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Jeremiah 22:10-12: A tale of 2 kings (please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘’Don’t weep over dead King Josiah. Don’t waste your tears. Weep for his exiled son: He’s gone for good. He’ll never see home again. For this is GOD’s Word on Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah: ‘’He’s gone from here, gone for good. He’ll die in the place they’ve taken him to. He’ll never see home again.’’ The Message.

These verses talk about two different kings: ‘’Josiah’’, and his son ‘’Shallum’’, whose throne name was ‘Jehoahaz’ (2 Kings 23:31-35). Jeremiah tells the people not to weep for Josiah. He had died some years earlier while fighting the Egyptians (2 Kings 23:29). His body was carried back to Jerusalem where it was laid to rest in peace and honour (2 Kings 23:30). But unlike his godly father, Shallum was an evil man, and reigned only three months. He was then taken into exile in Egypt, where he died (2 Kings 23:34). This tale of two kings was also a tale of two destinies, for one was a believer and the other an ungodly person.

We can understand the logic of verse 10: the call not to weep for Josiah. We can’t do any more for those who have died, but a whole generation would be separated from their true home forever. They would die as exiles in a foreign land. For most that far off country would be Babylon; but for Shallum it was Egypt (see also verses 24-30). This was a matter for tears; and it introduces us to the essence of hell, which is to be exiled (for ever) far removed from our true home – God Himself. It is ultimately a final destination we choose for ourselves by persistent and willful rejection of Jesus, and by refusal to turn back to the Lord, from sin, and be saved from sin. Shallum did not have to be an exile, and neither do you.

From a Christian perspective, we know we do not have to weep for those who die in the Lord. We may cry for ourselves, but it is not necessary to shed tears for them. They are safe, and free and happy; and all our weeping will not bring them back. But let us indeed feel the strongest emotions for those who are ‘lost’. Our prayer meetings should not be dry-eyed as we consider the state as those who now live as exiles from God, and who will remain permanently in that state if they do not repent.

Apparently there was a pro-Jehoahaz party in Judah, pinning their hopes on their king’s return. Perhaps some of the false prophets encouraged this expectation. But it was not going to happen. Neither do we have any Biblical reason to expect that those who die as exiles from God can ever get back home. Though some may preach it, I do not see that the Bible teaches it. The time to repent is now; the time to pray is now; the time to preach is now. Let’s do so, because lost people matter to God.

Prayer: Teach us to care about people, Lord, as you do.

 Jeremiah 22:6-9: Let Britain take note!(please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘’Travellers from all over will come through here and say to one another, ‘Why would GOD do such a thing to this wonderful city?’ They’ll be told, ‘Because they walked out on the covenant of their GOD, took up with other gods and worshipped them.’’ (8, 9) The Message.

I read the above verses and think, ‘Let Great Britain take note; let every European nation take note; indeed, every country on the face of the earth. Let me take note.’ Here is a significant object lesson. Let us look and learn. There are consequences to rejecting God (see Deuteronomy 29:24-26; Jeremiah 16:10-11). ‘’God never forsakes His people unless they have first forsaken Him.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1106. God regularly works in such a way as to raise questions in people’s minds, and if they heed the answer given they can be saved (Acts 2:5ff.)

In (6, 7) you get a sense of what it costs God to judge His people. He doesn’t do it lightly.

‘’I number you among my favourite places – like the lovely hills of Gilead, like the soaring peaks of Lebanon. Yet I swear I’ll turn you into a wasteland, as empty as a ghost town. I’ll hire a demolition crew, well-equipped with sledgehammers and wrecking bars, Pound the country to a pulp and burn it all up.’’ The Message

It hurt Him to hurt them. His love wanted to spare them; but His justice demanded their judgment, because they would not repent. Just as it hurts a loving parent to discipline a wayward child, so this chastisement pierced God’s own heart. We don’t always think about the price paid by God in judgment – a price which is seen most clearly in the death of Jesus, for us all, at Calvary. He judged His Son, for our sin, in order to set us free, if we are willing to be free.

Prayer: Lord have mercy on our land, and bring us back to you.

Jeremiah 22:1-5: Clear alternatives.(please click on Bible passage for reading)
In this chapter Jeremiah delivers a series of messages from God concerning the various kings of Judah under whose reigns Jeremiah ministered. It is thought likely that the unnamed king here is Zedekiah, Judah’s last king. He was called to conform to the example of king David in order to benefit from the promises made to him.
In (4), Jeremiah repeats what he said earlier in (17:25). ‘’This promise is a reaffirmation of the covenant God made with David himself (see 2 Samuel 7:12-17…). However, as we know, David’s throne – the kings of the house of David – did come to an end, because of Judah’s persistent disobedience to God’s covenant (Exodus 19:5-6). After the fall of Jerusalem there was no king on David’s throne for six hundred years. But God had another plan for keeping His side of the covenant. Though there were no kings, David’s family line continued during those six hundred years and culminated in the birth of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17), to whom God gave the throne of his father David and a kingdom that will never end (Luke 1:30-33). Tom Hale: ‘The applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1106.
‘’Subjects must own that where the word of the king is there is power over them, but kings must own that where the word of the Lord is there is power over them.’’ Matthew Henry
These five verses contain clear alternatives, and I was thinking that the gospel message which has been entrusted to us is beautifully balanced between hope and wrath, life and death. We have to say, ‘Go with God and this will happen’; ‘reject Him and that will happen.’ The recipients of Jeremiah’s message could not have failed to understand what was being required of them. May we be as clear in our presentation, so that people can see the ‘narrow’ road and the ‘broad’ one, and choose their route wisely.
‘’…then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…’’ (Joshua 24:15).
God does not issue idle warnings. He means what He says. What God said happened just a few years later (5; see2 Kings 25:9). Because He has no-one greater to swear by, He swears by Himself (Hebrews 6:13). God’s judgment is real; Hell is real. ‘’Sin will be the ruin of the houses of princes as well as of mean men.’’ Matthew Henry. All who cling to Jesus by faith have eternal hope, but those who do not face a terrible alternative.
Prayer: Lord keep us true to the clear truth you have revealed.

1 Timothy 3:1-7: Noble ambition.(please click for today’s passage)
In Oswald Sanders’ remarkable book ‘Spiritual Leadership’, he places 1 Timothy 3:1 and Jeremiah 45:5 together at the beginning of one chapter. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting to be a (servant) leader in the church. It’s a noble ambition. Paul is so sure about this point that he underlines it by calling it a ‘’trustworthy’’ saying. The problem is, however, that our desires, at best, are tainted with selfishness. The ambition to be ‘up front’, doing highly visible stuff in church, can come from a bad place. So we need Jeremiah’s counter-balance: ‘’Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.’’ Why do you want to be a leader? Who is it for really? I believe that anyone who wants to lead should place their aspirations, and what they believe about their own giftedness, before other mature Christians whose judgment they respect. I recognise that we can be self-deluded. I have known good and sincere people who desperately wanted to be in a pulpit, but when they got an opportunity it was obvious to at least a core of wise and discerning fellow-believers that they weren’t fitted for it. Yet some souls will not be easily disabused of the belief that they can preach and lead and that they are very good at it! So there is a need to be humble and open to feedback. Let other people you trust speak into your life. Listen to them. If you don’t have the gifts you hope you have, you certainly will have others that you may not even recognise.
But it’s not necessarily wrong to want to be an elder. Here, however, are some key things to look for before we appoint anyone:
• What about their character? (2, 3): The qualifications for church leadership in the New Testament are not primarily about charisma but character. It’s not a question of whether or not this person can be a commanding presence on stage. No, is this man godly? That’s the issue. Is he growing in godliness? Is he committed to living a holy life? Will he be in example in all areas?
• How is their home life? (4, 5): The home is the proving ground for leadership in the church. If you can’t lead in your own family how can you hope to lead God’s family?
• How young are they in the faith? (6): Paul does not specify how ‘’recent’’ is ‘recent’, but we have to wrestle with this one and try to ensure that we don’t appoint anyone prematurely. Of course, people mature at different rates, so some may be ready sooner than others.
• What impression do you have of their reputation in the world? (7) I have never been in a church where we did this, but I think it would probably be fitting to get references from the ‘market place ‘where appropriate. What is their boss’s view of them? And what impression do colleagues have of this person? An elder should have a good reputation outside the church and not just within it.
Church leadership is like marriage in a way. Quoting from the wedding service it ‘’should not be entered into lightly, but reverently, soberly and in the fear of God.’’
Prayer: We pray today for all who have undertaken the responsibility of servant leadership in the church. Thank you for their willingness to serve. Please bless them with strength and wisdom and peace, and all good things needed to carry out their ministry. By your grace help them to keep growing in Christlikeness.

Psalm 119:57-64 (please click here for todays Bible passage)
‘’I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.’’ (59).
This indicates how we should read God’s Word; not just for information, but for transformation (or ‘’thoughtful self-reformation’’ as Alec Motyer puts it.)
Is your heart cry, ‘Lord change me’? Do you regularly place your life in front of the ’’mirror’’ of the Bible and look for what needs to be altered? (James 1:23, 24). First thing in the morning, I look in the mirror and I can see what has to change. It becomes obvious what needs to be washed, to be shaved, to be tidied and brushed and combed. If I simply looked at my reflection and did nothing about what I saw I would be stupid; and I would not be fit to go out! ‘’We must do the Word of God, not just read it or study it, the blessing is in the doing.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe. Today’s passage points to a way of reading the Bible that leads to life change. This is how we should always approach it, asking, ‘Lord what do you want me to do about this? How do I live it? How will I put it in to practice?
The writer of Psalm 119 was serious about God’s Word. He so intended to live God’s way that he was prepared to suffer for it (61). When that is your heart commitment, friendship with others of a like mind helps (63). Stay close to other people who also honour the Bible and revere God. You will be able to help one another.
There are indications in this section of Scripture of a devoted and intense spirituality. See:
• The commitment to obey (57b);
• The whole heartedness of his seeking God (58);
• His quickness to obey (60);
• His prayerfulness even in the night (62).
Could it truly be said of us that we mean business; that we are not ‘part-timers’? One man said, ‘’I am a serious reader of the Bible.’’ Are you?
But as much as this man loved his Bible, he loved God more (57a). His love for God was what caused him to treat God’s Book with the utmost seriousness. He was not a ‘Bibliolater’. He worshipped God, not a leather-bound Book. But that comment is not intended to diminish the Bible’s importance. Some years ago I wrote a quote down about today’s passage. It reads: ‘’We cannot have God without His word. Such is the lesson of this section – It is impossible to abide in Him unless His words abide in us (Jn.15:7)’’
We have seen before, in looking at this psalm, that there is a context of persecution lurking in the shadows; but ‘’in every situation and place – whether hostile, secret or corporate – his (unfailing) love is everywhere…How do we react to one who is all sufficient (57-60) and how do we live in relation to one whose love is to be found everywhere (61-64)? J.A. Motyer: ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.568. The psalmist points the way here. Take a look in the mirror!
Prayer: Keep me Lord Jesus from a purely theoretical spirituality. Help me to always do something about what I see in your ‘Mirror’.

 1 Timothy 1:12-17: My story (Click for todays Bible passage)

Paul wanted to encourage Timothy in his difficult assignment in Ephesus, and he let him know how highly he regarded his own calling to serve. It was an inestimable blessing and privilege (12).

Paul was quick to give his testimony and glorify the ‘’only God’’ who saved him (17). He recognised that he was undeserving and he overflowed with thankfulness. He had no reason to boast. The passage opens with these words, ‘’I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus…’’ The Message. This is where we need to live our lives, in a place of humble, adoring gratitude, low at the feet of Jesus, prostrate before the throne of God. Paul recognised that the very ‘’faith and love’’ he possessed (faith to trust Christ, and love for Him and His church) were sheer gifts (14). He was not a ‘self-made’ Christian. No one is or ever could be. ‘’Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.’’ The Message.

The central verse in this section, the pivot on which everything turns, is surely (15).’’Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof – Public Sinner Number One – of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy.’’ The Message. ’ Paul had come to ‘fully accept’ this ‘’trustworthy’’ truth, as the ‘New International Version’ of the Bible puts it, and it had changed his life. It was the heart of ‘’the glorious gospel of the blessed God’’ (11) which had been entrusted to Paul. This was his message (1 Corinthians 2:2). (By the way, the word ‘’glorious’’ in that verse can refer to the content of the gospel, or to the One who gave it, i.e. God Himself. In the context the second possibility seems to fit better.)

Paul recognised that his rescue by God, through His Son Jesus, was because of ‘’mercy’’ (13, 16) and ‘’grace’’ (14). He was struck by the abundance of God’s provision. It’s been pointed out that God in His grace gives us what we don’t deserve (salvation); and in His mercy He does not give us what we do deserve (punishment and eternal judgment). Twice Paul says, ‘’I was shown mercy…’’ He knew that but for this generosity of God everything would be up for him. But God’s mercy took into account that Paul (then Saul) didn’t fully know what he was doing in his violent and murderous former life (13). ‘’…I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing – didn’t know Who I was doing it against!’’ The Message.

And so Paul became, you might say, ‘Exhibit A’ of the gracious and merciful saving work of God (16). ‘’And now he shows me off – evidence of his endless patience – to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.’’ The Message. If God could save Saul of Tarsus, whose life could He not turn around.

In a sense, Paul’s story is also every Christian’s. The details of our lives may differ, but none of us could be saved apart from the mercy and grace of God. And He does not hold the details of our past lives against us when we are in Christ. Our place is with Paul, on the ground before the shining throne of God. The cross spells the death of all pride. It is not fitting before Calvary love. Paul never forgot the wonder of God’s choice of him. It will do us all good to lie and soak in this ‘bath’ of Paul’s testimony.

Prayer: Lord, may I never lose the wonder of your precious love for me.

 Luke 1:1-25: John, a child prayed for.(please click here for today’s Bible passage)
Luke was a gentile doctor, ‘a man with a scientific turn of mind’ as someone put it, and he wrote a two volume history of the beginnings of Christianity that we know as ‘Luke’ and ‘Acts’. It is interesting that these two books, so full of miraculous occurrences, should be written by a ‘scientist’. This opening chapter of the fourth gospel shows continuity with the Jewish Old Testament; we recognise that we are in an unfolding story. But it also emphasises factuality and reliability. I am stirred to think of the effort Luke put in to communicate the truth of Christianity to, it seems, just one man, ‘’Theophilus’’, who, it is thought, was probably a high ranking Roman official, and a ‘seeker’. Bill Hybels has repeatedly said, ‘’Lost people matter to God.’’ They should also matter to us, and they are worth every effort to reach them. (N.B. At one time, it was fashionable amongst scholars to dismiss the historicity of Luke. Then an archaeologist called William Ramsay came along, and he discovered that on point after point Luke was right!)
This opening story is a very human one, full of pathos. Zechariah and Elizabeth were good and godly people, but there was sadness in their lives. (Somebody said that we should be gentle with everyone we meet because all people have some area of pain somewhere.) Being a believer, and faithful to God, is not an inoculation against trouble. Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless, and barrenness, for a woman, was regarded as a great disgrace in that culture (25). But, as someone pointed out to me, you are never too old to be blessed by God. The Lord doesn’t just use young people.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed about their situation. That much is clear (13). How long had they prayed? How desperately and persistently has they prayed? I don’t know. But this much I can see, through their prayers God did far more than they could ask or imagine. In God’s time, not only did they get a baby boy, but they discovered that he was to be the long promised ‘forerunner’ of the Messiah. Wow! ‘’He will be one of God’s great men.’’ (15) J.B. Phillips. Prayer is one of the major themes in Luke/Acts, and as we work our way through the gospel we are going to encounter the teaching of Jesus about persistence in prayer. Zechariah and Elizabeth show that such prayer is powerful.
But, when Zechariah was told that his prayer was answered, he was an unbelieving believer (18-20). However, I find I cannot point the finger for all too often I am just like this. ‘Peter’ is at the door. I have been praying fervently for ‘Peter’, along with others; praying that somehow he will get out of ‘prison’; praying for a miracle. Then when I find him at the door I can’t believe it (Acts 12:12-16).
When Zechariah heard what great blessing was to come to his door, he didn’t get above himself. He wasn’t puffed up with pride. He just humbly carried on his service (23-25), and went home and played his part in the miracle. It was no less a supernatural work of God, but the Lord looks for men and women who will fully cooperate with Him. And so there was great joy and gladness in this prayer-filled home.
Here is one final thought for today: ‘’The crowded congregation outside was praying at the actual time of the incense-burning.’’ (10). J.B. Phillips. It is important that we pray for ‘ministers’ and services, and it’s great if that praying can happen at the time the ministry is being given. Our God answers prayer. Never doubt it. Be encouraged today. And don’t stop praying for your children, even though they may now be fully grown. Let them always be children prayed for.

Jeremiah 13:23: New colours (please click here for todays passage)

‘’Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?’’

For a number of years our church held a house party at Bawtry Hall near Doncaster. The speaker at the first one had a repeated theme, and I think it got into everyone’s psyche: ‘’Things can change’’. We took that home with us, and he helped us to really believe it. He kept hitting this nail of truth with his preacher’s hammer until it sunk in!

It is also true to say that people can change. In the Hands of God people can be different. He can make them what they are not. We have a part to play in co-operating with the Lord in our metamorphosis, but we can’t boast of self-improvement. God is in the people-transformation business, and to Him be all the glory!

Tom Hale makes this comment on verse 23:

‘’Here Jeremiah cites a proverb to indicate that Jerusalem’s people were no longer able to change their evil ways. They had become hardened in their sins; they had become slaves of sin (John 8:34). When people persist in sin beyond a certain point – a point known only to God – they cut themselves off from God’s grace; they can no longer turn back; they can no longer ‘’change their spots.’’ This is all true – from God’s perspective. But from man’s perspective, there is always hope; it is never too late to repent…Up until the day he dies, even the hardened sinner can repent; and if he does, God will ‘’change his spots’’ (see Luke 23:32, 39-43).’’ ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1096.

What is the answer of the New Testament to the question posed in verse 23? It surely is that what ‘’the Ethiopian’’ or ‘’the leopard’’ cannot do, Christ can (Romans 5:6; 1 Corinthians 5:17). By His death on the cross Jesus makes it possible for people to be made right with God; through His presence within them by the Holy Spirit He can enable them to live right, more and more, day after day, until they are finally perfected in His likeness. Change is possible.

I understand that a man who had been a drunkard said: ‘’I have no problem believing that Jesus turned water into wine, for he turned beer into furniture in my house!’’ This man got a different skin; changed spots; new colours. In Christ He was a new creation. What He could not do for himself, Jesus did for him.

Prayer: Knowing your power I should never despair of anyone Lord. You change people. And I am aware that as long as I live I will need to pray, ‘Lord change me!’