originally created it. As we read these chapters, it is very important that we let this section of Scripture sink into our souls. That should impact our lives daily. The fact that we are created special, above all other creation, and in the Father’s image, should bring us to our knees in thanksgiving. Likewise, it should change how we view and treat other people, for they do bear God’s image – even though it is incredibly marred by sin.

Finally, as we see the progressive nature of Scripture unfold, we need to keep these images of paradise in mind. The entire canon of Scripture starts here, and ends here. The journey in between should not lose sight of that.

The Beginning – A Very Good Place to Start

I have recently been spending time reading through Genesis. I think a strong knowledge of the Tanakh (the Old Testament) is essential if we are to correctly interpret the books that make up the “New Testament”. All of the Gospels, Epistles, history and Eschatological books in the New Testament were written by Jewish authors, and many of them to or from a Jewish context. Understanding this fact, and embracing it, is crucial for how we read those books.

So, while I continue to read and digest the writings of Paul (I’m currently reading and studying Paul’s letter to the Romans), I have simultaneously started reading through the Torah (or the first five books in the Bible -- the books of Moses). This, naturally, brings me to Genesis, or Bereshith.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

– Genesis 1:1-2 (ESV)

Here in the opening lines of Scripture is our first encounter with earth, and with it’s Creator. Beyond that, I would like to point out the word “Spirit” used in the above passage of Scripture. It is the Hebrew word ruach. This word generally has three meanings, either wind, breath, or spirit. While this is such a rich section of Scripture, I merely wanted to point out two things from the opening passages (although I’m certain I will have much more to say about this chapter).

The second thing I would like to point out is God’s act of separating the water.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

- Genesis 1:6-8 (ESV)

And again in the next passage, we see the act of God separating the waters, both an act of creating and revealing.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

- Genesis 1:9-10 (ESV)

While we by no means should be taking these verses out of their context, I am only posting these ones for the sake of space and time. I would strongly encourage you to read the entire chapter on your own.

The entire concept of water is incredibly important in both Judaism (mikveh), and Christianity (baptism). While pointing out similarities and differences between these two practices are way off topic (I’m sure I will get there someday), I am merely using them as an example.

The purpose of this post is to point out two of the major factors which are evident in Scripture when God is in the process of creating something. His Spirit, or ruach, is present, along with this theme of “separating the waters”. This is something that we will see over and over again at the major hinge points in Scripture, and I thought it was an important way to start this journey.

(Also, I will post Hebrew words in italics, at least the first time they are used)

Welcome!

Well, I decided to embark on a new blogging adventure. My goal is to make this blog a place exclusively for discussion (even some healthy debate!), and study of God’s Word, the Jewish people, the land of Israel, and everything in between. I am currently finishing a year in the Bible and Israel program, a one year certificate program from Philadelphia Biblical University. In this program, I have spent the last year studying the Scriptures and the land of Israel (hence the name). I would like to be able to materialize some of the knowledge God has blessed me with in writing. I hope that as I continue the never ending journey of learning about my Savior, and sharing Him with others, my experience put into writing will be a blessing to those who read.

The goal of this blog is simple: edification. Whether that comes through my posts, a discussion that follows, or your own study of the Scriptures, I hope that this will be a small blessing in your life.

God Bless,

Zak